the fourth stage: birth

Please go to my blog archive on the right and go down to June. Read God's timing.

Now that you know the story of how God spoke to us about attending ywam let me say this:

     There are 4 seasons in a year but i'm not looking at this year as weather seasons. I want to look back at this year and say there were 4 stages.
     The first stage of this year the Lord really showed us that HE is our provider. It was amazing.
     The second stage was waiting and trusting in the Lord, believing Him for what He has called us to do.
     The third stage was tasting a little bit of that promise(getting accepted) and starting the work(fundraisers) for receiving His promise.(ywam)
     The fourth stage is starting next week. I feel as though we are being 'birthed' out. (remember my diagram and my blog from June)
     We are entering the last stages of this year and I am imagining child birth and giving birth to a child is not easy. There is pain but there is also the blessing at the end. As this last season is approaching I already know that I am going to be tested in trusting God with the finances we need. Isn't it funny that now those two are combined. trusting & finances. The same things that He taught and showed us from the first two stages of this year.

     Please be praying for us as we are entering this last stage. Your prayers and your friendship mean so much to us. One specific prayer that you can pray for us is that we are receiving everything the Lord has for us to learn and receive from this last stage before we are pushed out. We want to be everything the Lord has called us to be.

15 weeks.--change

      15 weeks from today we will be on a plane on our way to Kona, Hawaii. There is so much to think about with that. Saying good bye to our family, our friends, our church home and our surroundings. From the rough hills, open sky, and eventually snow ;) to 80+ degree weather, humidity, vog ( volcanic fog ) & beaches (that part isn't too hard to get used to. ) Being in one place knowing no one beside my husband and friends of our friends. Getting used to something we have never done before.
     The thing that sticks out the most when I think about leaving is how God is blessing us. He has called us on this adventure and I can't believe it. It wont become 'real' until i am boarding that plane.

Keep me as the apple of your eye;
hide me in the shadow of your wings
Psalm 17:8







     

learning.

It is hard to post the things that are..ugly.

I have known that my view on some people has been altered and I wasn't sure why.

This week I heard the Lord speak clearly to me.

He said it is because of bitterness. I have become bitter towards some people because I have been holding onto things of the past. Things they have said to me & their tone of how they said it.

Now I am trusting Jesus to uproot this from me. I have to be intentional of how I am around them.

...learning.

resting

Sometimes it is just so hard to do something you know is right over your own wants. Earlier this week Jr and I took some time and talked about what the Lord was speaking to us and then prayed. One of the things we prayed about was the busyness of our life. We asked the Lord to show us what we needed to take out. I mentioned after finishing our support letters we would slow down because we would be between fundraisers.
The next day I found a really fun fundraiser that I want to do so I presented it to Jr and wanted to start on it right away. He mentioned what was said the day before about resting. I just wrestled with this so much because I know I said that but I so badly just wanted to start on it. Even this morning I was still thinking about it and wanting to start it. There are a few things I see through this situation that the Lord is teaching me.


1. following Jr's leadership. submitting to him.
2. psalms 15:4 .. who keeps his oath even when it hurts.


I am choosing to wait to start this because of those 2 reasons up there. It does hurt my wants but my wants aren't always the best.

Yesterday we ( carly, jr & i ) had a radio interview about going to ywam. Emilie Boyes (The lady that interviewed us) also writes for the Billings Examiner and she said it reaches more people than the radio station does. It was cool to be able to tell people our story of how we got to where we are today. Also was really cool to be able to talk about our church, the Alliance. One interesting thing that Emilie Boyles had said was that it seems like there is a little revival happening at our church. Which is SO true. God is doing amazing things in the Alliance church!
I'm really excited to see how Jesus uses this interview :)

Pancake Breakfast

We just finished up our last fundraiser we will be doing with Carly. It was really fun and God blew us away again!! He is so good!!  WE want to thank everyone who helped us and that came and supported us! it really does mean alot. We love reaching out into the community and being able to tell people about this adventure Jesus is sending us on. One of the coolest things that happened was that Jr got to pray for an elderly man!!

beheld by the KING!!

Last night was bittersweet. Celebrating Jackie and her marriage with close friends and family.
While also realizing it was the last time us 4 would be together until June. We all are following the Lord and going where he leads us. So in times like these I have to trust even more that His plans are good for all of us always.
Psalm 11:4
The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord's throne is in heaven;
His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.


Behold in Hebrew means:
 to gaze at; mentally to perceive, contemplate (with pleasure); specifically to have a vision of:--- behold, look, prophesy, provide,see.


He has a vision for all of us.
--trusting HIM!!

Being Stretched

Today as I was thinking about money for ywam I got worried. Worried that we wouldn't get all the money we need to go. I then read Psalm 3. It talks about all these 'foes' rising up against him and tens of thousands up against me on every side. I felt like my situation related to that because the money we have to raise is the amount only God can provide us. At the end it said from the Lord comes deliverance. I have hope that He is going to deliver us from this. That He will provide for us.

I already feel the stretching of my faith. We have to have faith that He is going to provide and I know that it isn't going to be easy. I have to let God be in control of this and try not to control this myself.