Peru2009 Day 5&6

Peru2009 Day 5 & 6

Today I worked with Sara, ashton beth & anessa on inventory & lunches. Inventory meant sorting through all the donations the team had collected from our community..... Lots of stuff!!!! Praise God!
One thing God keeps showing me is that we need each other. We can only accomplish God size tasks as a team. Not one of us can do this mission ALONE.

I loved watching Anessa & Sara sorting & Beth with her O-mazing organizational skills! Anessa & Beth were so sensitive to the deeper need. They asked questions that led to some changes in how & where the supplies & donations would be stored. It made me realize I am only seeing what is on the surface. I want to be more like them in this area of my life not just with people but also in serving others.

Today’s highlight for me was VBS! We did the Zacheo skit in a new village. When we did our orange relay at the end I had about 50 kids all around me wanting hugs & kisses. My heart was so full at that moment!!! What went through my mind was the scripture God gave me in Isaiah 54: 2&3. At the moment when I looked up and saw more kids than my arms could reach on either side of me this part of verse 3 is what came to my mind, “For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left.” I was surrounded! Farther than my arms could reach!

God you are SOOOO Awesome! Thank you for your abundant blessings!

Day 6

Our last day…. Started out with our quiet time and then our praise time on the beach! Yesterday Sara used her gift of sign language in song to Praise God! It was so deeply moving I was broken again. I just know God was smiling at that moment & God was blessed by her offering of Praise. Today, Friday, she did it again!!!! I could do this every day!!! It was evident that we were in the presence of God! Mike even commented how he literally watched the Ocean waves calm as we joined Sara in Praised to God. Now that is something to talk about!

As we packed our things and prepared to leave I was shocked at my reaction…. As much as I didn’t want this to be over and desired so much to spend more time with the Orphans I was not sad to be leaving. I felt as though I would be returning next year!

Peru2009 Continued....Day 4b

After returning to Hannah's after the Parade we had our lunch and then back to work!!! I got to work on digging another hole for a water pump. During this service project I had the blessing of getting to know Anessa & Ashton! I had such a great time taking turns digging this hole with them and getting to hear their stories. Up until this day I really hadn't got to spend much time with any one to talk to them so it seemed like this day I was talking, sharing my story and hearing others stories all day long....I have to record one more thing from the afternoon that I know is significant to my whole life story.... I had taken a load of dirt to dump it and when I was returning to the dig site, two teens, Ashton & Caleb were chatting & I over heard them. It sounded like they were discussing how hard the work we were doing has been, one said to the other, " Well, it is for Jesus, so we will just keep working on it!" That moment blessed my heart so much, Once again gives me hope for the future generation!  What a great day so far... and we still have the evening ahead of us....!!!

No VBS today... Wednesday night Church... our day's second adventure as if the Parade was not enough! We attended Wednesday evening church services.... I don't know what City we were in, BUT... I do know that I KNOW, GOD was teaching me the same thing in Peru as He had back home. I thought I might fall out of my chair when the guest speaker who was a woman got up and spoke about 'Retrobution'. What was so incredibly awesome about this was that she used the story of Zacchaeus from Luke chapter 19:8-9. This was the same story God had led me to use for our VBS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

God continued to pour out His confirmations of His work in my life as the woman continued speaking she moved on to talk about how as aged adults we should be teaching the younger generation how to do good things so they can serve and glorify God. She said that the young ones, Nenos are their future!!! God has also been teaching me this and stirring in my heart to invest in the young women in my life as charged to the aged women in Titus 2:3-5.  WOW... as I recount this day and look at all the events and see in my journal where I note the following statement: "these last two days God has allowed me to get to know the teens on our team & they are EACH so precious!!!!!" God once again confirms this is part of His calling on my life.... INVEST IN THE NEXT GENERATION.........

                        

I am SO thankful God called me to this trip with all of these people! God bless them, may their cup run over, & over & over!!!! Glory to God in the Highest! Amen!

Peru2009 Continued.... Day 4a

Today’s morning quiet time led me to Psalm 94 and verses 1-7 spoke so loud to me it is PACKED with praised to God and encouragement! God allowed me to share this with two others on the team and give back to this team. It was awesome to encourage others! These people have blessed me so much by watching their love for one another. Through the actions of others on the team this week God has brought to my mind a few scriptures:

1Corinthians 8:3 "But if any man love God, the same is known of him."
John 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
This team is really living out these scriptures and it is so incredibly refreshing! Can we live like this every day of our lives? I pray so.

My service opportunity today was helping inventory all the donations our team brought over and not sooner did we get started it was time to get into our ChildReach Team shirts and head to the City's Flag Day Parade! What an awesome privilege and humbling experience. It was so awesome to see our team carrying the American Flag in a parade on foreign soul. The Mayor was very pleased with our presence in the Parade and stated that the Americans were there to help them and we should all help each other. To end he asked us to give our President Obama his best greetings! I thought that was so cool, I felt like we made history that day! I am sure there was a news article in Peru somewhere about that event!!!!

What God thinks of me

As I continue to make my meditation toward God each morning, renewing my relationship with Him and listening for His still small voice my spirit is inspired with words of Truth from the Holy Scriptures.


At times through my life I have had thoughts about myself such as, I am a hypocrite, a liar, fat, ugly, stupid, mean, can not do anything right, keep falling backward, continually make the wrong choice, lazy.... on and on the list goes. I heard someone say one or more of these things about themselves and I immediately thought... God does not think that about you! That made me come the Word, and the Word says the following about God's thoughts toward me:

First of all - He loves me & you -Rom.5: [8] "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

Second- His thoughts are good -Jer.29: [11] "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end."

Third- We will have times of weakness but His power is always toward us - 2Cor.13: [4] "For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you." (I have the power...do I believe that?)

Fourth - He thinks of us and loves us as His Child - 1John.3 [2] "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is."


That being said He knows what we shall be....What we shall be is what He thinks about us, so no matter what we think of ourselves, if we could just believe what God thinks of us!

Lord Help us to believe what you say is true for those that have chosen to believe on the name of Jesus and are now the sons of God! (Gal.3:[26] "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.")

In Jesus Name
Amen
Phil.4:[8] “ Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

Today's Thoughts continued..

Yesterday morning this thought came to me and really has blown my mind... God sent Jesus to Earth to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:[10] "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.") Jesus suffered and died, was buried & rose again the third day, according to the scriptures (I Corinthians 15:1-4)

Jesus returned to sit at the right hand of God. When Jesus left the Earth we inherited the ministry of preaching the Gospel to the ends of the Earth.... Mark 16: [15] "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."

God has trusted us to carry the same message that He sent His Son here to die for!!!! I am again reminded of just how valuable God views us, even when we do not see ourselves as valuable! God has trusted us to proclaim His message, how often do I choose to proclaim my message and not His?

Today's Thoughts

Constantly I find my self going up and down this mental/emotional rollercoaster of being very confident of my relationship with Christ and no wavering of my God & that He is real and really working all over all the time. Then I find myself wondering if God is real and wandering away from my Jesus… not talking to Him & not reading the Word, then God allows something to come across my path that causes me to KNOW He is who He says He is!

This morning I found myself in that doubting phase again, and believing I have no self worth. God gently reminded me of the value that He placed on my life and the lives of EVERY human in existence, past, present, & future IS so high that it cost God the life of His only Son. That makes EVERYONE’S worth of VERY HIGH PRICE! Can you believe that God values you SO much!

The next time I start to doubt my worth for any reason in this world or the worth of ANY other human being, I must remember the HIGH price that God has already paid for the WORLD.

John.3 [16] “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

1John.4 [11] “Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.”

Peru Day 3 Broken!

This day started out on the edge. I was EXTREMELY tired & had a difficult time getting out of bed. One of my eyes was irritated, red & watering.
As I went through my individual devotional on this morning God reminded me that He is THE promise keeper! I needed to be patient on seeing what it is that He brought me here to see. The revelation of this brought to memory a few scriptures,
Revelation 1:8 "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty."
&;
Philippians 1:6 "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:"

Isaiah 54:1-3 Has been my promise, God will give me so much my house will be bursting!
Isa 54:1 "Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD."
Isa 54:2 "Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;"
Isa 54:3 "For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited."

Philippians 4:13 Reminds me that the God who gave us Christ will use the power of Christ to give me the physical and emotional strength to carry out His work that He began!
Php 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."

I broke inside with the flooding back of all that God has said to this morning. On this trip up until this day I have felt like God was being silent.
NOT ANY MORE!
Today my service project was helping dig a hole for rubble, we like to make believe it's the "Swimming Pool!" Thanks Beth... Ha ha ha!
I worked with Dakota, Dawn, Anessa, Eli Beth, Fernando, Richard & Max the resident dog did his fair share of work too! As we dug God brought to my mind the
parable of the "Sower & the Seed"(Luke 8) The ground we

was soft & easy to move on the surface and as we got down about 3 or so feet it got hard and rocky, that made me think about the sinners heart & how some have to plant the seed, others water and it is God that gets the increase. First the ground must be broken & pliable for that seed to be planted!
I had a great time watching Eli & Max dig the hole, Eli used his laser pointer on where ever he wanted Max to dig and Max sure worked up a thirst diggin!!! Good times!
That was the morning, after lunch the VBS team prepared supplies and practiced our skit for the Lost & Found Puppy.
This second day of VBS was much more orderly than the first day, all praise to God! Experience is a great teacher! I was able to spend more time with the kids & little Nerida stole my heart!

As we colored with the children she ran to her Casa (home) & she with her friend Gabriela returned with gifts for me! That nearly broke my heart!!! Nerida gave me a bracelet of her own & Gabriella a sun jewelery charm. Nerida never left my side the whole time she was stuck to me like glue! I was LOVING IT!  The whole experience was terribly humbling for me because I know so many times I neglect to give of what I have when I can easily go out and replace my things. These girls live in villages where the floors of their hut type homes don't even have floors. You can get a small glimpse from these three photos of their living conditions.

These children don't have the resources that I do and they are giving me gifts that are more than likely very precious to them!  As we played together I asked Nerida if she had Jesus Christ in her heart and she told me YES! She asked me if I had children and wanted to know when I was coming back to see her! Without even considering asking the Lord if that would be something He desired for me to do, I immediately told her I would be back in 12 months! I want to keep my word, I pray I have not made a promise that I can not keep...(Proverbs 3:5-6)
I had continually asked this precious girl her name over and over, my darn mind just could not contain it, she asked if I had a pen so I gave her my Sharpie PERMANENT marker pen, not knowing what she was about to do....
She wrote her name on my arm, so I would not forget her! That was so incredible. Our time together was so short and the kids were mobbing all of the team as we tried to collect everything &  get on the bus, I hugged Nerida SO tight and absolutely broke into tears like I was leaving my heart behind, I buried my head into the back of the seat in front of me on the bus & wept all the way back to our hotel. I pray I never forget this first full experience of VBS. Thank you Lord for your kisses. I have no children of my own but has saw fit to bless me so richly in way just like this! Nerida's name remained on my arm for the entire trip and even for a week or so after I returned home, this just might make a great TAT some day!!! Oh yeah! Not on my arm of coarse.....!