My times are in Your hand; Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, And from those who persecute me.
Psalms 31:15 NKJV
When David wrote this psalm he was being chased by Saul and his army, although his life was at risk he trusted in God. He trusted that his life was in Gods hands. God showed me through this Psalm that I needed to trust that my life is in God’s hands. He knows when my time on this earth will come to an end.
After what I experienced in Israel I have been healing from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). I have been clinging to God’s word and the Holy Spirit to give me the strength I need. What I love about God’s word is that no matter what we are going through His word speaks directly to our circumstances. When the Lord put Psalm 31 in my heart He also reminded me of the hero’s of the faith, how they got persecuted for their faith. The question that came to mind at the time was “are you ready to count the cost?” Being in the safe room, not knowing if my life was going to be taken away put things into perspective as to the calling God has placed in my life. I know that I know that I know that I am called to missions but God had to put my faith to the test because there will come a time where I am serving overseas and I will be facing hard situations and I have to be firm, armored up and grounded in Him and His word to be ready to count the cost just as the heroes of the faith did.
I couldn’t help but think of the sweet season I had in Israel before the war broke out, how God was giving me the desires of my heart and now I am in a season of refinement, being pressed on every side and God is saying “Can you praise me like you praised me when everything was going good?” like woah, that truly does hit deep. But just as David says in Psalm 42 ..But I will keep on hoping for your help; I will praise you more and more”
Thankful
I am beyond thankful for my church and the leadership. They have been able to counsel me through what I have been going through. I am also thankful that God chose me to go through this because I know He will use it for His glory in the future.
Indonesia
As I have mentioned before a team of us from the church will be going to Bali and Java, Indonesia in February. This will be an awesome opportunity to seek God as we scout out the land and are able to connect with local missionaries there. We will be visiting villages in Java for two days and a missionary who has started a work there will be showing us around and his ministry. These villages are considered unreached and as most of you know my heart is for the unreached. We will then be in Bali for the remainder of the trip.
The cost of this trip is $1800. If you feel lead to in anyway to partner with me you can use the link below and keep me and the team in your prayers as this may be a potential location God leads us to move there.
Missions Training School
It has been sweet to be back and keep getting trained with my church. It is a new year and we have new students who are interested in missions. The harvest is plenty and the labors are few but it is awesome that our family is growing and I pray for more labors to want to go to the ends of the earth for Gods glory. We continue to have our Wednesday class where missionaries all over the world come and visit and share their story. We also just started up again our preaching class which is my favorite because I get to study Gods word, learn more and teach it.
As you all recall I was Tim’s (one of the pastors) assistant, it was on pause when I left to Israel but as of now that season has ended. I was beyond blessed by this role and the many things I learned. On the other hand I am now Debbie’s (the senior pastors wife) assistant. As I continue to pray about a job that pays God continues to shut that door and open other doors of serving. God loves to stretch my faith when it comes to finances but He always meets my needs:) What a sweet preparation for when I do go to the mission field overseas.
Praise Reports
- Praise God for His word that’s sweet to the soul in times of trial
- Praise God for the leadership at my church
- Praise God for a new year of MTS and the new students
- Praise God for the opportunity to get to go to Indonesia
Prayer Request
- Pray that God continues to strengthen me and fill me with his peace as I keep having anxiety attacks
- Pray for my time with my family, I will be visiting them in a couple of weeks for the holidays
- Pray for our team who is going to Indonesia
