by Tina | Nov 15, 2012 | Devotional
You stay the same through the ages, your love never changes! There may be pain in the night, but joy comes in the morning. These words rang out on Saturday night as we experienced the Newsboys “Roaring like a Lion Tour” Concert. There were a few things I learned that night. I’d like to share a couple with you if I may.
I learned that apparantly we are too old to go to concerts. In the midst of music so loud our ribcages were vibrating, my sweet husband fell asleep! Who does that? Who can do that! He did, he has been so busy with work, home, support raising, that when he sat down he fell asleep!
I also learned that age is such a strange thing! God never changes, he has been the same through the ages. But we need to change, grow, mature. But are we? Can we? How do we do that? The only way we can grow closer to God, know His will for us, His plans for our futures is to communicate with Him. Taking time to listen to Him. Hear from His Word what He has for US.
I have always had a hard time with this. In my life and thought process “I need to work, to do things”, in order to please Him. Well, I have this wonderful friend, Sherrill, she has the gift of “just being”. When you are with her you feel like you are the only other person in the world. Teenagers can be setting trashcans on fire, car bombs can be going off in the parking lot, and pre-schoolers can be running amuck with sharp objects, and what is Sherrill doing? She is actively engaged, listening, loving, praying, making that person feel that they are the only person that matters in the whole world. Whereas, I would have to take the matches from the teenagers, call the police for the firebombs, and talk the pre-schoolers down-where is Sherrill? She is sitting in the middle of this totally focused on the moment and the person she is engaged with!
I know God has made me very different from Sherrill, but I pray so often that He can help me be a little bit like her in the way that I don’t have to be constantly “doing”, that I can take time to quiet my mind and heart and truly HEAR from Him, and share that with His people.
So what is my point for today? (besides the fact that I may need medication for ADD?) We need to do sometimes, but we also need to BE!
by Dan | Nov 2, 2012 | Devotional
Yesterday I had the opportunity to have lunch with a great friend again. Ivan Veldhuizen was in town for some Converge “Business” and he took a little break for a lunch at Five Guys. My birthday is the 11th and Ivans is the 19th so it has become a tradition that we go out for lunch sometime in November to celebrate and catch up. Ivan likes to remind me that my birthday is earlier in the month so I get older sooner however, I always remind him that the was born almost 2 years before me so I will never catch him. At any rate, we talked about a lot of things but I could not help but think how much has changed in the last year. It was November 6th of 2011 that Ivan first asked if we would be willing to go to Nigeria. If you go back and read earlier blog posts you will remember that Tina and I felt that we were being prepared for some other ministry and were looking for where God’s next place for us was. From the moment that Ivan asked me I knew that this was the direction that God was asking us to go. We received a ton of support from family and friends and you know the rest of the story.
But what I want to talk about today is the constant journey of: Trust & Obey. There was a little chorus that we sang when I was growing up, “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, than to trust and obey!” But is it really that simple in life? The short answer is yes, it is that simple, but no it is not that easy. It ought to be, but it’s not. It appears that it wasn’t that easy for Abraham either. Abraham’s life was full of twists and turns. He had to trust God at every point on his life journey. Sometimes he did and sometimes he didn’t When he did, things went well for him. When he didn’t there was always a price to pay. I’m convinced that it’s the same for us. The last year has not been easy. I get frustrated with how long things take and I want to “forge forward”, “grab the bull by the horns”, need I go on? But then God reminds me that He knows the proper time, He knows where our support is coming from, HE KNOWS… all I am required to do is Trust and Obey. See how simple it is? Just like Abraham, we are on this earth in relationship with God, looking forward to eternity with Him. Just like Abraham, there are times in our lives, when we will want to grab the reigns and direct just a little bit when it gets scary or uncertain. The question becomes, as it was for Abraham, will we trust and obey or not?
As the writer of Hebrews looks back on Abraham he says: By faith Abraham obeyed, when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that had foundations, whose designer and builder is God. —Hebrews 11:8-10
So as Tina always end her posts, my point for the day is: Let’s answer the call to walk in faith and in relationship as we “trust and obey!”
by admin | Oct 18, 2012 | Devotional
Check out the event that is coming up November 25th from Converge Worldwide: WORLD RELIEF SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 25.
Please take the time to get your church involved in this very worthwhile project!
by Tina | Oct 16, 2012 | Devotional
John Eldredge, in his little book, Dare to Desire, says, “God has rigged the world so that it only works when we embrace risk as the theme of our lives…All attempts to find a safer life, to live by the expectations of others, just kills the soul in the end. That’s not how we find life.” Eldredge then challenges us to choose a path of eternal significance rather than over-analyzing and feeling the need to always take the most secure route. He says, “Don’t ask HOW-that will cut your desire off at the knees. HOW is never the right question. HOW is a faithless question. It means “unless I can see my way clearly I won’t venture forth.” I have come to realize that is how I lived the first 40 years of my life. I played it safe, I didn’t do anything unless it was safe. Everything over-analyzed and secure. I know what to anticipate tomorrow because it will be very similar to today.
God is shaking this up in me and I am finding it very freeing, yet scary! I have hardly had to look at my calendar for years, because I know in my brain what is going on from one day to the next. Dan is finding this quite annoying at this time of our lives, because I can not keep track of time. I don’t know when we were where and when we will be somewhere else talking to people raising our support.
On October 4 through the 6 we were at the Steer Conference in Bismarck, North Dakota. This was a new experience for us as we had never heard of STEER before. Art and Dorothy told us about this great organization. While we were there we connected with farmers and ranchers who raise crops or cattle to support individual missionaries. We also got to connect with many different missionaries from many different organizations. What an encouragement and wonderful networking opportunity that was! It was so cool to visit with retired pastors, as well as ranchers and farmers about missions and what God is doing out there in our world! This gave us some great ideas and thoughts about networking with rancher and farmer friends and offering this as a way to support us in our quest to get to Nigeria.
My point for today is this, “If you play it safe, you truly miss out on His blessing for you. At the end of your life do you want to think, “What if?”
by Tina | Oct 4, 2012 | Devotional
“You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the LORD. Leviticus Chapter 19 Verse 32 …
As a young woman and mother I had the wonderful blessing of being mentored by many older women in our church. I was about 25 years younger than the next youngest person in our church women’s group. I had no idea at that time how very fortunate I was. I got to learn from women who were missionaries, pastor’s wives, farmers, and so many others. Strong women, stable women, Godly women. This is part of my Godly heritage. I am so thankful for that
Dan and I have spent the last week with Dan’s parents who are 87 and 90. Elsie and Orville spent the week marking, organizing and getting things ready for another garage sale for us. They spent a super busy week helping us. They have done this 4 times this summer. What a blessing that has been as we have been packing and sorting our belongings getting ready to move to Nigeria.
Two weeks ago we spent the weekend with the Minnesota Christian Campers. We spent a wonderful weekend visiting and sharing the ministry of GECHAAN with them. These wonderful people of God encouraged us, loved on us, and blessed us as we shared how God has been working in us through this last year or so. 99% of these people are retired and on the elderly side of life.
Last week we talked with our Senior Adult Ministry at our church. These people are amazing! We so enjoyed sharing how God had been working in us and where He is leading us.
Here is the thing. What is our world going to be like when these people are no longer on this earth? They give sacrificially, they pray unceasingly, and love their Lord and Savior in a way that amazes me. These dear Saints know about missions. They know their God and His plan for the world. They know about sacrifice. When I get to this stage in life, will I be able to say, “May all who come behind me find me faithful”? I truly hope so.
My point for today is this: What are you doing at the stage of life that you’re at to become a man or woman of God? Do you have a plan? Things to think about today.
by Tina | Sep 23, 2012 | Devotional
Proverbs 16:9 tells us, “In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.”
Last weekend Dan and I took a road trip to Oswego, Illinois to visit with Art and Dorothy and discuss GECHAAN and make plans for our futures. We had a wonderful time dreaming and talking about the realities there in Nigeria right now and about the future and possibilities of many positive new things that are going on there. While we were there, Dorothy called Vincent, the person in charge while they are in the States. He told them that they boarded up the house and didn’t work for a couple of days because of the safety level right now. That is a reality in Nigeria right now. The unrest that a lot of the world is experiencing is affecting GECHAAN and Gembu as well.
I thought of this verse in Proverbs 16:9, God knows what His plans are for GECHAAN, He is the one who has worked mightily there and done amazing things there. We need to make sure that we are truly hearing His voice and listening to the wisdom that only He can give.
Today I ask that you pray for safety for Art and Dorothy as they go back to Nigeria, safety on the compound (they have started building our security wall ) we have about 5% of the funds raised to complete the security wall, this is a must-do. Both Art and Dorothy and Dan and I have been working on raising funds for this along with some wonderful helpers here in the States.
Please also pray that Dan and I make the right connections with individuals and churches to share GECHAAN’s story with them and ask them to stand beside us.
My point for today is this: We have many plans, we need to work toward where we think God is leading, but we also need to listen so that we can hear his leading. We need to hold our plans loosely in our hands so that we can truly do His work where He has planted us!
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