One of those weeks

This past week was “one of those weeks.” There was nothing bad happening, nothing too major going on, no real reason to feel “blah,” but I just did. I guess I could blame it on the COLD weather and no indoor heat, the 14 hours a day of no power, living in a 3rd world country, having to struggle with speaking another language most of the time, not having any diesel in our car for about a month due to an ongoing fuel shortage, or having a shortage of cooking gas in the city.  But those are just things that frustrate me, stress me out and make living here more difficult, but they aren’t the real reason I had “one of those weeks.”

The real reason was because I was very focused on ME. To be honest, last week my mind was consumed with thoughts about how my life here is so much more difficult than it would be in America– “poor me” thoughts about how many things I had to do and about how much energy I DID NOT HAVE to do them; thoughts about how I couldn’t possibly do everything that I have set out to do; thoughts about how I could and should be a better mom, better wife, thinner,  eat better, exercise more, spend more time studying the Bible, etc. etc. Basically I was looking at myself, feeling sorry for myself, relying on my own strength and being selfish. I was comparing myself to those around me and letting the fact that some of my friends are prettier, thinner, more creative, more “successful”, more…more…more…get to me and make me look at myself and think that I had fallen short. I thought things like, “if only I was more like so and so….I wouldn’t be having “one of those weeks.”

I also spent a lot of time thinking about Target, Wal-mart, convenient restaurants,  nice roads, comfortable cars, warm houses, and my family and friends in America.  I had thoughts like, “If only I could go shopping, eat good food, see the people I love, not have to work so hard to cook a good meal, etc…etc..I wouldn’t be having “one of those weeks.” Of course, getting to go shopping, or go for a road trip or see my family and friends who I miss so much would have helped me to feel better and would have been AMAZING… but if I am honest, it wouldn’t mean that I would never have “one of those weeks.”

So, when did I finally realize why I was having “one of those weeks” and what I needed to do to change it? YESTERDAY! Yesterday was the day that I realized that I was focused on ME and I was being selfish….too selfish to see and be thankful for the amazing ways that God is continually working in my life, too selfish to marvel in how blessed I truly am to have a beautiful, healthy, loving family both here and in America, too selfish to look with amazement at all of the things the Lord is allowing us to be a part of here for His glory, too selfish to see how truly comfortably I live in a country where many, many people are sleeping outside in the freezing cold with no blankets or food or enough gas to cook their next meal, too selfish to be thankful for my health and the fact that I am married to my best friend, etc. etc. This realization didn’t come easily. My husband and I were having our family worship time at home on Sunday where we spend time praying together and listening to a sermon podcast. When the sermon was finished I began praying and crying and confessing. What came out of my mouth was not what I was planning to say…it was as if God was interceding for me:

Romans 8:26-27, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.”

I thanked God that He allows me to live in a difficult place with difficult circumstances so I am more easily able to face the sin and idols in my life. I know myself well enough to know that if I lived in a more comfortable place with more things and people to satisfy the longings in my heart (even temporarily) it would be harder to see and realize my need for Him. I never want to live for a minute without Him as the center of my life and even though it is difficult, it is sometimes easier to see my need for Him when everything else is stripped away. I told God how sorry I was that I was so focused on myself and I asked Him to be my focus. I told Him how much I love Him and how thankful I am for all He has done in my life. I asked Him to give me the strength I need because I certainly can’t do it on my own. God changed my heart in that instant.  I prayed, not knowing how to fix my attitude, but very thankful that God knew what I needed!

No matter what country we live in, what situation we are facing, how many children we have or don’t have, how many responsibilities we have or don’t have, how much money is in our bank account, whether we have all we want or always want more, we have a daily (sometimes minute by minute) choice to make. We must decide if we are going to focus on ourselves and our circumstances, if we are going to look to things or people to satisfy us OR if we are going to look to God and ABIDE in Him to satisfy the longings of our heart and give us true peace and joy.

Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

John 15:9-11 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”

John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid”

So, yesterday afternoon I made the choice to ABIDE and today I woke up again and made the choice to ABIDE and then again at like 10:43 am when my house was full of kids and lots of noise and chaos I chose to ABIDE. To ask the Lord for His strength, guidance, focus, wisdom and direction. To tell Him that nothing is more valuable to me than He is. To tell Him that I like it much better when the focus is on Him and all He has done, can do and will do and not on myself. And this afternoon I will need to do it again and then tomorrow morning I will wake up and do it again. It is a choice and we have to choose to act, to choose to change, to choose to let go and allow God to take control of our lives. It isn’t always easy and it is often scary but there truly is no better place in the world to be and no better choice we can make. I know that there will come another time, probably sooner than later, that I will be having “one of those days” or “one of those weeks” and in that moment and in those days I need to remember to stop focusing on myself and my circumstances and comparing myself to those around me and start focusing again on God and who He is and who He says I am.

We have an enemy and He wants nothing more than for us to get wrapped up in the life we see around us instead of keeping our eyes focused on the One who is in control of it all. So my prayer for me and for you is that we would make sure we are focused on the One who can turn “one of those weeks” into something that He is able to use in and through us for His glory.

Editor’s Note: Pray for our missionaries who are facing “one of those weeks.”  Pray that they will focus on God and not on their difficult circumstances.  Pray that they will rely on His strength and not their own and that they will take time to ABIDE in Him.

(names, locations and blog links omitted due to security issues; stock photos)

A new beginning

I’m so happy to be writing this newsletter from our new home. Our family just finished a year of language training and returned to the field. Thank you for praying for us during this difficult year.

The Lord provided me with a new friend and co-worker while in language school who is helping  to translate  twenty  Bible stories to use for evangelism in our three target villages. The strategy is to form small groups of friends and neighbors that are interested in hearing the stories. Our goal is to show God’s plan to create a community of faith that will share eternity with Him. As participants interact with the Bible stories they will be encouraged to accept God’s invitation to enter the community by placing their faith in His Son Jesus and becoming his disciple.

Another long-time friend and co-worker decided to join me on the field to assist in training disciples to obediently follow in Jesus’ footsteps. Together we will show new believers how to join together in small house groups to function as the local body of Christ. These simple house churches will be taught to use  evangelism and discipleship in order to reproduce themselves in nearby villages. As the Holy Spirit moves them to obedience we hope to see a rapid extension of His Kingdom on the island this year.

Please pray that the Holy Spirit will soften the hearts of the lost people in our three target villages. Pray for the seeds of the Gospel to take root and grow. Also, I covet your continued prayers that the Holy Spirit will anoint my limited Korean ability to fruitfully share the gospel message with stories. Pray that the Lord blesses the work of my co-workers and provides us all the strength and courage to faithfully minister God’s Word to the villagers.

(names, locations and blog links omitted due to security issues; stock photo)

Expect the unexpected

Every week looks different for us here. Monotony is not something I have to grow accustomed to. I should be thankful for that, right?! Well this week has fit in that unpredictable category quite nicely.

It started with the English story hour. I decided that it would be a good idea to change locations, so we held it at a local play place for kids. We passed out fliers to 3 preschools plus sent about 25 text messages to moms who have come to the story hour in the past. Usually we have only averaged 5-6 kids and winter (all 5 months of it) is typically a down period.

BUT….25 kids and their moms came! Whoa! It was a little crazy, but good. Unexpected.

After that I started preparing for the monthly cooking class. This usually draws the most people of anything we do. I mean, who doesn’t love to eat? They may love to eat, but it seems that the people here do not like to try new things.  We had our first Chinese cooking night with chicken stir fry and almond cookies.  It sounded good to me, but we only had 10 people show up and I had planned for at least 30. Ha! Unexpected.

So…this week I started to have some tooth pain along with the cold and ear infections I already had. I hadn’t been to a dentist in a while (I’m not going to tell you how long). I went last night to a clinic I knew was clean and respected. I didn’t know it when I made the appointment, but it turns out one of my good friends is good friends with the dentist.  Relationships are so important here, but even that couldn’t have helped me to avoid the unexpected turn of events that unfolded in that dentist chair. It did however help me at the end when I paid (about 6 dollars).

I had studied the dental vocabulary words earlier that day. Though I was pretty scared (ok, really scared), I was ready to face the fear in order to get rid of the pain. Well, the dentist quickly looked at all of my teeth and told me what were my problem areas (I already knew). Without pausing or asking questions, she started working–with drills and without anesthesia…   A crazy amount of pain and 10 minutes (which seemed like an eternity) later, she was sending me on my way.

I understood all the words she said, but I still wasn’t quite sure what procedure had just taken place. She kept saying we needed to kill the tooth. Judging by the pain I had just gone through, I was pretty sure she had accomplished her goal. I went home and googled it and sure enough it looks like it was a root canal. HA! This dentist doesn’t think you need to use anesthesia for root canals.  The reasons she gave made sense in my head, but tell that to my nerves! I have to go back on Monday to fill that tooth and get a filling in the other one. I’m still debating whether I will go to a dentist I know who will use the drugs…

I just keep thinking, life in a different country is for sure never dull and always full of the unexpected.

Editor’s Note:  Pray for the missionaries as they deal with unexpected occurrences while living overseas.  Pray that they will allow God to use their experiences for his glory.

(names, locations and blog links omitted due to security issues; stock photo)

Learning to love our neighbor

We live on the top floor of a four-story apartment building. Each level has two apartments, and there are two basement apartments.  When we moved in we had the top floor all to ourselves for about a month. Then one night our new neighbors knocked on the door. We had heard them moving a few things in, and we were curious and somewhat anxious to meet them. We opened the door and in came the wife and her mother. They literally barged in. It was very annoying and our first impression of them was not a good one at all.

Over the next several days the new neighbors moved in. Because of their work schedules they couldn’t work on anything in their new apartment until after 10pm. If they needed to drill a hole in the wall it was done after 10pm. If they needed to beat on something with a hammer, it was after 10 pm. Thankfully, that phase passed. But since then, they have had all kinds of issues with their rooftop water tank. Every once in a while we hear water pouring down on our side of the roof. It’s annoying, and, needless to say, we’ve struggled to get over the bad first impression and ensuing disturbances. This year we have met them in the stairwell, loaned our ladder to them, and listened to them when it gets noisy in their apartment, but we’ve never been able to break the ice or establish any relationship with them–until tonight.

We set aside tonight to make the rounds in our building to deliver Christmas cookies. Our first stop was the neighbors across the hall, but no one was home. After delivering to the rest of the neighbors we ran into the folks across the hall as we were heading inside our apartment. We gave them their gift and they insisted that we come inside. So we did.

We spent about an hour with them and really broke the ice. He is a barber and she is a school teacher. He works about 12 hours a day and she has her hands full with 33 third graders. They have a lovely 5-year old girl and a busy 1-year old boy. They told us about their future plans for decorating and furnishing their home. We talked about the strange problem with their leaky water tank.  The people across the hall have become our friends.

I’m often quick to categorize people and make mental notes when someone isn’t easy to be around. Our neighbors were under a ton of stress when they moved in. They had a newborn baby, both husband and wife were working full time, and they had an active 4-year old girl. They were not easy to be around. But now we know them and it looks like we’ve made some new friends.

Here we sit a day after celebrating the birth of Jesus and I find myself thinking of his teaching on loving neighbors. In his Sermon on the Mount he taught: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:43-48 ESV).

Loving neighbors is not always easy, and being perfect as God is perfect is impossible. Yet Jesus connected the two in his teaching. Through the evening with our new friends, I’m reminded of the grace of God in my own life. I may have a hard time loving people who are not easy to love, but God has no shortage of love. The Apostle Paul wrote, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4-7 ESV). With this kindness shown toward me, how can I not love my neighbor? How else will they know this kind of love for themselves?

Editor’s Note: Pray for these missionaries to continue to love on the people in their building.  Pray that they will rely on God’s infinite love which surpasses our human limits.

(names, locations and blog links omitted due to security issues)

The rest of the story…

Follow-up to previous post “Everything but the kitchen sink” (1/31/12)

Well, this certainly was a Christmas to remember…

Let me tell you how God has shown Himself after having my backpack stolen.

When I returned back to the student camp after being robbed, I went about cancelling our credit cards, etc.

My son told me twice in the car, “Mom, I can’t read. You could have my Bible.” (He received a Bible for memorizing 10 verses before he could read).

I was fine, but every now and then  I would remember something else that I lost in backpack.

That night, for the New Year’s celebration, I was missing the glow sticks for my kids that were in my backpack, but wouldn’t you know…another mom had glow sticks and she shared with everyone!

THEN…

The next night, before we left camp, I was in the bathroom getting the kids ready for bed, when my daughter heard a knock and went to answer the door. She came back with what looked like a black book and handed it to me. She said, “Someone brought this to you.”

After further examination, I realized it was a new kind of Kindle. I’d never seen one with a touch screen before. I ran outside, and this couple that came as volunteers were walking away from my cabin. I said, “What is this?” They waved me off with a smile and said, “It’s yours.”

After getting the kids in bed, I went to find them.  With tears in my eyes I said, “I can’t take this. Mine wasn’t even this nice.” And she said, “Jesus told me to give it to you. It’s yours.”

I went from this:

To this:

I was a mess of tears…

I was overwhelmed by God’s love for me.

Never in a million years will I get over that act of kindness. Jesus is so good to me, even in the little things.

But God didn’t stop there…

My birthday was two days later, and a sweet friend of mine who knows me well, knew what I needed replaced for my birthday… kleenex and a chapstick substitute. If you know me, you know these are much-used and much-loved items!

I filled out a property claims report on my stolen articles, and in the meantime, I started shopping for replacements on-line. I have a friend coming at the end of January, and I knew if I could get things ordered and sent to her, she could bring them.

So…I ordered a new ipod and a new camera, new cases, new earphones, etc.

The trick was the Bible. I wasn’t really ready to give in to a different Bible, but I was getting closer. Since my Bible is out of print now, and it was listed for sale on Amazon for $400, I decided I probably could live with a different version…

I tried writing the company to ask about any they might have stuck back on a shelf somewhere, but I never heard back from them.

At the same time, my mom was hunting around on line, and she found one on ebay, and the sale was going to be over in three days on a Sunday morning right before our Sunday morning service. I got up that Sunday, bought internet time, and waited.

And do you know what?

God let me win the bid on that Bible!

(And it was less than $400, you’ll be glad to know.)

AND a lady in my hometown gave me money to buy it!

I am now the proud owner of my very same Bible, sans notes and underlines and highlights. But I look forward to all the new ways God is going to show Himself fresh to me in the coming years.

It still doesn’t end there…

People were so gracious to me after reading my blog. I had so many people offer to help, but I knew that insurance would cover most of it (even though I’m still waiting for a reimbursement amount). I’m really bad at asking for help or accepting gifts.

A friend in Mississippi bought me a new backpack, and another friend in North Carolina bought the kids two of the three card games that were lost. A fellow missionary at youth camp gave me allergy pills to take to my training meeting PLUS her hand bag, as a replacement for my backpack. (I think she felt sorry for me having to carry my things around in a plastic grocery sack.)

I got the sweetest note from the lady who gave me the Kindle Fire. She told me that when she arrived back in Florida, someone had bought her a new Kindle Fire, and it was waiting there for her when she arrived!

God blessed both of us, and we are both overwhelmed and grateful!

I also received an email from a friend in Mississippi who told me she had 2 old Kindles she didn’t use anymore. She asked if I could use them.

SO…she is sending those to me for the kids to use in school. Since we don’t have a library here, a kindle will be great for the girls to be able to get some of the books they enjoy reading and my mom doesn’t have to pay to ship over books anymore.

Do you need any more proof that God will take care of you in ALL things in ALL ways?

“He gives and takes away. He gives and takes away. My heart will choose to say, “Lord, blessed be Your name.”

Editor’s Note: Praise God for the way he shows his love for us in the details of our lives.  Thank Him for this missionary who is able to hold loosely to the things of this world, while focusing on the eternal blessing of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord.

(names, locations and blog links omitted due to security issues; stock photos)

My unexpected Bible blessing

Have you ever felt that you could use a special assurance that you are doing exactly what God wants you to do?  It may surprise some people, but missionaries often experience this, and YES, I did last week and God provided one of His miracle moments on the exact day that I was discouraged, frustrated and exhausted!

Late last year, in my excitement to talk with old friends at a large church, I left my 30 year old NIV Bible on the pew and the Bible ‘ walked away.’  The reaction of my African Christian friends when they learned I had lost 30 years of notes in the margins, atop maps and blank pages of my Bible was, “God will use your notes to speak to the one who ‘borrowed’ your Bible.  He will use it to bring that person to Him!”

THEN the week before Christmas, we visited a mall and saw a table where we could register for ‘rewards’ for shopping at the mall over the holidays.  We never win anything, but my husband completed the required forms. 

Soon after Christmas we received a message that he was a ‘winner’ – so we returned across the city to collect his ‘gift’, fully expecting a store give-away calendar!  To our amazement, we won vouchers for 5000KSH ($60+) of shopping at the mall!  We headed to the Christian bookshop for a 2012 calendar.  I had no intention of looking at the Bibles, knowing their high prices and that I was rather picky in what I wanted, but then I spotted the exact Bible – a brown/tan one – that I wanted when I was in the States last year, but decided it was an un-needed purchase!  And yes, the gift vouchers covered the cost of the Bible and the needed calendar and a special lunch at a favorite restaurant!

Why am I sharing all of this?  I like sharing my good news!  Also, I know your ‘general’ prayers led to my unexpected Bible blessing.  I want you to know that as much as missionaries need specific prayers, we also need general ones as we serve our Father.   My request continues to be for wisdom and strength as I share how God is at work in Africa, especially as I explore/ develop new opportunities.  But please pray also for the needs that we and our friends choose not to put into newsletters due to sensitive or personal reasons – especially our need for affirmations that we are obeying our Father and a sense of joy as we face difficulties/ frustrations/ discouragements.

(names, locations and blog links omitted due to security issues)

A God-sized accident

At 9:30 this morning, I was in the kitchen and my husband was in his office studying. The kids were playing outside, and our guard was eating his breakfast in our carport. Suddenly we heard a huge crash and saw smoke in the air. The kids screamed, “MAMA!” I ran outside to see that a car had run through our garden wall. We were baffled at how a car could turn 90 degrees off of a straight road and run through the wall. The driver begged us not to call the police because he did not have a driver’s license (very common here). We called our Logistics Coordinator to tell him about the situation and while we were on the phone, a police officer drove by and saw the accident and said that he was calling officers to come. God took care of us in that situation and sent someone to us without us needing to find help.

As we began recalling the events of the morning we began to praise the Lord…

• The youth decided to have Bible School in the afternoon instead of the morning, therefore, my husband was home for this situation.
• I had fed our guard a late breakfast, so he was not in the yard working near the wall where he could have been hurt.
• I was working in the kitchen and asked the kids to play on the trampoline before school started, so they were a good distance away from the wall, PRAISE THE LORD!

My husband went to the market to buy one bag of cement and 500 bricks to reconstruct the wall. He went to several hardware stores only to find out that NO ONE HAD CEMENT. As he was sharing the story with a friend of ours, a man overheard him and said, “I was there at your house after the accident! I have a bag of cement that I will sell to you!” PRAISE THE LORD…GOD-SIZED!

My husband went to the man’s house and while he was there the neighbor said, “I have 500 bricks that I can sell you!” The man selling the bricks told our guard that his family had not eaten in a few days because they didn’t have money for maize. HOW AWESOME…God was in THIS! This man has probably been praying asking God to provide for his family…a car runs through our wall, we need bricks and his neighbor sold us concrete!

Are you amazed? We are amazed! We haven’t stopped talking about how BIG God is and how we can SEE why He had all of this happen today! Later we found out that the man that ran into the wall told the police that we were good people because we had not beaten him or asked him for money. Praise the Lord that we were able to be a testimony and hopefully a light to our neighbors today!

We keeping thinking of ALL of the ways that God protected, provided, and walked with us all throughout the day. Romans 8:28 is a powerful verse, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good…” I have quoted and said this verse many times in my life but today it was awesome because we got to see God’s  plan and reasoning for all of this! He is so sovereign, so loving, so kind, so gracious, and so powerful! We serve a MIGHTY GOD!

Editor’s Note: Praise God that he can make beauty from ashes (and a broken wall).  Pray that these missionaries would continue to be a light in their neighborhood.

(names, locations and blog links omitted due to security issues)

The kids are back!

This afternoon there were about 65 kids waiting at our fence. They were waiting to hear about Jesus! Each Wednesday, we open our yard and our hearts to the neighborhood children. Three months ago  we were down to only 20 kids because of rumors that had been going around about us. I’m just so grateful that the Lord has brought these children back to hear about His love for them. Rejoice with me!

Editor’s Note: Pray for this group of children to know the love of Christ.  Pray for these missionaries to be salt and light in their neighborhood.

(names, locations and blog links omitted due to security issues)

Just wishing…

I’m sitting here just wishing I truly was content. But, the fact that I am wishing things were different proves otherwise.

I’m wishing there were jobs to be had in our city so that many of our friends wouldn’t feel the need to leave.

I’m wishing that our small group Bible study wasn’t so small.

I’m wishing that babies didn’t die before they even have a chance to live.

I’m wishing I always had the right things to say in both languages.

I’m wishing that I could just go visit my family whenever I wanted and didn’t have to wait until my son is almost 3 years old.

But then…I’m reminded of these verses…

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” 1 Peter 1:3-9

These “wishing” moments are for refining. The absence of the things that I wish for ultimately results in me  seeking Him and praising Him even more.

Lord, help my faith to be proven genuine so that the result is Your praise, honor, and glory. Thank You for such a rich inheritance and for Your power that is my shield. Help me to be full of that inexpressible and glorious joy that comes from knowing You more. Amen.

(names, locations and blog links omitted due to security issues; stock photo)

Everything but the kitchen sink

New Year’s Eve

Like most moms, I pack my purse with everything but the kitchen sink when I travel. I want to be prepared for all situations. My kids, on the other hand, think about nothing in advance—not even long sleeved shirts or socks apparently.

This week we are attending a youth conference in Kenya.  Today I needed to visit the used clothing market to get some things for my kids since it is much colder here than it is at home.

This was one of the largest used clothing markets I had ever seen. I didn’t know where to start, but thankfully, we had hitched a ride to town with some friends, and the lady we were with was a pretty confident shopper, so she led the way.

I left my backpack in the car. My backpack is my purse. My dad gave it to me before we left America, and it can carry a ton.

In it I carry three card games because we do a lot of “waiting” for things in Africa, and card games are always a good entertainment.

I ALWAYS carry Kleenexes and allergy medicine and today I had ibuprofen, nose spray, and a ziplock bag full of bandaids. I also have a jar of Mentholatum, two chapsticks, and some wonderful Mary Kay lip gloss.

I also have the book I am trying to finish so I can turn it back into the library. And since I love to read, I have my Kindle (yeah!), my Bible (which my Dad gave me back in 1989 with over 20 years worth of notes in it), and my devotional, Jesus Calling.

Of course, there is the standard wallet with my driver’s license, debit cards, store cards, etc.

Two other favorite things in my backpack are my ipod and my camera. You might think my backpack is pretty heavy. And you would be right.

WELL…..

With MANY people around the clothing market today, some joker popped the lock on our friend’s car, grabbed my backpack and took off…and no one saw a thing.

The first things I remembered that were missing were my Kindle and my ipod and I was sad, but when I remembered my Bible, I broke down in tears.

My three sweet children started crying, too. My son looked at me with his chin quivering, and said, “But Mommy, God still loves you.”

I told them that God tells us in His Word to give thanks for all things, so even though I didn’t know why this had happened, He did, and I needed to be okay with that.

My Bible.  I’ve been pondering all the many notes, underlines, thoughts, and insights God has given me over the past 20 years, and it breaks my heart to have lost all that. I was so comfortable with that friend, and now I’ll have to make a new one.

You can join me in praying for the person that has my Bible. He/she was created by God, too, and I can only hope that he or someone else will benefit from the Word like I have.

This is kind of a sad New Year’s Eve for me in that respect, but I am reminded I have a faith that can never be stolen. Jesus is still on His throne, and He has many more new insights to share with me in the years to come, and I will look at His Word with fresh eyes in 2012 (whenever I can get a new Bible sent).

“Our God is greater, our God is stronger. God, You are higher than any other!

Our God is healer, awesome in power, our God, our God.”

Editor’s Note: Please pray for God to encourage this missionary with new insight as she reads the Bible this year.  Pray for the one who stole her backpack to be changed by reading God’s Word.  Pray for all the missionaries to face this new year with hope and joy.

(names, locations and blog links omitted due to security issues; stock photo)