Well, my friends, here we are on the eve of the most exciting thing ever to happen to me. Not even childbirth or the night before we found out what sex of our last child was or the Christmas I got my Donnie and Marie Barbie Dolls could come close to what is happening now. I am totally frazzled (with this suitcase weight issue!), totally excited, totally at peace, totally everything. I almost don't even have any words anymore, which is very strange for me.
I have not done everything on this blog I wanted to by this date, and for those 2 of you who have been breathless awaiting my next blog entry (ha!) I am sorry. At this point, 5:30 pm on March 17, there is not more I can do. It is, however, my intent to update when I can while we are over there. And when we return I want to document every little thing that happened over there! All the people, all the places, all the cool things God does that I get to witness, experience, partake in.
Before we go, I wanted to share the words of a song by Kelly Garner, who was originally supposed to go on this trip with us. I thought I might be able to download it here too, but I can't figure out how and it's probably illegal anyway!
God Will Provide
Isaac walked up the mountain
His father by his side
Never realizing
He would be the sacrifice
And when Abraham raised his hand
To take his child's life
In his heart he must have wondered why
Sometimes God will take us to unexpected places (like Thailand and Singapore!)
But in every situation we will find
chorus
God will provide
Beyond what we imagine
So much more than we can fathom
He will supply
God will provide
When we trust in Him completely
And take each step believing like a child
God will provide
On another hill called Calvary
A Father's only Son
Was offered as a priceless gift
Of faithfulness and love
Admidst the cry of all mankind
God reached down from above
And covered us with Christ's atoning blood
No matter what our need is, God will always meet us
I know His grace will always be enough
(repeat chorus 2x)
God has done so much for us, girls and guys, and I know now He is cradling us in His hands and will keep us safe on the journey over and will strengthen us for whatever work He has already prepared for us.
It will be a joy to finally meet face to face in the next few days.
O:)
Melissa
Monday, March 17, 2008
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Preparation Time
I can't believe it is six days and counting! I keep packing and repacking my suitcase trying to get it the right weight and I am having no luck! I really want to take a bunch of books to a missionary friend I have in Chiang Mai that she asked for, but dadgumit if they don't weigh a ton! Being a passionate booklover myself I so want to bring these to her, so I just keep taking more stuff out. You guys won't mind seeing me in the same outfit everyday, will you? Ha!
I wanted to share some pictures from our preparations.
Two are from our Packing Party on the 9th. Tim and Joel were awesome about stuffing and stuffing the supplies into suitcases. Their big strong muscles were handy when we went to weigh the bags with our hanging scale! Also, poor Renee has so much makeup and hair stuff she wants to bring for her workshop, her suitcase weighed nearly 80 pounds the first time! Luckily we divided it all out and somehow got it to fit. I think she said she was bringing 700 lipsticks?!? She is also in charge of all the door prizes and treats in the seats. Due to so much generosity, we have almost too much to take!
Our worship leaders have also been busy practicing on Wednesday mornings. Today I got the privilege to sit in for a while with them while taking pictures. We are going to sing some great stuff! Mendy and Jennifer were sitting on the floor looking over the notes, while Debbie and Joel were belting them out. I'm so excited for you all to meet Joel and find out what an awesome man of God he is, yet funny as heck too! There will be a lot of laughing I think going on too!
I will write more in the next few days as our time draws so ever close!
O:)
Melissa
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Images of Thailand
I have much I want to share before I leave, but I wanted to add this link to give you a visual of some of the things we may see and do...defintely the elephants!!!
O:)
Melissa
O:)
Melissa
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Sweet thoughts
Ok, I will confess that what I am fasting is sweets/desserts. I have been claiming our verse Angela gave us in 2 Sam I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God that which costs me nothing! It has been good to cling to, especially over my daddy's birthday chocolate cake (which I made!) and now with Valentine's Day coming up!
But I wanted to find another verse involving "sweets" to claim, to make it more personal. Here is what I found and what dear Charles Spurgeon has to say:
God is so sweet!
O:)
Melissa
But I wanted to find another verse involving "sweets" to claim, to make it more personal. Here is what I found and what dear Charles Spurgeon has to say:
Psalm 119:103
103 How sweet Your word is to my taste— [sweeter] than honey to my mouth. (HCSB)
103 How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! (NIV)
Your words are so choice, so tasty; I prefer them to the best home cooking. (Message)
103 How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth! (KJV)
Spurgeon
Verse 103. How sweet are thy words into my taste. He had not only heard the words of God, but fed upon them: they affected his palate as well as his ear. God's words are many and varied, and the whole of them make up what we call "the word": David loved them each one, individually, arid the whole of them as a whole; he tasted an indescribable sweetness in them. He expresses the fact of their sweetness, but as he cannot express the degree of their sweetness he cries, "How sweet!" Being God's words they were divinely sweet to God's servant; he who put the sweetness into them had prepared the taste of his servant to discern and enjoy it. David makes no distinction between promises and precepts, doctrines and threatenings; they are all included in God's words, and all are precious in his esteem. Oh for a deep love to all that the Lord has revealed, whatever form it may take. Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth. When he did not only eat but also speak the word, by instructing others, he felt an increased delight in it. The sweetest of all temporal things fall short of the infinite deliciousness of the eternal word. Honey itself is outstripped of the Lord Widen the Psalmist fed on it he in sweetness by the word found it sweet; but when he bore witness of it became sweeter still. How wise it will be on our part to keep the word on our palate by meditation and on our tongue by confession. It must be sweet to our taste when we think of it, or it will not be Sweet to our mouth when we talk of it.
However, on March 4, when this is over, I'm starting with a white chocolate mocha at Saxby's and bringing chocolate cake to share for anyone who wants to join me! Ha!God is so sweet!
O:)
Melissa
More Ezra thoughts
Although most of Monday night was spent on everyone sharing their own Why? answers, there was one incredible thing I wanted to share from Ezra. In Ezra 3:3 it says They set up the altar on its foundation and offered burnt offerings for the morning and evening on it to the LORD even though they feared the surrounding peoples. This tells us that when the people were afraid, the worshipped. Back then it meant offering sacrifices as a means of worship; but today, since Jesus was our sacrifice once for all, we can worship Him through songs, prayer, etc. Angela has had a visual of this that she shared with us in regard to this about our trip. (Forgive me, Angela, if I don't get this exactly right!) She sees us inside the city walls at the gate and she sees an enemy approaching to defeat us. But inside the city, instead of lifting up weapons to destroy the enemy, we are singing praise songs and worshipping the Lord. HE is our weapon and HE is the one who turns back the enemy. Over and over in the Bible we read of times when the LORD was the one who fought the battle for His people and they were always victorious. We, too, will be victorious!
I wish so much I could share everyone's Why answers; it was such an incredible night to learn so much about all of us there and to see what each person feels he/she will be doing there. As Angela said, we were speaking prophecy about what is going to happen while we are there. Some of it sent chill bumps over us! It will be so exciting to come back and share how and when it happens! I will share one thing Ann said....she said this whole trip actually started in 1999 when God placed the desire on her heart to minister to these missionary wives and others who have no one to help them when their husbands are so busy with mission work. They have their own set of friends there, but sometimes you just need family and family is always 1000s of miles away. It will be such a joy to love on these women and give them a Word, whatever that may be that the Lord lays on our hearts.
The days are getting closer and I am getting more excited!
O:)
Melissa
I wish so much I could share everyone's Why answers; it was such an incredible night to learn so much about all of us there and to see what each person feels he/she will be doing there. As Angela said, we were speaking prophecy about what is going to happen while we are there. Some of it sent chill bumps over us! It will be so exciting to come back and share how and when it happens! I will share one thing Ann said....she said this whole trip actually started in 1999 when God placed the desire on her heart to minister to these missionary wives and others who have no one to help them when their husbands are so busy with mission work. They have their own set of friends there, but sometimes you just need family and family is always 1000s of miles away. It will be such a joy to love on these women and give them a Word, whatever that may be that the Lord lays on our hearts.
The days are getting closer and I am getting more excited!
O:)
Melissa
Monday, February 4, 2008
My Why Answers
Don't get too excited thinking I have figured out the Why questions of life, because long ago I decided that although Jesus will one day answer all of our Why questions, by that time the answer won't matter anymore. (you know, like why on earth does a baby scream her head off if she is so tired?!?!?)
Alas, this week in Bible Study we were asked by Angela to answer some Why questions about this trip and I wanted to share my answers.
1. Why am I on this trip?
The short answer is, because God told me to go! I would never in a million years have thought I might actually go on a missions trip, especially to the other side of the world, but when God tells you to go, He not only fills you with the desire, but also with the peace that all the plans will work out. Besides one short breakdown, I have not worried about how this would all work out. I knew God would provide, because He has been in charge of this all along.
At the same time, I could not be doing with this without “the hand of the Lord upon me, [from which] I took courage…” (Ezra 7:28). To sign up for this trip not knowing hardly anyone going was a huge step for me.
2. Who am I targeting?
I know our goal is to love on and encourage these women at the REST retreat and that is what I enjoy doing, so I am hoping for the opportunity to do that. I want to be open to do what the Lord will have me do there. However, the other week when Mendy and I were putting together all these scrapbooking kits and I was thinking about the low attendance issue, I thought, “what are we going to do if so few people show up to the retreat and no one chooses to come to our workshop?!? “ I wasn’t really disappointed like we had worked so hard for nothing, for I knew it was the Lord’s will for us to be doing this. But then I thought, “maybe there is someone else who needs all this stuff, or maybe if there are only 5 people who show up at our workshops, we can bless them by giving them all this extra stuff. Maybe they have wanted to get into preserving their families history and events and just have not been able to get the supplies to do it. I just want to be open to whomever and whatever I need to do, I want to “boldly and without hindrance….. [teach] about the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Acts 28:31)
3. What is my purpose on this trip?
Not only to be faithful and obey the Lord when He says to go, but also to be open to what He wants me to do. As Matthew Henry says, “when God's time is come for fulfilling his gracious purposes concerning his church, he will raise up instruments to do it…” That would be us; that would be me.
I also want to expand my understanding of missions, to see it “live in action”; I want to finally after 40 years do the great commission; I want to have a deeper love for missions begin to build within me. I want to take a step of faith and let God show me what He can do for me when I totally trust Him, to enlarge my simplistic understanding of Him.
4. What is God telling me about my role on this trip?
Be open to what I want you to do for Me. See where it may go. Hang on!
5. How I came to know Jesus….
At the tender age of 7 ½ I asked Jesus into my heart and was baptized, but all I thought that meant was that I got to drink the juice and eat the cracker. I have been in church since I was 4 weeks old, so I had heard and learned the wonderful Bible stories and memorized scripture, but it wasn’t until I was in high school that I really began to understand and grasp it all. Then, while in college, I actually got rebaptized. Not because I thought I needed it, but because I felt like I understood it more and wanted to experience it again.
I have no wild conversion story since I have pretty much been goody two-shoes all my life, but that does not mean life has always been easy. I may appear to have it all together on the outside, but inside there are many troubles that nag at me and beg to drag me down. However, through the years of being married and having children I have continued to grow and grow in my understand and love of Jesus and that has helped me in my battles that I fight.
I'm anxious to see what everyone else has to say tonight!
O:)
Melissa
Alas, this week in Bible Study we were asked by Angela to answer some Why questions about this trip and I wanted to share my answers.
1. Why am I on this trip?
The short answer is, because God told me to go! I would never in a million years have thought I might actually go on a missions trip, especially to the other side of the world, but when God tells you to go, He not only fills you with the desire, but also with the peace that all the plans will work out. Besides one short breakdown, I have not worried about how this would all work out. I knew God would provide, because He has been in charge of this all along.
At the same time, I could not be doing with this without “the hand of the Lord upon me, [from which] I took courage…” (Ezra 7:28). To sign up for this trip not knowing hardly anyone going was a huge step for me.
2. Who am I targeting?
I know our goal is to love on and encourage these women at the REST retreat and that is what I enjoy doing, so I am hoping for the opportunity to do that. I want to be open to do what the Lord will have me do there. However, the other week when Mendy and I were putting together all these scrapbooking kits and I was thinking about the low attendance issue, I thought, “what are we going to do if so few people show up to the retreat and no one chooses to come to our workshop?!? “ I wasn’t really disappointed like we had worked so hard for nothing, for I knew it was the Lord’s will for us to be doing this. But then I thought, “maybe there is someone else who needs all this stuff, or maybe if there are only 5 people who show up at our workshops, we can bless them by giving them all this extra stuff. Maybe they have wanted to get into preserving their families history and events and just have not been able to get the supplies to do it. I just want to be open to whomever and whatever I need to do, I want to “boldly and without hindrance….. [teach] about the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Acts 28:31)
3. What is my purpose on this trip?
Not only to be faithful and obey the Lord when He says to go, but also to be open to what He wants me to do. As Matthew Henry says, “when God's time is come for fulfilling his gracious purposes concerning his church, he will raise up instruments to do it…” That would be us; that would be me.
I also want to expand my understanding of missions, to see it “live in action”; I want to finally after 40 years do the great commission; I want to have a deeper love for missions begin to build within me. I want to take a step of faith and let God show me what He can do for me when I totally trust Him, to enlarge my simplistic understanding of Him.
4. What is God telling me about my role on this trip?
Be open to what I want you to do for Me. See where it may go. Hang on!
5. How I came to know Jesus….
At the tender age of 7 ½ I asked Jesus into my heart and was baptized, but all I thought that meant was that I got to drink the juice and eat the cracker. I have been in church since I was 4 weeks old, so I had heard and learned the wonderful Bible stories and memorized scripture, but it wasn’t until I was in high school that I really began to understand and grasp it all. Then, while in college, I actually got rebaptized. Not because I thought I needed it, but because I felt like I understood it more and wanted to experience it again.
I have no wild conversion story since I have pretty much been goody two-shoes all my life, but that does not mean life has always been easy. I may appear to have it all together on the outside, but inside there are many troubles that nag at me and beg to drag me down. However, through the years of being married and having children I have continued to grow and grow in my understand and love of Jesus and that has helped me in my battles that I fight.
I'm anxious to see what everyone else has to say tonight!
O:)
Melissa
Zechariah thoughts..
I will never be able to justice to our buddy Zechariah here, but I did just want to point out a few things that really stood out to me and us.
Basically, Zechariah and Haggai were around at the same time; however Haggai was older and Zechariah was younger. According to Eugene Merrill, "Whereas Haggai’s vision encompassed, for the most part, his immediate, temporal situation, the range of his contemporary and colleague was much more expansive; for Zechariah not only shared Haggai’s burden about the inertia of the postexilic community, but by vision and dream saw the unfolding of Divine purpose for all of God’s people and for all the ages to come."
Haggai could see what needed to be done NOW, while through visions and words from the Lord, Zechariah could see "the big picture" ... he could see years into the future when Jesus, God incarnate, would walk these very paths!
Basically, Haggai was the practical one -- let's go in, get the temple built, get it done. This has no life, but only immediate work to be done. Zechariah was the prophetic one -- he could see in the Spirit about why the temple needed to be built. This has no meat, but only visions of the future. In the church, you need both to get the work done. Zechariah brings the WHY to Haggai.
I highly recommend http://www.enduringword.com/commentaries/38.html which is a commentary on Zechariah by David Guzik.
Basically, Zechariah and Haggai were around at the same time; however Haggai was older and Zechariah was younger. According to Eugene Merrill, "Whereas Haggai’s vision encompassed, for the most part, his immediate, temporal situation, the range of his contemporary and colleague was much more expansive; for Zechariah not only shared Haggai’s burden about the inertia of the postexilic community, but by vision and dream saw the unfolding of Divine purpose for all of God’s people and for all the ages to come."
Haggai could see what needed to be done NOW, while through visions and words from the Lord, Zechariah could see "the big picture" ... he could see years into the future when Jesus, God incarnate, would walk these very paths!
Basically, Haggai was the practical one -- let's go in, get the temple built, get it done. This has no life, but only immediate work to be done. Zechariah was the prophetic one -- he could see in the Spirit about why the temple needed to be built. This has no meat, but only visions of the future. In the church, you need both to get the work done. Zechariah brings the WHY to Haggai.
I highly recommend http://www.enduringword.com/commentaries/38.html which is a commentary on Zechariah by David Guzik.
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