Saturday, June 27, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Rejoice with me!
The Lord never ceases to amaze me. He did a wonderful work, one that I could never do in the past month.
We went to a church service on May 20th, the day a precious little boy by the name of Josiah Herring, age 5, was born into eternity to be with his "Best Friend". This church had been praying for Josiah, and his death was announced in the service, along with requests to pray for his family. My two young girls, Elisabeth and Rebecca, were sobered by this. We had shared the gospel with them, but they both didn't really think it was important to deal with it right away. When they asked me again how old he was, my husband and I took a moment to talk about death. We told them that, just like everyone has a day to be born, they also have a day to die. God knows this day, and we do not. It's important to be ready for eternity! Both of them were under conviction.
About three weeks passed. Then one morning while I was fixing Rebecca's hair, Elisabeth announced, out of the blue, "I'm ready to die now!" Well, those are words that make a mommy take notice! I asked her what on earth she was talking about. She repeated herself, in a matter of fact way, with a big smile on her face. When I asked her why, she said, "I'll go to Jesus!"
"How do you know that?"
"Cause Jesus took my sin away!"
"How do you know He did?"
"Cause I asked Him to!"
"Why did you want Him to take your sin away?"
"Cause it was going to take me to Hell, and I don't want to go there!"
She was so happy and content, and I had not seen her like that in a long time. I continued asking questions, and learned that the night before, June 9, She got out of bed, knelt down and asked Jesus to take away her sin and save her. She told Him thank you for dying for her, and for saving her. Then she went back to bed and slept.
I was, and still am amazed by this work the Holy Spirit did on my daughter, while I did not even know about it. This is not the end of the story though! A few days ago, my second daughter, Rebecca, came storming into our room about two hours after I had sent her and her sisters to bed. She was gasping and sobbing broken heartedly. She choked out, "I want to accept Jesus as my Saviour!" Again, we started asking questions to make sure she knew what she was doing, but that was just foolishness on our part. She knew exactly what she was doing, and this senseless delay was upsetting her even more. She cried, "I'm gonna die and go ta Hell! I wanna get saved!"
What can you say to that? We said, "Go ahead then!"
I watched my daughter drop to her knees and cry out, "Oh God! I'm so so sorry for all my sins! I've done so many bad things! Please, please forgive me!"
That was it! When she raised up her head, a smile started to shine. Ryan asked her, "Did He do it?" She said loudly, "Yessss!"
Rebecca and Elisabeth are two different little girls today! They have peace with God, and it shows. Do you have peace with God? Do you know what will happen to your soul when you die? God is not willing for you to perish!(2 Peter 3:9) Are you willing to repent of your sins and accept His gift of eternal life? If you are, then He is ready to save you! "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." II Cor. 5:21--John 3:16 says it better than I ever could, "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."
My heart goes out to the Herring family, I can't imagine what they've been through, and even though they don't know me, I've been holding them up in prayer. I'm so thankful for the life of their son. One day, I'm going to see him in Heaven, and I'm going to give him a hug and tell him "Thank you for your testimony!, here are two precious souls that were brought to Jesus!"
We went to a church service on May 20th, the day a precious little boy by the name of Josiah Herring, age 5, was born into eternity to be with his "Best Friend". This church had been praying for Josiah, and his death was announced in the service, along with requests to pray for his family. My two young girls, Elisabeth and Rebecca, were sobered by this. We had shared the gospel with them, but they both didn't really think it was important to deal with it right away. When they asked me again how old he was, my husband and I took a moment to talk about death. We told them that, just like everyone has a day to be born, they also have a day to die. God knows this day, and we do not. It's important to be ready for eternity! Both of them were under conviction.
About three weeks passed. Then one morning while I was fixing Rebecca's hair, Elisabeth announced, out of the blue, "I'm ready to die now!" Well, those are words that make a mommy take notice! I asked her what on earth she was talking about. She repeated herself, in a matter of fact way, with a big smile on her face. When I asked her why, she said, "I'll go to Jesus!"
"How do you know that?"
"Cause Jesus took my sin away!"
"How do you know He did?"
"Cause I asked Him to!"
"Why did you want Him to take your sin away?"
"Cause it was going to take me to Hell, and I don't want to go there!"
She was so happy and content, and I had not seen her like that in a long time. I continued asking questions, and learned that the night before, June 9, She got out of bed, knelt down and asked Jesus to take away her sin and save her. She told Him thank you for dying for her, and for saving her. Then she went back to bed and slept.
I was, and still am amazed by this work the Holy Spirit did on my daughter, while I did not even know about it. This is not the end of the story though! A few days ago, my second daughter, Rebecca, came storming into our room about two hours after I had sent her and her sisters to bed. She was gasping and sobbing broken heartedly. She choked out, "I want to accept Jesus as my Saviour!" Again, we started asking questions to make sure she knew what she was doing, but that was just foolishness on our part. She knew exactly what she was doing, and this senseless delay was upsetting her even more. She cried, "I'm gonna die and go ta Hell! I wanna get saved!"
What can you say to that? We said, "Go ahead then!"
I watched my daughter drop to her knees and cry out, "Oh God! I'm so so sorry for all my sins! I've done so many bad things! Please, please forgive me!"
That was it! When she raised up her head, a smile started to shine. Ryan asked her, "Did He do it?" She said loudly, "Yessss!"
Rebecca and Elisabeth are two different little girls today! They have peace with God, and it shows. Do you have peace with God? Do you know what will happen to your soul when you die? God is not willing for you to perish!(2 Peter 3:9) Are you willing to repent of your sins and accept His gift of eternal life? If you are, then He is ready to save you! "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." II Cor. 5:21--John 3:16 says it better than I ever could, "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."
My heart goes out to the Herring family, I can't imagine what they've been through, and even though they don't know me, I've been holding them up in prayer. I'm so thankful for the life of their son. One day, I'm going to see him in Heaven, and I'm going to give him a hug and tell him "Thank you for your testimony!, here are two precious souls that were brought to Jesus!"
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Getting R & R
We just got back from a very busy trip, and now we are resting. Having a day, or two, or more to rest after a busy time is vital to our family life on the road! Balance is important, and we have to realize this before we push ourselves and our kids beyond what God wants us to bear. They can carry a heavy load for a while, and do it willingly because they are wonderful kids, and they love us. However, there will come a moment when they will be convinced we don't care about their needs if we don't take time aside to rest, to recoup, and to spend time together. I say the kids need it, and they do, but I didn't realize how much I needed it until we started making regularly scheduled rest part of our routine.
I do my best to discourage the idea of feeling sorry for missionary's families. These challenges make us stronger, and they give us experience in relying on the Lord at the same time. This is wonderful. But it is challenging for little ones, and we do well to have compassion on them in their weakness, like our Father has compassion on us. He knows our limitations. He has offered us rest in Him every day. I'm thankful I can do what He asks me, and trust Him to know what I need!
I do my best to discourage the idea of feeling sorry for missionary's families. These challenges make us stronger, and they give us experience in relying on the Lord at the same time. This is wonderful. But it is challenging for little ones, and we do well to have compassion on them in their weakness, like our Father has compassion on us. He knows our limitations. He has offered us rest in Him every day. I'm thankful I can do what He asks me, and trust Him to know what I need!
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
(Isaiah 40:11)
Friday, June 05, 2009
Newsy post
So we are apparently coming out from under the flu, or something we picked up at our last meeting. This one started on our last day in Canada, with the kids, and then I got it a couple days ago.
One of the unexpected things about occasionally traveling the country with your nursery-age children is that you acquire new germs everywhere you go! I always ask for prayer for health while we are on the move, because it's the one thing that puts a stop to our plans. Thankfully, we've only had a few mild bouts with bugs between meetings, so far. Also, we've not had any secondary infections, or asthma attacks. Thank you all for praying!
One of the unexpected things about occasionally traveling the country with your nursery-age children is that you acquire new germs everywhere you go! I always ask for prayer for health while we are on the move, because it's the one thing that puts a stop to our plans. Thankfully, we've only had a few mild bouts with bugs between meetings, so far. Also, we've not had any secondary infections, or asthma attacks. Thank you all for praying!
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
WARNING!! PICTURES OF BALUT!!!
I don't know how *I* got wrangled into this. I was supposed to sit there and laugh at Ryan and take pictures.
I did laugh though, especially when he nearly lost the balut along with the pansit we enjoyed for lunch.
This is a Filipino snack. It's a duck egg with the duck embryo inside, boiled. You are supposed to crack it open, suck out the juice, and eat the yoke and the ducky. It's about three bites, unless your mouth is humongous. It tastes like....boiled egg. Go figure.
"I can't believe I'm actually doing this!"
I did laugh though, especially when he nearly lost the balut along with the pansit we enjoyed for lunch.
This is a Filipino snack. It's a duck egg with the duck embryo inside, boiled. You are supposed to crack it open, suck out the juice, and eat the yoke and the ducky. It's about three bites, unless your mouth is humongous. It tastes like....boiled egg. Go figure.
"I can't believe I'm actually doing this!"
Here is my egg
We were told we had to do this, too.
Uh-Oh!
Must. Swallow.
I'm trying to be cool. Note the delight in the face behind me!
Warning! This is the picture of what we ate! If you have a weak tummy, just stop right here. If you think this is fun, click on the image for even more goriness.
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