Pushing Down Roadblocks

Today I received the following prayer request:

"Here is a urgent request for you prayer warriors out there. A Missionary family we know that is serving in Africa has asked for prayer from their friends and partners around the world. They have three children who have contracted malaria. Two of them are responding to the recommended treatment and protocol and are doing better. The third child, a son is not responding to the protocol and it is been over four days. Pray for God's healing for this son and for all the family to regain health quickly.Thank you for your diligent prayers in their behalf."

In my Church we are gathering a group of women to go to West Africa next Spring. Our plan is to create a Vacation Bible School for children in a small village..... We are just beginning the planning stages.. One of the leaders that is critical to the planning of this missions trip shared with our group just recently her strong fear of malaria..... One of the reasons she had never gone to West Africa... is because of the possibility of malaria. She has been to Lebanon, Jordan, and many other "hot" zones and felt no fear.... But West Africa - major fear... A month ago she decided to try to overcome her fear and trust God and go to West Africa..

Satan knows our fears.....and is continuously trying to set up Road Blocks to prevent us to from following God's word, helping us to share God's word, and many times just being happy in God's word... Take my friend for instance and her fear of malaria... and suddenly a family she is close with contracts this awful illness....... Getting out of our comfort zone is so tough when these road blocks keep popping up... With prayer and God on our side...Satan does not have much of a chance.... but God never promised things would be easy.... if anything He is constantly preparing us for the trials and sacrifices we need to make in His name...

I have another friend who was in the missions field with her husband and young son in the Ukraine....she was starting to learn the language and the culture....she and her young family started to make a difference in the town they were in and all of a sudden BAM they are sent home.... Satan does this.... again those nasty ugly roadblocks.... when good is being done... he sets out to tear it down..

We as Christians need to jump over, push down, and walk around these roadblocks... We need not be discouraged because if there are roadblocks coming up... we are making a difference.. God is being seen, felt, and heard.....

Would you please join me in praying for this family in Africa. Pray for God's healing hands.. pray for all the children to be well and cured... Pray that no one else gets sick.. Thank you.

Dangerous Surrender

I recently finished a Book study in my woman's ministry group. The book was by Kay Warren called Dangerous Surrender. You have already read a little about my experience with this book. It's the kind of book that makes you look in the mirror and ask yourself am I doing enough? Am I putting myself out there to help people in need? Am I picking up the cross and serving others? Am I dying to self and living for Jesus? Not everyone is suppose to go over seas in the mission field.. There is a huge mission field right outside our front door. Look at our communities... There are homeless shelters, AIDS Clinics, newborn babies addicted to drugs, children in Foster care homes that want to belong to a family, and so much more...There are people that need us.. and I really think we need these people too.
Kay Warren wrote that we need to get disturbed about what is out there.. Disturbed enough to help cure the problems..disturbed enough to love our brothers and sisters...enough to surrender to God's purpose for our lives..
Mark 8:34-37 Then (Jesus) called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?"
In the verse where Jesus says "take up the cross" what that means is saying yes. "Yes, God, I will do whatever you ask of me - whatever, whenever." It's agreeing with God that His way is best in every situation and choosing to obey Him over every other authority, regardless of how you feel about it. This is "dying" to self-will and self-centeredness...
This is a really hard one for me. I do not like getting dirty, sweating, and I don't like being out of my "comfort zone". My idea of roughing it is sleeping in a 3 star hotel.. Okay that's a little exaggeration.. I do like to camp out... but only on my terms.. fresh water.. clean toilets...tent with a blow up mattress... So I am asking myself why am I seriously considering flying all the way to West Africa?? Oh and I absolutely hate flying... since I am a control freak.. trusting my life to an airplane pilot is really hard..... but you know.. I'm getting okay with that..Why am I thinking about getting so far out of my comfort zone it's scary..? What is God putting on my heart? and why? Will I go to West Africa? I don't really know. My husband, Dusty thinks I should wait until the girls are in college...at least that's what he thinks today...who knows if God will speak to him too... I never thought I would be where I am today...
Whether it's here or way over there..there are people that need us...People that are suffering and we can help... praying, giving your time, giving your money, and just giving yourself... Are you willing to be seriously disturbed?
*quotes taken from 'Dangerous Surrender'

Last Night - Woman's Bible Study

My Woman's Study group has been studying 'Dangerous Surrender' by Kay Warren.. This has been a very emotional and difficult study.. The study is about getting out of your comfort zone and making a difference.. In Kay's case she was seriously disturbed about HIV/Aids. She went on a missions trip to Africa and learned that she needed to surrender herself to God's plan for her. She is now an HIV/AIDS advocate. "God wins us, not by shouting, beating us up, or starving us into submission, but by asking for an invitation to enter. We are loved into Surrender. The more we accept that he operates out of love for us, the more we will entrust ourselves to him" excerpt from 'Dangerous Surrender'.
Not everyone is called to go overseas on a missions trip.. There are many opportunities right here in our own communities...
There were many disturbing issues that were discussed during this seven month study. I learned that Human Trafficking is alive and well in the United States....it's everywhere. I have learned a little about how to detect it... Now there are many opportunities for me to get involved in helping to bring attention to this awful crime. I have found that there are pregnancy centers that help give women a different alternative to abortion. Horizon Pregnancy Center in Huntington Beach, California is trying to raise money to purchase an ultrasound. Studies have shown that women who see their unborn child show a 90% ratio of not having an abortion.. If you would like to donate to this cause please do to www.horizonpc.org. My husband took our daughter to a Purity Dance for this cause. It was a beautiful evening for the two of them.
Tonight's last class is on the last chapter of the book... The name of the chapter is 'Some May Die Today'... sounds kind of ominous don't you think? Matthew 10:28 "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell" One of the speakers we had during this study said that missionaries have to have "The body bag mentality" In the words of Queen Esther "If I perish, I perish" (Esther 4:16) For most of us dying for Jesus' sake is not something we will be asked to do, but in the deepest places in our souls, we must come to the place where we are willing to die if it serves God's purposes...
Surrendering to God can be dangerous... dying to self is hard...giving up our way of life and taking up the cross to bring God's children to Him is really hard...."But surrendering our lives to him and being willing to pay the highest price open up the certainty that justice will finally roll down like a river - every tear will be wiped away, mercy will triumph over judgment, orphans will have families, these fragile bodies that are sick will know health, and love will win." excerpt from Dangerous Surrender...
The final project for tonight's final study was to make a cardboard sign... One side saying what I was before the study and the other side what I am today after the study..Granted the picture is not of me holding the sign but my kid Nikki, why you may ask? Well.. I don't like my picture taken and she already had her makeup on!
The Last Question: Will you risk your life and all you hold dear for the sake of God's kingdom? Leave me a comment and tell me what you think......

I'm Gonna Go On A Mission

A few years ago I was talking to a dear friend who just got back from a missions trip to the middle east. I told her I would love to go on a trip after my kids are grown.. Her reply was "Why wait, I've been taking my kids to the mission field since they were babies." That comment kinda struck me funny... the mission field is no place for kids...so I thought at the time....not thinking about the unreached children who are living and breathing in that mission field.
I look at my friend, Rox's children.....well not children any longer, and I am amazed by their love for the Lord. Their love for spreading God's word. Her son reaches the unreached through his music.... Her daughter is going on her own missions trips now...to the middle east... I look at this young woman of twenty and think.. I want to be like her when I grow up.. I think what an incredible opportunity for my kids. My kids who I know could touch the lives of other children.. My kids who I am so proud of. I love watching them mature in their faith..especially my twelve year old. She has a servants heart and just wants to make a difference.
In my Sunday night bible study we have been studying Kay Warren's book "Dangerous Surrender. Talk about a person who completely went out of her comfort zone to reach the unreached people groups...Do I want to be so disturbed by the world's unreached people that I would completely change my life??? I don't know...
There may be an opportunity for me to go out into the mission field for a couple of weeks in the near future. My heart tells me yes yes... My husband is saying.. let's talk about this.. I know I will be in the mission field one day whether it's for a week or two o longer... but until then, I walk out my front door and see a vast mission field before me..