What Have You Got To Lose??

When the love of God became real and personal in my life, His words in the Bible became alive in my heart!  They stopped being just mere words of truth that resonated in my head.  Instead my heart claimed them to be truths that were spoken directly to me, promises and wisdom given directly to me from the Father's heart, because the living Word became alive in me and He became Lord of my life!

In order for me to live out Proverbs 3:5, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding,” I had to let go of other things/people that I was putting my trust into before God.  For the past 1-2 years He has shown to me that I loved and found security in other things more than Him (i.e. my husband, family, kids, home, finances, talents), and I was allowing those things to become my source of security, trust, joy and peace.  It was quite the roller coaster ride, and although I love roller coasters, I wanted to get off this one.  When I got to that breaking point of asking the Lord, “What does it look like to love you with all my heart, soul, mind and strength…,” I was then able to fully receive what He’s wanted to give me all along – His love!  First, I had to acknowledge that I wasn’t walking in His love.  Second, I had to let go of control and let God be God in my life.

Has God ever asked you to do something that just didn’t make sense or seemed impossible?  Out of fear or not understanding, maybe you chose to go the safe route and missed out on the blessings He wanted to give you or the lessons He wanted to teach you.  Or, maybe you are walking in faith now, doing what seems impossible because you know the God of the impossible and have dedicated your life to living for Him!  Wherever you are at in your journey, know that you can trust God with every aspect of your life because He has your best interest at heart and He has great plans for you!  Ask yourself this - when you encounter hardships, do you become overwhelmed, stressed, anxious, worried and try to figure things out on your own?  When we become this way we are taking our focus off what God can do and are putting it upon ourselves.  Anxiety is only a stumbling block and a hindrance to walking the path that God has set for you.  Or are you putting your faith and trust in the Lord, not only for your eternal salvation, but with everyday life and laying your burdens and cares down at His feet?  He wants to be our first stop for everything!!  Many believe that things will always work out how they’re supposed to, but that’s not always the case when we aren’t seeking God for direction.  When we aren’t seeking and obeying His direction, we aren’t living life the way He intended for us to live it.  Sometimes we just let life happen and when it looks good we assume we’re on the path God wants us to be on, or when life is tough we occasionally give credit to the enemy for robbing us of God’s blessings and promises.  Well, God revealed to me in my own personal journey that this is not always the case.  Yes, God will turn things around and work things out for His good for those who love Him and seek Him, but we must get out of His way and allow Him to be Lord of our life and do what He does best – be God!  We also need to stop blaming the enemy every time things don’t go our way because he’s not always at fault.  Sometimes things don’t go the way we want because that’s not how God wants them to go.

How often do you wake up asking God what He’d like to do with you today and then actually put it to action?  Note - this is not a spirit of performance but a spirit of obedience because you love Him so much!  How often do you ask God what His dreams and plans are for you (or share yours with Him) and then actually start living out those dreams?  How often do you include God in your daily walk and listen for His voice and see the good He is doing and then thank Him for it?  Is your life dependent on Him or have you taken the own lead in your life?  What do you have your gaze on?  He does tell us there will be storms in life, but when those storms come what are your eyes fixed on – your circumstances or Him??  Our actions and reactions are evidence of what lies in our heart, and He wants to cleanse us and prune us of everything that is not of Him.  These are questions I’ve had to ask myself before, and through a very humbling process, God showed me where I had gotten off course.  Let me share a little more of my journey with you…………

For a long time Josh and I lived a life of routine, a lifestyle approved by American standards.  We had great careers, made good money, owned a home, had a family, went to church, had freedom to enjoy life and entertain ourselves whenever we wanted.  Then we heard a sermon one Sunday on living a simplified life so that we can pour more into the Kingdom.  Roughly 6 years ago we began a journey with God called “letting go”.  Most of you know that we’ve gone from 2 incomes to 1, added 3 more children to our family, and experienced pay cut after pay cut after pay cut.  It wasn’t until this last position Josh accepted at the Salvation Army that we understood why God had asked him to take a job that pays less than what we can live off of (on paper).  He is showing us that, through obedience (even when it doesn’t make sense), we can trust that He is our provider and will take care of our every need…..and still live out our “impossible” dreams with him because He makes it all possible!  Josh could easily go find a job that pays well or go find more work to sustain us better financially.  I could even work somehow from home or find a PT job and have someone watch our kids.  However, those things are not what God is asking us to do right now.  When you love and trust Him then it makes the temptation of going outside His will so much easier to ignore.  We want to live a life that is fully dependent on Him and be radically obedient to whatever He asks us to do.  Some might question our sanity or whether or not we’re clearly hearing from God, or they might even think we’re being irresponsible with our money by spending thousands of dollars to travel wherever He tells us to go because from the world’s standpoint we are living in “poverty” and shouldn’t be spending our money that way, but for us that doesn’t really matter because we are living our lives to please God and not man [Galatians 1:10].  Even with less money to live off of, we are richly blessed and eternally humbled to be able to live a life for Him, and He’s taught us to be generous with the little we have because it’s all His  anyway and His resources are endless!  And you know what? He’s blessed us with far more than we ever expected.  In fact, we recently found out that Josh is going to be getting a raise, praise the Lord!!  More money to pour into His Kingdom however He chooses.  The key here is perspective.  What has become so important in your life that it has taken precedence over Him?

Here’s a quote from one of our friends that we met in Africa: “It’s fun living a life in His presence and doing what we see the Father doing instead of living our old routine of ‘doing life responsibly’ and fitting His plans in when possible.  I love that HE is our focus now!  Following His leading and living by faith is SO much fun!!”

God showed us that we are going to be traveling in the future.  We don’t know when, we don’t know how often, we just know.  This past summer God told us to get ready to be mobile.  One of the things He showed us was that at some point we were going to have to give up our house.  We are at peace with this because it’s one less thing that grounds us from being able to go (possibly move) where He tells us to.  This summer we are going on a mission trip to Pohnpei, Micronesia.  We will be leaving with a team from our church the beginning of June and be gone for approximately 2 weeks.  We are excited to serve the people there and share the love of God with them.  It seems impossible for us to go right now because we don’t have the money, but we know that God is going to take care of that and He’s already worked things out so that our kids will be taken care of while we’re gone!  Plus, on the same day that Josh accepted his current position at Salvation Army he also received permission to take time off this summer for the trip.  God gave us an open invitation to go and He is paving the way for it to happen!  Micronesia has been on our hearts ever since we attended the Harvest Missions School in Africa last summer.  We are praying into whether or not this will be a long term residence of ours in the future, so your prayers would be greatly appreciated.  Our dream and passion is to bring the Light and Love to teenagers and/or young adults (or whoever crosses our path for that matter) who are lost or in spiritual bondage.  God gave me a dream around 16-years of age of multiple homes/shelters.  At the time I did not know what the buildings in my dream represented, but slowly He has been revealing more of the purpose for this dream and it is exciting to partner with Him and see things come to fruition.  We’d like to run a home/shelter someday that provides a place for teens to come to and simply be loved to Jesus!!  If you are feeling God tell you to do something that just doesn’t make sense, don’t worry about the details or what it will look like. If God wants you to take a step in any direction, He already has your path set before you. All you have to do is walk on the path He has set. He will take care of you. Give God your worries in prayer and let Him lead you.  He will give you a peace that surpasses all understanding [Philippians4:6-7].  This is a quote I came across, “Sometimes God doesn’t reveal the full blueprint of our lives, but He always shows us the next step.”  He’s put us in a position where we get to minister to this age group already so we’re excited to see what direction He leads with that.  If you’re interested in following us on our journey with that, you can visit our ministry page on Facebook: The Bridge Student Ministries.

Next time you face a hardship, ask yourself….. Will I allow myself to be overwhelmed or will I keep my eyes focused on the Lord and hang onto the promises and truths that are for me today?  Is my faith genuine to the point where I will trust Him?

What have you got to lose?

My First Love

Do you ever get tired of other people pushing certain buttons in your life that produce a negative response from you?  Have you ever found yourself thinking, “If they would just change, it would be so much easier to love them.  If they would stop being so negative, I would be much happier and at peace.  If they didn’t test my patience, I wouldn’t get so upset with them all the time.  If they would just listen better and get a clue, I wouldn’t react that way.  If they would be a little nicer to me, I wouldn’t be so harsh with them.  If my circumstances were different, life would be a lot more enjoyable.  If... If… If…”?  How many of you have waited for circumstances or someone else to change so that your life could be better?   How many of you have allowed your life to be controlled by emotions?

I’ve been in similar places myself and want to share what my journey has looked like as God has shown me how to overcome this.  As many of you know, I have a personal relationship with the Lord, but I haven’t always had this type of relationship in my life.  What I am going to share with you stems from discovering my true identity and living out of that place.  I’m sure many of you have heard the saying, “Be careful what you ask for…”  God is faithful to answer prayers, but you may find yourself going through a process that you don’t like or didn’t sign up for.  Sometimes God will use challenging situations in our lives to teach and test us.  When this happens, do you allow Him to be your source of strength or do you let your emotions get the best of you?  If you want more of His love, prepare to be tested.  If you want more of His patience, prepare to be tested.  You get the idea……  He is faithful to answer our prayers, not in the way we expected but in the way He had planned, but are you willing to let your flesh die so He can be made alive and reflect Himself through you?  All of us will come to that pivotal fork in the road where we have two choices: stay in control or surrender the reigns to God.  That’s not to say that you only have to choose once and then the rest of life is a piece of cake.  No, we wake up every morning with the choice of how we are going to live our life and who we are going to live it for.  That doesn’t mean our circumstances or the people around us will automatically change, but as you lay down your life for Him I know that your perspective will change.

For the past few years I have been asking the Lord to show me what HIS love really looks like – to take me deeper into His heart.  I’ve always known that God is a loving God, but I will openly admit that until recently I never fully understood what it meant to be personally loved by God and to love Him with all my heart, soul, mind and strength [Mark 12:30].  When I’d hear people talk about having an intimate relationship with the Lord, often times it made me feel uncomfortable because my understanding of intimacy was skewed.  We are all created with the desire to do good and to love, but until we fully receive the Father’s love we will always be incomplete.  I think of the line in the movie Jerry McGuire, “You complete me.”  I have encountered this kind of Father’s love in my life and it has completed me, but it did require me to let go of insecurities and go outside my comfort zone so my walls could come down.

God took my understanding of His love to a whole new level, and it all began when I did the “Love Dare” on my husband, Josh, back in 2010 for his 34^th birthday.  I thought this would be a creative way to show Josh just how much I loved him, but little did I know that God had plans of His own.  God humbled me in areas where my heart had become hardened and I didn’t even realize it or was too prideful to admit.  I thought I understood His love until I encountered situations where the Holy Spirit brought conviction to my heart.  These verses have gone from my head to my heart and I have been forever changed by them and continue to ask the Lord to take me even deeper into His heart of love.  I want to know how high, how deep, how wide HIS love is.

In Matthew 5:44-48 Jesus says, “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father 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 have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

Through these verses the Lord showed me some “enemies” of mine that I was not responding to with His love.  Sure, they may have caused pain in my life, but God showed me that they still deserved His love.  He also showed me times where I wasn’t responding to my own husband and children with His love because I allowed them to be my source of love instead of allowing Him to be my source of love.  When we allow other things/people to be our source of love or happiness we will always be disappointed.  I love my husband and my children bring happiness into my life, but if those things were taken away does that mean my love and happiness would be taken away also?  No, because they are not my source of love, joy and peace – He is!  So, how did I reach this point…….?

How many of you have people in your life that you just can’t stand to be around sometimes and you wonder why they have to be a part of your life?  Don’t everyone answer all at once…..!  If we’re honest with ourselves, we’ve probably experienced someone like this at least once.  There has been someone in my life, not by my own choosing, that I’ve had to deal with and I would sometimes find myself thinking, “If only they didn’t exist” or “Why me God?”  It got to a point in my life where I was tired of allowing the way they treated me to trigger a negative reaction from me.  I asked the Lord to show me why this was happening and how I could stop being so reactive when so-and-so pushed my buttons.  When this person would treat me poorly, I would allow myself to get frazzled.  The Lord showed me that I had allowed the enemy to plant a seed of bitterness in my heart towards them because I didn’t feel they were deserving of love.  The more we try to hide from God, even though He already knows it all, the more vulnerable we become to opening a door for the enemy to attack us and hold us in bondage.  The greatest defense we can have against the enemy is to maintain an honest heart before God.  This person hurt my feelings and treated me poorly even though I had done nothing wrong, but all I wanted was to “stick it to this person”.  The Lord reminded me of the above verses in Matthew and how I am called to love my enemies and those who treat me poorly.  If I hate my brother but say “I love God” I am a liar.  [1 John 4:18-21]  If you say “I love you God” but don’t trust Him, do you really love Him?  I thought I was carrying God’s love with me because I loved my family, friends, etc. and did good deeds, and yet the Holy Spirit revealed to me in the most gentle way that I was not loving the people He has called me to love – which is EVERYONE – including those that don’t love me back or treat me very kindly.  He also showed me that I didn’t fully love and trust Him.  Wow Lord, what do I do with that?  His answer, “Allow me to be your first love.”  He doesn’t ask us to be a doormat for people to abuse us, and we have to know how to set healthy boundaries, but if you want to learn what His love looks like and to be a carrier of it, you must allow Him to be your first love because He is love and without His love we gain nothing [1 Corinthians 13:3].  When you love Him above all else, yes even your spouse, parents, children, family [Matthew 10:37-39], His love will naturally flow through you and out of you as you continue to remain in Him.  John 15:5 – “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."  It is this kind of love that will change the world.  It is this kind of love that will be a light for people in a very dark world.  It is this kind of love that keeps you from being offended and prompts you to quickly forgive others.  Why this kind of love?  Because it is coupled with the power of Jesus!  When you choose to respond with His love, the power comes.  When you choose not to respond with His love, your peace and joy can be stolen because you are distancing yourself from Him.  Remember that He never leaves us, but sometimes we choose to leave Him or distance ourselves from Him.  It is always your choice!  How deep do you want to go with Him?

The person I referenced in my example didn’t have to enter my life in order for God to show me His love, but He used this situation for good in my life because I love Him and asked Him to.  Sometimes we go through things in life or make choices that are not part of His plan.  Just like in the beginning with Adam and Eve, it wasn’t part of God’s plan for them to sin and disobey Him by partaking of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  He gave them freewill.  They had a choice.  The enemy deceived them by making their choice appear to be good even though it went against what God told them.  The enemy is really good at bringing about doubt, fear, confusion and division.  Adam and Eve chose to reject God’s command by disobeying, but God knew this was going to happen and He had a plan to redeem them and restore their relationship with Him.  Romans 8:28 states that He works all things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purposes.

When I am connected to the vine (Jesus) my circumstances and emotions don’t rule my life.  Yes, He gave us emotions: anger, sadness, etc., but He doesn’t want us to stay there and live out of a place of emotions otherwise they start to become the driving force in our lives.  I thank God for showing me how to allow His Word to become alive in my heart.  I trust the Lord and love Him above all else.  Although I may falter at times and definitely don’t have all the answers, He is first in my life and I would have it no other way.  If you’ve never experienced the love of the Father in a personal way, ask Him for it!  If you want your roots to be planted in Him because you are tired of the cycle you’ve been going through, receive Him now and enjoy the ride!

Open Doors

A desire and passion to write has really sprung forth in me, and I’m thankful for the opportunity to share in writing what has been going on in our lives.  It’s been over 2 months since my last post, but I hope to write more frequently as the Lord places things on my heart to share.
 

For the past few months Josh has been applying for one job after the other.  We came back from Africa knowing that we did not want to come back to going through the motions of life.  The Lord made it very clear that Josh was not to settle for just any job because He had the perfect plan for him and our family.  We released our dreams to God and shared with Him our desires for our family.  Our heart has been that Josh would get a job where he can positively impact others and pour out God’s love openly and freely.  We have consistently prayed that God would continue to close doors that He didn’t want us walking through.  It’s so easy to try and force doors to open, and sometimes we walk through doors that appear to be good but get us a little off track.  However, God has given us a vision for our lives and we are excited to live out our dreams with Him and do whatever He asks of us!

Payment for coaching football and teaching a student from George Fox University recently ended, which left us with our only source of income – unemployment – scheduled to end in February.  Although we have been completely at peace with our circumstances, we couldn’t help but wonder just exactly what the Lord was up to.  There has been an excitement in our spirits for what is/was to come!  Then on December 7^th Josh was offered and accepted a position as Program Coordinator for the Salvation Army.  He will be working at the family crisis shelter, and it is the perfect opportunity for him to share the love of God with those that may be struggling to see The Light at the end of the tunnel.  Although the pay is a substantial decrease from his teaching salary, the Lord made it clear that we should not let money be the deciding factor for rejecting the job.  We trust the Lord with all of our heart and are choosing not to lean on our own understanding [Proverbs 3:5].  It’s a choice that we must make daily.  We must choose to stay connected to the vine (Jesus) in order for Him to produce fruit in us – His love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  All fruitfulness comes out of a place of intimacy, and we love going deeper with our Father every day simply because we love Him above all else!  For the past few years God has placed our family in many circumstances that really put our faith and trust in Him to the test.  Through it all He has shown us how to live a life of freedom and authentic faith, willing to take risks, instead of living out of a place of fear or “what-ifs”.  He has replaced our fears with a personal touch of His love [1 John 4:18].  Instead of putting our trust and dependence in ourselves and man, we have turned to fully trusting in Him with all areas of our lives [Psalm 118:8].  He is our source for everything!

When Josh was asked not to return to Initial Point High School this year, we took this to the Lord and asked Him to provide a way for us to continue pouring into these kids’ lives because they held a special place in our hearts and His.  We’ve been asking Him for the youth/teens in this area, and He has honored and responded to our hearts.  We’ve been given the opportunity to hold a class in our home called “Unjerkness 101”.  The point of the class is how to live a selfless life in a selfish world.  It has been an amazing time connecting with everyone that has come and we honor and praise Him for the transformation that is happening in the lives of others.  All for His glory!!

One thing that was prophesied over us while in Africa was this: “It won’t be one or the other but both and more.”  He has opened two (both) amazing doors for us and we know that more is coming!!  A question that God has put on my heart for all to ponder is this – do you trust God OR do you simply believe God?  If you don’t know the difference, ask Him to show you and He will [Matthew 7:7]!

Love, peace and joy to all of you!!

Home of the Spuds

It’s been 7 weeks now since we’ve been back in the land of the spuds (potatoes - for all you foreigners of Idaho)!  The adjustment has been challenging for our family because of the transformation that took place in our hearts while in Africa.  We miss the simplicity of life there and have become more aware of the many things that battle for our attention back here in the states, but we are fighting to not fall back into the worldly routines of life and focus more on our relationship with the Lord.  God really poured into us while we were in Africa, and we are still processing everything that was imparted and revealed to us.  What we do know is that our eyes were opened to more of His heart and we have fallen more in love with Him!  He continues to show us what it means to love Him with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength.  We love going deeper into His heart because His love never runs out.

We know that some day we will travel again, and possibly even move out of the country, but for now God has called us back to our Jerusalem – Idaho!  We are enjoying the season we are in, simply resting in His presence, but we are excited and hungry for what is to come for the Mason Clan.  We have absolutely no "plan B" and are living our lives fully dependent on Him.  I am still staying at home with the kids and Josh is (for the most part) unemployed.  He is coaching 8th grade football for another week and also teaching one student at George Fox University (once a week) until December, but those are just temporary positions.  Some job opportunities have peaked his interest so we are praying into those and asking God to close the door on ones that are not of Him because we do not want to walk through just any door.  In the meantime, we are allowing the Holy Spirit to guide our steps and impact the culture around us however He wants us to.  Josh has gone to the bar on Saturday nights and prayed over the atmosphere – inviting the Lord’s presence to bring breakthrough and healing for those that are turning to alcohol as a means of comfort.  He offered to drive a drunken man home one night, and through prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit the man became sober immediately upon entering the car.  God is awesome and just being in His presence brings healing!  When we are obedient to the things He asks us to do, He will always come through for us because He is faithful!  I want to be a good steward with the gifts/talents God has given me, and He is showing me some creative ways on how I can take the love of Jesus and impact the culture around me.  God has laid a big dream on our hearts and we are in the infant stages of planning and researching and dreaming more with Him, but we are relying on the Lord to guide our steps because we don’t want to get ahead of Him (Proverbs 16:9).  We don’t know when or where this dream will come to fruition, but until then we are simply loving the journey in between!

The kids are back in school and we did decide to put Christian in public school for kindergarten.  My heart was leaning towards homeschooling, and every time I asked Christian what school he wanted to go to he’d say, “I want to go to mommy’s school at home.”  However, while in Africa the Lord gave me a peace about putting Christian in public school, at least for this year, and simultaneously he spoke to Christian’s heart as well because for the first time since we started talking about school he became excited about going to public school.  Every day he comes home full of joy, and his sister, Jade, has been a big help with hanging out with him in the mornings until the bell rings.  He is coming out of his shell and the Lord is giving him a new sense of courage.

 

God's Creation - Big and Small

We’ve heard of people having to chase rats out of their house, and one single guy even found baby rats inside his suitcase (assuming the mama chewed a hole in it to get inside), but thankfully we haven’t encountered such “pets”.  Our house has been covered by His favor and grace!  For the first 8 weeks our house was rodent/bug and tummy sickness free, thank you Jesus (and to those that are interceding in prayer for us)!  Around the 8-week mark, we’ve encountered a few different “creatures.”  For example, while brushing my teeth in the bathroom, I discovered a black “thing” on my shoulder.  I quickly bent towards the ground and began shaking my shirt to get whatever it was off.  I discovered it to be a large cockroach.  It landed on its back with its legs wiggling in the air (trying to flip over).  I happily grabbed a bottle from our back-up water supply storage and smashed the little booger!!  It continued to wiggle so I smashed it again.  I’ve heard that cockroaches are hard to kill, but come on!  This same evening as we were headed to bed, I pointed out to Josh (who was already lying in bed) that there was a cockroach on the mosquito net.  He thought I was kidding so I repeated it again.  When he realized I was serious, he climbed out of bed to smash the cockroach.  Before he even had a chance, it fell to the ground and began running at lightning speed – at least that’s how we felt in the moment!  We couldn’t find the little booger and eventually started tearing our bed apart – literally removing the mattress from its frame.  We eventually found it on one of the slats.  We could have easily grabbed the slat and taken care of business, but we both wanted to take a picture so that we’d have proof of our story. As I went to take a picture, it scampered off once again.  We had our moment and blew it.  We looked behind the headboard, curtains, and even started pulling out suitcases from under the bed.  Finally we thought we had it trapped beneath one of our suitcases.  We came up with a game plan.  As Josh yanked the suitcase away, it was my job to smash it with a broom.  Great plan, right?!?!  I had the broom in my left hand and the camera in my right hand.  Of course I hadn’t given up on getting a picture!  I swung at the cockroach while taking a picture, mind you, and wouldn’t you know – I missed!  Go figure right?!  I began dancing around, squealing and giggling, because I didn’t want it on my feet.  At first Josh didn’t find the humor in it, but then he joined in on the joy and laughter!  In the end, we were victorious and captured the little bug.  The next morning our house parents told us they had heard some commotion and giggling the night before but had decided it was best not to come knock on our door….wise decision! And so we shared our story with them…….  God’s creation is beautiful, but sometimes I wonder about certain rodents and bugs!

The Great Physician

I’ve never been a real big fan of going to hospitals or doctors because most of the time it means someone is hurting.  I have learned, though, to go to one of the greatest physicians of all times and His name is Jesus!  Sometimes we don’t realize the depth of our hurts until we allow a doctor to examine us.  As I have learned to open up more of my heart to the Lord, He has been able to heal areas of hurt that continued to resurface.  When faced with certain situations, often times a button would get triggered that produced undesirable reactions from me.  While being here in Africa, God has revealed to me a small seed of bitterness that was starting to grow within my heart.  As I acknowledged this bitterness and laid my hurts down at His feet, He washed away that bitterness and began sowing seeds of sweetness in its place.  Just as He turned bitter water into wine, He also took my bitterness and turned it into His sweet grace.  Romans 12:15 states that it is unhealthy to allow roots of bitterness to spring up because it will cause much trouble and defile many.  When we fail to extend the grace of God to others, this is how the embryo of bitterness begins to develop.  As I gaze more into His eyes, He continues to heal my heart and free me of the unnecessary burdens I have been carrying.  In these same situations my coping mechanisms are changing as the Lord continues to humble me, and I am more freely able to extend grace and forgiveness and even a simple, “I’m sorry,” even if it means swallowing my pride of “being right”.  Being right isn’t as important as protecting one’s relationship with someone you love and care for, a lesson that at times was a challenge for me because of unfruitful seeds I was carrying.  The Holy Spirit is teaching me that “in my head knowledge” I may theoretically be right, but He often asks me to examine my heart.  Faith, hope, love…the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13).  My lifelong question - in my actions and heart, am I choosing to love above all else?  It isn’t always easy to swallow our pride and prefer someone over ourselves (Philippians 2:3-4).  It isn’t always easy to love those that are challenging to love (Matthew 5:43-48).  It isn’t always easy to resist the urge to retaliate or seek revenge when someone hurts us (Romans 12:17), but it is the right thing to do because that’s what Jesus did!  Many people fear seeking this kind of healing, because in all honesty the process of being transparent and “weeding” our lives can hurt, but the end result is FREEDOM and there is nothing more beautiful than that.  Here in Africa we’ve worshipped to these lyrics, “You make beautiful things, You make beautiful things out of dust.”  In Genesis 2:7 it teaches how God made the first man, Adam, from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils.  Throughout life, and maybe even now, some of you might feel like dust, dirt or ashes on the ground.  However, there is a lifelong lesson spoken in this verse – you can trade in your ashes in exchange for beauty because He loves you so much!!  He can make something out of nothing!!  He sees you as beautiful!!  Take a moment to ask Him how He sees you.  Write down what comes to mind.  Let Him write you a love letter.

Many times we try to fix ourselves and produce our own fruits, but in the end those fruits begin to die when we are not connected to the true vine which is Jesus (John 15).  Apart from Jesus we can do nothing.  He is the ultimate heart surgeon and will give you the best transplant you could ever receive in life.  As the lyrics in this song states, “Open up your heart and let me in.” "Come Away"  Some of you know about Jesus/God but you do not know Jesus/God on a personal (relationship) level.  If that is you and you are ready for the next step of receiving the Lord into your heart, take a moment now to do so.  Acknowledge that God sent His son, Jesus, to die for you on the cross so that you might have life.  Acknowledge that He has washed away your sins on the cross.  Receive Him as your personal Savior and give Him complete control over your life.  This is the most important decision you will ever make in your life and you won’t regret it!  God gave me a picture in the clouds of two hearts becoming one.  There is more to this story, but the message God gave to me was this: as we adjust our lenses to focus more on Him, our heart will become one with His.  He is after our hearts.  Let your heart hunger for more of Him and expect the greatest transplant of your life!!

Close to the Beginning

Post from Josh: Today is July 31^st and we are coming to the end of our school. As of this afternoon, we only have 4 days left in regular class and we graduate in 9 days. I am eager to watch what God is going to do in our lives when we return home. He has given us a heavenly starting point and we know He will guide our life as we remain yielded and submitted to Him. We feel confident that we will return home to the beginning of a new life in Him and a complete life change as a result of our time here in Mozambique. We expect big things to take place!

One of the main themes of our school is this question: “What does love look like?” This question, along with the teaching that we have received, has challenged me to take a look at how I live my everyday life. It has made me take a very long look at how I respond to my wife and kids, friends here on the base, people outside in the villages and cities, and even those who really get on my nerves. I know now that “love looks like something”. Love is not about doing good things!!!!! Let me write that another way – Authentic Christians don’t just do nice things because it feels good or because their church said to. True followers of Christ do what He did – they really love people. They really see who people are. They take care of the widowed and orphaned. They take care of the poor. Followers of Christ don’t depend on their church to do it for them. They look to emulate Jesus. Even lost people do nice things, once in a while. Love looks like Jesus!! The greatest example of how I need to live my life is in the New Testament and I have finally received a new revelation of what it looks like to love people.

Here on the huge continent of Africa, in a country which used to be the poorest in the entire world, it seems so easy to love people. They are so open to us westerners and most love us to talk with them and just give our time to them. Recently, a major leader here was walking through the village on a Monday and came across an older woman who was clearly blind as her eyes were mostly white and she was not focused on anything. This leader sat down and began a conversation with her. This leader asked her name and was told that she didn’t have a name. No one really spoke to this woman because she was blind and, consequently, she didn’t have a name. Can you imagine not having a name? Do you know anyone or heard of someone without a name? As the leader asked if she had a name before in her life she was told that if she did she couldn’t remember it and that she certainly didn’t have a name now. The leader gave her a new name in her heart language (native language). Translated, the name means “you are” or “you exist”. The power in a name can be life changing. The leader then asked to pray for her and her sight was restored to her. She regained her sight, received a new name, and met the One who is the One that completely transformed her life in a few minutes time. How did this all happen? Well, I believe it’s because this leader knows what love is, knows her true identity in Jesus Christ, and knows that our God is greater than any other! Hallelujah!! The great thing is that these types of stories are common here. We know that we were not sent here to “help the orphans” or “work with those less fortunate”. We were sent here to Mozambique to experience what love looks like as followers of Jesus. We were sent here to have a complete heart change!

We return to the continent of North America in less than two weeks and I fully expect to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, and transform the western church in Jesus name. Although I can’t share all of what God placed on our hearts for the future, I know that God has called us to the dark corners of the Treasure Valley, to take the Gospel of Jesus to those who don’t know Him, who have rejected Him, or who need to return to Him. We have accepted our mission and hope all of you will join us!! 

We are on the brink of something radical in Idaho and I know that we will see a great harvest sooner than later!!