Our Last Blog in chiang Mai, Thailand--April--May 2019

Windows of the Soul

Butterfly at butterfly house in King's Garden

                                                           Beautiful yellow flowers are in bloom
      It is with much sadness that we draw our time here to a close.  We had a wonderful weekend celebrating our time with the people who have become very dear to us. (I will share more below)  Now, however, we want to thank all of you for your faithful prayers on our behalf, and a huge thank you to those who performed many tasks,large and small to tend to things there so that we could be here.  Several looked after our house, some plowed our driveway, cut grasses, saw to repairs on the house, paid bills and provided help with finances there, picked us up and delivered us to the airport and many other things.  (we even several times had a pot roast waiting for us) We do not have adequate words to say thank you for your support and encouragement over these years. How very blessed we are to have such amazing friends!  We are so grateful for all the help.  Literally, we couldn't have done it without so many of you!

                                             Easter Choral Reading--9 of us (4 nationalities) participated

Last Bible study in our home with my Bible study group

We had a very special weekend on April 27th-28th.  It was amazing and emotion-packed as we said goodbye to many people in our church who have become very dear to us.   We have been blessed by our interaction with these people.  They have enriched our lives; we are changed for the better because of our interaction with them.  Our church family surprised us with a lovely dinner on Saturday evening with some beautiful gifts, wonderful expressions of appreciation and prayers over our future endeavors.  We thank God for leading us, and this is is another life memorial.  When God places before you an open door that involves risk and is scary, following His call can lead to great joy and blessing on the other side. Oh!  What we would have missed had we not been willing to take the risk.  Our God is so faithful.  He promises His presence will go with us, and He promises His strength and empowering in place of our weakness. (Exodus 33:14/ 2 Cor. 12:9 )

Saturday night fellowship and Dinner

One of the dear families in our church

Lovely Gifts!

A dear man of God

One of our very important Sound Controllers on Sunday mornings

2 of the children giving ups gifts.

Our darling Ezra

I recently read a book called Windows of the Soul by Ken Gire.  This book caused me much contemplation and thought.  I tend to have a one track mind, and I fear I often miss much in the everyday experiences that God desires to show me.  I am also very goal oriented, and I fear in reaching many of those goals, I have missed seeing windows of the soul along the way.    Benjamin Warfield said this: "A glass window stands before us.  We raise our eyes and see the glass; we note its quality, and observe its defects; we speculate on its composition.  Or we look straight through it on the great prospect of land and sea and sky beyond."  Gire says that we reach for God in many ways.  Through our sculptures and our scriptures.  Through our pictures and our prayers.  Through our writing and our worship--and through them He reaches us.  His search begins with something said.  Ours begins with something heard.  His begins with something shown.  Ours, with something seen.  Our search for God, and His search for us meet at windows in our everyday experience--windows of the soul.  In a sense, it is something like spiritual disciplines for the spiritually undisciplined.  In another sense, it is the most rigorous of disciplines--the discipline of awareness.  For we must always be looking and listening if we are to see them.  We must be aware at all time and in all places, because windows are everywhere, and at any time we may find one.  Or one may find us.  Though we will hardly know it...unless we are searching for Him who for so long has been searching for us. Gire says we have to be willing to see beyond the surface--something that has the power to change the way we think or feel, something that may prove so profound a revelation as to change not only how we look at our lives but how we live them.  

                                                          Ladies Bible study presentation

Jesus lived His life that way, seeing beyond the surface--the widow at Nain, the woman at the well, the tax collector in the tree and the thief on the cross.

For example, Jesus saw beyond the widow's tears for her dead son. Jesus saw how much she needed that son to fill the hole left by her deceased husband.  Beyond the Samaritan woman's veil, He saw five marriages that had failed, and beyond that, the emptiness in her life that grew bigger with each divorce.  Beyond power and wealth of Zacchaeus, He saw a small man with a big hole in his heart that all the power and wealth in the world couldn't fill.

                                                                             Leadership Team Prayers

Abraham Heschel said, "To sense the sacred is to sense what is dear to God."  All of us go through life from one threshold to another.  And at those thresholds, most of us stand on very tentative legs, wanting to take a step but we're hesitant, unsure.   We wonder what lies ahead?  and what has to be left behind in getting us there?  We go from  threshold to threshold with something pulling us forward and something pulling us back.  We are tentative, hesitant, unsure.  How does God feel about us when we are at one of these thresholds?  Is He saying, "Grow up, get a grip.  Get up and get on with your life."  Or, is He wanting to sit beside us, put an arm around us and tell us a story of the thresholds His own son had to step across, at Bethlehem, at the Jordan River, and at Gethsemane?  Times when He felt something pulling Him forward and something pulling Him back.  Times when He was tentative, unsure, and yes, even afraid.  I pray we can take more time to be aware of what God is revealing in the everyday pictures everywhere around us. May we see beyond initial appearances and the surface level. Whatever God has in store ahead, we know He will be there, and He will provide His strength even when the road seems scary or risky, and when we are unsure.  

                                    I'm not sure what was so funny--but we have come to love this man and his family

                                                      Children singing a blessing song on our last Sunday

A Prayer for Awareness:  Help us to be aware of the pictures in our lives that are everywhere around us and at all times showing us something we need to see, telling us something we need to receive.  Help us to look beyong the surface of those pictures to see windows.  Give us eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to receive what You are offering us through those windows, that we might sense what is dear to You so that it might become what is dear to us. (Ken Gire)

                               Dave and I had a chance to speak at the annual retreat for Faithful Heart Foundation

This couple are pastor and wife as well as parents for one of the homes in Faithful Heart Ministry.  Please pray for this couple as they have a heavy load but dear, sweet hearts for God and the children they minister to through FHF.

     Sienna gets cuter every day--sweet personality

Again a huge thank you for prayers, support, and encouragement over these 3 1/2 years.  Please pray that we can finalize everything and have room to pack all the "necessary" things.  And our final goodbyes!  Leaving these 2 sweet children will be extremely difficult.  

Hidden Sins--March 2019

                                         What a cute guy!  How precious to be here with he and Sienna

With a bittersweet spirit in many ways, Dave and I have decided, as we have once again prayed and sought the Lord, that our time here is finished.  It was a difficult decision.  We have grown attached to many of the people in our Gathering Church, we have been edified and encouraged in this multi-cultural environment--our horizons have definitely been broadened.  In addition, we have a love for Thailand and the lovely, gracious Thai people.  Lastly, it will be one of the most difficult things in the world to leave our precious grandchildren 8,000 miles away.  We have loved being so close, enjoying weekly private time with Ezra, family dinners together each week, and little Sienna is imprinting her sweet personality on our lives already.  We will miss watching her continue to grow and develop--close-up as we have enjoyed watching Ezra.   But once again, how our hearts can be pulled. We return to our precious granddaughters in the states whom we have greatly missed these last few years.  How I wish... However, Dave and I both have some medical issues we prefer to address in the states; and we sense it is time to leave this chapter behind.  We have been encouraged and supported by your prayers.  We ask for prayer as we accomplish a multitude of tasks in the next 2 months.  We will complete our time at the church the last Sunday of April. Here then is one of the last devotional thoughts I will share via this blog--possibly one more.   

"Forgive my hidden faults.  Keep your servant also from willful sins.  May they not rule over me.  Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression."  (Psalm 19:14) As I have been reading and studying, the Lord has been pressing on me this whole idea of hidden sins.  How often we forget that everything is open and laid bare before our heavenly Father.  But, we can be good at hiding--or trying to cover up relational sins such as anger, pride,jealousy, envy, bitterness and so on.  We can be good at rationalizing, excusing, blaming, or burying such sins.  But to God, they are sins--there is no such thing to God as little sins or big sins.  To Him, sin is sin, period.  We can even go through our prayer list without pausing to hear God's still voice of conviction--the same with the reading of the Scriptures.  We can faithfully be in the Word and yet not allow our heavenly Father to convict us through that Word.
Hebrews 4:12 "For the Word of God speaks and is alive.  It strikes through to the place where soul and spirit meet--to the intermost intimacies of a man's being.   It exposes the very thoughts and motives of a man's heart."  This the Word of God can and will do this--if we allow it.  But while we can quickly condemn criminals of the big and unable to be concealed sins, we can gloss over those daily relational sins in our own lives such as impatience and resentment---as if they weren't worthy of God's time--or simply as unimportant.  However, they are not unimportant to God--they are still sins.

                                          Bible study group--we are all a "piece" of the whole
One of the things I will miss the most is this wonderful group of ladies from many different cultures who love the Lord and the study of His Word.  They have so enriched my life.  I absolutely love doing Bible study with women.  Women's Bible studies has been a big, important part of my life, and I believe always will be.  I have been engaged in women's Bible study for about 45 years or more.  Knowing the women are in the Word themselves and doing their Bible study homework, encourages me and together we grow as we study and discuss truths found in the Word.  We are each, Lord willing, sharpened in the faith.  This living, active Word of God penetrates our very being and helps to live and walk in the footsteps of faith. (Romans 4:12)

                                                    Sienna Faye Pound--getting cuter every day!

Psalm 15 asks this question: "Who may live on your holy mountain?"  And the answer is, "He whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous."  I just learned in one of our recent studies how blameless and righteous do not equal perfect--but rather a tender hearts to confess and repent openly to the Lord as we become aware of our sin.  We, who are "blameless" cannot stay in that "sin" mode.  David provides a checklist for the blameless or pure in heart.  

• Speaks with sincerity and honesty
• Does not indulge in slander and insults
• Doesn't harm his neighbors
• Honors all God's people
• Keeps his Word
• Is generous in his dealings

  Too often the opposite of the above list are what we seek to hide.  What we label as "little sins." Yet these relational sins can be very hurtful--can cause great harm to the people we love and care about and can hinder our intimacy with God.  Facing our sins is difficult, confessing is humbling and risky.  It is much easier to seek to conceal or disregard as minor.  May we examine our hearts for hidden sins and allow God's Word to prick our conscience and reveal what needs to be confessed and repented.  

                                              Dave and I sharing with young couples at Thai Church

We had the opportunity to share with a group of young couples at the Thai church here.  It was an enjoyable time.  We shared about conflicts in marriage, how to strengten marriage relationships--and interpersonal relationships in general as well as the disciplining of children. In terms of the effectiveness of corporal punishment, I could point to Matthew as exhibit A. 😃

                               Here is a picture of our K-2nd Sunday school class--in one of the hotel rooms

                                        The hotel removes the beds in a regular room--it works pretty well

Prayer Requests"

• I asked prayer for a young man to give his heart to Christ. We knew he was close to making the decision--well he did--praise God!  Please be in prayer for him as he develops in his faith to remain strong in the Lord and in His Word.  There are many obstacles for him.
• Another lady shared with us that she committed (totally non-church background) her life to Christ after Dave shared at a meal in a restaurant how to commit her life to Christ.  The seeds had been planted, and she was ready.  Not our favorite spot or time--but the Lord knows all this.  
• Then recently after a message on John 11 and Jesus' words "I am the resurrection and the life,"  another woman also committed her life to Christ.  The friend she came with assured us that he would follow up with discipling her.  Praise God He is in control and knows all these things--and the timing of them.  We praise Him for His Spirit speaking despite our human fralities and limitations.  To God be the glory!
• I already mentioned the monumental task of packing everything up and totally taking our house apart and getting rid of all the furnishings since it was completely empty when we rented it--except for curtains--and a sink.  We are excited about blessing others with this opportunity, but even that isn't always easy.  For example, we desire to give our car to FHF, but there will be paperwork involved plus trips to whatever office we need to go to.  We are currently checking as to whether we need to cancel our visa--more paperwork and checking in to immigration to do this.  
• Please pray as we both share at FHF's annual retreat in May.  Please be in prayer for the whole retreat and especially our parts--that God will speak through us and use us.
•  For Matthew as he now leads FHF ministry here.  Dave and Shirley have returned stateside.  Thankfully, Dave will still be chairman of the board but he will not be physically here.  Again, God knows all of this and we are assured of his continuing provision in this very important ministry.  We praise God for a family that has recently joined the team--Andy, Cherish, and Claire.  They are a lovely family and so excited about serving the Lord here.  Please be in prayer for their continued transition to this part of the world.

                           

February 2019 The Lavish Love of God

The Lavish Love of our God--February 2019

                                        Grandma and her 3 granddaughters at Ginger Farm in Chiang Mai

                                                            Pound family in Chiang Mai--what a blessing!
We had a busy and difficult couple of months.  We thank our great and gracious God that we had health and strength--though not quite full strength--to enjoy visits of friends and loved ones from the states.  What made the situation more difficult was that we were both struggling with health issues at the same time, but we are "pretty" much on the mend now--and again we thank and praise our gracious God for renewed health and strength.

What better spiritual truth to convey this month than the love our God has lavished on us!
I John 3:1 "See what great love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called the children of God!  And that is what we are!"  When asked in  his later years to share the most meaningful truth of his life, the great theologian Karl Barth replied, "Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so."
We normally think of these words to convey the truth of God's love for children--a popular children's song taught early on in Sunday school, but whether you are an aging theologian or a child just beginning life's journey, the knowledge of God's love is the soul's anchor.  Many are searching for love, acceptance and identity in all the wrong places--especially our young people.  Recently our church had a prayer retreat to lift up teens specifically and the unique challenges they face today.  God's love is never changing. It is infinite.  It is eternal.  It is sure.  It will never, ever disappoint.  God' love is the source of our identity.  Our self-worth comes from knowing we are deeply loved children of God.  Our self-confidence comes from God too--knowing we are lavishly loved and created for a purpose.

                Liesl and Evie were so good with their cousin Ezra--giving him constant attention and assistance

Because of this great lavish love of God, we have the assurance that we are blessed, chosen, adopted, accepted, redeemed and forgiven.  (Ephesians 1--our Believing God Bible study).  Ephesians says, "According to the pleasure of His will--it pleased God to make you His own.  God loves you and likes you.  He finds joy in you.  How great is that?!

                                                 Dave Nitsche and Dave Pound/Dave and Kathi at Doi Su Tep

 

Our Bible study group that meets at our home

One of the ladies in our Bible study made a lovely cake for us at our last study

           I am so thankful for our Bible study group--these ladies are amazing--as iron sharpens iron--so we are sharpening one another as we study God's Word together.

In Ephesians 3:18, Paul says, "I pray that you, Ephesians, together with all the saints may know how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ."  Paul says God's love reaches every corner of our experience.  It is wide--it covers the breadth or our own experience, and it reaches out to the whole world.  God's love is long--it continues the length of our lives.  It is high--it rises to the heights of our celebration.  His love is deep--it reaches to the depths of our discouragement, despair, and even death.  We will never be lost to God's love!

                                                          Gathering church fellowship

Good time right now for roses

Flowers on our morning walk

And of course, how could we talk about God's love and not mention Romans 8:38-39?  

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any power, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all of creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."  

I hope right now you are feeling much loved by your loving, Heavenly father and are feeling secure and blessed in that love.  

                                                                    The Pound clan at our Gathering church

"God is love... Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  No one has ever seen God but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us." (I John 4:11-12)  This is always a challenge to me.  God's love is the source of all human love, and it spreads through us if we are living in and  following Him.

Once again we covet your prayers on our behalf.  Please pray for the following:

• Health and strength to keep to the task God has called us to here in Chiang Mai
• The Lord will continue to meet the needs of our Gathering Church
• Christians in many places being persecuted for their faith
• A young man will take the final step and surrender his life to Christ (very close)
• For Matthew and Audrey as they continue to labor at Faithful Heart Foundation--they will be taking on added responsibility--please pray for them and for that ministry--for God to continue to provide for the needs.
• For many in our church body who labor for the Lord in various ministries in SE Asia
• That we will "Shine like stars in the universe as we hold out the Word of truth." (Phil. 2:14-15)

November--December 2018 Believing God is Trusting Even When...

                                              Ezra taking a little rest break after swimming
What a privilege and blessing to spend a little more time with this cute guy while Mom and Dad are tending to new sister.  What fun we are having--what memory building--praise our great God!

                                                   Ezra loves holding baby sister Sienna
How we praise our great and faithful God for the gift of Sienna Faye Pound.  She had a pretty smooth entry--an answer to many prayers,  How great that we get some time to know and love on her too.

Thank you for your prayers!  We give thianks to our Heavenly Father for the precious gift of life.

Taken at our church Christmas party--cutest little boy ever

I like the little book of Habakkuk because like Job and like the Psalmists, Habakkuk pours out his heart, his emotions to God.  He doesn't hold anything back. Habakkuk means both to wrestle and to embrace. "How long O Lord must I cry for help, but you do not listen?"  Habakkuk was a man looking for answers.  Troubled by what he observed, he asked difficult questions.  These questions were not merely intellectual exercises.  Habakkuk saw a dying world, and it broke his heart.  Why is there evil in the world? Why do the wicked seem to be winning?  He boldly and confidently took his requests directly to God--to the One who could truly answer.  And God did answer!  God spoke and told the prophet to write his answers so all would see and understand.  God told Habakkuk that though it seemed that the wicked triumph, eventually they would be judged, and righteousness would prevail. It may not come as quickly as Habakkuk would like, but it would come. In his grace, God relieved some of Habakkuk's anguish--even as He left other questions unanswered.  Habakkuk closes his book with a prayer of triumph.  He now has a new understanding of God's power and love--here is a God who responds to his questions.  Habakkuk, like Job, rejoices in who God is and in what He will do.  "Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in god my Savior.  The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights."

Our Church Christmas Drama

God wants us to come to Him with our struggles and doubts.  God is not shocked.  He reads our hearts and knows our confusion, our disappointment.  His shoulders are big--so much better that we go directly to Him.  More than 1/3 of the Psalms are prayers or songs of people in pain.  But God's answers may not always be what we expect.  God sustains us by revealing Himself to us--not in providing answers to all our questions.  His answer to Habakkuk was, "Be patient. I will work out my plans in my perfect timing."  Maturing spiritually takes time, effort and spiritual understanding--it is a process, and the process is as valuable as the end result.  We want God to sanctify--transform us now--we don't want to go through the process, but the process is important.  Craig Groeschel says, "To really know God, you have to wrestle through pain, struggle with honest doubts, and even live with unanswered questions."

Dave and I have been going through some difficult processing, and we have been reminded of these truths--to wait on Him and to trust Him to work out His plan and purposes. Once again, Groeschel says, "While turning to the only true God and asking for His help is always a good idea, Jesus said the the key was having trust--faith that "with God all things are possible." (Matt. 19:26) This is the embracing part. We have been here before-- and we know that in the waiting and trusting we learn valuable truths not otherwise gained.  We have both had some health issues that have required seeking out doctors and decision making. We appreciate your prayers in all this.  We haven't experienced the difficulties with which many have to struggle, but these are real issues for us.  Dave had a serious kidney infection and is looking ahead to possible prostate surgery in the near future.  We have done some of our own "crying out to God," and through it all we are reminded of His marvelous goodness in the past.  He is sustaining us in the present--we feel His presence with us.  The truth of Christmas--Immanuel--God with us!

Habakkuk says in 3:2 "LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD, renew them in our day."  

Just like Habakkuk, Asaph cries out to God for courage during a time of deep distress. (Psalm 77) As Asaph expressed his requests to God, his focus changed from thinking of himself to worshiping God.  "You are the God who performs miracles."  Only after he put aside his doubts about God's care did he eliminate his distress. Memories of God's care sustained Israel throughout their history.  They knew God was trustworthy and capable.  God often had them set up memorials of some sort to remind them of God's faithfulness and provision in the past.   Asaph begins to recall God's past work, and his faith is renewed.  Asaph would tell you in your doubt, in your struggles, review how good God has been and what He has done for you in the past--and it will strengthen your faith and renew your resolve to wait and trust Him in the current situation.  Wrestle and embrace!  "We serve the same God who split open the sea by His power, hung the sun and moon and established the boundaries of the earth." (Beth Moore)

After the wonderful drama, food time

And, of course, game time!

Gabriel and the heavenly host

Pastor Dave's message on the greatest of all gifts--Jesus

Finally, Groeschel says, "Instead of finding that the questions (like Habakkuk's or those of the Psalms) distance you from the heart of God, you will discover something else,...honest questions, sincere doubts, and deep hurts can draw you closer to God thatn you've ever been before."

                                  Reading of Luke 2:1-20 in 20 different languages Christmas Sunday

We appreciate and covet your prayers.  Please pray:

• Health concerns
• Surgery in the future--wisdom and discernment --trust in the One in whose hands we ultimately rest
• Matthew and Audrey and family--FHF ministry here
• Strength and empowering to encourage people of Gathering Church in their walk and understanding of spiritual things
• For one young man to relinguish all concerns and yeild life to Christ
• That we be a positive witness for Christ--wherever we go and whatever we do
• Opportunities to share the reason for our hope
• For Christians in several countries experiencing increased persecuted for their faith