God's
love
Long
ago, one silent night;
God revealed His glory bright;
His own image came to man
For
salvation's matchless plan.
Jesus,
Savior, Shepherd, King
Lord
of all to you we bring
Praises,
wonder, thanks, and love
For
this gift from God above.
Remembering
you at Christmas and praying your celebration brings a heart full of joy as you
remember God's amazing love shown through His son Jesus.
We thank you for all your prayers and
thoughts concerning us and our move to Chiang Mai, Thailand. We are ebullient to finally be ministering
here in Chiang Mai. We are humbled by
the servants of Christ in our Gathering Church—brothers and sisters in Christ
who, in obedience to God’ s call upon their lives are faithfully serving God in
a myriad of ministries here in Southeast Asia.
Each week we meet new people whose commitment and courage in following
Christ is an inspiration and encouragement to us.
We thank God for His wonderful provision
for us in many ways. We are renting a lovely home in a small
Moobaan(neighborhood). Pray for our
contact with neighbors—that we might be the light of Christ. We also have a car—a used one that should
work just fine for us, but are still working on paperwork for that. Thankfully,
we are very close to a nice mall—8 minutes walk with a grocery store. We’ve made many trips—several bags at a
time--just thankful we can do that.
Again, we have been very thankful for the many people who have helped
us. Several of our church people have
taken us on numerous shopping trips to furnish our home. Also, a man from our church just hooked up
our washer.
The Lord has been pressing “Trust” on my
heart. Dave and I are such goal-oriented
people; we like to accomplish tasks. We
are learning—here in this culture—a warm culture—quiet trust and patience. We are learning once again to wait on God and
His timing. Nahum 1:7 “The LORD is good,
a refuge for those who trust in Him.” Isaiah
30:18 “In returning to me and resting in me will you be saved ; in quietness
and trust is your strength.” Lori Lahaye Scheck talks about a God-box. She says it is created when we do not
adequately trust God to be God and to work out His will in His way and in His
time. Complete trust is a difficult
thing. It requires us to let go! I know
most of us would say that we trust God.
I believe we all want to trust God. .. I believe our ability to trust
God is dependent on our view of who God is.
We need to be yielded to God so He can mold us and make us effective for
His glory, but that involves putting our complete trust in Him. Does God deserve our trust? We know—intellectually--God has proven
Himself faithful to His people throughout Scripture. Emotionally, it is a different story. However, when life gets too big for us to
handle, we find ourselves crying out to God.
And God says that’s where I wanted you all the time. We know our God is awesome in power and that He
is sovereign. Finally, we know that He
loves us and cares for us. Beverly
Lahaye says, “The reality is none of us has control of our life. We have no guarantee what tomorrow might
bring…The true joy of trusting God is the peace He provides when you do. Trusting God in His way and in His time is
the only way we can have true and lasting peace, and I guarantee the outcome
will be exactly what God has in mind for you.” (Excerpts taken from A Woman and
Her God).
