December 16, 2015

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.

  We are also still working on paperwork for my (Sher) visa extension and Dave’s work permit.  Eventually we will have to travel to Bangkok to complete this process.  We appreciate prayers for this process to be completed. 

     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).