October 2016   The Faithfulness of our God
"I will proclaim the name of the LORD. Oh praise the greatness of our God!  He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all His ways are just.  A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is He."
     As we approach the one year mark for being in Thailand, we are reminded of the faithfulness of our God.  Thailand is a very special place--especially Chiang Mai--but living in a foreign land involves challenges and difficulties at times.  I realize more and more how much I had previously taken for granted.  For example, I have a very nice and skillful man who cuts my hair, but I can't get him to cut it like I want--and he speaks good English.  We had some difficulties with our Internet recently--our lifeline right now and major means of communication.  We were concerned to be able to communicate our difficulty to the company.  And these are, of course, minor things in the scope of life but troublesome nevertheless.  Sometimes the communication is an issue and sometimes they just do things differently and we must adapt.  When in Rome...We find ourselves trusting--relying on God more--maybe actually living out the faith and trust that was often fluent in our vocabulary but not always exemplified by our actions.   Issues arise, and we say, "God you brought us here; we trust you to provide and meet our needs."  And our God proves Himself faithful when we look to Him and rely on Him to help us.  Back to our Internet issue.  Before my morning walk, Dave mentioned that he had prayed about our problem.  He said, "I almost felt it was too small an issue to take to the Lord in prayer, but I believe God wants us to take everything to Him in prayer."  I had just finished my walk, was coming around the corner and what did I see but a TOT (our internet provider) truck parked right across the street from our house.  Needless to say, we were thus able to  resolve the issue very quickly.  I'm not saying everything goes perfectly smoothly without bumps, but in the midst of these challenges, our God is faithful.
"Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; He is the faithful God."
The Hebrew word for faithfulness is emuwnah and means firmness, fidelity, steadfastness.  The Greek word for faithfulness is pistas and means trustworthy, sure.  Employees as well as employers often fail to live up to expectations.  Politicians, of course, often fail to live up to their campaign promises and the increase in the divorce rate demonstrate many who do not remain faithful in this most important of relationships.  Although people may break their promises or fail to live up to their word, God is faithful in all His ways.
2 Timothy 2:13 "If we are faithless, He will remain faithful for He cannot disown himself."
Only one is faithful to fully keep His covenant and loving kindness, and that is our Lord God.  

Ezra looking debonair

  

In what ways is God faithful?

What a cutie  

• Our God is faithful and compassionate every morning.  (Jeremiah 3:21-23)  We live in a fallen world, people do wicked, things, people disappoint and fail us, and justice is not always just.  But there is one who is faithful and compassionate.  His mercies are new every morning.  "This I recall to my mind," says Jeremiah, "...and therefore I have hope."  Each morning may we place our hope in our faithful, loving God whose compassions never fail.  He alone can satisfy our every need.  He alone is trustworthy and true.

     We accomplished two important items for our stay here in Thailand.  (God was faithful to before us and provide).  We  have our temporary Thai license!  Due to the kind help of a friend who has been here longer, we had a itemized list of things required.  It took time and patience, but we just kept checking off items on the list and finally accumulated everything we needed and went to the office.  The time we went was perfect, and we were able to complete the process in a relatively short time.  We were even able to help a Thai lady married to a French husband. (she spoke some English)  She was having difficulty finding out what was required for her husband, and we were able to share our list.  Thank you, Lord for going before us and allowing us to help and bless someone else in the process.  When we left, a huge line had formed.  Thank you, Lord for being spared the long line this time.
 We did our first 90-day reporting here in Chiang Mai.  We were concerned that we seemed to be missing one item.  Again the Lord provided two very nice, kind Thai ladies (Most Thai people are this way) who helped us through the process.  We had to make a trip to the other immigration office in the process, but there wasn't a line in the building we went to and again a kind, gracious lady helped us.  We received the required paper, headed back to the first office and completed the process. Yay!
    God has graciously given us a gift!  What a gift and blessing to be here with our precious grandson! (Of course we are happy to be with his parents too). If you don't mind my saying so, he is adorable--and now that he is smiling--even more so!  It is not only a blessing to be with him and hold him and love on him, it also warms our hearts to see what good parents our children are.  Each time we left MN, with our son Jay and daughter-in-law Heidi, we thanked God for the excellent job of parenting and spiritual training.  It's nice to witness this again.  Audrey is such a natural, caring mother (She had lots of practice with nieces and nephews).   And Matthew is a great dad; he found an unusual hold on line from a pediatrician, and when Ezra's crying, this hold seems to work wonders.  They are an effective team as parents.  Aunt Amy is good at this hold too!

Our darling MN girls

     I had fun planning a baby shower for Audrey and Ezra and was surprised that 24 people came.  We had a brunch, and a friend from the church made a motorcycle out of diapers--with a stuffed elephant on top, of course.

  I have begun my Bible study on the names of God once again and am so thankful for the opportunity to do it here.  I am enjoying being under Dave's preaching again.  He keeps busy preparing messages, visiting in the hospitals, counseling, meeting with our leadership team, etc.  We have also been attempting to have church people in our home regularly for fellowship in order to get to know our people better.
    This week we are planning to have a nice family originally from Singapore in our neighborhood for dinner.  English is their national language, and I think they like having someone with whom they can communicate in the neighborhood.    We are looking forward to this time.
      Our lives have definitely been enriched by the variety of people from different backgrounds and cultures that we have met here. How we thank God for this experience; our lives have been enhanced and our perspectives deepened. We are thankful for our wonderful Thai teacher--an excellent teacher and a beautiful woman of God--so gracious and kind with our efforts at Thai.  We have a couple who have been missionaries for many years in several countries--Thailand being one.  I just finished reading the story of their experiences.  What amazing stories, what astonishing accomplishments--and talk about the faithfulness of our God.  They have many examples of God's faithfulness and provision over the years; their lives demonstrate the faithfulness of God when we respond in obedience to His call upon our lives.   We also had the blessing of meeting a remarkable young woman from India.  What this young woman has accomplished in her 25 years is amazing.  She felt God's call for missions at an early age and has been so faithful to that call.  What a beautiful spirit of Christ is reflected in her life; we enjoyed hearing her story.  She is now my helper in preparing communion and is coming to my Bible study.  We continue to be humbled by such people--and can only offer ourselves to be used as His vessels as He sees fit.

Our new friend, Maria

Adjan Ray--our wonderful Thai teacher

      Please pray:

• For health and strength to fulfill God's purposes for us here
• Pray that the light of Christ may be reflected in our lives.
• Pray that we will be faithful servants of our faithful God.
• Pray that we will be an encouragement and support to the people who attend The Gathering.
• Pray that we will be used of our Lord in this place--may we demonstrate the love of Christ to all with whom we come into contact.
• Pray for Matthew and Audrey and Ezra and their ministry to orphans
• Pray for Audrey's sister, Amy, who is teaching at the International school here.
• Benjamin, one of the orphans in Faithful Heart Foundation who has been very ill