"Oh, I'm running to Your arms, I'm running to Your arms, the riches of Your love, will always be enough. Nothing compares to Your embrace. Light of the world, forever reign"
We sang that song at church on Sunday and it concludes with the words "My heart will sing, no other name, Jesus, Jesus."
When it got to that part, it started making me think. What other names does my heart sing? Does it sing money? Friends? Acceptance? Appreciation? Steve?
It seems as we raise support, so much of the focus in on money. Now, both Steve and I have never been "money" people. What I mean by that is that neither of us care about how much money we make, or ever being rich. Because of that, it's new to us to have to focus on how much money comes our way for Africa. It's weird because all of a sudden we have a glimpse of what it means to be a "lover of money."
I don't mean to say this in a bad way - we have learned so much about God's character and His power throughout our support raising, but it's been difficult finding a balance. When we rejoice, we've needed to learn to rejoice in God's provision (not just that we see our support go up another 1-2%). When we get anxious, we need to learn to give it to Him and know that He has our future in his hands and that this is HIS ministry and HIS timing, not ours and not go back to trying to raise support with OUR strength, but HIS.
My heart will sing NO other name, Jesus, Jesus.
Remember that as our hearts are deceitful, they wander far away from singing the name of Jesus. I just want to pray that as Christian, we can all focus on singing that one name day in and day out, in the good times and in the frustrating times!
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
Keeping the Faith
Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of things unseen. We're sure that God has called us to ministry and know that He will provide for us to leave for Africa. I have to say that one WONDERFUL thing of having no control in life is that you get to see God work.
Recently, a member of a church I grew up in contacted me about our ministry and asked me to tell what's been going on in my life since he last knew me...in 2nd grade. I took a deep breath and hunkered down to write a long email. I breezed through my elementary, middle and high school years to the moment I knew that God had called me to be a missionary. I went into how God prepared me for ministry and my opportunities that came along. I went through when I knew that BOTH Steve and I were called to do this together and then how we support raised for France and now Africa.
I got done and I was nearly in tears seeing how God has directed EVERYTHING in my life to bring me where I am today (even down to NOT dropping out of school after my freshman year in college to do ministry, which seemed like an honorable thing to do, but then realizing I would have never met Steve). God is in control and as Steve and I reach an "uncertain" stage in our lives (not really knowing what Steve should do in the interim between job and Africa, not really knowing our EXACT date of departure, having to depend on God putting others in our lives to partner with us to do God's work) and we see how God has provided for both of us in the past.
Like in the Old Testament where people would stack stones to commemorate what God had done at that place, I was reminded how God has provided in the past and am confident that God will completely provide for us in our future.
We're excited to see who God puts in our lives to join us in God's ministry in Africa. If you would like to join us, please click on the number to the right to do a one time or monthly donation. Our hope (Lord Willing) is to be at 50% by mid-April.
Thanks so much for all your support.
Recently, a member of a church I grew up in contacted me about our ministry and asked me to tell what's been going on in my life since he last knew me...in 2nd grade. I took a deep breath and hunkered down to write a long email. I breezed through my elementary, middle and high school years to the moment I knew that God had called me to be a missionary. I went into how God prepared me for ministry and my opportunities that came along. I went through when I knew that BOTH Steve and I were called to do this together and then how we support raised for France and now Africa.
I got done and I was nearly in tears seeing how God has directed EVERYTHING in my life to bring me where I am today (even down to NOT dropping out of school after my freshman year in college to do ministry, which seemed like an honorable thing to do, but then realizing I would have never met Steve). God is in control and as Steve and I reach an "uncertain" stage in our lives (not really knowing what Steve should do in the interim between job and Africa, not really knowing our EXACT date of departure, having to depend on God putting others in our lives to partner with us to do God's work) and we see how God has provided for both of us in the past.
Like in the Old Testament where people would stack stones to commemorate what God had done at that place, I was reminded how God has provided in the past and am confident that God will completely provide for us in our future.
We're excited to see who God puts in our lives to join us in God's ministry in Africa. If you would like to join us, please click on the number to the right to do a one time or monthly donation. Our hope (Lord Willing) is to be at 50% by mid-April.
Thanks so much for all your support.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
God's plans trump our plans, we just have to embrace them
It was quite a mental adjustment from thinking we were going to France, to doubting that and thinking we were staying in the US, to being so specifically pointed to Africa by God. We still say France when we mean Africa, but we are excited for this new direction.
We are pleased to announce 27.1% of the monthly expenses of going to Africa have been committed and 94.1% of our one time expenses are in. After being discouraged for a few months and then having the direction in our life change suddenly it is great to say God is making it possible for us to go to the Ivory Coast. We have been learning so much about what God is doing in West Africa and are excited to be part of His work over there. If you would like to be part of God's work in Africa please contact either Jessica or myself via email and we can tell you more in person or on the phone.
More about Africa: We will be doing some training here in the US before leaving and once we arrive we will spend the first 1.5 - 2 months doing language, ministry, and cultural training at the main campus in Bouaké, one of the larger cities in the Ivory Coast. In small groups we will be sent to different villages to work with churches and live with host families for 2 - 4 weeks, come back to the main campus for 4 - 7 days and continue this cycle for the first year. This give us the opportunity to work in different areas and with different ministries.
Please be praying that God will be preparing us to do his work, God will call his people to support his work, and God will continue to provide jobs for both Jess and I.
We are pleased to announce 27.1% of the monthly expenses of going to Africa have been committed and 94.1% of our one time expenses are in. After being discouraged for a few months and then having the direction in our life change suddenly it is great to say God is making it possible for us to go to the Ivory Coast. We have been learning so much about what God is doing in West Africa and are excited to be part of His work over there. If you would like to be part of God's work in Africa please contact either Jessica or myself via email and we can tell you more in person or on the phone.
More about Africa: We will be doing some training here in the US before leaving and once we arrive we will spend the first 1.5 - 2 months doing language, ministry, and cultural training at the main campus in Bouaké, one of the larger cities in the Ivory Coast. In small groups we will be sent to different villages to work with churches and live with host families for 2 - 4 weeks, come back to the main campus for 4 - 7 days and continue this cycle for the first year. This give us the opportunity to work in different areas and with different ministries.
Please be praying that God will be preparing us to do his work, God will call his people to support his work, and God will continue to provide jobs for both Jess and I.
Friday, February 4, 2011
God, You're Halarious!
We want to catch up with you all. As you saw by our last post, we were discouraged, tired, and drained from our support raising - I think our last prayer email to our support group really said it best:
Colossians 2: 6-7 “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”
Hello Everyone,
It’s been a while since we’ve written to you on a Monday morning. Hope all is going well.
As we’ve probably expressed to most of you, our support raising has pretty much hit a wall. The last we talked, we took a support trip out to WI to talk to family and friends about supporting us in our ministry in France. Since then, however, we have not seen support come in. Honestly, it was super frustrating to do all the work involved with that and then not see the fruit. However, we thought just to buckle down and work harder. When we saw nothing come in, we thought we’d take the holidays to re-evaluate what’s going on.
We contacted our mission board and the lady that is our contact/support person at WorldVenture. She looked through our presentation, analyzed our pool of donors and looked at our method and pretty much said that we’re doing everything as we should be. We’ve been praying about what God is trying to teach us and what our future is going to hold with no obvious response either way.
That said – we just don’t know where to go from here. It’s really difficult to talk to people and raise support, when we’re not fully convinced that is what God wants for us, but on the other hand, we have felt lead to this ministry for the last 3 years and it’s hard to believe that God would be telling us “NO” after everything so obviously pointed to “YES” for so long.
We have been praying and praying and searching God’s word for SOMETHING to let us know what God’s will is, but for now we are completely content with whatever He wants us to do.
If you could please take some time this week to pray for us, that would be wonderful. We have been praying that God (because He doesn’t need us in order to do whatever He wants) would give us 11% more to show us that France is where we need to be. Please pray for that.
We will be spending this week in DEEP intentional prayer about our ministry (wherever God brings us) – I’ll keep you updated on where that brings us!
Thanks so much for all your continued support – please feel free to write back any response – we want to hear from you.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well.....we took this week to intentionally pray that God would specifically show us where He wanted us to be and what He wanted us to do. We honestly have to say that we were at best doubtful that we would be doing any long term missions work. However, God had different plans for us.
Today, I was at work and Phil B. (our menor/recruiter through WV) stopped by my office. He had heard that we were discouraged in our support raising and had a proposition for us. He told us that WorldVenture has just started something called Journey Corps which are much like what we were planning on doing at the OIKOS house. They have two locations: Paris and the Ivory Coast. He said if we would be willing to go to Africa, we might be able to go sooner (with the money we've raised). We could totally consider it, but I just put it to the back of my mind.
Later on that day, I sat down to look at it and calculated how much support it would be to go there - it's EXACTLY an 11% increase to our current support - JUST what we were praying for!!!!
When Steve picked me up and I told him, all he could say is "God, You're Halarious"!!! He does work in mysterious ways.
So...here we are - back on the support raising train, refreshed and ready to raise about $2,400 more a month - if you can, please partner with us! We're ready to see what the Lord has got in store. Check out the center and some of the opportunities through this program here.
Isaiah 40:31 "Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Thanks for sticking with us!
Colossians 2: 6-7 “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”
Hello Everyone,
It’s been a while since we’ve written to you on a Monday morning. Hope all is going well.
As we’ve probably expressed to most of you, our support raising has pretty much hit a wall. The last we talked, we took a support trip out to WI to talk to family and friends about supporting us in our ministry in France. Since then, however, we have not seen support come in. Honestly, it was super frustrating to do all the work involved with that and then not see the fruit. However, we thought just to buckle down and work harder. When we saw nothing come in, we thought we’d take the holidays to re-evaluate what’s going on.
We contacted our mission board and the lady that is our contact/support person at WorldVenture. She looked through our presentation, analyzed our pool of donors and looked at our method and pretty much said that we’re doing everything as we should be. We’ve been praying about what God is trying to teach us and what our future is going to hold with no obvious response either way.
That said – we just don’t know where to go from here. It’s really difficult to talk to people and raise support, when we’re not fully convinced that is what God wants for us, but on the other hand, we have felt lead to this ministry for the last 3 years and it’s hard to believe that God would be telling us “NO” after everything so obviously pointed to “YES” for so long.
We have been praying and praying and searching God’s word for SOMETHING to let us know what God’s will is, but for now we are completely content with whatever He wants us to do.
If you could please take some time this week to pray for us, that would be wonderful. We have been praying that God (because He doesn’t need us in order to do whatever He wants) would give us 11% more to show us that France is where we need to be. Please pray for that.
We will be spending this week in DEEP intentional prayer about our ministry (wherever God brings us) – I’ll keep you updated on where that brings us!
Thanks so much for all your continued support – please feel free to write back any response – we want to hear from you.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well.....we took this week to intentionally pray that God would specifically show us where He wanted us to be and what He wanted us to do. We honestly have to say that we were at best doubtful that we would be doing any long term missions work. However, God had different plans for us.
Today, I was at work and Phil B. (our menor/recruiter through WV) stopped by my office. He had heard that we were discouraged in our support raising and had a proposition for us. He told us that WorldVenture has just started something called Journey Corps which are much like what we were planning on doing at the OIKOS house. They have two locations: Paris and the Ivory Coast. He said if we would be willing to go to Africa, we might be able to go sooner (with the money we've raised). We could totally consider it, but I just put it to the back of my mind.
Later on that day, I sat down to look at it and calculated how much support it would be to go there - it's EXACTLY an 11% increase to our current support - JUST what we were praying for!!!!
When Steve picked me up and I told him, all he could say is "God, You're Halarious"!!! He does work in mysterious ways.
So...here we are - back on the support raising train, refreshed and ready to raise about $2,400 more a month - if you can, please partner with us! We're ready to see what the Lord has got in store. Check out the center and some of the opportunities through this program here.
Isaiah 40:31 "Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Thanks for sticking with us!
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
If Stress = Lack of Trust, Discouragement = ?
Hello Everyone!
It's been a while since we've posted on here (a month exactly actually).
It's been a long couple months. As many of you know we had a support raising trip to WI at the end of October and were really excited that we're getting everything together and really starting to hit the ground running as far as support raising goes. Really, at that point, nothing could stop us.
Now, fast forward a month ahead - you're looking at two tired, hopeless, discouraged people. One our our main goals with this blog is to really share the ups and downs of our entire process (from support raising, to getting started in France, to leaving). Well, we're in a down.
As much as we've worked these past 6 months, we've barely seen a 5% budge in our numbers - and while we're thankful for that, we have a really long ways to go in a relatively short amount of time.
We are at about 87% of our one-time expenses (including plane tickets, training, ect.) and at 11.33% of our monthly expenses (the $5,500 we need to raise each month). If we're still looking at leaving in August (our projected leave date) we need to raise at least 9% each month (that's about $500/month pledged for the two years we're there).
It's been hard to keep going when we haven't seen any progress - I've found that we haven't been updating the blog, emailing out prayer request, or really talking to others about it at all, which really just makes the problem worse -
So - I would like to cry out to you! Please pray for us!!!! Here are something that we're really just struggling with right now:
Pray for passion for the work we believe God has called us to.
Pray for surrender of all of this to God, through which everything happens.
Pray for peace about God's time line, not ours.
Pray for contentment, that we would continue strong in our ministries here.
Pray for preparation and that we would be continually growing closer to the Lord.
Pray for provision - that God would bring the right people to partner with us at the right time.
Thanks so much - we really appreciate your prayers and support!
It's been a while since we've posted on here (a month exactly actually).
It's been a long couple months. As many of you know we had a support raising trip to WI at the end of October and were really excited that we're getting everything together and really starting to hit the ground running as far as support raising goes. Really, at that point, nothing could stop us.
Now, fast forward a month ahead - you're looking at two tired, hopeless, discouraged people. One our our main goals with this blog is to really share the ups and downs of our entire process (from support raising, to getting started in France, to leaving). Well, we're in a down.
As much as we've worked these past 6 months, we've barely seen a 5% budge in our numbers - and while we're thankful for that, we have a really long ways to go in a relatively short amount of time.
We are at about 87% of our one-time expenses (including plane tickets, training, ect.) and at 11.33% of our monthly expenses (the $5,500 we need to raise each month). If we're still looking at leaving in August (our projected leave date) we need to raise at least 9% each month (that's about $500/month pledged for the two years we're there).
It's been hard to keep going when we haven't seen any progress - I've found that we haven't been updating the blog, emailing out prayer request, or really talking to others about it at all, which really just makes the problem worse -
So - I would like to cry out to you! Please pray for us!!!! Here are something that we're really just struggling with right now:
Pray for passion for the work we believe God has called us to.
Pray for surrender of all of this to God, through which everything happens.
Pray for peace about God's time line, not ours.
Pray for contentment, that we would continue strong in our ministries here.
Pray for preparation and that we would be continually growing closer to the Lord.
Pray for provision - that God would bring the right people to partner with us at the right time.
Thanks so much - we really appreciate your prayers and support!
Monday, November 15, 2010
Normal Life
Things have settled down quite a bit for us, so much that we did not feel as though we had much to write about the last few weeks. New things in our lives: Snow! We got tons of beautiful snow on Saturday for which we were not prepared. Driving is much easier with an extra 210 lbs of sandbags in the back of our truck. Saturday evening we were able to go to the Skillet/Toby Mac concert with Jess' job and were blessed with fantastic seats. Sunday I taught my 3rd and 4th grade Sunday school class and the lesson was on Seeking God. The lesson was based on the parable of Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:10-14) and emphasized the fact that people only seek things they truly need. The Tax Collector new his need for God. It was a great reminder of my need for God and that I need to be seeking God.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Wisconsin Support Trip Update
As most of you know, we left on Friday for a support raising trip across WI. We started off in high hopes of visiting with someone almost every 2 hours over the weekend. It would have been crazy. We ended up meeting with 6 different families and it was WONDERFUL.
Before telling you about all of that, though, I thought it was great that God likes to remind us of things while we’re going through them. On Sunday, at church, the pastor preached on two different things – one in Sunday school and one in the main service.
The first lesson was being available to God. He talked about people in the Bible like the boy with the bread and fish in the feeding of the 5,000, or Esther, or Noah and how God “doesn’t look at ability, He looks at availability.” He then asked three questions (really read over them a couple times and think about it):
1. Are you available to God?2. Are your possessions available to God?
3. Do you allow your spouse/family to be available to God?
What does that look like? When he asked the first question, I’m like “yes, I feel like I will allow God to use me wherever He wants to”, but then when he asked about my possessions (my car, my house, my stuff) and my family (my husband), I had to stop for a second. Do I allow God to use Steve in whatever way He wants, or do I think “Man, that could be time we’re spending together?” or “That person is just taking advantage”. It was a hard thing to look at.
The second sermon was on the blind man mentioned in Luke 18:35-43. Really paraphrasing his sermon he talked about how at first the man yelled to Jesus, was shushed and then yelled louder – after that, when he was brought to Jesus, even though it was obvious, Jesus had him ask for his sight one more time. He talked about the power to coming to Jesus with what we need – that even though Jesus knows, we need to ask! After the man received his sight, the people didn’t just follow him, but they praised along with the man.
We have learned to ask God straight out for what we need (WE NEED SUPPORT) and know that not only is He listening to us, but in His time and in His way, He will answer our cry – and we were definitely able to praise him during this trip that we took this weekend.
So, I want you all to praise along with us for the wonderful and encouraging support raising trip we just had! We want to give glory and praise to God alone! God is good (can I get an “all the time”?).
If any of you would like to meet with us, please let us know – we would love to share our ministry with you. Just email us at steveandjessinfrance@gmail.com or call 651.216.1792 at any point.
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