{"id":158,"date":"2009-03-30T13:46:45","date_gmt":"2009-03-30T17:46:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/gary-smith\/?p=158"},"modified":"2009-08-31T13:49:47","modified_gmt":"2009-08-31T17:49:47","slug":"children-of-the-almighty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/gary-smith\/2009\/03\/30\/children-of-the-almighty\/","title":{"rendered":"Children of the Almighty"},"content":{"rendered":"

Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life. <\/span><\/p>\n

Ps 23:6 <\/span>(NLT)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"felix-gary-basa\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Felix (the man in the picture on the left) said the following today after our Tuesday morning believers meeting, \u201cListening to how God cares for us this morning really stirred my heart and I just had to stand up and say something about it. When a man of prominent position comes here to our village, like the governor or prime minister does he come to our children and pick them up and say, \u2018O what a nice child you are!\u2019 Is that what he would do? No way! These leader men don\u2019t even pay attention to our children, and these are really important people. However the one who is above them all, the one who is almighty comes to me and picks me up and assures me of his love. When I think of this I am amazed.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As I listened to Felix saying this to everyone this morning tears welled up in my eyes. They are getting it! What so many of us struggle with they are getting. The fact that the God of the universe loves us unconditionally as His children because of what Christ did on our behalf is what they are standing on. Secure in His love. Resting in the knowledge that His goodness and unfailing love will pursue <\/em>them. Where else would we rather exist?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So yes, overall things are going really well in here. God is raising up teachers already. In the picture is two of them. These two men, Felix and Basa have already started teaching with us. Others lead the singing and others lead us in prayer. It\u2019s so encouraging to see them respond to God like this. This is why we came, to see them brought into God\u2019s kingdom, to walk in loving relationship with Him, and to serve Him and see Him work in and through them. Of course it hasn\u2019t come without it\u2019s struggles and hardships. Frankly, there have been times of wanting to throw in the proverbial towel. However, to God be the glory we did not. God sustained us and it has been worth it all!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As a family we can\u2019t help being a little excited about getting ready to go to the States for our home assignment. While leaving here will be hard we are very much looking forward to reconnecting with family and friends back home. We are still seeking the Lord\u2019s will in schooling for our children. Currently it looks like they will attend public school, but if the Lord has other plans we are open to that. We\u2019ve heard lots of good reports from other missionaries about public school. So we will see. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

If you think about it please pray for us concerning:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span>Before we leave I\u2019d like to complete an evangelism training course for the believers here, and get everything ready to go for an outreach to the main village.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

2.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span>That the believers here will continue to deepen their relationship with the Lord.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

3.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span>There are a few people who seem to have turned their backs on the Lord. Pray that they will come back!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

4.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span>For our planning and preparation to go on home assignment (aka furlough). So much needs to be done.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

5.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span>That God would provide a vehicle for us during home assignment.<\/span> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Pursued by His Love,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Gary, Esther, Charis, Caleb, Nathan, and Zachary Smith<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

PS \u2013 Zachary (4 yrs old) just told us \u201cI wish I was a village kid, then I could go on hikes whenever I wanted. But I\u2019d have to eat that yucky beetlenut.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0HA!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life. Ps 23:6 (NLT) \u00a0 Felix (the man in the picture on the left) said the following today after our Tuesday morning believers meeting, \u201cListening to how God cares for us this morning really stirred my heart and I just had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-158","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/gary-smith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/gary-smith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/gary-smith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/gary-smith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/164"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/gary-smith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/gary-smith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/gary-smith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/gary-smith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/gary-smith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}