God’s Truth is Permanent!

We talked last month how God holds all things together… and now another amazing thought….God holds us together! God is the faithful One! He uses us, the weak ones, He gives life to dead things through the power of His Word! So amazing! Our God doesn’t just fill in the gaps or pick us up when we fall short. We don’t need to have lots of gumption or stick-to-it-ness… this story has nothing to do with us and our desire to follow the Lord’s leading. He holds everything together and He holds us together… not just every so often, but right now and all the time! His Word is life, it isn’t something that we read to help us through our day or make our day better… The Truth of God’s Word is permanent, never changing… and we can hold onto it knowing that it holds onto us!

Lately we have been having trouble with one of our guard dogs. A big reason for this is that the dog has taken on the stress and responsibility of deciding who should be allowed on our center and who shouldn’t. In other words, the dog has decided to put itself in a position of holding our center together and this has resulted in the dog not doing a good job. He is worn out, stressed and not enjoyable to be around. And you don’t want a Doberman/Rottweiler guard dog that is stressed out and on edge! Jacob’s challenge is to make the dog see that he needs to accept the authority of the guards and Jacob and let them hold everything together. This dog’s life would be so much more restful if it would just let go of the idea that he needs to hold everything together, not to mention, the dog would be much more fun to be around! It has been a good lesson for us.

Here are a few thoughts from the book “She Reads Truth” by Raechel Myers and Amanda Williams
”God’s promises are permanent when the world’s promises pass away.
God’s covenant is permanent when our good intentions pass away.
God’s love is permanent when our good behavior passes away.
God’s mercy is permanent when our bodies pass away.
God’s hope is permanent when our plans are passing away.
God’s sovereignty is permanent when our power is passing away.
The Gospel is permanent when our belief is passing away.
God and His Truth will always be true. You cannot change the Truth. You cannot earn it or lose it or escape it. But you can hold on to it, knowing it holds you.”

In repentance and rest is your salvation; in quietness and trust is your strength…” Isaiah 30:15

God is teaching us a lot over here on this side of the world as we serve Him each day supporting the missionaries who are planting churches. We were excited to help two new families move into a new tribe this month! And we are excited to help support missionaries learning the language and culture who getting ready to teach about God’s story in their tribal languages. And this week the three missionary men from an island nearby will head back to the island to see how the church is doing after being left on their own for 5 months. God is doing exciting things and it is neat to be here to hear about it and help in any way we can as we go about our days.

Jacob is always busy repairing things, the last few weeks he is been working on rotten cupboards, screen doors, washing machines. And he has been hard at work attempting to train a dog who has been misbehaving. Beth is enjoying time with Jonathan and Naomi. Jonathan is learning letter sounds and starting to sound out words himself… he will be reading soon! And Naomi is full of smiles lately as she attempts to stand on her own over and over. Usually she is successful if she is holding onto something. And she is crawling around a lot! But still no teeth at 9 months! We are so thankful that God gave us Jonathan and Naomi!

Praises!
-Our co-workers, The Buser family, have returned with their new addition! Sadie Gail Buser
-Naomi, at 9 months, is healthy and crawling all over the house!
-Jonathan and Naomi love each other!
-Jonathan has new friends to play with each day!
-We have conquered most of our house pests… we no longer have rats in the house, not many ants to be seen!
-A God who sent His Son to die for our sins and rose him up so that we could have daily life abundantly and REST in Him!
-God’s continued provision for our needs moment by moment!
-Morlangs have decided to stay longer and take their Home Assignment next year instead so they can fill in the gaps here.
-Mueller and Rimestad families moved into a bush location and have started learning the language and culture!
-Return of the Depner family, missionaries on the island, that will be helping out here for a while.
-Soon arrival of the Hutteman family who have been gone for over 2 years waiting Christina’s US Citizenship paperwork.

Prayer requests:
-Chen family, co-workers, as they recently found out that Gail Chen’s cancer has returned and it is worse this time.
-Island team men as they head to the island this week to visit their friends and the church… safety on the ocean.
-Naomi would continue to settle into her schedule, take naps and sleep through the night!
-Wisdom as we start Jonathan’s education
-Jacob at work… ability to balance work with rest, and prioritizing all that needs to be done.
-That we would remember that God holds everything together including us!
-Rest in God as we enjoy being parents of two children!
-God would continue to raise up more missionaries to come to the Sepik and bring the Gospel to those who have never heard it their own heart language.
-More laborers to minister to the Bena people.

Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement!