“Father, You are good and your ways are perfect! Thank you that you love us, and thank you that I know my daughter is with you. Thank you that I know that all of her ‘heavies’ are done, and she feels no pain and she is with You, thank you Father God that you are good, thank you…
Now, picture this prayer coming out of the lips of a sobbing, broken woman as she stands over the casket of her young teenage daughter. She is heartbroken, the pain she feels is palpable, yet she TRUSTS. She KNOWS her life and the lives of her loved ones are in the hands of a sovereign and GOOD God. She knows she can trust Him in the hurt…
The next day, her house was destroyed by relatives in her own village, distraught with grief and fear, lashing out in blame and revenge.
So, what is the difference between these two opposite reactions to the same trial? Truly the rain falls on the righteous and the unrighteous, the question is, where is our foundation? Will we be able to stand when the rains come? Can we trust the way this dear sister is learning how to?
We are reminded again of what a privilege it is to be a part of bringing this message of Peace, Hope and Love to these people who, until 2008, had never heard of the grace of God in their own language. We SEE the difference Jesus is making in their lives, and we know our work is not in vain.
Thank you for standing with us! You encourage us through your prayers and gifts to this ministry, and you are a vital part of what the Lord is doing here! To keep you informed, I’ll give you a brief snapshot of how you can continue to be praying for our family…
- Jeremiah: Focusing on translating the Gospels right now. Out of 3,778 verses, 630 of them are completely finished (between Jeremiah and our coworkers) and 1082 of them are drafted and are in various steps of processing. He also gets to teach occasionally, and last month did quite a bit of topical teaching dealing with issues in the village regarding previous animistic beliefs that were cropping up again.
- April: Busy, busy with home school! Praising the Lord for the ability to keep the kids home for now (versus sending them to a boarding school) and being able to see them grow in their knowledge and walk with the Lord. Please pray for our family, for wisdom as we seek to raise our children to love, trust and serve the Lord, and that each of the kids would truly desire to know Him more! She is also involved in 2 ladies’ Bible studies, one that is in the Dinangat language and focuses on bringing up reading skills as well, and one that is in the trade language (Melanesian pidgin). In this study we are focusing on the very practical truths taught in Proverbs, with a dual purpose of helping the Dinangat women in their pidgin skills.
- Jordan: 13 and in 8th grade, loving all things football, hating all things algebra 🙂 and experiencing a lot of knee pain with this particular period of growth. 🙁
- Judah: 11 and in 6th grade, he is doing super well in school, and like most kids his age, would rather be doing anything else!
- Alayna: 6 and in 1st grade, enjoying school and adores her brothers, so she also loves all things football, and told me recently that she wants to get rid of all of her ‘girly’ dolls (not gonna happen! 🙂
We appreciate you keeping these things before the Lord in prayer! Our home assignment is coming up in June of 2014. We can’t wait to be home and re-connect with our state-side coworkers!