![\"IMG_6380\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/files\/2015\/04\/IMG_6380-225x300.jpg\")
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So\u2026 guess what? We are expecting a baby boy in September!
\nWe are so thankful to the Lord for this wonderful blessing, and were eager to share it with you. This month I have been reflecting on this idea of \u201cexpecting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Expectation. Scripture is filled with this idea. In fact, a lot of the Christian life is about expectation. We are called to live our lives, not for this life\u2019s goals, but for eternal goals. In Matthew 16:24-25, Jesus says, \u201c\u2026Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take\u00a0up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.\u201d Why can we do this? Because, as 1 Cor. 15:19-20 says, \u201cAnd if we have hope in Christ only for this life, we are the most miserable people in the world. But the fact is that Christ has been raised from the dead. He has become the first of a great harvest of those who will be raised to life again.\u201d Praise God for the hope of heaven. We can live fully for Jesus with the expectation of eternal rewards.
\nIn addition to this ultimate expectation, as believers we can live each day in joyful expectation of what God will do. Psalm 5:3 says, \u201cIn the morning, LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.\u201d Every day\u00a0God has incredible plans for us, if we will open up our eyes to what He is doing, and open up our hearts to what He would have us do. Every time that Karissa has substitute taught this month, she started the day by praying that God would give her an opportunity to show His love to a student and witness to a staff member, and many days He answered those prayers. Matt has lived in expectation of what God will do this month as he seeks to be faithful in doing the hard work of support raising, and as God has shown him opportunities to be there for friends in his life.<\/p>\n
We also are in a season of expectation and preparation for going to Papua New Guinea. We are so excited to\u00a0see how He will use us when we go, and for now we are trying to diligently share our vision with people, and pray for the Lord to bring in the finances we need to go. We have already seen Him answer prayers in this area, and as of today, we are 31% funded!
\nThanks so much for all of your prayers and support. We couldn\u2019t do this without you. We pray for our prayer and financial supporters every day, and we would love to hear from you if you have specific prayer requests or praises.<\/p>\n
Till all know,
\nMatt, Karissa, and Ty Long \u2026 and baby \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
Please Pray:
\n– That our baby will be healthy<\/p>\n
– That traveling will go well next month- we will be hitting 3 states in a week and a half for support raising<\/p>\n
-That we can get to being 50% funded by the end of June<\/p>\n
– That Ty will do well on his new reflux medication<\/p>\n
Praise God:
\nFor 8 new financial supporters this month!<\/p>\n
For this incredible gift of a new baby!<\/p>\n
He provided a really cool opportunity for us to lead a Bible study with some friends<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So\u2026 guess what? We are expecting a baby boy in September! We are so thankful to the Lord for this wonderful blessing, and were eager to share it with you. This month I have been reflecting on this idea of \u201cexpecting.\u201d Expectation. Scripture is filled with this idea. In fact, a lot of the Christian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1074,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","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":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-142","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-family","7":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1074"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}