Do We Really Believe Jesus Can Set Others Free?

18“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives

and recovering of sight to the blind,

to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

19to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

  This scripture is one that I have been meditating on for more than a year now. This scripture has pushed me so that I have a similar conversation with God ever time I read it.  God has pressed it on my heart and push me to answer this question "Do I believe He can set people free?"  I want to answer this with a full hearted Yes!!! But if I am honest I do struggle with it.  When you see so many lives that are hurting and in pain, it can be very difficult.  When you have seen a loved one struggle with the same battle over and over, I find myself asking God if he can really truly set them free.  So I asked God to show me and to renew my faith in his delivering power.  And God did just that!  Through out this pass year I have seen God come through and deliver those that were struggling with sin BE SET FREE!  I have seen those that have gone through abusive that makes me sick to my stomach to even think about and BE SET FREE!  I have seen ones that have struggled with addiction for many years and God has given them the courage to start on the journey and BE SET FREE!

  So now that my faith has been renewed, and I could for sure say YES! God you came to set us free!  But again I felt the pull of the Holy Spirit asking the same question. "Do you believe Jesus came to set people free?"  I wondered why I could not get away from this question, till God opened my eyes.  If I really believe he came to set the captive free, and to heal the oppressed then why was I not acting like it.  WOW! That is a humbling question to answer.  Through the strength of the Holy Spirit, I am not afraid to tell people about Jesus and invite them to church.  I am not afraid to disciple those that God has brought into my life and show them how God can truly set them free.  Then what was I missing?????  

     The Holy Spirit is amazing and gently showed me, I believed He came to set people free, but I only acted on it with those people I was comfortable with.  But if I believe this with my whole being then why not show it to the neighbor that no one in town would be caught hugging?? Why not pray for the people I feel are beyond reach?  Today I finally got it! (By No means am I saying that I have mastered it!) But God has opened my eyes and my heart!  I need to love the unloveable, the hurting, the ones that feel God has abandoned them.  Show them God's love at let God do the rest!

     One day we will be in the Dominican Republic spreading God's love and power of deliverance, but until then I want every person in my reach to know God loves them.  I want to throw away every preconceived notion I have of them and simple love them.  How will that look?  Thankfully I have the Holy Spirit to guided me and show me.  Maybe it is as simple as a hug, a prayer, a ride to the store, and so many other ways. 

     So what does that mean for you?  Do you really believe that God came to set people free?  Do you believe it enough to be friend the smelliest kid at school?  Do you believe it enough to love on the town drunk instead of looking at him with disgust?  Do you believe it enough to love the most unforgiving person in your life?  Do we believe it enough to say God I am yours use me with any person and any circumstance?

Dios Te Bendiga!  Gloria a Dios!

Let Go!!

God is so amazing and His truth never ceases to amaze me! Jeff and I are still on the journey of preparing for the mission field and while we have our house now (Yeah!!) we still do not know when God will have us leave.  In the mean time we are following where He leads us.

This means that there are daily sacrifices that we are having to make in order to get to where God wants us to be.  It is not uncommon for me to hear "I don't know how you do it?" Or "I could never leave this country to do what you are doing!".  While I understand that not all are called to be missionaries, I do know that God has a place and a calling for all of His children.  God calls all of us to give Him our lives so that He can make them what they need to be for the building up of His church, His bride! 

He is teaching me and showing me how to become 100% reliant on Him.  Daily there are moments that I have to breath out and release those earthly things that i feel that I need (such as my pride and independence) in order for God to give me what I really need such as His strength and grace!

Recently Jeff and I had to sell our second vehicle and then decided to not get another one but instead just share the one car.  Now I have had my own vehicle since I could drive and for me, it was a symbol of my independence.  There are many times I have to release my own desire for independence to God knowing His plan is far greater than mine.  If giving up my independence here on earth means a greater reward in heaven, that is what I want! And through this He is giving me the tools that I will need as a missionary! 

So what is it that God is calling you to do? What is He calling you to give up so that He can provided something far greater to prepare you for your calling! We are all apart of the Body of Christ and we all are needed so that we work as One Body! Don't be afraid of your calling because you feel unprepared or unlearned, but know that God will equip you with what you need in order to fulfill His call!

Dios Le Bendiga! Gloria a Dios!

Brotherly Love

        Why is it so hard for us to accept encouragement and gifts from other believers?  It is so much easier to follow through and know that we are called to serve others but when it comes to receiving it ourselves we fall short.  It is even more humbling when we know the person encouraging us is giving us from what what they don't have.  

2 Peter 1: 5-7

      5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue,[e] and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.

      Accepting affection from fellow believers is pivotal in our faith in God.  I am reminded of the Bible story where the lady gave her two coins in offering to God.  Jesus did not tell that lady to take her money back, because He knew what we sometimes forget.  God will always "reimburse" those that share what God has given to them.  I do not mean that God will literally give the lady her money back (and not to say He can't), what I am saying is that God will always refill the person that gives.  God says that he will fill our cups to overflowing so that we in turn can bless others.  

      This means that we can, guilt free, accept gifts of love and encouragement from others knowing that God will fill them back up.  All that we owe that person is to accept the gift they are giving us and use it to strength our faith in God.

Dios Te Bendiga!  Gloria a Dios!

Dominican Trip 2014

      This year we took a much smaller group to the Dominican Republic.  It was just Jeff's dad, grandparents, and us.  My so gracious parents came up to watch our children at our house, and Jeff's mom took our dog.   I really felt that I needed this trip to prepare my self spiritually and mental for when we eventually move down.  One of our goals this trip was also to look for a house to buy for when we move down.  Jeff and I feel that it would be much better to own a home then to rent.  It would give us more freedom in coming and going between the DR and the states.
       I have to say that when we first got down there, the reality of moving there hit me and thoughts of doubt began to flood my mind.  I prayed and prayed and began to break through those thoughts.  I am always reminded of this saying "God does not call the qualified, but qualifies the called".  God was able to give me a peace and help me to realize that He will give me the strength that I need when the time comes.
       There were so many experience on this trip that showed me a tiny bit of what God has in store for when we move down to do missions.  The first experience that stuck out in my mind is when we first arrived in the DR.  We stopped at our favorite chicken place to eat.  As usual there was a boy sitting in the door way watching us eat.  After a bit I went over and asked if he could read.  He said yes so I gave him a tract.  He sat right up and began to read every single word on the tract.  He was so intense in his reading.  We gave him some of our food and he was so into his reading he did not eat a single bit for a while.  We left the restaurant with boy still sitting and reading.  All I could think of was where that tract might end up.  Something so small can hold words that could change a persons life forever.
         Another time we were visiting one of the churches and one of the members had surgery recently.  We all gathered around to simple pray for her quick recovery.  It was the middle of the afternoon and nothing particular spectacular happening .  As we prayed for her the power of God began to fall and before I new it there were tears falling down many of our faces.  We were crying for no particular reason other than just feeling the presence of God.  What I got out of the whole experience is that we, as americans, are too busy for God.  In the DR the people do not have a lot.  They are can spend unlimited time with God.  If the church doors are open they are there.  So when we prayed it didn't take a whole worship service and sermon to get us to the point where we were open to the move of the spirit.  It only took a few minutes of prayer.  I don't want to loose that coming back to the states.  I want to stay open to the move of the spirit and ready at all times!
         There are so many other memories from this trip and it would take a while to share.  I will say I came back from this trip with a renewed zeal for spreading God's word!


Dios Te Bendiga!  Gloria a Dios!

When Your Not Sure Just Ask

     I do have to say that I am the impatient one.  Jeff can wait calmly and quietly until God comes through, but I on the other had am not so quiet.  So when it had been several years since we had made the commitment to God to go in to the mission field, my patiences was starting to wear thin.  We were looking at almost 8 years before we got our houses paid off, which is something we felt we needed to do before leaving for the Dominican Republic.  Then God opened a window and we were able to refinance everything so that we would have it all paid off in 4 1/2 years.  It just did not seem good enough for me.  I mean it was awesome that God cut the time in half but it still seemed so long to wait.  I also did not want to be praying out of God's will.  So I began to pray that God would give me guidance into how I should be praying, that He would open the door for us to get to the DR sooner or that He gave me strength to wait till the time was right.

     Fast forward about a month and I was on my way to fellowship service in Fulton, NY.  I was riding along with Jeff's grandparents, and wondering how much of the service I was going to be able to enjoy. I had three boys who were sitting in the car for two and half hours and Jeff was at work so I was pretty much on my own.  I prayed on the way that God would allow me to get something out of the service.  As I suspected, I did not get much from the sermon.  In fact, I have no clue what the preacher even was preaching on.  At some point, the preacher began to pray for a select few people in the congregation, calling them up and prophesying over them.  Before I knew it, the preacher was calling me up.  When I went up, the preacher asked me "If I could ask God for anything what would it be?".  I was utterly speechless, followed by tears that began to trickle down.  

     I had always wondered how Esther felt when the King had presented her with a similar question.  Was she ever tempted to answer in a different way that would benefit her?  Here I was being presented with a similar question and there was no doubt in my mind how I was going to answer.  I told God that I would like our debt to be pay off sooner so that we could leave for the mission field.  The preacher asked me three times if I believed that God could do it and every time, with all my heart, I said YES! He said to tell others about what God was going to do.  I did and still am!

    I cannot say yet that I know an exact time frame that we will be leaving in.  All I know is that God confirmed that we would be leaving in the next few years and I am anxiously waiting to see how He is going to do it.

    We ask for your prayers as we make some business and financial decisions that will place us in the mission field sooner.  Jeff and I also covet your prayers as we are going on a trip to the DR in a few days.  Not only will we be encouraging the christians in our churches and spreading God's word, we will also be looking at different housing options for our future stay.

Dios Te Bendiga!  Gloria a Dios!

A Retrospective View

 

  We want to be missionaries!  There so it is out there and seems like a good way to start off.  Jeff and I have wanted this for so long.  God has put a burden on our heart to reach out to those in the country of the Dominican Republic.  Many of you may or may not be aware of this but I feel that as the time draws closer I would like to start blogging about our journey so that you can follow along with us as we navigate to what God has for us.  So I am going to start off first giving you a view of what God has done in our lives.

     For me, the dream of being a missionary started as a little girl.  I remember reading about David Livingstone and all the things that he had done in Africa.  That is what I wanted to do!  Go to another country and share God's love with them.  I eventually was able to take a trip to Romania, which would only inspire my desire to go.  Fast forward several years, Jeff and I got married and after several years of marriage decided that we were going to pursue God's call for us to the Dominic Republic.  At that point and time we were ready to sell everything and go!  But thankfully to some wise council and prayer we realized that God had a different avenue for us to go down.  A few steps that we needed to go up one by one to prepare us for the ultimate goal.

     Our first goal was to some how come up with the money to build a church in the Dominic.  This is something that God had put on Jeff's heart when he was a teenager.  God divagated Jeff through the silver market and within 6 months we had 10,000 for the church!  Now I only share this step because it was such a God thing!  There is no way that came out of our own money and God just lead Jeff to the right deals to obtain it.  Jeff was then able to go down with a team this past year and build the church.

     Our second goal was a matter of finances.  As we prayed God began to build our rental business up to the point that we realized if we hang in here a while we can pay it all off and use the money to support ourselves in the DR.  What an amazing blessing!  This means we would be able to have a house in the states, buy a house in the DR and when we raised money for support it would mainly go to whatever missions that we are doing in the DR.  

    Since this all began I have been able to go the the DR twice and Jeff several more times than I.  First time I went was on our honeymoon and the second was last year when we took all the kids down with us.  That was an adventure and a half and another whole blog for another day.  We are continuing in our pursuit of what God has for us.  And I am excited and cannot wait for what else is in store for us.

   In the next few blogs I will begin to talk about our dreams for the future, some of our past trips, and just the general journey along the way.  I pray that God can use our story to inspire others to purse the dream that God has given them no matter if it involves being a missionary some where else in the world or to your next door neighbor.

Dios Te Bendiga!  Gloria a Dios!