I Am Overcome

Friends of ours invited us to their church building, about an hour away from us. Wasn’t a big congregation, but there was an unannounced guest speaker that morning, from South Africa. The words he spoke were great encouragement to us, re-enforcing things God had been telling us all week. Then the Pastor asked us to come to the front so that the Church could pray for us and our move. We went to the front and were facing him, and he asked for all the people from Africa to come and pray in their native dialects. We couldn’t see the people, they were behind us, but we heard their prayers, six different people prayed in six different languages! It was amazing, Christian and I both in tears. The one and only word we understood in each language was Jesus. He is the same in all languages.

I am so thankful that God looks down on me and chooses to love me and guide me. I am overcome by the lengths He will go to show me that He is with me and He loves me.

Could we with ink the ocean fill, And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill, And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,Though stretched from sky to sky.

This is a verse from the hymn “The Love Of God”. We can’t even conceive how deep and how wide His love for us is.

Praying For Us

prayerpartner I read this article on praying for missionaries on Wycliff.org and thought you might like to read it and pray for us on our journey, and prayer for Daniel and his family in Africa, and all missionaries.

Here are some of the main points, but the article goes more in depth:

Pray for Open Doors

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains” (Colossians 4:2–3, NIV).

Pray for Boldness in Witness

“Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel” (Ephesians 6:19, NIV).

Pray that God’s Word Will Spread

“Finally, dear brothers and sisters, I ask you to pray for us. Pray first that the Lord’s message will spread rapidly and be honored wherever it goes.…” (2 Thessalonians 3:1, NLT)

Pray for Protection

“Pray, too, that we will be saved from wicked and evil people, for not everyone believes in the Lord” (2 Thessalonians 3:2, NLT).

Pray for Their Ministry

“Pray first that the Lord’s message will spread rapidly and be honored wherever it goes…” (2 Thesslaonians 3:1, NLT).

Pray for God’s Guidance

“So we have continued praying for you ever since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you a complete understanding of what He wants to do in your lives, and we ask Him to make you wise with spiritual wisdom” (Colossians 1:9, NLT).

Pray for Refreshment

“We also pray that you will be strengthened with His glorious power so that you will have all the patience and endurance you need. May you be filled with joy” (Colossians 1:11, NLT).

Partners in prayer

“Dear brothers and sisters, I urge you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. Do this because of your love for me, given to you by the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:30, NLT).

Pray

“I guess the test of our prayers is when we have to live them out.”

– Andy Freeman

I read this quote on a missionaries blog page. She was talking about the pain of ministering and trying to reach people in Africa in need of the Gospel. Her words and pictures really touched me, and some of the things that God has shown her is that at the end of the day it is about forming relationships and showing Christ with our love and our lives, not trying to show a new way, or trying to physically make their lives better. Christian and I have been talking about this very thing, and I found what she had to say encouragement from the Lord.

When I read the quote, I had to agree. I know that I can’t even comprehend how much our hearts will be stretched, bruised and even broken, but I know that God is answering prayers that we have had deep inside of us. All the experiences we have had leading up to this moment have been preparing us for the journey we are about to embark on. I think the reason some people are afraid to pray from the deep desires that God has planted in their hearts, is that when He answers them, we have to do something. We have to give of ourselves, and sacrifice some of our comforts. It is scary, but I want the rest of my life to be all in, no matter what that takes, and no matter where it takes me. I want to live out my prayers.

Raelee-ism: The Pineapple Gut

I want to share all the crazy and funny things Ms. Raelee “Yes Ma’am” Welch says, so I will be making posts that are her own unique Raelee-isms!

Like: Her and Daddy were eating fresh pineapple one night and she kept picking at her teeth. Daddy asked what was wrong with her tooth, and she pulled out a piece of pineapple that had been stuck and said,

“Nothing, just a pineapple gut”!