When A was sick, I would pray that her tummy would get better so her poops would be good and not bad. So these past few days, A has been asking if my poops are good or bad. The first time I got to say it was good, A said, “remember mommy, I prayed yesterday and now your poopies are good.” I praise the Lord that she could make that connection already and that she wants to pray when people are sick. How great is that.
A is also three, so she’s been trying her limits and asking questions or complains instead of just obeying. It’s been a struggle for me because I have to continually follow through with consequences and it’s a struggle for A because she wants to do what she wants. Just yesterday after about a week of both of us striving to do our part… me in teaching and disciplining and A in obeying… A obeyed without question or complaint. I was so proud of her and awarded her immediately. I wish I could have taken a picture of her smile. I told her how proud I was, but how much more Jesus was proud of her for obeying mommy. She just beamed. Today has been good. Praying that each day, we both would get better at obeying… A obeying me, which will later help her to obey Christ, and me in obeying Christ daily.
Ever since P died, I learned the importance of teaching A where our real home is. Not just because P died, but because we live in a different country from all our friends and family, to even me it is confusing where our home is. I remember talking on the phone with AB one time and AB reminded me that our home here is temporary and our home is in heaven. I knew that truth, but when I myself was struggling with it after P died, it was such a great reminder. So now, if you ask A where her home is, she’ll say “dago pojok”, but then when you ask where her real home is, she’ll say heaven.
I don’t think many kids her age get the concept of heaven. I don’t even know if A gets the whole concept even though we talk about it a ton, but not many kids her age have a parent there which makes it so much more real for her.
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I’ve been feeling much better. Yesterday and today my poopies have been good, ha ha… and I’m eating. The flu is going on around here due to the change in seasons. (You may think that the temperature has changed tremendously, but it’s only a few degrees. Here that makes a huge difference and people get sick like in the winter in the states.) So I think that I’m coming down with that right now… Please continue to pray for health both for me and A.
So after I wrote my unexpected testimony few posts back, I’ve thinking a lot of what I learned throughout this past 14 months or so… I hate to admit this, but I feel for a long time, I was such a lukewarm believer and follower of Christ. I did what I needed to just for the basics, but never dug down deep. I went to church, but man church once a week doesn’t do it. I served in the church teaching and leading, but man was I so unqualified. In revelations it says that if you are lukewarm, the Lord will spit you out!!! You either be hot or cold… you either be of the world or be a believer and follower of Christ… you need to let your yes be yes and your no be no… there is no middle grounds in following Christ.
I mentioned before I am reading “The Pursuit of Holiness” by Jerry Bridges. Please if you haven’t read it, go read it and if you have read it again, especially if it’s been a while, read it again. God calls each of us to be holy. The author says that to be holy you need to obey. I don’t want to butcher what he said, but I so want to be holy… He talks about having discipline in order to be holy and we need to discipline ourselves to know His word in order to follow it… we need to read, listen, study, memorize and meditate on His word daily…
I sigh thinking of the years I wasted on earthly things, desires, fun when ugh life could have been so much richer if only I followed the words I was reading. The thing is… I can’t dwell on that. The Lord is wanting me to live a life holy surrendered to Him… so what’s important is what I’m doing NOW to do it. Yes years have been wasted, but to not waste anymore… The other thing is that what Satan meant for bad, I will use it to glorify God. I am a sinner, but through the blood of Jesus I am renewed… I have died to the cross and therefore am a new creation. How beautiful is that.
On the way to A’s school, there is a little pond that we pass. We noticed the other day a huge group of tadpoles (are they called a school?). We sat and watched them for a while and I explained to A that those were called tadpoles, but soon they will be frogs or toads (I couldn’t tell what they were). I tried to explain to her that as we get to know Jesus more and more that we will change like that too. So now every time we go to school, we try to see how much they have grown.
I pray that the Lord will awaken the church (not the building, but the group of believers who get together to worship the Lord however many there are) to not be so lukewarm and to not be content with being lukewarm. I was with a friend the other day and we were talking about just that. She was crying wanting so much for the people of God to not be satisfied with what is going on in and out of the church, including herself and me. I hear her heart and I think that was the heart of Paul when he wrote to the different cities. Reading each of those books, I see the areas the Lord wants to grow me… every time I read it. I am a work in progress, but I want to keep pursuing a life holy surrendered to the Lord because that has meaning in life and nothing else has meaning.
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Please pray for us… health and safety for everyday. Please pray for quick process of the visa. Thank you for your constant prayers and encouragement. We couldn’t do what we do if you weren’t behind us. Thanks for being a part of our family from near and far.
