Where does my help come from?

Sometimes I like to just open my bible and read the first thing my eyes land on. I have a reading plan that I stick to (It's the one year bible in case you are wondering lol) I think there are several good reasons to have a plan when you read the bible but I'm not going to get into that here. Today I opened up my bible to Psalm 121 this is what it says
I will Lift up my eyes to the mountains;
From where shall my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
He will not allow your foot to slip;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, He who keeps Israel
Will neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade on your right hand
The sun will not smite you by day
Nor the moon by night
The Lord will protect you from all evil
He will keep your soul
The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in
From this time forth and forever

It just struck me as so beautiful and so comforting. (I almost always think beautiful things are comforting)

This year has been amazing and wonderful and incredibly hard. It was full of great things we weren't expecting and difficult things we weren't expecting. Along with all the great and difficult things we were expecting. But in the end it's always a great encouragement to know that my help comes from the Lord. He never sleeps or misses a thing, He guards my going out and my coming in and he will do it forever. Who else could promise you that?

So I just want to remind any of you that read this. Whatever it is in your life that you need help with. Let your help come from the Lord.

Happiness and Cheer! Christmas for orphans

I hope every one of you had a Merry Christmas!

Every year La Casa Del Padre does several Christmas outreaches this year we helped with the one to bring Christmas to orphans and very underprivileged children. It took tons of people and together we were able to bless over 1000 children


my hilarious children being all "vanna white" here. and check out Tim's ever present jacket. It's really hot here but he still thinks he needs a jacket every.single.day. ah, children.

It was a long and exhausting day but it was awesome to see the children blessed


I loved that we took our kids too. Logan handed out snacks to the kids, a mini panaton (fruit cake thing-very popular and traditional Christmas treat)  and chocolate milk to each kid. We were in the room where the kids got their toys and they had to get the snack on the way to the toys. Many children were so focused on the toy that they walked right past Logan. All he knew how to say was "Feliz Navidad" so he would chase them down and shove the snack in their face all the while saying "Feliz Navidad" in a somewhat irritated voice. heartwarming, right? lol. O.k. I admit I thought it was ridiculously cute and understood his frustration. I go through it all the time.

This week we are going to Carmella's house to bring her some presents. God put it on some friends hearts to donate money for this project and we are all so excited! Jose and his dad went to her house yesterday to kind of get an idea what needs to be done. First of all *she* did all the wiring for her house and it needs to be fixed. thankfully Jose's dad is great at that kind of stuff and is going to take care of it! Next she doesn't have any fans in her house. Trust me it gets hot here. I am sitting with all the windows open and the fan on in hopes of getting some air circulating. I cannot imagine what it would be like if there were 8 children running around making it hotter in here! So we are going to get her a couple fans to cool off the rooms (Again Jose's dad is handling this because he's awesome) She also needs a rug, and would like a slide for the kids to play on and a shelf in the kids room. Aside from that we plan to put together a basket of food for her and her kids. This is all really phase one of a project that we think we could work on until we leave Lima. If you would like to make a donation into this project send me a message @ jkmission2peru@gmail.com that is also our paypal address. or you can give through the link on the right of the blog.

I will leave you with our Christmas card because I am super proud of it since I made it! (using pic's taken by my friend Jami)

Happy New Year!

Faithful

Around here we have been reading George Mueller. I was talking to my Mentor a few weeks ago and asked her what she is reading and she said "you know what? I'll send it to you" which sent little happy tingles up my spine because I love to read and books in english are not very common here. I waited (somewhat impatiently I admit) for the package and when it finally arrived it had a the biography of George Mueller in it. To be exact it had the exact one I read when I was a kid. Nostalgically I looked at the cover as Jose was reading because he jacked it from me. ;) But it's ok, I'm reading it now.
It's hard to imagine what it was like for him. His operating costs were about $400 a day and he never asked anyone for money. Only God. He never took matters into his own hands and got a second job he just relied completely on God. Now, I knew that. I had read it and it inspired me when I was 18 and single preparing to go to Russia. I worked hard to save money and told people what I was doing but I never asked anyone to give me money for the trip (as far as I can remember that was a long time ago) I enjoyed the adventure of it and the feeling of what I thought was total reliance on God. But in reality, if I had run out of money or had an emergency I wouldn't have called on God. I would have called on mom and dad. That was the real extent of my faith at that time. I knew that nothing would happen out of my control because my parents were there to help if I needed it.
Now it's 10 years later and I'm a missionary again. This time I'm not single. Now I'm a mom. And this whole living on faith thing is hard. When you are relying on a physical person you pick up the phone, hear their voice, tell them your problem and listen to their audible answer. When you are relying on an invisible God it doesn't work like that. Getting in touch with him is much easier. He never misses your call actually. But hearing the audible answer or seeing the results of your call for help are a little harder most of the time. It exposes you. You realize that maybe you aren't as full of faith as you thought you were. So that's where I am. Struggling to show myself faithful. Faithful to trust in God even when I think there will never be an answer to my call. Faithful to continue running to him when I have a problem instead of running to someone I can see/feel/hear. Just faithful.  
I want to be that person. The faithful, doubtless Christian.

Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people. Hold firmly to the word of life; then, on the day of Christ’s return, I will be proud that I did not run the race in vain and that my work was not useless. But I will rejoice even if I lose my life, pouring it out like a liquid offering to God, just like your faithful service is an offering to God. And I want all of you to share that joy. Yes, you should rejoice, and I will share your joy. Philippians 2:14-18

Ruined, Stripped Bare, Destroyed, Shriveled, Gone

God spoke to me today about his pattern and principles in his word through today's reading.  Joel 1:10 When the revelation of the Lord comes into someone's life it is so transforming that you see yourself as you really are. 
Ruined—un-fathered.  The birthright is so valuable in the life of a Christian.  When we become born again we receive a new birthright and become joint heirs with Christ.  For those that continue to walk in sin are as John 8:44 states and act as their father the devil and destined for ruin.
Stripped bare--uncorrected.  Without the father a Christian is stripped bare to the very core of sin.  Even in the natural world if someone will continue to break the law they will be ultimate stripped of every right they have.  Therefore as proverbs 3:12 and Hebrews 12:6 states the Lord chastens those he loves.
Destroyed--unfruitful.  Continuing to live a life that is not glorifying the father will lead you to a life that is destined to be destroyed.  Jesus states in Luke 13:6-8 that his desire is for us to bear fruit and anyone that does not will be cut off. 
Shriveled--unhealed.  The natural tendency for a malnurished child is to be shriveled, weak, and defenseless.  They will not live up to their full potential because there is something that has not been cured.  In Mark 3 Jesus approaches a man with a shriveled hand and brings restoration. 
Gone--untaught.  Psalm 27:11 the Lord teaches us how to live, to neglect his teaching is setting themselves up for a rude awakening in that the father's will was not done as in Matthew 7:21-23
Repentance and Restoration
Such a great pattern of regaining relationship with the father.
1) He calls to you turn to me Joel 2:12
2) its in your heart return to me Joel 2:13
3) he is eager to relent Joel 2:13
It humbles me to know that even in our repentance he is desperate to seek us out and longs for us to be right with him.  Even in his anger he still loves us and wants us to be in right standing with him.  He sets us up for victory even in our lowest points.
In God's restoration it will be visible and the blessings will be seen that those that follow his pattern will understand how great he is and how awesome and greatly to be praised he is.   His loving-kindness will be demonstrated to all who seek him and his faithfulness will be shown to all who humble themselves before him.
My prayer today: Joel 2:28 Then, after doing all those things, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people.Your sons and daughters will prophesy.  Your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions.29 In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on servants—men and women alike.    Thank you Lord for your Holy Spirit that comes in power, and fire, and truth. 

Jose’s Daily Thoughts December 2nd

1John 2:12 I am writing to you who are God’s children
      because your sins have been forgiven through Jesus.[c]
13 I am writing to you who are mature in the faith[d]
      because you know Christ, who existed from the beginning.
   I am writing to you who are young in the faith
      because you have won your battle with the evil one.
14 I have written to you who are God’s children
      because you know the Father.
   I have written to you who are mature in the faith
      because you know Christ, who existed from the beginning.
   I have written to you who are young in the faith
      because you are strong.
   God’s word lives in your hearts,
      and you have won your battle with the evil one.
God's children, young in faith, and mature in faith
My thoughts:  We all start somewhere.  God spoke to me today that we all begin somewhere in our Christian walk, but God does not want us to stay there.  The maturing process isn't necessarily on how much more we can put on our plates instead it is how much more we can trust in him.  God showed me that initially we need to understand that Jesus has washed us from our sins in such a way that we do not sin.  We keep in mind that if we do sin he has already made atonement for us; but he does not want us to stay just in that revelation.  We need to understand that there is a battle and winning in that battle means that Christ is growing in our lives.  This understanding is strength in our lives because we no longer rely on ourselves but on him who continues to make intercession for us.  Finally there is a level we can call mature faith.  In this level we not only know Christ as savior, but as Lord and we begin to see his nature and his unchanging love toward us.  John writes that we know Christ is the same as Adam knows Eve and is intimate with her.  We too need to become mature and know Christ in such a way that we are in Christ and know that we have been chosen from the beginning. 
My prayer today: 1John 2: 15 Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. 16 For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. 17 And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.