Pieces of the Puzzle ~Part 2

Part 2

The last week has been an amazing time of seeing what God has been doing behind the scenes. So full of confirmation that what we are working on is what God wants us to be doing. But first let me tell you what God did to bring us to this point. The story is long so we will be breaking it up into parts. For part one go here 

In October of 2001 I went to Russia on a 9 month mission trip. I thought it was something God had called me to do but in reality I was trying to be a missionary on my strength. It was the the hardest thing I had ever done at that point and because of various situations there I returned home in May 2002. Completely broken and with no desire to have anything to do with God or Christianity. 

While I was in Russia, my parents decided to change churches. I was not pleased. I wanted to go home and hang out with my old friends at my old church. Not start over at a new church. Honestly, the only reason I went was to keep my parents happy. I had no intention of getting involved or even liking it but slowly God started working in my heart. I met real Christians who loved God purely and passionately and as a result showed His love to me when I doubted His existence. I wasn't all the way there yet but I started seeking God again. 

Jose attended his first Encounter God weekend in February 2002. There he was liberated from all addictions, affirmed as a son, understood the true cost of sin, was filled with the Holy Spirit and given vision for his life. The following month our pastors went to Lima, Peru. They visited a church and an orphanage. When they showed the video and gave testimony of what they saw Jose's heart began to race. God was showing him another piece of the puzzle. He couldn't believe a white guy from Katy, TX went to his country to minister the gospel. After that service Jose went up to our pastor to talk to him for the first time and told him "The next time you go to South America, I'm going with you." 

Later that year Jose was commissioned to minister to men. At that time God had spoken to Jose to talk to his dad about Jesus. He visited his dad in November and presented the gospel and testified of what God had done in his life.

It took 2 years of God preparing Jose before he accompanied Pastor to South America.

2 months after Jose went to South America we got married. Thinking we would be missionaries in 5 years...

Part 3 tomorrow

Pieces of the Puzzle ~Part 1

The last week has been an amazing time of seeing what God has been doing behind the scenes. So full confirmation that what we are working on is what God wants us to be doing. But first let me tell you what God did to bring us to this point. The story is long so we will be breaking it up into parts.


For Jose before he was saved he knew there was some connection for him in Piura, Peru he just didn't know what it was.


For me I knew I was called to missions at a young age. Surprisingly for me God told me to begin praying for my future husbands salvation in January of 2001. Before that I had just assumed I would marry someone who grew up saved. But when God tells you to do something it's usually best to listen. I didn't tell anyone but I prayed for him for 6 months and in June I felt a peace to stop praying for his salvation. That October I went to Russia on a 9 month mission trip.


In January of 2001 Jose had watched his friend go from a broken life to a much better place in about 8 months. Seeing the change and liking it Jose in his carnal way decided he wanted to be a better person too. That ended up making him double minded and affected him almost to the point of suicide. Seeing this, his friend started inviting him to church. Dr Edwin Louis Cole says "When the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change, you change." This was true for Jose. He began attending church in June and was saved June 18th 2001.


For the next 5 months Jose struggled. Having one foot in the church and one foot in the world. Inside he was saved and was being transformed by God. But he was still pulled by relationships and addictions that made it seem impossible for him to fully change. All his life he had run away from his problems. In November the perfect opportunity for him to run away arose. He could go live with his dad in Florida and start a new life. Before he made his final decision he attended a midweek Thanksgiving service at Powerhouse Church. This service would change his life and add another piece to the puzzle that God was constructing. Pastor GF Watkins taught on Abraham building his altar, pitching his tent, and digging wells. That message spoke to Jose that this church was where his new life would begin. This church is where he would worship, sacrifice and grow deeper with God, no matter what else happened around him.


Part 2 coming tomorrow

How Much is Enough

This morning I have been meditating in the word and saw something that really spoke to me. 1timothy 6:9-10 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. Wow, how much is enough and where does it end? Do we give God Glory with everything that we own or do we say this is for God and this is for me and my selfishness. Please understand that God does give us possessions for our enjoyment and to spread his kingdom. Do you desire to be rich? Well then this is what you should expect. 1)temptations--not that we don't already have temptations, but the ones that get you in debt, distracted, and are selfish. 2) a snare--simply a trap. We fill our houses with things to make us feel great or buy things to impress others or think we need, but it's all a trap because in the end none of these things work. 3)foolish and harmful lusts--what we see and think we need, the latest this, that or the other. Foolish, the word in proverbs refers many times acting like a child and in all the cases they do not enter the presence of God. 4) to drown in destruction and perdition-- think about it, if you desire to be rich you will be drowned in destruction and perdition. Your destiny is not heaven it is torment and everlasting hell. Jesus told his men, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Mark 10:25 NKJV) 5) the love of money has strayed them from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. Do you desire to be rich then expect the piercings of being filled with grief. It comes down to greediness. The question again is, how much is enough? How many cars are enough, how many houses are enough, how many shoes are enough, how many dogs are enough, how many tv's are enough, how much jewelry is enough, how many guns are enough, how many games are enough, how much ______ (fill in the blank) is enough? Please let me help you to understand that it's not that God will not provide for you. It is not that wealth means you are evil or even having money makes you evil. Listen to this verse. Mark 10:29-30 NKJV So Jesus answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life. But the key is this. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. (Matthew 6:33 NKJV) Please listen to what I'm about to say and examine yourself. I have to daily because I have been blessed to have lived in a great country where we have a buffet of liberty and choices and selection of commerce and opportunity to live the American dream. If you make more than $2 a day you are richer than 1/3 of the world. That sounds crazy. You may step outside of your house and maybe not believe it, but you are. I am not saying giving your money to the poor is your ticket into heaven, works can't do it for you; only Christ, his blood and him crucified. If you think about it and look around your house you are probably like most of us and see you got more junk and stuff you don't use and probably pay storage fees for things you will not go through again. God has blessed us to be a blessing to others. Show that today. What can you do with what you already have to change this world and to bring the gospel to the at least 4.5 billion of people who don't know Christ. That is 4,500,000,000 people! It is our responsibility to do it.

JOSE

Deeper!

This year has been such an amazing year for us. I can't believe it's only half over! I feel like we have all grown and learned so much just from experiencing God. I could go on about this for awhile but there is so much else for me to talk about that I'll save it for another post. ;)

One of the biggest blessings for us was something that just happened! Jose and I planned our trip to the states in March so we could be a part of the Intense mens conference/father son campout. The only downside, we couldn't stay long enough to be a part of our 15th anniversary conference. So we enjoyed our time there. Only told a few people what we had faith for and PRAYED. So 2 weeks before the conference Jose gets an email that the tickets have gone down to half the normal price (the only time we have seen that happen) so we got blessed with the tickets to go to Houston! We surprised our Pastors and most of our church and had a great weekend of spiritual refreshing! I can't even begin to describe all the ways we got blessed last week while we were there. I will just summarize by saying that God is always, always faithful! He provided for every need we have and used some amazing and often surprising ways to do it. :) 

Some highlights from the conference

*We burned the note! Our building is paid off and Jordan Ranch is more than halfway there! I can't express how exciting this is for us!

*Jose turned 10! He got saved 10 years ago at the 5th anniversary conference. I will always be grateful to God for bringing Pastor Watkins to Katy Tx 15 years ago. Without him my husband would not be the man he is today. We will never forget where we came from!

*The teaching from the other covenant pastors. So awesome to hear the word from brothers in the faith!

*Seeing 57 men, women, and youth get commissioned!

*Visiting with Pastor Carven and Juanita Izaks from Namibia, South Africa. A brother and sister in the Lord and we love having them as a part of our family :) 

*The look on Pastor GF's face when he saw us walk into the sanctuary!

* Seeing so many people we love! We didn't have enough time to spend with most of you and we really wish we could have. But it was encouraging as always to see you and hear what God is doing in your lives!

There is too much stuff to list on one post!

   

One of the things we got blessed with was THE camera I've been praying for. I took over 300 pics and narrowed it down to about 90 favorites. So here are some of the best of the best. Or at least some of my favorites :)

We also got to say hi to some of our family. My niece is cuter than ever and likes Jose more than me. It's really not fair ;) Also my brother looks like an adult now. Which is so weird because when I think about him he is still in his 15 year old body. Why do they have to grow up (I admit he is almost 24 so I should probably adjust his age in my mind) 

For Nothing is impossible with God ~ Luke 1:37

5 Years

Wednesday (June 15th) our baby will be 5.
This will be a bittersweet celebration because he won't be the baby anymore.
Next year there will be another little Lopez taking that title, so the celebration is way more sweet than bitter. :)

Timothy is my shadow.
He loves to sit in the room with me and play while I do whatever I'm doing.
I can always count on him to keep me company.
I can also count on him to always make me laugh.
I never want to forget the way he started memorizing words (including the spelling) this year.
Words like Walt Disney Pictures Presents, restroom, all of our names, cake, exit, men, and monsters inc.
He loves to spell them out. For example if he needs to use the restroom he says "I need to go restroom, r-e-s-t-r-o-o-m-m-e-n"   And before he figured out what that spelled he would say
"I need to go potty m-e-n"
He also thought e-x-i-t spelled "get out of here" so when he was ready to go he would say
"let's e-x-i-t, get out'ta here"

He will always be my baby. Even though he tells me "No, not baby. I Timothy!" 

whenever I call him baby.

Timothy Joseah, thank you for allowing me the privilege of raising you. 

You are a sweet, funny, caring little boy with a mind that is totally your own. 

I thank God that you are who you are. I wouldn't change you, or trade you for anything in the world.

You are awesome. Don't you ever forget it!

Love, 

M-o-m-m-y Mommy