Amazing Missionaries!

My children & I were blessed to get to meet the missionary pilot & his wife who took over in Equador after Nate Saint & Jim Elliot & the other missionary men were killed. I was so inspired by these missionaries who were willing to give up their lives to show God's love to people who had never known that kind of love. I was even more inspired by the missionaries families willingness to not only forgive the Indians, but also to befriend them & have a relationship with them. Such a powerful example of forgiveness!

This is a picture of the five missionaries that went into the jungles of South America to show the love of God to the Auca Indians who knew nothing but killing and being killed.

If you have not heard the story, I encourage you to check out these resources:

I have seen all three of these DVDs & they are all very moving. "The End of the Spear" is a Film based on the story of what happened between the Aucas and the Missionaries. Though not everything in the movie is true. "Through the Gates of Splendor" is a documentary by Elisabeth "Betty" Elliot ( Missionary Jim Elliot's widow). "Beyond the Gates of Splendor is a documentary by Steve Saint ( Misssionary pilot Nate Saint's son). I highly recommend these three videos for anyone interested in learning more about the story. (Viewer discretion is advised for ages 13 & under.)

For younger children I recommend watching this movie to begin with until they are old enough to handle the others:

This is an animated movie of the missionary story that begins when the five boys were in school. My kids watched this and said it was not scary at all :) It also has a cd-rom that includes a pdf printable activity book with comprehension questions.
Our whole family enjoyed this one!

Now that our missionary theme is over, we will be moving onto another topic. But I am sure this story of love, sacrifice & forgiveness will live in our hearts & not be forgotten.

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose."--Jim Elliot

July 26th in Tahoe

It has been 7 years this day that we said, " Goodbye" to our son, Nathan. Every year on July 26th we have made it a tradition to leave town & do something together as a family. This year we went to Tahoe. God provided a wonderful place for us to stay & activities for us & it was so nice & relaxing. This was the view from our cabin:

Attempting Archery

 Ehrman Mansion, Sugar Pine Point State Park

 Fun at the Beach

 A momma duck & her babies walked right up to the girls. The girls were so excited:)

500 Pound bear my husband saw crossing Donner Pass Rd! So bummed I missed it!

It was a fun & relaxing trip. I feel blessed & refreshed. Of course there were some hard times too. My husband & I thinking about our son, crying & missing him. He will forever be our son & we will forever miss him.
But one really neat thing that I feel was a gift was the butterflies that were around our family during this trip. Butterflies have a special meaning to us because they symbolize new life. So everytime we see a butterfly it reminds us of Nathan. Outside the balcony everyday were butterflies flying around in circles at the sliding glass door. Then when went to the beach, One flew right up to my face & grazed my face. It was so neat. I think it was a kiss from Nathan (or maybe God:). Just a sign that He loves us & is here with us. Then I opened up my Jesus Calling devotional later that day & this is what it said:

"As you listen to birds calling to one another, hear also My love-call to you. I speak to you continually; through sights, sounds, thoughts, impressions, Scripture. There is no limit to the variety of ways I can communicate with you. Your part is to be attentive to my messages in whatever form they come. When you set out to find Me in  a day, you discover that the world is vibrantly alive with My Presence. You can find me not only in beauty & birdcalls (& butterflies) but also in tragedy & faces filled with grief. I can take the deepest sorrow & weave it into a pattern for good."

So encouraging! Just what I needed that day!:)

 

The Manifesto of Joyful Parenting by, Ann Voskamp

1. Today, I will make our home a house of prayer. I will pray at set times. And I will invite our children to come move into an interior space that lives with God.

2. Today, I will transfigure all things into beauty, and I will refuse to see anything else.

3. Today, I will not have any emergencies. There are no emergencies! Only amateurs hurry.

4. Today, when stress mounts, I pray to dismount it with gratitude. My stress management plan will be intervention with verbal thanks. I can only feel one feeling at a time, and I choose to give thanks at all times. Fight feeling with feeling!

5. Today, I will pray to speak words that are only STRONG words, words that make these children feel strong. Grace words. Grace is the only non-toxic air. All other words I breathe are death words.

6. Today, I will pray to be consistently consistent. I will create safe rhythms that our children can find security in. I will create daily ceremonies because everyday we are CELEBRATING the gift of now!

7. Today, the moment when I am most repelled by a child's behavior, that is my sign to draw the very closest to that child.

8. Today, I will hug each of my children as many times as I serve them meals -- because children's hearts feed on touch. I'll look for as many opportunities to touch my children today as possible --- the taller they are, the more so.

9. Today, my priorities will be all Things Unseen.

10. Today, I will laugh! And I will let the little children laugh! I will create a culture of JOY!

Ann Voskamp @ www.aholyexperience.com

March 24, 2011 Set-Apart Living Part 1 Gwen Smith

Today's Truth
"Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil" (Ephesians 5:15-16, NIV).

Friend to Friend
As Christian believers, we're called to live set-apart lives. To be holy as God is holy. To be in the world, but not of the world. God is the source of all holiness, and in order to live a set-apart life, we must spend time with Him so we can be fueled by His Holy Spirit.

I don't know what your days look like, but mine are pretty full. They start early and end late. Once the sun rises, it seems that coffee isn't the only thing brewing in my house. An invisible competition brews daily that vies for my time and attention. The competitors are often "good things" that end up to be "time-robbing things" that keep me from God's best and God's presence.

Today I'd like to put our computer lives under a spiritual microscope. I'm an e-girl. I love my MacBook Pro computer, my iPhone, email, instant messaging, and the World Wide Web. Though I'm admittedly fully immersed in the e-life, I'm also cognizant of the fact that the e-world has become a dangerous addiction and spiritual deterrent to many. I struggle with this personally. These electronic forums host a new and efficient opportunity for us to connect with other people 24/7. While much of the social networking, online surfing, and emailing is innocent, encouraging, and fun, they clearly present us with opportunities to sin and be distracted from set-apart living.
           
Over the past several years, Facebook, MySpace, blogs, instant messaging, and chat rooms have replaced many face-to-face conversations and, for some, devotion time. They have become a new source of temptation for us, an opportunity to live a fantasy or a momentary escape from the daily grind.

A friend of mine recently said, "My computer whispers to me." Yikes! Mine does, too! Though it's embarrassing to admit, I sometimes don't manage my time efficiently because I've given in to the lure of e-life by responding to the audio alert that indicates "I've got mail" or the notification that someone has left me a message on a social networking page of mine. As a result, I've robbed myself of productive time. Time I have wasted and spent unwisely.

We are warned against this in Scripture. "Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil" (Ephesians 5:15-16, NIV).

Now, hear me clearly on this. I'm not saying that electronic forums or computers are bad or evil in and of themselves. (For goodness sakes, you're reading this devotion because of the amazing electronic world!) I'm simply suggesting that it would be wise for each of us to pray about the amount of time and energy we devote to these things.

How can we be set apart in our e-life? How can we establish healthy e-boundaries that will protect our purity and our time with God? Perhaps we could start by taking an honest look at the amount of time we commit to our social e-lives versus the amount of time we commit to spending in God's Word and in His presence each day. (Did that sting? Rest assured it stings me, too.) 

The good news is that we can turn to God for direction and wisdom in all of this. "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him" (James 1:5, NIV). Our gracious Lord longs for each of us to choose His best and live each day in His strength.
           
"God, make a fresh start in me.
Shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.
Don't throw me out with the trash,
or fail to breathe holiness in me.
Bring me back from gray exile,
put a fresh wind in my sails!"
Psalm 51:10-12, MSG

Let's Pray
Today I thought it would be fitting to pray directly from Scripture. "And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light" (Colossians 1:10-12, NIV).
Father, we ask this in Jesus' Name,
Amen.

Now It's Your Turn
Let's get practical today:

• Spend some time in thought and prayer about this subject.
• Ask God to reveal to you any e-habits that are sinful, indulgent, or inappropriate.  
• Check your on-line notification settings and consider eliminating unnecessary email alerts.
• Remember that God longs for your time and attention. Be certain that you don't choose mundane activities instead of spending time with Him.
• Read Ephesians 5:1-20.

More from the Girlfriends
Hey, girlfriend! Last year it occurred to me that one of the biggest time-sucking e-temptations for me came from the homepage I had chosen on my internet browser. I used to have my favorite cable news network set as my home page. Every time I logged on to the internet, the headlines begged me to click their links. So I went into the settings of my internet browser and chose a blank page for my homepage. Though it's not overly exciting to have a blank homepage, it has helped me to be wiser with my time. Hope this spurs you on to similar responses!