"Are you excited yet?"
This is the question of the day/week/month.
I can only speak for myself, but I'm the kind of person who gets excited waaaaay in advance. In the 1-2 weeks directly leading up to the start of an adventure, I'm usually stuck in list-mode -- what still needs to get done, and how can I get it done in time? Once I'm on the (plane, train, automobile), what's done is done and since the rest is out of my hands, I can get excited again (and/or take a nap).
So that's where I'm at these days. Sarah and I both appreciate your prayers for us as we tie up the last of the loose ends -- mostly, we just need to make sure we remember to take all of our immunization meds at the appropriate times and to make sure that things on the homefront will be taken care of in our absence.
At any rate, it's been a month since our last update and God has been SO active!
In case you haven't heard yet, one of us recently got engaged! I'll give you a hint... It's Sarah. We're both pretty excited (her a bit more than me) about this new development. Praise God for Sarah and Pete and please pray with us that God will have his hand of blessing and protection over their relationship, and that he would be with them as they look ahead to several months of planning both for a wedding and for their eventual move to L.A.!
Our dinner fundraiser went WAY better than we could have hoped for, and we left feeling totally overwhelmed both by God's provision and by the love and support of our friends and COTR family.
Since then, we've continued to be blessed with prayer and financial support and are super excited (and maybe a little relieved too) that we've not only met, but exceeded our fundraising goals! We were excited to be able to put a little bit of the extra funds (with the blessing of the rest of the team) towards purchasing a polaroid printer (+ paper) that will be used to bless the women we will be spending with at Harvest India's Ashraya home and Freedom Centre (these are both ministries which provide support and training to women who have been rescued from prostitution). Please pray with us that the printer would arrive on time (i.e. before our departure date!). If you are still interested in giving financially, you can still give to either of us, or you can give directly to Harvest India here: https://harvestindia.webconnex.com/general. Either way, any additional funds that are raised at this point will be transferred to Harvest India.
In addition to praying for Sarah and I, please also continue to lift up the rest of the team. We are a pretty eclectic group of women (+ one man) and are looking forward to see how God will make us into an effective community who will live, love and serve well together.
There are so many opportunities that await us in India, but both Sarah and I feel our hearts being drawn toward the women of Ashraya and the Freedom Centre. Please lift up these women and ask that God will reveal himself to them in very tangible ways in the days and weeks to come. We are believing that God is going ahead of us (just like Pastor Dave's been speaking about in the last few messages on courage!), and are asking that he will give us ears to hear and eyes to see these women as he does. Please pray that we will be open and obedient to God's shouts, nudges, and taps in India so that we can be his hands and feet.
On a personal note, I've been feeling challenged by God lately to remember that I have nothing to offer these women other than the hope that comes from Christ. I need to remember that while many of them have probably lived through situations more horrible than I am capable of comprehending, it is not my pity that they want or need, but the hope that comes from knowing that they are deeply loved by God. What good is pity, when these women have so much still to live for? Through Christ they are loved, redeemed, and healed. May they experience the peace, joy and purpose that comes with knowing God. Please pray that each one will understand that nothing has or can separate her from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus:
This is the question of the day/week/month.
I can only speak for myself, but I'm the kind of person who gets excited waaaaay in advance. In the 1-2 weeks directly leading up to the start of an adventure, I'm usually stuck in list-mode -- what still needs to get done, and how can I get it done in time? Once I'm on the (plane, train, automobile), what's done is done and since the rest is out of my hands, I can get excited again (and/or take a nap).
So that's where I'm at these days. Sarah and I both appreciate your prayers for us as we tie up the last of the loose ends -- mostly, we just need to make sure we remember to take all of our immunization meds at the appropriate times and to make sure that things on the homefront will be taken care of in our absence.
At any rate, it's been a month since our last update and God has been SO active!
In case you haven't heard yet, one of us recently got engaged! I'll give you a hint... It's Sarah. We're both pretty excited (her a bit more than me) about this new development. Praise God for Sarah and Pete and please pray with us that God will have his hand of blessing and protection over their relationship, and that he would be with them as they look ahead to several months of planning both for a wedding and for their eventual move to L.A.!
Our dinner fundraiser went WAY better than we could have hoped for, and we left feeling totally overwhelmed both by God's provision and by the love and support of our friends and COTR family.
Since then, we've continued to be blessed with prayer and financial support and are super excited (and maybe a little relieved too) that we've not only met, but exceeded our fundraising goals! We were excited to be able to put a little bit of the extra funds (with the blessing of the rest of the team) towards purchasing a polaroid printer (+ paper) that will be used to bless the women we will be spending with at Harvest India's Ashraya home and Freedom Centre (these are both ministries which provide support and training to women who have been rescued from prostitution). Please pray with us that the printer would arrive on time (i.e. before our departure date!). If you are still interested in giving financially, you can still give to either of us, or you can give directly to Harvest India here: https://harvestindia.webconnex.com/general. Either way, any additional funds that are raised at this point will be transferred to Harvest India.
In addition to praying for Sarah and I, please also continue to lift up the rest of the team. We are a pretty eclectic group of women (+ one man) and are looking forward to see how God will make us into an effective community who will live, love and serve well together.
There are so many opportunities that await us in India, but both Sarah and I feel our hearts being drawn toward the women of Ashraya and the Freedom Centre. Please lift up these women and ask that God will reveal himself to them in very tangible ways in the days and weeks to come. We are believing that God is going ahead of us (just like Pastor Dave's been speaking about in the last few messages on courage!), and are asking that he will give us ears to hear and eyes to see these women as he does. Please pray that we will be open and obedient to God's shouts, nudges, and taps in India so that we can be his hands and feet.
On a personal note, I've been feeling challenged by God lately to remember that I have nothing to offer these women other than the hope that comes from Christ. I need to remember that while many of them have probably lived through situations more horrible than I am capable of comprehending, it is not my pity that they want or need, but the hope that comes from knowing that they are deeply loved by God. What good is pity, when these women have so much still to live for? Through Christ they are loved, redeemed, and healed. May they experience the peace, joy and purpose that comes with knowing God. Please pray that each one will understand that nothing has or can separate her from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus:
"neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation" (Romans 8:38-39)
My prayer for these women is the same as Paul's prayer for the church at Ephesus:
"For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen [them] with power through his Spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in [their] hearts through faith. And I pray that [they], being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that [they] may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." (Ephesians 3:14-21)
