AG, You Were Loved So Very Much

Today was a hard day for Luis and I. We got a call a few days ago from a mom whose daughter I had met in a park close to our home last April/May. The girl was sitting on a park bench and as I walked near her, the Lord kept telling me to talk to her. I was walking one of the dogs and as I kept walking our dog back and forth while checking with the Lord to see if He had indeed told me to talk to her, I heard a definite confirmation. So, I went and asked if I could sit next to her. She said yes and as I sat down next to her, I asked her if she was okay. 

She told me her story. It was the usual for a young girl; boyfriend problems. She was 20 and she had been going out with a guy who didn't value her and didn't treat her like she should be treated. So, she had broken up with him. But now, she desperately wanted to get back together with him but wasn't sure if she should because she wasn't sure if he would treat her like he did before and in the meantime, he was calling her to get back together. 

I told her that she was created by God for a purpose and that she had a lot of value by God's standards and didn't need to allow anyone to treat her less than how much God valued her. I told her about how Jesus gave her value through what He did for her on the cross. That was the gist of our conversation but it was longer than that; she talked, I listened, etc. We exchanged phone numbers and I told her she could call me anytime to talk. She was studying at the culinary institute right by the park and it would not be difficult to meet. 

For a little while we texted back and forth and then one day, I asked how things were and got the cold shoulder. I figured she was back with her boyfriend and didn't want me to say anything, so I backed off and never called her again. 

Then, one day last week, I got a call from her mom on my cell phone. She told us that her daughter had passed on and that she wanted to talk to me. We agreed to meet. 

We met today; her parents and Luis and I. 

They told me that on the 23rd of December, she had left the house after receiving a call and then  returned around 7pm. She declined to eat dinner with her family and said she wanted to go rest. Her dad went up to check on her later and there was no answer. He broke the door down and found her dead. They needed answers as to what her motives were. They thought that she might have gone to meet me that afternoon and had spoken to me and I might have known something.  

I told them how we had met, in what I had counseled her and that after a few text messages, had no more contact with her. They told us that all had been well with her and the boyfriend lately and that there was no reason at all as to why she had done what she did.

We asked specific questions and God was so awesome in giving us words of knowledge and wisdom and some issues from the past surfaced that they had not seen before. It didn't change what had happened, but it gave them some peace and closure. God also led us to counsel them to not blame themselves for what had happened and to allow themselves to grieve and not try to be strong and hold it all in. We told them they could call anytime to talk if they wanted to and we would listen. 

What the enemy intends for evil, God will turn around for good. Luis and I are praying that through this tragedy, the parents will give their lives to Jesus and come to know Him in a real and tangible way. We are praying that if the Lord wills, another opportunity to listen to them will open up and along with that, the opportunity to share Jesus with them. 

Please pray with us on that. 

The girl was 20. She had a bright future ahead of her. She was loved but she could not believe that she was worthy. She died believing in a lie. 

If you are reading this and you are thinking that you have no worth, that because of something that happened to you, you cannot ever move on or be loved, please know that that is a lie from the enemy who wants to destroy you. If you think your problems are too much for you to bear and that death is the only way out, please know that the enemy wants to kill you. You have much worth and you were created for a purpose by God who loves you with an immense love. He has a future for you and because of that, He sent His Son, Jesus to die on the cross for you and to take upon Himself all of the things you have done wrong and all of your sickness. He died and rose again to give you and abundant life and to make you whole. He died so you can live. You don't have to carry your pain, hurts and wounds on your own shoulders anymore. Jesus wants to take it from you so that you can go forward towards the future and purpose that He has for you. He has given you life. Not death. 

Will you choose Jesus and life today? 
If you will, then say the prayer below in your own words or as is written, but mean it from your heart. He can only change us if we give Him permission to.

Prayer
Lord Jesus, I know that you are the Son of God and I know that I have done things that did not please you. I ask you to please forgive me for all that I have done against you. I give you my life and invite you into my heart as my Lord and Saviour. I choose to follow you and I ask you to please heal my body and my heart of sickness and hurts so that I can be made whole to receive, live and enjoy the life that you have given me through your death and resurrection. Thank you Jesus for all that you did for me. In your name, I pray, amen.

If you had prayed this prayer, please write me a comment below.

 I would love to hear from you. 

Transition

We are in transition. The ministry and us. We have known for a while that the Lord was sending us out of Peru. We just didn't know exactly when. Or where. So we left it to the Lord to reveal it to us in His time and continued to work in the ministry. Then the Lord narrowed the time down to early this year, 2013. We kept praying about the where and kept working in the ministry. 

Eventually, the Dominican Republic kept getting highlighted. And the town of Sosua. Apart from the fact that Sosua was originally settled by Jews and even has a Messianic Congregation, Sosua is also known for something else. It is the 4th ranked place in the world for prostitution tourism. 

We kept checking into it to see how we could be of use there and we found a ministry that works specifically with exploited peoples there, namely children and prostitutes through schools, churches and other means. We wrote to them and laid it at the Lord's feet. He would open the doors if this was what He wanted us to do and where He wanted us to go. We received a reply from the organization and wrote back. Soon, we were corresponding with the director of this ministry. Our future roles with this organization will be as program manager for the women's ministry and program manager for the community (walking alongside the pastors of the community who are being helped by this organization to reach their communities).

To make a long story short, we are now in the process of getting a residential visa for the DR and this consist of harrowing and endless running back and forth from one end of this city to the other. The Lord has been dealing with how I react to all of this and I am truly learning to let it slide, let it slide and look for the things around me that make me smile. It is not easy. Our projected time for moving to the DR is March, 2013. As of yet, depending on how quickly we can get the visa, we are unable to pinpoint an exact date. 

Siembra S.O.W. will be handed over to Carmen, our team member and we are in the process of praying and looking for either a church, missionaries or people with the same heart for this ministry to walk with her. All of the people we had been discipling are going to church and continue to walk with the Lord. We continue to go down to the streets and talk to the women (we had been unable to find the guys for a long time) and pray that those who have received the Lord will now want to get out, start to walk in Him and seek a future for themselves. Those who want to leave the streets will now be discipled by Carmen. This fullfils the vision of handing over the ministry to a local to continue with it. I have always believed that as a missionary, my job is not to take over but to raise up, teach and then step back to let the locals lead their own people.

I keep in contact with the women in the prison through Dalila, a servant of Christ who serves the women by teaching them bible study and by scanning their letters and emailing it to their friends and family. In this way, I am able to connect with the women, no matter where I am. Even through a lot of hardship, they have thrived. The ones I had been concerned about have thrived under adversity. It always amazes me that when Christians come under persecution, they thrive more and grow deeper. So it has been with the three women; Birgitte, Bose and Rosana. They have been holding their own time of bible study and worship when no groups were allowed in to hold formal bible studies and worship. I am not sure if formal bible studies are in place yet in this new prison that they're in but they're getting the Word from Dalila and also amongst themselves. 

I will continue to write this blog for Siembra S.O.W. until we leave and God willing, will continue writing a different blog about what God is doing with us and through us in the Dominican Republic. And as I receive information from Carmen, I will also update the Siembra S.O.W. blog. 

Prayers are coveted for the area of:

•  our paperwork, for God's favour upon it; 
• provision for our move and for when we are in the DR; 
• a house there that fits our needs and budget;
•  someone to help Carmen with the ministry here as well as all those whom you have been praying for in this blog. 
• provision for Siembra S.O.W.

God bless. 

One Woman

We received a call from JP's mom today after a long while. She had moved along with her husband and three younger children to a piece of  property that they had bought which is a testimony all by itself. Her moving there  became the excuse for two of her sons to return to their past vices on the streets, JP being one of them. This happened about 2 months back. 

If every person who decided to follow Jesus trusted Him and held onto Him like this woman does, this world would be transformed in an instant. She met Jesus at the lowest point in her life; the relationship between her husband and her was colder than icebergs in the Arctic Ocean; her kids except the youngest were rude and disobedient; her three oldest sons had been in drugs, with two of them still on drugs and she was at her wits end. She didn't know how to deal with it and the only way she knew how was to yell and nag which didn't help any. She had been at the point of walking away from all of them to start a new life for herself. Then she gave her life to Jesus. 

And something beautiful began. Her heart of stone started to become a heart of flesh. She started to react differently and stepped into her authority as a parent over her children. She went to church and gave herself completely over to Jesus and really trusted and held onto HIm with all she had. She learned that the bible says that Jesus is her husband so she took Him at His Word. She learned that the bible says that God is her father who will never fail her. She took Him at His Word. She learned to forgive past hurts and ask for forgiveness. She cultivated her relationship with Jesus daily and it grew and blossomed. And her faith in Him deepened.

Her greatest dream right now is to see her entire family worship the Lord together. She stands on Acts 16:31"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved AND your house". All her house in 6 short months have come to know the Lord except her husband. And her younger sons have changed. They're polite and obedient. Her husband has changed his attitude towards her and now seeks her out to share his day and to spend time with her. She told him that her dream is to see them all go to church and worship the Lord together. He told her that it won't be long before that dream comes true. And three days ago, JP returned home from living out on the streets. 

One woman. Holding onto God with all she had, believing that what He says is true because the alternative is not an option. One woman. Believing in her identity as a daughter of the Most High God and walking out her Kingdom heritage. One woman. Changing the atmosphere around her because of her simple, childlike faith. One simple, ordinary woman walking hand in hand with her immensely extraordinary God to see the supernatural happen in the natural. 

I'm not making any of this up. My husband and I were and are still very privileged to walk with her and her family to see God's hand in all of this and how the faith of this woman is bringing a real change to her family. 

A heart fully surrendered to the Lord without fear is truly an amazing thing.