When the Creative Juices Flow...

Here at the mission, as part of a way to reach out to the kids, we are allowed to have them stay on Wednesdays after school for the afternoon and evening. This past week we had 2 of the high school girls over. We played a game after our chores were done and then moved on to making popsicle coasters for cups. One of the young ladies was ready to paint hers. So we got her the necessary tools and she promptly put about a coin dollar sized amount of several colors of paint on the paper plate. For Jana and I’s coasters we used nickel size amounts of paint.

At first I wanted to say something, but I decided not to. We could put the extra she didn’t use back into the bottle, no problem. So she started painting and got several colors on. She was waiting for it to dry and she took her brush and began to swirl all of the colors on her plate together. I was a tad shocked and all I could see was a bunch of wasted paint.

Her colors made a weird brown and she began to add a lil to her coaster. Then she took paint and added it straight to the coaster, not putting it on the plate. I’m sure by the time she was done, she had added another inch to her coaster in paint alone. When she finished, the coaster actually turned out sort of cute. It had a rustic-y look with extra colors. She had a lot of fun making the coaster, start to finish.

I realized, the wasted paint didn’t matter. The smile on her face and the memory she made did. Sometimes in the moment, all you can see is the waste someone is making or what they’re costing you by using this material or this tool. What we need to focus on is the memory they are making, the smile they see on your face when they proudly show you their project. The encouragement they receive from you will last far longer than the scribbled picture or paint smeared coaster.

What I have written next is taken from the movie Me Again. So if it sounds familiar, that’s where you’ve heard something like it.

In 2013 the average cost of raising a child from birth to age 18 is $245,340. If I did my math correctly, it comes to $1.50 per hour. For a buck 50 per hour, you get to watch one of the most wonderful miracles God has ever created. For one dollar and fifty cents an hour, you get to be a hero when you heal a scrapped knee with a band-aid and a kiss. You get to be the star of a little life, shape, mold, and guide that little life to become the best he or she can be. For $1.50/hour you get to have faith building talks with your teenager. Trust me I’m sure there were somedays my mom would have paid someone to take me away rather than raise me during my teenage years, so I’m probably not winning you over with those thoughts. But in the end, raising a child, whose life you’ve impacted over those 18 years, seeing their struggles, victories, failures, and successes, is it worth $1.50 per hour? I don’t know, you do the math.

Trusting God

    Dear Reader ~ I have now moved to Cuba, NM. I am down here for one year to teach Navajo children about Christ. So you will most likely now be hearing about my adventures down here!

    So as I have journeyed to the land of sage and cactus I have had to put my faith in a God who WAY bigger, more powerful, stronger, and mightier than I. At first it was easy, I had my mother and my sister here. So putting my trust in Him was fine and good! Then, they left. They went over 1000 miles away back to our homeland of 386 acres, 800 trees and 100% humidity (A facebook joke). And for once in my life, faith and trust were two difficult words to swallow.

    I KNEW God could keep them safe, provide for them, and comfort them. But I wasn’t on the plane, I didn’t know that they would be ok getting home. I couldn’t control any part of their safety. Everything was out of my control. As the days have passed it’s gotten a lot easier. The heart of my faith is there, not just my head. I now know and feel in my spirit that God will and is taking care of them.

    Adjusting to the land and the different way of life has been fairly easy. Am I homesick? Yes occasionally, but I know there is a God that holds me and my family in his hands and in 18 years He has never forsaken me. Just recently I felt the effects of being homesick in full swing. I didn’t know why I had come down here. Why had I chosen to leave friends and family to be with strangers in a foreign land? I opened my Bible to Psalms and found the 17^th verse of the 25^th chapter.

                The troubles of my heart are enlarged: O bring thou me out of my distresses.
Well after reading that and then talking to Him by my bedside, I felt a lot better. Of course then talking to my mother 10 mins. afterward definitely helped.
   “God is good all the time and all the time God is good.” ~God’s Not Dead. Just remember as you go about your everyday, as you encounter disappointment, separation, sorrow, and discouragement, you have a God who will bring you out of your distresses. Trust that God with all your heart and you will have nothing to fear, and nothing to want.

That Perfect Love

As I babysit each week, the 4 year old is allowed to watch an hour of show per day. So sometimes we watch Disney movies, princess movies to be a little more specific. Which I enjoy as much as her for some I haven't seen for a long time. Though we can't always finish the movies, they have recently left me thinking about the perfect man.

If you have ever watched a princess movie, you know that no matter what, the prince/hero always has a bunch of obstacles to overcome. For example: Cinderella; Prince Charming goes through the kingdom putting the mysterious glass slipper on every young maiden's foot to find his true love. Sleeping Beauty; Prince Philip risks life and limb to go through a forest and fight a dragon just to kiss his love and save her and her kingdom. Hercules; Though this movie is about a guy, he of course meets the one girl he can't live without! Her life is taken and to save her he has to swim in a sea of souls to get her. The catch is, as he swims his soul is slowly sucked away and if he doesn't get out in time he will die. Well, as you expect, the last hope is gone and then WOOSH he pulls them both up and saves both their lives. Yea!

There point I want to bring out is that even at 18 years old, after watching Cinderella 3, I was left wanting a love story where love overpowers the biggest, most evil spell and everything is perfect in the end. Then I realized, love overpowers everyday in the little stuff. When a husband and wife argue or disagree but come together, even after a little time being away from the other and cooling off, and they work it out, love has just conquered. When something drastic happens to a loved one and the family grows closer, love has just conquered. When life throws lemons and the couple or family make lemonade, love has conquered. Love does not have to make leaps and bounds over evil or bad times to be proven strong and real. Love goes over bumps and potholes and proves each day that it is alive and well. There is no such thing as perfection in a relationship, but with God all things are possible, and its those days where the impossible becomes possible and the mountain becomes an anthill. Those are the perfect days that we need to cherish.

~1 Corinthians 13~

Be a Sidekick!

I babysit for 3 girls twice a week. On Monday the 4 year old and I went outside and jumped on the trampoline. As little girls do she began to be silly and asked what song she should sing. So I gave her a few suggestions. Among others I suggested If You're Happy and You Know It. The first two verses she sang just fine.

Then we got to the last verse and this is what she sang, "If you're happy and you know it touch your head. If you're happy and you know it wave your hands in the air. If your happy and you know it be a superhero. If you're happy and you know it then your life will surely show it. If you're happy and you know it be a superhero."

As cute as it was I wondered about being a superhero. Moms and Dads are superheroes to their children. Moms clean up messes, do laundry, keep everything in order and seem to never wear out (though they really do!). Dads go to work everyday and come home in time to play and then fight off the monsters under the bed. Can someone like me, average Jane who doesn't have a family yet, be a superhero to someone?

The definition of superhero is a very heroic person. So to a child I may make my superhero debut by killing a spider or catching a drink before it spills. But can I be a superhero to someone I've never met before? As I thought about this I thought about MY favorite superhero, Jesus Christ. Died to save my sins that I may go free. There are many fictional superheroes who save the world everyday from bad guys. My superhero saved the world once but saves me everyday. In reality I'm just the sidekick. I stay by Jesus's side, taking the Word to the people but letting Him do the real saving. I don't have the power that He has. The Bible actually talks about sidekicks, it calls them disciples.

 And I can do my job as a sidekick by telling a stranger about the one and only true Superhero who has the power to save them. Telling them that God has saved them from their sins, that they don't need to live in darkness. Telling them God loves them because they are His child. Then Jesus comes in and takes care of the rest.

The Other Half of the World

{The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.}
~2nd Peter 2:9

Do you ever struggle with thoughts like "Why does that person have a nice house and they don't know God?" "They have to be the worst sinners ever and yet they have everything nice." "It's not fair, I go to church and believe in God and love Him and yet I don't have near as much as they do and the despise God!"

Well besides the obvious "Sorry Honey, life isn't fair." Why is life like this? Sometimes I've struggled with thoughts like this. In my devotions I read this verse and I realized maybe for some people God is just waiting to give His punishment. I may never see it while they are here on earth but someday they'll get it.

We can't be judgmental of others...I don't know what's in their heart, do you? God is probably either working or trying to work, and maybe He is simply trying to knock.

Thinking about all this brought my thoughts back to a movie I had seen, God's Not Dead. (Its a wonderful movie and I really recommend you see it by the way). The scene was that of a son visiting his aged mother dying of dementia. By the tone of his voice and look on his face you could easily guess he was living a life displeasing to God. The conversation goes as follows.

Son: "You prayed and believed your whole life. Never done anything wrong. And here you are. You're the nicest person I know. I am the meanest. You have dementia. My life is perfect. Explain that to me!"

Mother: "Sometimes the devil allows people to live a life free of trouble because he doesn't want them turning to God. Their sin is like a jail cell, except it is all nice and comfy and there doesn't seem to be any reason to leave. The door's wide open. Till one day, time runs out, and the cell door slams shut, and suddenly it's too late."

Do those last words shock you? "Time runs out...suddenly it's too late." Has Satan allowed your life to be perfect? Are you successful? But perhaps far from God because you have no need for Him? It's easy to call on God when we are in trouble, but when everything goes well for us, does God still receive the glory?

We don't know how God is working in everyone's lives. The only thing we can do is know that God has a seat for them and one for me and if I'm not saved or right with God in my heart then they may take the seat I have and I'll be the one to burn. Or maybe they will join me in the seat next to mine! What a glorious thought.

Blessings
~Savannah

Power Through God

I received this encouragement from a friend and I want to share it with you!
Blessings~ Savannah

In Psalm 51 David cries out to God to cleanse him from all his dirty sin...to wash away all his guilt and to make him pure. David felt the dirtiness that we feel when we as humans sin against God. For me personally when I commit a sin against God, the whole day becomes drear and I feel in hopeless despair. This is when Satan attacks. "You sinned today already, why don't you just make the best of it And do all the sinful things you want. Tomorrow will be a new day then you may begin fighting to be pure before God again." And when I hear those temptations I feel all hope is lost. I just want to give up! But let me tell you something for encouragement. By being tempted, that means you have a stronghold in Christ. Satan may feel like he is losing his grip on a certain area of your life. Whether it be anger towards people, being judgmental of others, or the most powerful one that has torn down our nation today, sexual sin. If you are facing fierce strong temptations then I encourage you to look up at God with tears in your eyes and a glorious smile on your face and say, God thank you so much for giving me this struggle! When I overcome I know I will be stronger then ever before. And I also know that the very fact that I am struggling means u r still in my life. I want to win God but I need your help. Will you please help me to escape this temptation right now before I sin?" If you sincerely ask God to help you, He WILL be faithful as he promises in His word. I by no means have authority to tell you all these things. I get knocked flat often, but I have a Great Big Powerful God who is well able to help me conquer any battles I may face. It is all a matter of building a relationship with Him. So often we set all kinds of rules for ourselves and we can't figure out why they don't work. Its because nothing will work without a better relationship with Jesus Christ! If we pursue that, He will give us the strength to abide by our own rules to overcome struggles. We can't do this on our own. God designed us to look to HIM as our creator and lover to live a life of holiness!

Do Your Leaves Change Color?

Another lesson from nature!

In church, for a devotional, our brother talked about trees! He talked on how they change their leaves in the fall. If you don't know or have forgotten, when leaves receive less sunlight the chlorophyll breaks down. Chlorophyll is what gives the leaf its green color. So without chlorophyll the leaf starts to show the color underneath and that is how we get beautiful fall colors. The point of the devotional was, are we always focused on God that we stay green and don't die. I loved what he said and he then went on to give ways that we can stay green, it was a good life application. But I want to take it in a different direction. 

As Christians we need the Sonlight to be able to live. We need constant communion with God to be able to shine for Him and to show others His glory. Here's just some of my thoughts. When we don't have that communion with God, we don't have personal devotions with Him, we skip Weds night service, we don't guard our hearts and minds of impure thoughts or words, we start to let the "chlorophyll" break down. We begin to let our colors change. 

I know some people who put facades on and lived their life looking like a beautiful green tree. When they started to walk away their 'leaves' began to lose their color. When I began to see their true heart, their 'leaves' or outside appearance began to change and become ugly. Eventually these people become dead, bare trees with nothing to shine forth. If we are true and our hearts are pure then there will never be a time where our leaves begin to change. When we love God and focus on Him our bright green leaves shine out for people to see. When you go down the road what do you notice? A beautiful green tree or a dead tree?

How do you stay green? For me it's those daily devotions, prayer at anytime of the day, guarding my eyes and ears of profanity (a hard one to do in this society). Having your focus completely on God is not always an easy task. I fail every day with trying to keep myself pure and right with God. There are days that some of my leaves change color and I have to take care of that and fix that area in my heart so that I can shine forth again. Sometimes in my Spiritual walk I die. I go all out to do anything but what God wants. But thank Jesus, He is able to forgive and restore dead trees when they come back and ask Him to. He gives me new life that I am eternally grateful for.

We are all human, at one point or another our "leaves" will change color. I pray that you will have the strength and courage to go to God and ask for forgiveness and get that area and those problems fixed and that God would restore your soul unto Him.
Blessings~ Savannah

Growing in your Jungle

Something I have observed, I don't think there is any life truth we learn that cannot be learned through nature.

A brother in our church had devotions and he said that he and his son went hunting on a new property. He said there was a tree that was on one side of a fence that ran along the property. It grew up the height of the fence and then curved over top of the fence, ran parallel to the ground only a few feet off the ground and then at a 90* angle and shot straight up towards the sun. He asked "What are we willing to do to reach the light of God?" How far are we willing to go to reach God's love and grace? Are we willing to bend and and twist and go in any direction to grow and stretch? Do we climb over 'fences' so that we can hear what God has to say to us through His Word and others? 

I am guilty of not doing all I can to receive what God has for me. I need to be willing to do whatever I can to get to the light. Hard times, valleys, struggles, they aren't easy. It's just like that tree going along the ground to get to the light. Sometimes I have to go down and I struggle that it makes the light so much more enjoyable. Struggling through something is not easy at all. It is hard and difficult. We look ahead and see a steep mountain, stress, headache, financial crunching, whatever it is and we don't want to face it. But if you look behind you, you will see a row of mountains. That's where you've came from. Those are the things God has helped you through to overcome. He WILL get you through this and back again in the light!

Seeds fall in a jungle, they land in the dirt and they begin to grow. It's how we get new trees and bushes. Sometimes the already mature trees and plants are so big and overpowering that they block the sunlight and all the factors that the seed needs to be able to grow. When this happens that seed will either die, or it will struggle to survive. That is how we get cool and neat looking trees that grow at weird angles because they need to get to the light. Are you going to die or live in your current jungle? Stretch, reach and make it to the top and see what all you've overcome to get here or wither and die without even trying? God wants us to live, to stretch and to grow for Him. Prayer, Bible reading, fellowship with other believers, these are the keys to having that life for God. 

I pray that whatever you are struggling with, you would look to God and reach and stretch to find His grace and love!

Blessings~ Savannah

More Than A Name

  Sometimes I struggle with my past. I think people are judging me, not for who I am, but for where I come from or who my family is. I think "They think nothing good can come from a one-parent family. My dad left and there's no way I can be better than him. I won't measure up to my friends who have a "normal" family."

  I was having my devotions and I read John 1 as part of the study. I've read this before or at least heard it, but verse 46 jumped out at me...

  {And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. ~John 1:46}

It hit me...Jesus was judged not for himself but for where he came from. Nathanael didn't know who Jesus was, Jesus's personality, Jesus's background. All he knew was the One called Christ was from Nazareth and he didn't believe good could come from there.

I have often heard the expression "Whatever you go through remember Jesus has gone through it too and understands." Yeah right....Jesus doesn't know EXACTLY what I'm going though because... Jesus didn't this and Jesus didn't that. No, too often I'm proved wrong. And tonight that has happened again. Jesus was judged like a book by its cover.  Just like I've felt I am sometimes. Good came out of Nazareth and I hope and pray that good comes from a Wray.

Blessings~
Savannah

Shower Time

Some children hate bath or shower time. I don't remember being that way when I was little but sometimes now as an adult I find taking shower takes time and sometimes I don't really want to! I'm content in my filth and dirt.

Sometimes I can be this way with God. I want to keep Him in His corner because if I bring Him out and fully look at Him, He will convict me of the dirt in my life. Sometimes I don't want to be clean! I want to stay dirty and nasty.

God calls us to a higher standard. We are to be pure and clean. If we truly are following Him we will have a desire for Spiritual cleanliness.
I guess the old saying "Cleanliness is next to Godliness" is true.

Commitment

Commitment to God. My thoughts are turned to the people in Iraq and Israel where terrorist are shooting, beheading, and killing is horrible ways. They aren't just killing adults, they are killing children. How can one stay committed to God through a time like this? Today in church our Sunday school lesson was on difficulties. The opening for the sermon was on how willing/happy are we to be here in church today? How do we stand against the evils of the world? I had to realize that the end times are so much nearer than they have ever been.

Here in America we are not being beheaded. But there is so much more unrest then ever. We as Christians are faced with gays having rights like all the rest of us. Abortions being so much more common. Stores having to add abortions into their health insurances. Drugs, shootings, smoking, gays, promotion of sex, language, rudeness, these are a few of the things that are so much more prominent in this world then they ever have been before. This is what Christians are facing. Are we standing against it? Are we defending God and what His Word says? Are we keeping His standards and laws for all of these things like we should be? I will admit, in some of these things, I fail.

Prayer, continual Bible study, communication with other Christians, these are some good ways to help to stay committed and focused on God. But don't go through the motions and the act of it. It is a heart commitment that keeps you in focus with God. Let us stand strong against these issues that face us and have a heart that stays after God's heart.

Blessings~
Savannah

The Sorrows We Bare

I was reading my devotional in Psalm 126 and came upon verse 5, "Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy." (NIV)

This reminded me of Psalm 56:8 "You've kept track of every toss and turn through the sleepless nights, each tear entered in Your ledger, each ache written in your book." (The Message) and I love how the good old King James states the verse, "Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears in thy bottle, are they not in thy book?"

There have been nights where all I can do to pray is kneel and bawl! God says that He knows every thought and He knows every language. The old hymn that says "Tears are a language that God understands" is so true. I'm sure we've all cried our fair share of tears. Whether we have shed the tears, endured the pain, and stayed in the fight because of the passing of a loved one, struggles with your significant other, or whatever it may be, we have the promise that it is not in vain when we believe in God.

I picture God storing up every tear, sorrow, and ache, and placing them in a big jar. As we go through life He takes each one and he adds it to this beautiful sculpture that He is creatively designing. Yet, this is our life, each tear, sorrow, and ache shapes and molds us into who we become and are, good and bad. It can be something beautiful the God wants to give u when you stand before Him receiving your crown. And He will say "Remember this situation? Here is what I created with it. And here, here is that time you..." And He points out some of the most significant points in your life of great pain and sorrow and all you see is beauty.

Whatever you are going through God will help you through it. You may not see the beauty now, you may not see it till you reach Glory land. By following God through the hardest time in your life, you may be creating the most beautiful part of your statue!

The Sermon That Spoke

I must confess, lately my spirit has not been one of happiness. Today it would have been very easy for me to stay home. I was sore from basketball/volleyball and then work. Mom and my sister were watering. Why should I go to church? Well, I had to take care of the bulletin, so I went. I went with a battle in my spirit. I got to church and began to lighten up. After Sunday school and the opening I felt better. Then our newly elected minister preached his first sermon as a minister. And as he talked I felt the burden rise from my shoulders. I felt lighter.

We all have days/weeks/months where we are on top of the mountain. We are so close to God we should be His right hand man (or woman). But then we all have those valleys were God is up there but we can't see Him through our rain cloud. This has been me the last little while. No matter what I try it just rains harder.

Then today God through Rodney spoke to my heart. He read from 2 Kings 2. The passage where Elisha is with Elijah just before he is caught up in the whirlwind and taken by God. They journey to 4 different places. Gilgal. Bethel. Jericho. Jordan. Rodney then compared to these 4 places with our spiritual walk.

Gilgal, conversion. We are convicted and brought to Christ, but we can't stay at conviction. We must begin to grow and be nourished by the Word, fellowship with other believers, and teachings on Sunday and Bible studies. Paul talks about being babes and needing to grow and eat meat. We have to move on.

Bethel, house of God. Part of growing is learning about God's promises for you, then resting in those promises. I think we all find a promise that is personal just to us from God. One of my absolute favorites is 2 Corinthians 4:8-9. It promises me that NO MATTER WHAT I go through....with God I will OVERCOME it!

Jericho, strongholds. We all have strongholds in our lives, but do we have them in our spiritual lives and walk with God that we need to break down? Something blocking full communication with the Father?

Jordan, new beginnings. We all come to valleys, areas in our walk where God is "far away". Jordan isn't new though, and crossing your Jordan isn't a one time thing. You will cross your Jordan several times and have to begin again. Your Jordan may also change when you have to recross it. Trusting in God will get you through your Jordan and back to your mountain.

I was truly blessed with the challenge of meeting these places in my walk head on and hopefully you have been too!

Blessings~ Savannah

The Subtleness of Satan

A while back I was thinking about what I would wear for the day. I had decided on a skirt. As I looked through my shirts I saw youth retreat shirt which has a verse on the back of it.
I though "Maybe someone will ask me about the verse and I can witness to them!"
This did happen once on the train when I went to WA and I wore last year's shirt, though the man was already a believer he asked to read my shirt and we got to talk to him a little bit about his own ministry.

I was getting ready to leave and as I looked outside I noticed it looked overcast and cold, so I put my jean jacket on.
I stepped outside and here it was rather warm, but I thought taking off my jacket sounded like too much work and I was ready to go.

I went to the library and some other stops and never once took my jacket off. It wasn't till I was on the way home that I truly realized that Satan had just won. No one saw the back and barely the front of my shirt. No one asked because they did not see.

Satan wins too much in little things. I think he tires our minds so we want to go to bed instead of stay up for devotions. He gives us thoughts that go against what God would want us to think about. He gives us thoughts like put on your jacket so that we cover up God's word written on our shirt. He's too good at what he does and we need to constantly be on our guard for little battles that go on everyday.