snow overload.

that is the view from my second story window. snow day! i'm all packed and checked in online. i'm praying that the snow settles down so my plane can leave tomorrow morning!!

18 more hours!

hands on.

i can't describe the excitement and this feeling in me as the day grows closer. i can't believe i'm leaving in 3 days! tonight i was so encouraged by my small group and the way they are faithfully praying for me and supporting me financially. it's amazing and wonderful. i was just talking to jen today about how awesome God is and how blown away we were by the generosity being showered upon us. truly God is at work.

we all know i'm not a touchy feely person BUT having the hands of my beloved small group members being laid on me for prayer is a great encouragement. to know that we are united for His purpose and in agreement with His word is a blessing.

if you're reading this small group, i'm thankful for YOU.

encouragement.

this past week has been filled with many opportunities to meet up with friends, some whom i haven't heard from in a while and some whom i see weekly. needless to say i was physically tired but each time i was so encouraged by Christ-centered conversations and rejuvenated through a time of prayer and left carrying bags of tshirts :)

this trip has been a great tool to talk to people about Christ and why i'm taking vacation days to go take care of children. i think in the midst of the busyness certain things have preoccupied my mind. i'm constantly thinking of where i can get t-shirts, how many i have and how many more i need to get. i want to fulfill their every physical need. but i was sharply reminded today how much more i need to pray for these kids' spiritual needs. for melody and joby. for honduras. 

O Lord, how i desire for your will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. it's not about what i want to do for these kids but what You have already done for them. You, Yourself gave up your only Son so that whoever believes in Christ Jesus would not perish but have eternal life. an abundant life of knowing You and worshiping You. i long for these children to comprehend the depth, height, width and length of Your love for them. i pray for your Spirit to strengthen the hands and feet of your faithful servants. may their joy increase exponentially as they serve you wholeheartedly in honduras and may their comfort come from Your word and from You alone. Father give me eyes to see what You want me to do and boldness to speak truth even if it might not be received with joy. thank you for providing a way for me to go. thank you for increasing my faith as i prepare. Lord, nothing in my hand i bring, simply to the cross i cling...

 

t-shirts.

(source)

 

does anyone know where i can get a lot of kids t-shirts for a good price?

doctrine of grace.

what a good reminder! praying for these kids to grasp this grace through faith.

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The very center and core of the whole Bible is the doctrine of the grace of God—the grace of God which depends not one whit upon anything that is in man, but is absolutely undeserved, resistless and sovereign.  The theologians of the Church can be placed in an ascending scale according as they have grasped that one great central doctrine, that doctrine that gives consistency to all the rest; and Christian experience also depends for its depth and for its power upon the way in which that blessed doctrine is cherished in the depths of the heart.  The center of the Bible, and the center of Christianity, is found in the grace of God; and the necessary corollary of the grace of God is salvation through faith alone.

J. Gresham Machen, quoted in Ned B. Stonehouse, J. Gresham Machen: A Biographical Memoir (Grand Rapids, 1955), page 396.