2011 started well becaue it was on New Year's Day that I started to walk without crutches and on my own. YAY!!! Since then I've been walking around more and have been able to get out of the house almost every day. I still am not able to walk perfectly well, after 30 min or an hour my foot swells and hurts. But, its definitely a process and I'm taking it day by day!
Now that I can walk...I've already planned a trip back to the US in March. Its been almost two years since I've been home...that's crazy! The dates I have planned are from March 8th to the 29th, God willing. So, I would love to see and visit all of my loved ones that I have missed so much :)
Also, this past Sunday our church named Hebert its new co-pastor and since in Venezuela, churches see husband and wife as one unit, that also makes me a "pastora" as well. We definitely were not expecting this, although I have to say I saw it coming eventually...haha. God surely has blessed Hebert with the gift of preaching and teaching...so I kind of figured sooner or later he would end up being a pastor. This is a door that's opened that God wants us to go through together, and we would definitely love your prayers for guidance and wisdom as we fill this new leadership position. Hebert will be ordained at church on February 6th!
Please send us any prayer requests that you and your family might have...we would love to be praying for y'all!
"The man who has God as his treasure has all things in one." ~ A.W. Tozer
Showing posts with label Lessons Learned. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lessons Learned. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself.
So its been awhile since my last blog, but there are good reasons why it has taken me so long to post. Last time I posted I talked about our last trip for the summer to Guayana. It was there that I had an accident. I fell down some stairs and broke my ankle. The first doctor I saw told me that I needed an operation, and that I had to go back to Maracaibo to get it done. Guayana is about 24 hours driving from Maracaibo, so thank God that we were able to get plane tickets, and I had the surgery a couple of weeks later. The surgery/hospital stay in Venezuela was an experience…I’ll just leave it at that. This was my first stay ever at a hospital in my life, and of course it had to be in a foreign country. If you ever want to hear some funny stories just ask me about it in person.
The hardest part about this whole process has been recovery. It takes so long to recover from a broken ankle. I’m still unable to walk. Its been three months. Two of the three months I had to be on bed rest, because of an infection I acquired during the operation. Now, that my ankle is healing well, I’m waiting another operation, possibly in December, to take out all of the metal, so that I will be able to walk. I’ve learned so much through this experience, even though its not over yet. I’ve learned that I have an amazing family in Venezuela. Hebert and his family have treated me like a queen since the accident. Our church family is always keeping in touch with us, dropping by to visit, sending prayers, and sending food. They’ve really been a blessing.
The most valuable lessons I have learned are the ones that God has taught me about my character. Going through this hardship has clearly shown me my character flaws and the idols that I cling to. That’s why we go through times of pain and suffering. It teaches us about ourselves. I found that even though I say that my goal in life is to be like Christ…I fight against it whenever its put into action. I don’t like to humbled. I’m a prideful person, and even though I’ve rejected a lot of my comforts I still expect them. There’s a verse that helps remind me to not fight the humbling process, but to welcome it…to let go of seeking comfort and trust that God is enough…and to not focus on the past, but the present. That verse is Philippians 2: 5-8: Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death --- and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion. (MES)
This verse shows me what a stark contrast Christ’s values are compared with the world’s. Our culture values power, independence, prestige, and wealth. Humility is often not valued. It is seen as a weakness. But the world has got it wrong, and all that it offers is just a lie. True love, power, and freedom are experienced through humility. Through submitting oneself to Christ and allowing him to be Lord over their life. You’ll find that He is enough and all of the world’s riches, its comfort, its security --- mean nothing compared to knowing Him.
Please be praying for my family in the US. A close family member of ours has cancer, his name is Chet, and in the past couple of days has not been doing well. It looks like these are his final days. Please be praying for his family, and especially for his wife, Kay.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
You are the salt of the Earth!
We had an awesome week with First Baptist Church of Alpharetta (pics coming soon). God really worked in the hearts and lives of the people in Venezuela, as well as the team. The team came in on Saturday night and on Sunday we had a special mobilization service encouraging the church to particiapte in upcoming trips. Thanks to God and your prayers, a lot of people from our church have signed up to go on those trips. I was really touched by their faith, a lot of them signed up not knowing where the money was going to come from for these trips. Some of them are unemployed, some are students, mothers, fathers, and children. However, their faith is not in what they have, but in the One who provides. I know that they were really inspired by the team that came from Georgia. People in Venezuela are very much aware of the economic hardships in the US and it really meant a lot to them to see how much faith they had to come to Venezuela.
I will share more details about the trip, once I get the pictures up...but I would like to talk about one of the devotionals that Pastor Jason shared with us that week.
Matthew 5:13, says, "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men." Jesus used a lot of common, ordinary, everyday things to use as metaphors in his teaching. In this passage he tells his followers that they are the salt of the earth. To really truly understand the meaning behind this passage we have to look back to the cultural and historical significance of salt. Salt was extremely valuable in biblical times. Roman soldiers were paid with salarium, which is the latin root of the word we have today known as salary. Salarium was used as an allowance for Roman soldiers to buy salt. Salt is much more valuable in biblical times than it is today. Salt is important and valuable because of its use and it has four main uses.
1) Salt is an antiseptic. It heals and cleanses wounds. We are to be salt, to be the agents of change, healing and cleansing that this broken world needs.
2) Salt creates thirst. As salt of the Earth, we create thirst for the living water of God.
3) Salt is a preservative and stops corruption. Back in the days before refrigerators, meat was transported and kept fairly fresh through the use of salt. Salt keeps things from rotting, from going bad. In fact, four of Jesus' disciples who were in that crowd knew exactly what this metaphor meant. They were fishermen, they knew that they were the salt of the Earth to keep it from decaying.
4) Salt seasons food. Without salt food is dull, there is a richness that is missing. Our life with God should show a richness that attracts those who do not know him yet and in turn we should fill this world with the richness from God.
So, how do we use salt now-a-days? We put it in a salt shaker. A salt shaker is the perfect metaphor for our churches. A container that holds the salt, a container that also pours it out and distributes it. The salt shaker is only useful if the salt is poured out. Sometimes water or humidity gets inside the salt shaker and what happens? The salt clumps together and is not able to leave. You know one of the ways that salt loses its saltiness is to get diluted in water. A lot of our churches look like this. Instead of going out of our churches and blessing the communities and the world around us, we clump together and stay comfortable in our Christian bubbles. In other words, we lose our saltiness.
So, what do we do to avoid this? In the case of the salt shaker, we add in rice to keep the salt from clumping together. Just like in our churches, we have some people who encourage and challenge others to leave their familiar surroundings and impact the world around them.
Our church is more than just a building to meet on Sundays. We are the salt of the earth, not just the church. We were meant to be poured out, we were meant to take all that we learn from our time in church and pour it out into the people around us. As the salt shaker gets used more and more, it will always be refilled. But the important thing, is that it gets used. So, where are you right now? Are you salt being stored in the salt shaker? or are you being poured out and used in the community and the world around you?
I will share more details about the trip, once I get the pictures up...but I would like to talk about one of the devotionals that Pastor Jason shared with us that week.
Matthew 5:13, says, "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men." Jesus used a lot of common, ordinary, everyday things to use as metaphors in his teaching. In this passage he tells his followers that they are the salt of the earth. To really truly understand the meaning behind this passage we have to look back to the cultural and historical significance of salt. Salt was extremely valuable in biblical times. Roman soldiers were paid with salarium, which is the latin root of the word we have today known as salary. Salarium was used as an allowance for Roman soldiers to buy salt. Salt is much more valuable in biblical times than it is today. Salt is important and valuable because of its use and it has four main uses.
1) Salt is an antiseptic. It heals and cleanses wounds. We are to be salt, to be the agents of change, healing and cleansing that this broken world needs.
2) Salt creates thirst. As salt of the Earth, we create thirst for the living water of God.
3) Salt is a preservative and stops corruption. Back in the days before refrigerators, meat was transported and kept fairly fresh through the use of salt. Salt keeps things from rotting, from going bad. In fact, four of Jesus' disciples who were in that crowd knew exactly what this metaphor meant. They were fishermen, they knew that they were the salt of the Earth to keep it from decaying.
4) Salt seasons food. Without salt food is dull, there is a richness that is missing. Our life with God should show a richness that attracts those who do not know him yet and in turn we should fill this world with the richness from God.
So, how do we use salt now-a-days? We put it in a salt shaker. A salt shaker is the perfect metaphor for our churches. A container that holds the salt, a container that also pours it out and distributes it. The salt shaker is only useful if the salt is poured out. Sometimes water or humidity gets inside the salt shaker and what happens? The salt clumps together and is not able to leave. You know one of the ways that salt loses its saltiness is to get diluted in water. A lot of our churches look like this. Instead of going out of our churches and blessing the communities and the world around us, we clump together and stay comfortable in our Christian bubbles. In other words, we lose our saltiness.
So, what do we do to avoid this? In the case of the salt shaker, we add in rice to keep the salt from clumping together. Just like in our churches, we have some people who encourage and challenge others to leave their familiar surroundings and impact the world around them.
Our church is more than just a building to meet on Sundays. We are the salt of the earth, not just the church. We were meant to be poured out, we were meant to take all that we learn from our time in church and pour it out into the people around us. As the salt shaker gets used more and more, it will always be refilled. But the important thing, is that it gets used. So, where are you right now? Are you salt being stored in the salt shaker? or are you being poured out and used in the community and the world around you?
Monday, April 26, 2010
Pueblo Escogido
This Sunday went very well, so thanks so much for your prayers and support. I really felt God's peace and presence with me and instead of being self-conscious and preoccupied about whether or not I was pronouncing words right, I just let go and God did his thing. It continues to amaze me how things go 100 times better whenever I rely on God instead of myself. The message on Sunday focused on missions and disciple-making and how it should be the purpose of everybody and not just a select few. It was really cool because I got to use the verse that inspired the name of my church. "Pueblo Escogido" means chosen people and 1 Peter 2: 9 says, "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." They are a chosen people to declare the praises of God to share what God has done in their lives with others. To reproduce the life they have in Christ in someone else. This chapter also talks about Jesus as the living stone and how we, his believers, are the stones used to build the temple. There's also a verse in Ephesians 2:20 that describes us as being a temple of God as well as in 1 Corinthians 3:16. I think its very important that churches remember that the people are the church, not the building. I got to use somethng I learned at UNC in the sermon. My favorite class of all time was New Testament Archaeology. My professor for that class is amazing she is a Dead Sea Scrolls expert and has led and been a part of many excavations in Israel and Greece. I remember she showed us in class one day a picture of one of the earliest sites of the early church. And I was stunned to see that there was no building, and no indication that there was ever a building there. It was just an open-air field, dirt and sky. The early church was just a group of people. It really saddens me to see how some people care more for the building of the church than for the people inside of it, because God doesn't live in a building, he lives inside of His believers.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Walk Out On the Water
This week has truly been a struggle for me. The emotional stress from my job and the underlying pressure of culture stress just really erupted this week. Culture stress comes after one goes through culture shock. Sometimes I think its worse than culture shock because its stress that lies below the surface and you don't even know its there until one day it just blows up in your face. I know for a fact that I could not make it through this without my wonderful husband. As I am going through a lot of changes, a lot of growing in just a short period of time, its so encouraging to have someone by my side who loves me unconditionally and has just incredible patience with me. Someone waiting with me as I'm working everything out and its truly a picture of God's great love and patience.
Hebert always encourages me during those difficult moments using a passage from Matthew 14: 22-34. In this passage Jesus walks out on the water to his disciples who are sailing during a storm. They see a man walking on the water and are scared at first because they think its a ghost. Jesus replies,
"Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." "Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water." "Come," he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?" And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God." Matthew 14: 27-33
When I was younger and much more naive I used to read the gospels and think to myself "Can you believe this Peter guy he has Jesus right there in front of him doing all of these miracles and yet he still has all these doubts." The hard truth is that I and I'm sure many of us identify more with Peter than we like to admit. For me this passage talks to me a lot about faith and trust in God. Peter is commanded to walk out on the water to Jesus, but as soon as he saw the wind, he is filled with fear and doubt and begins to sink. In a sense, Peter loses confidence in himself, but even more than that Peter loses confidence in his new identity as Christ's disciple. He forgets the great and miraculous power that Jesus has. Jesus feeds the 5,000 right before this story. Even after witnessing that incredible, inexplicable event Peter's faith falters due to a trying situation.
I see so much of my life right now in this story. God has done some ridiculous things in my life over the past 5 years. He has always been faithful and constant through every storm and every trial. I'm now a new creation in Christ and I can do anything through him. However, when times get rough and hope is something you have to fight for its so easy to be overwhelmed by human limitations. Faith dwindles. To me, faith is belief beyond human limitations. Hebrews 11 is filled with heroes of faith who believed not in their humanity, but in the power of God working through them. Lately I've been so focused on my limitations such as differences in culture and language. I become so obssessed with it, that I begin to feel like such a complete fool and it affects everything around me. Too much attention is paid on the negative on the humane, instead of having faith and believing that God is so much larger than anything, including different cultures and different languages. There is so much that I want to do here. So much that I want to share with the people of Venezuela. My human limitation of fear, more specifically, my fear of failure is keeping me from moving forward. I have to let it go and have faith that trusts no matter what. The road before me is not going to be easy, and without constant faith its going to be impossible.
Kendall Payne is one of my new favorite artists. I highly recommend checking out the song "I will show you love." The song is written as if God were singing to us. There is a line that says, "Walk out on the water where you have no control. So scared to death of failure you sacrifice your soul please let that go." I think its finally time for me to walk out on that water and stop sacrificing my soul.
Hebert always encourages me during those difficult moments using a passage from Matthew 14: 22-34. In this passage Jesus walks out on the water to his disciples who are sailing during a storm. They see a man walking on the water and are scared at first because they think its a ghost. Jesus replies,
"Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." "Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water." "Come," he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?" And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God." Matthew 14: 27-33
When I was younger and much more naive I used to read the gospels and think to myself "Can you believe this Peter guy he has Jesus right there in front of him doing all of these miracles and yet he still has all these doubts." The hard truth is that I and I'm sure many of us identify more with Peter than we like to admit. For me this passage talks to me a lot about faith and trust in God. Peter is commanded to walk out on the water to Jesus, but as soon as he saw the wind, he is filled with fear and doubt and begins to sink. In a sense, Peter loses confidence in himself, but even more than that Peter loses confidence in his new identity as Christ's disciple. He forgets the great and miraculous power that Jesus has. Jesus feeds the 5,000 right before this story. Even after witnessing that incredible, inexplicable event Peter's faith falters due to a trying situation.
I see so much of my life right now in this story. God has done some ridiculous things in my life over the past 5 years. He has always been faithful and constant through every storm and every trial. I'm now a new creation in Christ and I can do anything through him. However, when times get rough and hope is something you have to fight for its so easy to be overwhelmed by human limitations. Faith dwindles. To me, faith is belief beyond human limitations. Hebrews 11 is filled with heroes of faith who believed not in their humanity, but in the power of God working through them. Lately I've been so focused on my limitations such as differences in culture and language. I become so obssessed with it, that I begin to feel like such a complete fool and it affects everything around me. Too much attention is paid on the negative on the humane, instead of having faith and believing that God is so much larger than anything, including different cultures and different languages. There is so much that I want to do here. So much that I want to share with the people of Venezuela. My human limitation of fear, more specifically, my fear of failure is keeping me from moving forward. I have to let it go and have faith that trusts no matter what. The road before me is not going to be easy, and without constant faith its going to be impossible.
Kendall Payne is one of my new favorite artists. I highly recommend checking out the song "I will show you love." The song is written as if God were singing to us. There is a line that says, "Walk out on the water where you have no control. So scared to death of failure you sacrifice your soul please let that go." I think its finally time for me to walk out on that water and stop sacrificing my soul.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Grace makes beauty out of ugly things
What once was hurt, what once was friction
What left a mark no longer stains
Because grace makes beauty out of ugly things
Grace finds beauty in everything
Grace finds goodness in everything - U2
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
How much of change can we survive?
The above title line is from a song from one of my favorite artists, Sara Groves. Her songs were such comfort and inspiration for me during those hard times of adjusting to living in another culture. Out of all of the changes I have experienced lately, I have to say it is the hardest one to endure. Last year, I graduated from college, moved to another country, and got married. As many of you know, the first year of marriage has its challenges as you learn to live with another person and become "one flesh". Pair that with culture shock and you have enough stress right there to make you go insane.
Now, I had some experience with this before I moved to Venezuela. Of course, not first-hand experience, but I learned from observation. My mother is from the Philippines she met my father while he was serving in the military. They fell in love; got engaged. She made her way to the US and shortly after they got married. Well I came along before their first year anniversary so I've sort of been with my mom ever since she's came to the US. I remember how she used to cry and cry and cry. I remember how she used to get angry or confused because of cultural misunderstandings. I remember the fights. But most of all, I remember looking down on my precious mother for years, because she couldn't understand those cultural norms as easily as I could. Now some 20 years later...here I am going through a similar situation --- and I can say probably for the first time in my life that I'm beginning to understand my mother and I have a whole new appreciation for her.
You never really understand how many little things can differ in a culture until you live in another country. My best friend is also here in Venezuela, she was recently married in December. I cannot begin to tell you what an incredible blessing it is for me to have her nearby. Its been such a relief to share with each other how we are feeling as we are going through all of these changes. We have a description of ourselves here in Maracaibo, "alien babies". That's exactly how I felt those first several months here in Venezuela. First, you definitely feel like an alien to everything - its all new. I had to re-learn how to do pretty much everything from the way that I learned it in the US. I mean even the little things like cleaning, cooking, shopping, and transportation. You feel like a baby because you are always dependent upon somebody else in order to do something. The dependence thing is very hard on me because I am very independent by nature.
So, do I regret making the decision to live in Venezuela? Absolutely not, and I never will. I have learned so much through these changes. Even though they were painful, and even though I shed so many tears, and even though there were times where hope seemed dim I will always be grateful for these changes, because they transformed me. You see, by living in another country and being an "alien baby", I'm far away from all of those things that I've ever put my confidence and identity in other than God. Such as my family, my friends, my intelligence, my car, my university education, my comforts, and my accomplishments. I was so far away from all of those things, that all I could do was to turn to God and depend on him and re-learn to rebuild and actually revision my identity in Him alone. I had to turn to Him...I had to choose God or my only other choice was depression. I have matured so much from going through this pressure-cooker, and although there will be more changes to come in the future; I now know that in Christ I can do all things.
Now, I had some experience with this before I moved to Venezuela. Of course, not first-hand experience, but I learned from observation. My mother is from the Philippines she met my father while he was serving in the military. They fell in love; got engaged. She made her way to the US and shortly after they got married. Well I came along before their first year anniversary so I've sort of been with my mom ever since she's came to the US. I remember how she used to cry and cry and cry. I remember how she used to get angry or confused because of cultural misunderstandings. I remember the fights. But most of all, I remember looking down on my precious mother for years, because she couldn't understand those cultural norms as easily as I could. Now some 20 years later...here I am going through a similar situation --- and I can say probably for the first time in my life that I'm beginning to understand my mother and I have a whole new appreciation for her.
You never really understand how many little things can differ in a culture until you live in another country. My best friend is also here in Venezuela, she was recently married in December. I cannot begin to tell you what an incredible blessing it is for me to have her nearby. Its been such a relief to share with each other how we are feeling as we are going through all of these changes. We have a description of ourselves here in Maracaibo, "alien babies". That's exactly how I felt those first several months here in Venezuela. First, you definitely feel like an alien to everything - its all new. I had to re-learn how to do pretty much everything from the way that I learned it in the US. I mean even the little things like cleaning, cooking, shopping, and transportation. You feel like a baby because you are always dependent upon somebody else in order to do something. The dependence thing is very hard on me because I am very independent by nature.
So, do I regret making the decision to live in Venezuela? Absolutely not, and I never will. I have learned so much through these changes. Even though they were painful, and even though I shed so many tears, and even though there were times where hope seemed dim I will always be grateful for these changes, because they transformed me. You see, by living in another country and being an "alien baby", I'm far away from all of those things that I've ever put my confidence and identity in other than God. Such as my family, my friends, my intelligence, my car, my university education, my comforts, and my accomplishments. I was so far away from all of those things, that all I could do was to turn to God and depend on him and re-learn to rebuild and actually revision my identity in Him alone. I had to turn to Him...I had to choose God or my only other choice was depression. I have matured so much from going through this pressure-cooker, and although there will be more changes to come in the future; I now know that in Christ I can do all things.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Suffering
From my time in Venezuela I've learned a lot not only about its culture, but of mine as well. Seeing the cultural differences, even the most miniscule in daily life, has allowed me to have a greater appreciation of the US. It has also allowed me to be a little more objective. There is something that God has been putting on my heart ever since I've been here, something to share with US churches and Christians. The issue I want to talk about is faith and suffering. One of the biggest differences that can be seen in Venezuelan culture, in Venezuelan churches, is their genuine faith. Its something that can be noticed from visiting a single church service. Its something that can be noticed from a week-long missions trip and it is something that continues to be confirmed months after living here. Their faith is real and they live it out in their daily lives. I've always wondered why the images of faith in Venezuela were so much stronger than in the US, and then I realized that the key to their faith was suffering. They understand suffering and handle it so much better than we do.
It was then that I realized that we have a problem here in America. We are so preoccupied with comfort and security. We dream of surburbia, big houses, safety, great jobs, and retirement. Let's get down to the point, we are so preoccupied with the things of this world that it blinds us from the valuable lessons we can learn from suffering. We do everything we can to prevent suffering from ever happening. We live in our safe bubbles that we construct ourselves, and live in neighborhoods with people who look and act like us. The majority of our friends and social circles are Christian and contact with anything outside of that which we know would be considered too risky. And what has become of this? Our faith is not developing.
I know this from my own personal struggle. I know that my faith before coming to Venezuela was nowhere as strong as it is now. Being in Venezuela I am apart from anything and everything that I have ever put my confidence and identity in other than God. In other words, I have learned slowly and painfully to let go of those parts of me that did not look like God. I had let go of all of my false idols. Learning how to die; that's what it takes to look more like Christ. Mark 8:34 says, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." In John Piper's "Let the Nations be Glad," Piper claims: Many of us have pictured the cross as a mere burden. Something that Jesus carried up a hill. However, this is not what the verse means...the cross was so much more than just a burden. It was an instrument of pain and execution. In modern day terms the verse would mean something like this: Pick up your electric chair and follow me", or "Pick up the sword and carry it to the place of the beheading." If we are to follow Jesus, If we are Christ's followers, then we must be ready to take up our cross. Suffering is not a strange, horrible thing to be avoided - its part of a Christian's life. If you don't believe me pick up the New Testament and take a good, hard look at it. 1 Peter 4:1 says "Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same thought." The suffering and hardships we go through in life are like fire that purifies gold --- its what Jesus uses to mold us and shape us to become more holy; to look more like him. We learn not to depend on this world, not on ourselves, or anyone else for that matter. We learn to depend solely on God, our Father alone.
The first time I saw genuine faith...I mean faith so real that it was pouring out of a person was when I met Wilmer. I had arrived in Venezuela for the second time and spent my first Sunday at my now husband's church. Before leaving, he told me of a story of a guy from his church who's car was torched and robbed while he was at an overnight prayer vigil at church. When we arrived all you could see was the charred remains of what was once the frame of his car. I was shocked of course, I mean what says "Hello you're not in Kansas anymore" like seeing a torched car frame outside of a church building. Can you imagine that happening at your home church? During the service, our Pastor mentioned a few words about what had happened and it was then that I learned that Wilmer was a taxi driver. So, not only did he lose his car the night before; he also lost his job, his sole income for supporting his family. Wilmer has a wife and four children living at home. All of sudden, Pastor introduced Wilmer and invited him onstage. I was just amazed that he even showed up for church after all that occurred. What happened next just took my breath away. Wilmer with all of his strength, might, love, no sense of resentment, in complete and pure faith - Wilmer belted out a beautiful worship song to the Lord and the whole church erupted in song following him. Tears were flowing down everyone's eyes. It was an incredible moment. One that I will never forget. How many of you would do that after losing your only car and job the night before, not because you did something wrong, but because it was stolen from you?
On that trip I got to know Wilmer and his stepdaughter Milagros even more. When I came back to the US, I soon found out that they had found deadly cancerous tumors in Wilmer's organs. Things went from bad to worse for Wilmer and they didn't get any better. Wilmer has spent over a year going from hospital to hospital, doctor to doctor, each one giving him different dates for how long he was to live. His family doing what little they could to survive without their father's paycheck.
That December I came back to Venezuela and I saw Wilmer again, this time with a bandage around his head covering surgery that he had to explore tumors that were present near his brain. Wilmer still strong in his faith as ever, was up on stage during the service singing worship songs and encouraging everyone at church.
A year later, Wilmer's health continues to go downhill and doctors have been giving him days left to live. They keep resetting the deadlines as he continues to live past them. I recently visited Wilmer at home, he is now bedridden. He can hardly move or talk. However, even in those conditions Wilmer was the same. He had his worship music playing in the background, and while my husband and I went there to encourage him; he ended up encouraging us. He used what little words he could to encourage us to reach the nations and to break the paradigms in our churches today. Then he said something that just broke my heart, he said with tears in his eyes and such emotion in his soul, "I just pray everyday that God will use me, that he will use little me here in this bed - I can't move - I'm here, but I just pray that God will use me where I am to speak of his glory." Because of Wilmer's faith, his story will live on - God's glory will be seen it has impacted our church and every individual in it. Wilmer's faith is being reproduced as inspiration for all of us. I know for certain that I will carry Wilmer with me wherever I go in this world! I encourage all of you to live your lives like Wilmer....leave this world with no regrets!
It was then that I realized that we have a problem here in America. We are so preoccupied with comfort and security. We dream of surburbia, big houses, safety, great jobs, and retirement. Let's get down to the point, we are so preoccupied with the things of this world that it blinds us from the valuable lessons we can learn from suffering. We do everything we can to prevent suffering from ever happening. We live in our safe bubbles that we construct ourselves, and live in neighborhoods with people who look and act like us. The majority of our friends and social circles are Christian and contact with anything outside of that which we know would be considered too risky. And what has become of this? Our faith is not developing.
I know this from my own personal struggle. I know that my faith before coming to Venezuela was nowhere as strong as it is now. Being in Venezuela I am apart from anything and everything that I have ever put my confidence and identity in other than God. In other words, I have learned slowly and painfully to let go of those parts of me that did not look like God. I had let go of all of my false idols. Learning how to die; that's what it takes to look more like Christ. Mark 8:34 says, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." In John Piper's "Let the Nations be Glad," Piper claims: Many of us have pictured the cross as a mere burden. Something that Jesus carried up a hill. However, this is not what the verse means...the cross was so much more than just a burden. It was an instrument of pain and execution. In modern day terms the verse would mean something like this: Pick up your electric chair and follow me", or "Pick up the sword and carry it to the place of the beheading." If we are to follow Jesus, If we are Christ's followers, then we must be ready to take up our cross. Suffering is not a strange, horrible thing to be avoided - its part of a Christian's life. If you don't believe me pick up the New Testament and take a good, hard look at it. 1 Peter 4:1 says "Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same thought." The suffering and hardships we go through in life are like fire that purifies gold --- its what Jesus uses to mold us and shape us to become more holy; to look more like him. We learn not to depend on this world, not on ourselves, or anyone else for that matter. We learn to depend solely on God, our Father alone.
The first time I saw genuine faith...I mean faith so real that it was pouring out of a person was when I met Wilmer. I had arrived in Venezuela for the second time and spent my first Sunday at my now husband's church. Before leaving, he told me of a story of a guy from his church who's car was torched and robbed while he was at an overnight prayer vigil at church. When we arrived all you could see was the charred remains of what was once the frame of his car. I was shocked of course, I mean what says "Hello you're not in Kansas anymore" like seeing a torched car frame outside of a church building. Can you imagine that happening at your home church? During the service, our Pastor mentioned a few words about what had happened and it was then that I learned that Wilmer was a taxi driver. So, not only did he lose his car the night before; he also lost his job, his sole income for supporting his family. Wilmer has a wife and four children living at home. All of sudden, Pastor introduced Wilmer and invited him onstage. I was just amazed that he even showed up for church after all that occurred. What happened next just took my breath away. Wilmer with all of his strength, might, love, no sense of resentment, in complete and pure faith - Wilmer belted out a beautiful worship song to the Lord and the whole church erupted in song following him. Tears were flowing down everyone's eyes. It was an incredible moment. One that I will never forget. How many of you would do that after losing your only car and job the night before, not because you did something wrong, but because it was stolen from you?
On that trip I got to know Wilmer and his stepdaughter Milagros even more. When I came back to the US, I soon found out that they had found deadly cancerous tumors in Wilmer's organs. Things went from bad to worse for Wilmer and they didn't get any better. Wilmer has spent over a year going from hospital to hospital, doctor to doctor, each one giving him different dates for how long he was to live. His family doing what little they could to survive without their father's paycheck.
That December I came back to Venezuela and I saw Wilmer again, this time with a bandage around his head covering surgery that he had to explore tumors that were present near his brain. Wilmer still strong in his faith as ever, was up on stage during the service singing worship songs and encouraging everyone at church.
A year later, Wilmer's health continues to go downhill and doctors have been giving him days left to live. They keep resetting the deadlines as he continues to live past them. I recently visited Wilmer at home, he is now bedridden. He can hardly move or talk. However, even in those conditions Wilmer was the same. He had his worship music playing in the background, and while my husband and I went there to encourage him; he ended up encouraging us. He used what little words he could to encourage us to reach the nations and to break the paradigms in our churches today. Then he said something that just broke my heart, he said with tears in his eyes and such emotion in his soul, "I just pray everyday that God will use me, that he will use little me here in this bed - I can't move - I'm here, but I just pray that God will use me where I am to speak of his glory." Because of Wilmer's faith, his story will live on - God's glory will be seen it has impacted our church and every individual in it. Wilmer's faith is being reproduced as inspiration for all of us. I know for certain that I will carry Wilmer with me wherever I go in this world! I encourage all of you to live your lives like Wilmer....leave this world with no regrets!
"God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. And the supremacy of that glory shines most brightly when the satisfaction that we have in Him endures in spite of suffering and pain in the mission of love." - John Piper
"Now we hope for the blessings God has for his children. These blessings, which cannot be destroyed or be spoiled or lose their beauty, are kept in heaven for you. God's power protects you through your faith until salvation is shown to you at the end of time. This makes you very happy, even though now for a short time different kinds of troubles may make you sad. These troubles come to prove that your faith is pure. This purity of faith is worth more than gold, which can be proved to be pure by fire but will ruin. But the purity of your faith will bring you praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is shown to you." - 1 Peter 1: 4-7
Monday, February 22, 2010
New Job and Dengue Fever!
Yesterday was a crazy day and definitely opened my eyes to the Venezuelan healthcare system. My husband has been really sick these past couple of days with fever and body aches. So, his family took us to a local Cuban clinic which is part of a system called, "Barrio Adentro." Healthcare in Venezuela is nationalized. Which in my personal experience is good in some situations and bad in others. I, myself, have benefited from programs like "Barrio Adentro", the check-ups are free as well as the medicine, and its great for minor health problems. However, for those with more serious health problems it can be a struggle waiting long periods of times for operations. Also, a lot of the doctors and nurses here are overworked. There are just not enough of them.
After we got Hebert's blood test analyzed it looks like that he has Dengue fever; however, its not a serious case. His blood count is only a little bit lower than normal. Thankfully, Hebert's sister is a nurse, and she can give him IV's here at home, and shots for pain. That was another thing to get used to here in Venezuela. In the US if we get sick or if we have pain we take pills, in Venezuela under the same circumstances your mom, dad, or wife will give you a shot, literally a syringe in your arm, with pain medicine. You don't need really need prescriptions to buy medicine at pharmacies here. You just go to the counter and ask for whatever you need. It still takes me awhile to get used to that.
Thankfully, Hebert woke up this morning much better and was able to go with me to my job interview. It was my second job interview since being here in Venezuela. I would have already been employed if my paperwork here wasn't such a nightmare. However, God has certainly been faithful and provided me with this opportunity and I hope it works out. The job is with an English insititute looking specifically for Christian professors. Training starts sometime next week and they even offered Hebert an opportunity so maybe we can work together. Please continue to pray for Hebert and for this new job opportunity! Love y'all! Man, I haven't said that in a long time...haha!
After we got Hebert's blood test analyzed it looks like that he has Dengue fever; however, its not a serious case. His blood count is only a little bit lower than normal. Thankfully, Hebert's sister is a nurse, and she can give him IV's here at home, and shots for pain. That was another thing to get used to here in Venezuela. In the US if we get sick or if we have pain we take pills, in Venezuela under the same circumstances your mom, dad, or wife will give you a shot, literally a syringe in your arm, with pain medicine. You don't need really need prescriptions to buy medicine at pharmacies here. You just go to the counter and ask for whatever you need. It still takes me awhile to get used to that.
Thankfully, Hebert woke up this morning much better and was able to go with me to my job interview. It was my second job interview since being here in Venezuela. I would have already been employed if my paperwork here wasn't such a nightmare. However, God has certainly been faithful and provided me with this opportunity and I hope it works out. The job is with an English insititute looking specifically for Christian professors. Training starts sometime next week and they even offered Hebert an opportunity so maybe we can work together. Please continue to pray for Hebert and for this new job opportunity! Love y'all! Man, I haven't said that in a long time...haha!
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