He Knows My Name by Maranatha Singers

What a joy to know...He Knows My Name.

God is Working

As many of you know, Bill and I served for about 13 years as missionaries. One of the delights of serving a church full time now, is to be allowed to take several overseas volunteer mission trips. I, personally have not taken one recently, but Bill and Katie have taken several. They have been back to Venezuela, the country of our mission service several times. This past month, 20 of our students and adults from Bethlehem Baptist, went for a week to Venezuela, specifically, The Valley of Tuy, which is right outside the capitol city of Caracas, to work in an evangelistic week. They did door-to-door witnessing, street witnessing, outdoor puppet and drama programs etc. At night they had meetings in the churches. It was a very successful week all the way around. Two Hundred Sixty-Six adults gave their lives to Christ. The Venezuelans normally do not count the children until they have had an opportunity to talk to their parents and talk to the children one-on-one, so, there probably is a much larger number if the children were figured in. God really blessed their time. Even if one precious person had made a decision for Christ, it would have been worth it.

I am writing all this to say the following: God is not only working overseas but He is also working in the lives of those who went overseas. Recently, I asked Bill if he realized how many of our people were contemplating full-time mission service or full-time Christian service, such as pastors, Christian ministry workers etc. We began counting and we counted, and counted, and counted. We have at least 12-15 people who have expressed a desire to follow the Lord's leading toward the goals of Christian service. That just made me want to shout. God is so good. I especially have been blessed as I have watched God work in the lives of young people. He is still working, Folks. He is still in the business of calling out those whom He wills to special ministry.

One of our young men, a recent high school graduate, has astounded us with his ambitious approach to missions. Besides going on trips overseas all the time, he has established a ministry right here in our surrounding community with Hispanics. He began by getting involved in their soccer games. Then he started sharing Christ with them after the games. He got involved in their everyday lives. Last night, sadly, he was with one abused Hispanic Mom as DSS (Department of Social Services) came to take her child to a safe place so that the Mother could find shelter for herself and the baby from the abusive father. He is already doing missions work. Nothing deters him. In the middle of all this, he has learned to speak perfect Spanish. Wow, what a calling God has placed on his life and DOUBLY WOW, what a wonderful servant he is to the task God has called him to. This is just one of many testimonies like this. God is working. People are answering His call. Matthew 28:19,20 is being fulfilled. How exciting!!!

Will you pray as you read this for those with whom God is dealing? These short term mission trips are definitely making a difference in their lives. Pray that they would continue to be open. Pray for parents who might not fully understand the depth of a "call" from God. Some of these kids parents aren't nearly as dedicated to God's work as the kid is. We serve an amazing God. He can make them understand. Pray for the Holy Spirit to surround the students with His presence as many of them begin college for the first time. The key is to keep them faithful to the Lord as He continues to speak to them.

L O S I N G

Well, I am on another diet. I say another because I have probably lost and gained more weight in my life than I could count. As most of you, I recently spent about five months in a wheel chair. Needless to say, being in the wonderful church we are in, so many delicious meals were brought to me. Being the person that I am, I JUST HAD to eat everything they brought. Now, I am not blaming them. They were wonderful to me. This is one of the most giving and reaching out churches we have ever been a part of. I just realized, though, that I am totally undisciplined when it comes to my eating.
Recently, my grandchildren were here and I overheard one of them call the other a LOSER! It kind of got to me thinking how those words could hurt. The more I thought about it, I realized that in my case, I want to be known as a loser. I want to be a loser in the sense that people can actually SEE what I am losing.

After healing and getting out of the wheelchair, I quickly realized (after I tried to walk carrying more weight) that I had to lose. Normally, I wouldn't want to be a loser. Now that's all I want to be. I have been dieting for a month and I have lost 20 lbs. I am at a point right now that I am at a standstill. I know I am going to have a day soon, though, that I will lose more weight. I am doing the South Beach Diet. It has been one of the easiest I have ever done.

SOOOOO, call me LOSER. That's all right. I am always going to have the positive thought that you mean that in a nice way. As the saying goes, "we say the nastiest things in the nicest way."

So, for the first time in my life, I WANT TO BE A LOSER!

Things I Love

My sister was challenged by a friend and she now has challenged me to write about five things that I "LOVE". Narrowing them down to five is hard but not impossible. I am going to give it a valiant effort to name them one by one.

I LOVE:

1. Jesus. This what a lot of other people wrote too. I am praising Him that He is plenty big enough for me to love, for you to love, for anyone to love and still have a whole lot more love left for everybody else. His name is love. I am so glad that I know him as personal Lord and Savior.

I LOVE
My Family - all of them. my husband, my girls, my sons-in-law, grandchildren, sisters, in-laws-- What a wonderful thought to know that right after God made man and woman, He instituted the family. Families are important to us and to God. Our church family is included in this. I also love the memories that I have of my mom and dad.

I LOVE:

3. That God is still doing the work of calling those whom chooses to serve in various capacities of His work. I love the circumstances He uses to get men and women where they need to be and what it joy it is to watch God work in the lives of His children.
Even though it takes some people a long time to realize that calling - He still Calls!

I LOVE:

4. I love cherry limeades from Sonic. I am so hooked on them. They are light, refreshing, cooling.....even the diet ones that I have been drinking are just the best. They are a mixture of cherry drink, diet sprite, 3 slices of limes juiced into the mixture with crushed ice and topped with a maraschino cherry. Love 'em!!


I LOVE:


5. CROCS. I just bought my first pair of Crocs and they are so comfortable. I can't believe I didn't have any. I have already blogged about this. I am sure that soon it will be some other kind of sandal but today it is CROCS!