A Lesson in the Learning

At the beginning of this month, I was really struggling with focusing too much on the hopelessness of some situations around me instead of on the true Hope. During this time I asked God questions like, how can this possibly work out for the good, how could you use these situations, or even me in these situations? God’s response was one that encouraged me and filled me with such hope I thought I would share it with you all. 

  As soon as I asked the question God brought me first to the story of Abraham and Sarah; Sarah had waited her whole life, enduring the shame and the stigma of not being able to have children. She passed up her child bearing years and then out of desperation even tried to fix her problem without God by giving her servant to Abraham, but that didn’t work, it was hopeless. Then in the middle of that hopelessness God brought hope and she had a baby boy and not just any boy, but a boy that would be a nation. 

  The next story that God brought me to was that of a prostitute named Rahab, in scripture she wasn’t just referred to as A prostitute she was said to be THE prostitute of Jericho. I could not imagine a more hopeless and degrading position to be in, but after protecting two spies and being spared from the destruction of her city, she became a part of God’s people. She was no longer known as the prostitute, but as a wife and mother, and one of the few women that were listed in the genealogy of Jesus.

  After that story I was reminded of the story of Naomi, who because of famine she and her husband had to leave their homeland but while they were in the foreign land her husband and both of her sons died. So after the famine was over she decided to return home, she told her daughters-in-law to not follow her because her situation was hopeless, but Ruth told her she would follow her anyway. So they went together, but Naomi went back home defeated, hopeless, and bitter. In this place though God brought her daughter-in-law Ruth and  Boaz, together and blessed Naomi with a grandson, who would be in the lineage of King David and Jesus. 

   Finally I was reminded of the people of Israel, who had been sold as slaves in a foreign land and who were waiting for a Savior, but after over 400 years of hearing nothing from God, hope seemed very far from them. However, in the midst of this darkness and silence their Savior, their Hope, came. He didn’t come in a way they expected and He didn’t even save them in the way they thought He would, but He did so more completely than they could have imagined. Our hope even came after the darkness moment in history, after our Savior was killed, He was dead for three days. Utter hopelessness had set in when our Hope defeated death, and showed us that out of the darkness He brings light, out of “impossible” situations, miracles take place. So in the end there is no such thing as hopelessness when Christ is our Hope.  

“Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed...” Romans 4:18a

Our Unstoppable God

Hey!
  Whew it’s been such a long time since I’ve been able to sit down and write here!I am coming to find I am not a very reliable blogger, and for that I apologize. Anyways after too long a time here goes…
                I am not going to lie and say that these past few months have been the easiest of my life, there was loneliness and missing those I love during the Christmas time, a lot of stress and uncertainty about God’s plan for my future, and some discouragement as well. I battled, struggled, and fought, and in this place I came to know our God in a way that I have never fully experienced before, a God that fought for me, battled with me, and fiercely loved me.  

This love is a love that floors me over and over again, a love that is characterized by selflessness, relentlessness, and the inability to fail. In the times that I have felt the heaviness of this world weighing on my heart,times where I missed all that was familiar, and the times I felt so useless, God gentle took ahold of me, and said I won’t stop…I won’t stop forgiving you…I won’t stop chasing after that rebellious heart of yours…I won’t stop reminding you of who you are in Me…I won’t stop being faithful…I won’t stop guiding you…I won’t stop working through you…I won’t stop loving you with all that is in Me, You are mine, and I am yours…And that will never stop.

As I am brought through this storm I am filled with a new hope, a renewed peace, a desire for more of my Beloved Father, and a joy that is truly indescribable. I can feel God calling me deeper and deeper into true life, into a life that is lived completely from and through Him. I know this doesn’t mean that I will never struggle or battle, actually it probably means that I may have even more battles and struggles. However, now I can rejoice in them because I know it just gives Christ another opportunity to show me more about His goodness and faithfulness. My situations may not be changing, it still is hard and I still feel tempted to feel discouraged and useless, but the Holy Spirit is changing my mind, letting me see things the way He does and is encouraging me in the ways only He can. I know I am being refined by a holy fire, and all I need to do is trust in His skillful hands and masterful plan for me.

A part of that plan that God has shown me, is that He wants me to start a bible study with the girls from the youth group. Through several different situations, He has made it very clear that the girls need some kind of discipleship. So last week I felt very convicted to look up a book that I love in English called Captivating and see if it was available in Spanish, and what do you know it was! So I am starting the process of figuring out how all this would work. Right now we are still trying to figure out who could come, when they can come, and where is the best place to have it. So in this time of preparation, I would ask if you all could please be in prayer for the girls of the group that their hearts will be ready and open to knowing God more deeply and to hearing His truth, and that all the details that need to be worked out will work out.   

 Two girls from the youth group Danielle, Noelia,  and I. 

"I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in Him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit." -Romans 15:13

"Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see." -Hebrews 11:1

Greater things are yet to come...

Hola!
        It does not seem possible that it could be December already, whew how time has flown. Following God has certainly taken me on some adventure! I am so very thankful for it though. Right now I feel like I'm busier, as my Dad would say, "Than an one armed paper hanger with fleas."
        I have been leading English Conversational Classes once a week at the library by request of the City of Ogijares, and also so we can see that if we did start this kind of center if there would be any interest.  Well there definitely is interest and  has it ever been wonderful, there has been a pretty solid group of 10 to 14 people ages 15 to 50, and they are so great. I am so encouraged to see these relationships build!
       Then I also am going three mornings a week to my Spanish classes which have been great, the group has really bonded together to learn. I also have even had an incredible two hour deep talk with a girl from my class about God, sharing my testimony, and hearing about her religious background, her doubts, and her desire for something more. She will be here until July, so hopefully that relationship will grow, and those type of conversations will continue.
       This week in particular is soo exciting for me, but is also going to be sooo busy! Raul, Anna, and I are going to be leading a youth retreat for four days! We will be staying in a house in Nerja from Thursday afternoon to Sunday afternoon. Our theme is Knowing Your Identity in Christ. I will actually for the first time be giving a full lesson by myself in Spanish the first night and then a devotional time! I am so excited that I finally at the level in Spanish to be able to do something like this, but I also am kind of nervous as well. If you all could please be in prayer for this whole retreat it would be greatly appreciated, that walls will break down, hearts be changed, relationships deepen, and even for one of the girls to give her life to Christ. I know God is going to do great things and I just can't wait to see it!


This is the video that I am going to show during my lesson on Your Identity in Christ..

John 14:12-13, "Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son."

        These past two weekends have just been a whirlwind of wonderful praises to God! Last weekend was the retreat with my church here, Community of Faith, and then this weekend we welcomed another six people into the family of God! When reflecting upon this time these song lyrics keep coming into my head... 

"Sparks will fly as grace collides with the dark inside of us. So please don't fight this coming light let this blood come cover us, His blood can cover us, and this is where the healing begins!" I can see the church family grow and change here, it isn't an easy change, but it is beautiful to see lives completely renewed in Christ!

                             

         During the retreat the youth, another leader named Anna, and I helped to watch the little kids. We all planned the activities together and worked as a team to accomplish what God had put on our hearts to do. It had moments of chaos, as expected when working with lots of little kids, but I saw so many of the youth step up and use the gifts God had given them to help and bring glory to Him. It truly was a great experience of growing closer to God and to each other.

Fun with the Parachute!

Craft Time!

Veggitales in Spanish!

Then yesterday we had another six baptisms, two of those were girls that are part of the youth group! It is so very exciting to see lives truly changing, and broken hearts finding healing in Christ. One of the girls that was baptized, her mother who was just recently baptized, had the privilege of baptizing her, and that was such an incredibly beautiful sight to see whole families changed for Christ! It is is such an incredibly thing to witness the beginning of a new lives, and the changes of hearts, but as we all know it isn't easy, so I please ask that you all be praying for these people who have just given their lives to Christ and for those that are mentoring and leading them as well.

Mom and Daughter

In Christ's Love,

         Sheri 

Here's a link to the song that I was quoting earlier...

Banana Pancakes

Hey!

   So I have returned safe and sound from my short backpacking trip, and thought I would share what God really placed on my heart...Oh and I thought I would share a pic of my successful banana nut pancakes experiment with you all, just for the fun of it...


Anyways back to backpacking, God taught me so much as I was treking through the mountain rage called the Alpujarras. I was seeing all the beauty, danger, and adventure God had placed in this world, and just truly taking in all that He has created for us. As I was marveling at the stars while in my mummy sleeping bag that night, the realness of God just really hit me. This world echos so much of who He is and what He has done for us in my every day routine I tend to miss so much, I forgot about the realness of God and the story that we all are living in. This story that centers around our Hero, Jesus, who came to us through the muck and mud of this earth, breaking our chains of slavery by willingly being killed in our place. Every person on this earth was condemned by a curse, but our Hero broke this curse by giving His life, His blood to make the curse powerless. Then our Hero went a step farther, not only did He conquer all our foes, return to life and claim us as His own; He promised us that until the day He returns, He would give us His Spirit to be with us always.
Yet to me, I think after hearing this repeated over and over again, it began to be more of a story, a beautiful and inspiring story, but just a story in the end. Satan began to whisper his lies and spread his mist of deceit and before I knew it I was taking the attitude that this story was too grand, too good to truly be real life. In the end it was too incredible, too much adventure, too much just pure love to have anything to do with me. I knew I couldn't possibly be worth that much trouble, maybe in my imagining or fantasies, but lets face it, real life? Nah, couldn't be possible. So I let myself fall into an apathetic state, one with cloudy at best vision of who Christ is, and what He has done and is still doing for me and in me.
Now though the fog is lifting and I can see that God was the One who gave me these "imaginings," He was the one who made me love these stories of adventure, danger, and pure love, just so that I could know Him better, and finally understand that this is the truth, that these "stories" are real life are my life and all our lives. The enemy whom I was rescued from wants nothing more than to fool me, to lie to my Spirit that all of this is just a dream, that I couldn't possibly be good enough to be loved by such a Hero, that such a good power doesn't exist in this world. That liar almost had me because it is true that I am not good enough to be loved by such a Hero, none of us really are, but he forgot one thing...My heart knows my Hero, He made sure to set eternity inside it, inside all of ours, and all of creation whispers in agreement with the truth. This knowing of my Hero means that I know that He is good and that His love and actions don't depend on me and my goodness, but simply on His, which is more than enough for all of us, thankfully!! The lie has then been exposed and the truth is setting me free!
The more I think about it, the more I realize just how sad it is that the world has been so deceived that to them the actual truth seems to be too far fetched, so rationally they chose to believe the lie instead. I used to think my imagination was a curse, that I loved stories of adventure and love too much.  However now I can see why, and I am seeing it as gift because it is helping me to see past the world's lies and see the truth with my eyes guided by my Hero, my Savior, my God.
Thanks all of you for staying with me on this adventure, I pray that you all are drinking in the truths of God and allowing His realness to change you from your very core!
God Bless Guys :)

Welcome to the Family

Maria (one of the girls in the youth group that I live with) getting baptized

A Day to Celebrate the Newest Additions to our Family!

We had a great day starting with eating lunch together. After eating we had a small church service with songs and a sermon. Then we heard testimonies from those getting baptized and they were. Afterwards, we all stayed and talked for several hours, and just enjoyed being with each other. 

Me and Maria

Maria giving her testimony

Rosa (Maria's sister, who I also live with and who is also in the youth)
  giving her testimony

After being baptized Rosa and her mom Rosa

Rafa (A kid in the youth group) being baptized by
Raul and Joel

Monolo giving his testimony

Rafa giving his testimony

Testimonies

Forgiveness needed...

Ok so I am guilty of possibly being the worst blogger in the world. I think I may be able to blame it on the fact that I have been the victim of the false belief that every blog needs to impart some sort of great wisdom or contain a great story of adventure or discovery and so the task of writing just becomes too great to finish even before I start it. It is either that or simple busyness or a little laziness, although I may stand that it is some sort of combination of all of the above. At any rate I am sorry for the lack of writing and hope to do it a lot more now.
So much has happened since I last wrote and most of it is all written in my newsletters so I think it is just best to start from this moment without backtracking too much. If you don't by chance get my newsletters and would like to recieve them, then feel free to email me at artinmotion09@gmail.com and I will start sending them to you.
Ok so this weekend I am house, cat, dog, and plant-siting the irwin's house. If you wonder how on earth I could be plant-sitting then you obviously haven't seen the Irwin's backyard garden or should I say backyard garden of eden, it is absolutely beautiful and an adventure to take care of. Anyways before they left they actually told me to have people over, which i definitely don't think one hears very often, "oh yeah by the way, have a party while i'm gone," but since the irwin's are pretty much amazing it makes sense. So being the good apprentice that I am ;) I had three missionary friends over for pizza, cookies, a movie, and basically just a whole bunch of fun. Just getting together to laugh and hang out blessed me and encouraged me in such a great way, and made me so very thankful for my brothers and sisters in Christ!
Today has been a fairly relaxing day, but I am so very excited for tomorrow! Tomorrow the church here is getting together to have baptisms at a church member's pool! I know of at least four of the youth that are a part of those getting baptized and two of them are the girls that I am living with!!! I am flying high and so extremely excited for them! After the baptisms the church will eat a meal together and just rejoice over the newest additions to our family! I know this has to be hard for these kids to forsake all inhibitions and come fully to Christ especially when most of them don't come from Christian homes, so I ask that all of you please keep all of them in your sincerest prayers. I will hopefully have some pictures of it to share afterwards too:) I just want you all to know that I truly thank God from the very bottom of my heart for each and every one of you! Also my prayer for all of you is as Romans 15:13 says, " May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit!" God Bless guys!

Packing Procrastination

Here’s just a quick update before I start packing for a trip to Murcia, Spain. The Irwins’ and I are going to Murcia for the weekend to go to a conference and to meet other missionaries that live there, that I may work with for a bit while I am here.

 My Spanish classes have finished for the summer at the Centro de Lenguas Modernas, but I will continue to learn Spanish through private classes taught by Raul the youth group leader. I will have classes every day this week, except Thursday, for two hours a day. I am really excited to take a further step into learning of the language.  

Also this week is the last week of school for the kids at the elementary school where I am helping to teach English. So Nicia has been working with the parents to help put together an end of the school year party for the kids, which I will be helping with next Monday. I guess this has been a traditional event every year, but in the past years it hasn’t gone well because it hasn’t been organized well and many parents didn’t have the opportunity to help out. So this year Nicia is helping to organize the party and it sounds like it will be a lot of fun for the kids and will get many of the parents involved.

We are also preparing for English Camp which will be taking place the last week of June and first week in July. I will have the opportunity to write the opening script for each day, be a monitor, and possibly hosting someone at my apartment that is coming from the States to help. There’s a lot to do, but I am excited about all that God is going to do in this time!

“Have I not commanded you: Be strong and courageous!  Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go!” –Joshua 1:9

“Ya te lo he ordenado: Se’ fuerte y valiente, No tengas miedo, ni te desanimes. Porque el Señor tu Dios te acompañara dondequiera que vayas.” –Josué 1:9 

A free concert I thought I would share with you all :) It was given beside the Cathedral, and was absolutely beautiful.

Liberame

Isn’t it just so amazing how God knows exactly what we need when we need it to be reminded of just how much He loves us?!  I went to the beach for the first time yesterday and what a wonderful reminder of God’s beauty, creativity, and just ability to inspire awe in us! The entire time the verse from Psalm 42:7-8 kept replaying in my head. It says, “Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me— a prayer to the God of my life.” It was such a time of relaxing in God and of Him reassuring me of His love.

Then that evening I was able to help with the youth. Raul had all the kids over to his house for a barbeque to celebrate one of the girl’s birthday, to play games, and to watch the Barcelona verses Manchester soccer championship. We also practiced a bit for the skit we are doing for church tomorrow, it is a skit done to the music from Casting Crown’s song, “Set me Free,” only of course it is in Spanish so it is, “Liberame.” The skit is so powerful and the kids do such a good job with it.  If you want to see the video we are basing it off of this is it…

Overall the night was just a wonderful time with the kids. We all had so much fun playing games like twister, eating cake, dancing, and fighting over whether Manchester or Barcelona would win the soccer match. It was so encouraging to see how accepting they were and even as we are starting to have very small conversations in Spanish just how patient they are to understand and willing to work with me to communicate. I able to really see how God is working and it is very exciting!

“May the peoples praise you, God; may all the peoples praise you. May the nations be glad and sing for joy…” –Psalms 67: 3-4a

It only took my computer breaking twice...

Things I have been reminded of lately and things it took my computer breaking twice to really learn…

•  That I chose well when I didn’t chose the profession of a computer technician
•    That God sees so much more of the picture than I do, He knows exactly what we need, when we needed and has promised to and always will supply those needs.
•    That I have been blessed beyond measure to have an encouraging, supportive, and so loving family of God back home. 
•    That it is an incredible privilege and honor to know and be able to communicate with this family, to know their love, and to feel their prayers.
•     To never ever feel silly or wrong asking for prayer or support no matter how small it may seem in the scheme of things.
•        It is essential that we, the body of Christ act in love always, pray diligently for one another, forgive each other generously, be honest and open, and glorify God as one body together united.
•     To completely and fully trust that God knows what He is doing. 
•    To cling to Him always especially when it is hard, not try to hide how hard it is from Him.
•    That the gift of life that God has  given us, is right here in this second, this moment, this place, not in another time, another situation, or another country. 
•        Even though Satan can try to lie to us and discourage us every chance He gets, when we are living our lives as a sacrifice to God, those part of us that He would discourage and lie to are dead.  We are new creations in Christ, dead to sin alive in Christ, so Satan as far as I’m concerned is just talking to a dead man (or woman in my case.) He only is trying to deceive the part of us that has already passed away, and the part that is alive is now hidden in Christ, praise the Lord!!

These are just a few whispers, God has spoken to my heart while I have been here, I know I have a whole lot more to learn, but thankfully He is a patient teacher!

“The mind of the sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace."

 –Romans 8:6

     “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” –Romans 8:28

Newsletter for March

Praise the Lord my computer is officially fixed!! So much has happened since I have written last that I don't have enough time or space to put it all down, but God just continues to be so good.

Just one example of this is last time I wrote about someone who stated they wanted to be my first pupil to learn more about God, since then we have been able to set up a time to have a bible study every week on Thursday nights. We have had two so far and they have went very very well, and I am so excited to see how God is going to work. Right now I am just working on building relationships, learning the language, and being open to God's leading whatever or where ever that might lead. 

I decided that just in case some of you don't get my newsletters through e-mail that I would post my monthly newsletter on here as well, so here goes...

              Well I finally am here safe and sound in Granada, Spain, thank all of

   you for your prayers for safe travel and good transition! I arrived Tuesday,

   the 15th of March, in Madrid then took a 5 ½ hour bus ride to Granada. Once

   here Chris and Nicia Irwin picked me up at the bus station and took me to

   their home, where I stayed for a few days. Once everything was ready I went

   to the apartment where I will be living and met my roommate Iveth. Everyone

   has been so wonderful, and I can’t wait to get to know them better.

        The first week I arrived here, I started my Spanish classes, which will

   be on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for two hours. The classes have been very challenging especially because the teacher does not speak in English at

   all. I have heard though that is a very good approach and that I will be

   thankful for it later. It has shown to be extremely important that I know

   and can speak Spanish well, because most of the people here do not know

   English at all. Although that can be overwhelming at times, it has

   challenging me to fully rest in Christ for peace and wisdom, and to allow

   His power to work in me to learn quickly.

Open Hearts...

          I have had the opportunity to meet and work with the youth group from the

church a few times now. Most of them do not speak English, which has been a

challenge, but they have been really welcoming and I am starting to build some

relationships with them through my actions, interpreters, and the little bit of

Spanish I know. I have really been reminded over and over again while I'm here

that the way I live my life, not necessarily my words, often speaks louder of

Christ and His love to those around me.

          I also have the great opportunity to go into the school system every

   Tuesday and Thursday and help teach an English class to 2nd graders. This is

   such a great opportunity to show Christ’s love to the kids and teachers, and

   to build great relationship in the community. I have already had the

   blessing of meeting with a couple of the teachers who wanted to practice

   their English and offered to help me practice my Spanish. During these

   meetings I really have felt that these women just wanted to meet not just to

   learn but because they just  want to be friends. I really feel that God is

   definitely opening a door through this for me to share about Christ with

   them.

        I attended a meeting a couple of weeks ago about the Cinderella’s House

   and meet Elisa and talked a little bit to her about me desiring to help with

   the ministry. She was very excited about that, but we have not been able to

   have another meeting because she was leaving the country for a couple of

   weeks. I will keep you updated on more as I receive more information.

        It hasn't been easy these past few weeks, I have dealt with the culture

   shock, my computer's hard-drive crashing, the language barrier, and so much

   more, but God's grace, strength, and peace has truly flowed in every

   situation since I have been here. I have seen Him work situations out like

   only He could, and open doors that only He is capable of opening. The people

   here are in such a desperate need for Christ, they are broken and their

   hearts have been hardened from years of false religion, but there is hope.

   Through relationship and patient love God is opening hearts to hear and

   receive the message and I firmly believe God is going to do great things in

   the lives of these people!

Please be in Prayer for...

-Relationships to continue to be built, and that more opportunites will arise

for me to share Christ with the unreached.

-For the meetings I am having every week with the two teachers

-The youth group and their leader Raul

-The Cinderella's House

-That God will continue to open my mind to learn the language

   Words cannot express how thankful I am for all of your prayers!!

" I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy!" -Philippians 1:3-4

“Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” (Isa.30:21) This truly describes how I have felt throughout this short time of being here in Granada.  I stayed with Chris and Nicia the first couple of days at their home, and then after I was rested some, I went to meet Iveth, who I will be living with and to move into the apartment.  

Friday morning I went to my first class, which was very hard at first because the teacher did not speak to us in English, and I had not been there long enough to even understand fully what was being said. So I went back to the apartment discouraged and frustrated. Later that evening Iveth and her friend from out of town asked if I wanted to go eat with them and later meet some more of Iveth’s friends.  It was such a great experience, Iveth and her friend from out of town spoke English and so we had a great time going out to eat. Then later when I met her friends who didn’t speak English they helped translate and even teach me small phrases. My spirits were lifted and I felt much better.

The rest of the weekend Iveth, her friend, and I went sightseeing, we walked all around the city, visiting La Alhambra and the Plaza de San Nicholas that overlooks La  Alhambra, it was so beautiful and such a good cultural experience.  Yesterday (Monday) I had another class session, and I understood so much more, which was really so encouraging to me. Then that evening I went to my first Mercadona (like a super-market) with Nicia and spent the evening at their house. Out of all the wonderful things that have been happening here though, I think the most wonderful of all was when I was talking to someone over here about missions and how it is hard to minister to people who can’t understand what you are saying, then the person said, well I understand and I really want to be your first pupil! I almost cried right there, God truly is so good, and I cannot wait to see all that He has in store! Thank you all for your prayers, they are definitely felt and needed!

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” -2 Corinthians 4:7

Here at Last

I wanted to write just a quick post to say I am officially here!!!! Praise the Lord, He has been so very faithful to provide every step of the way! I flew into Madrid yesterday morning, and took a five and a half hour bus ride to Granada, where Chris and Nicia took me to their home so I could rest. It has been wonderful and everything has went so smoothly, it is incredible how God works out every detail. "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." -Romans 8:28


"Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His love endures forever. Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the LORD or fully declare His praise?" - Psalm 106"1-2