1ST KENYANNIVERSARY!!!!

So I’ve officially been in Kenya for a full year! It’s crazy how God has grown me in a year’s time. As I look back at the day, I was waiting at the gate in the DFW airport, I see a girl so eager to minister and full of faith, unaware of the challenges and hurdles that would be placed before me.

Things that I’ve accomplished within 1 year, due to and full of God’s grace/mercy:

- lead/assist missionaries in their ministries

- help pay for secondary school tuition (thanks to sponsors at home)

- plan and succeed with many fun days for orphans at 2 different orphanages

- lead women’s bible study at the church I attend

- be a mentor to 3 girls at my church

- nurture malnutrition/neglected babies back to health (which I still continue to do: a 2 wk old was given over by his 12 year old mom just this wednesday)

- provide over a month’s worth of food to a private orphanage of 50 beautiful girls (thanks to sponsors like you)

- get engaged (lol, you know I had to sneak that one in there)

- start a sunday school curriculum at MTBC

- THE LIST GOES ON

God has been so faithful and sovereign and completely trustworthy to me. Those are the ways He’s really shown Himself to me throughout this past year and I am forever grateful. 

My new “mantra,” if you will, is what I was told by my dad, that my late Aunt Gwen used to say, “I don’t plan on missing heaven.” Whether I’m obedient or in hard times and God purifies me in his refining fire, I continue to run this race with heaven in mind. 

“I don’t plan on missing heaven.” 

(deep breath)

“I don’t plan on missing heaven.”

(wiping sweat, panting for air)

“I don’t plan on missing heaven.”

 

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so a great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let kus run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

- Hebrews 12: 1-2

THE ULTIMATE HUSBAND

I know in reading the title, every reader is either rolling their eyes or smiling from ear to ear, because you think this post is about my soon-to-be husband, Billy. Well it’s not about him……..even though he’s pretty amazing.

I digress.

Lately the 54th chapter of the book of Isaiah has been a constant study of mine. It speaks about an eternal covenant with the Lord, but, for me at least, from a husband/marital perspective. Maybe it’s from this new season I’m in but during my quest for  peace from scripture, words like married, mother, children, husband, and wife, just leap off the pages of my bible.

⁴ “Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame.
Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated.
You will forget the shame of your youth
and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.
⁵ For your Maker is your husband—
the LORD Almighty is his name—
the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;
he is called the God of all the earth.
⁶ The LORD will call you back
as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit—
a wife who married young,
only to be rejected,” says your God.
⁷ “For a brief moment I abandoned you,
but with deep compassion I will bring you back.
⁸ In a surge of anger
I hid my face from you for a moment,
but with everlasting kindness
I will have compassion on you,”
says the LORD your Redeemer.

¹⁰ Though the mountains be shaken
and the hills be removed,
yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken
nor my covenant of peace be removed,”
says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

-Isaiah 54: 4-8, 10

These characteristics of a husband, or much better, THE GOD WE SERVE, is so strong and something I’ve come to know and learning to trust in daily, through my recent experiences. For women, and maybe men, the ideal husband is one who pursues, loves unconditionally, provides, leads, protects, etc…and God is just that.

God’s ability to pursue us is incomprehensible. Do you know that you’re being pursued even now? HE’S JUST THAT SMOOTH!!!

Currently, ministry in Kenya has been rough, with much spiritual warfar and peace is what I’ve been craving for. And the fact that God reaches me, and US (you and I), at our points of need is beautiful. For me, He reached me by proclaiming that He’s my husband! Because He knew it would get my attention.

In a recent women’s bible study I was leading at church, we were discussing the MANY aspects of God and His names….and so many we had never heard of before, or took for granted, or never really considered. It was very eye opening for me. One in particular was that aspect that God is a healer. For me, I never (as far as what comes to mind) thought of him that way, yet for others it was the first thing they thought of.

So, I ask you, what character/aspect/name of God, do you recognize most with? Least with? Any part of Him you take for granted? For me, He’s my ultimate husband. He leads, provides, protects, loves unconditionally, provides me with peace, forgives, cares, encourages…the list goes on.

StoryTime: This past weekend I was in Kisumu for Billy’s grandma’s funeral. As we were leaving the burial site, a huge storm came in (Kisumu has many heavy rains since it borders Lake Victoria). As we were waiting for a matatu (the worst form of public transportation ever), I immediately felt led to pray. Pray for protection like never before, especially since spiritual warfare has been around me 360 degrees. A matatu stopped for us and as we traveled all I could do was pray. Billy even wondered if something was wrong because I had gotten really quiet. The driver started insanely speeding and not only that, but as we splashed through the flooded roads and puddles, the water was coming through the floor board onto my feet!!! Prayer harder, I heard a voice get louder, my soon-to-be husband started yelling at the driver to stop because we had almost swerved/slid into an oncoming vehicle, which I hadn’t noticed or felt. Soon enough, after passing a matatu that had just spun off the road into a tree and bushes, some of us made the decision to get off and just walk/wait for a ride from someone. The “ULTIMATE HUSBAND” (for me), had already forewarned me,  pursued me to pray, led me in deep prayers, protected me, way before my earthly (soon-to-be) husband  took notice of the dangers at hand. And for that I’m forever grateful and blessed by the covenant I’ve made with Him.

Oh, a car stopped for us and took us , slowly, in to Kisumu town…. PRAISE THE LORD!

So, what name/aspect of God is speaking to you today?

*Feel free to share, pray, donate to this blog and ministry*

When The Saints….

Since my last post, I found a song that I always had in my ITunes but never listened to. Sometimes I think God takes over my shuffle and plays a song that I need at just the right times. Anywho, this song really witnessed, blessed, encouraged me and I pray it does the same. It’s basically the simple desire of my heart, through every challenge, heartache, disappoint, triumph, all I want is to be one of the saints when they go marching in. Be encouraged!

lord i have a heavy burden of all i’ve seen and know
it’s more than i can handle
but your word is burning like a fire shut up in my bones
and i can’t let it go

and when i’m weary and overwrought
with so many battles left unfought

i think of paul and silas in the prison yard
i hear their song of freedom rising to the stars

and when the Saints go marching in
i want to be one of them

lord it’s all that i can’t carry and cannot leave behind
it all can overwhelm me
but when i think of all who’ve gone before and lived a faithful life
their courage compels me

and when i’m weary and overwrought
with so many battles left unfought

i think of paul and silas in the prison yard
i hear their song of freedom rising to the stars
i see the shepherd moses in the pharaohs court
i hear his call for freedom for the people of the Lord

and when the Saints go marching in
i want to be one of them

i see the long quiet walk along the underground railroad
i see the slave awakening to the value of her soul
i see the young missionary and the angry spear
i see his family returning with no trace of fear
i see the long hard shadows of calcutta nights
i see the sister standing by the dying man’s side
i see the young girl huddled on the brothel floor
i see the man with a passion come kicking down that door

i see the man of sorrow and his long troubled road
i see the world on his shoulders and my easy load

and when the Saints go marching in
i want to be one of them

Beauty for Ashes

“He is a refiner’s fire, and that makes all the difference. A refiner’s fire does not destroy indiscriminately like a forest fire. A refiner’s fire does not consume completely like the fire of an incinerator. A refiner’s fire refines. It purifies. It melts down the bar of silver or gold, separates out the impurities that ruin its value, burns them up, and leaves the silver and gold intact. He is like a refiner’s fire.” – John Piper

 

These past months, not only for me, but for other friends as well, have been “rocky,” to say the least. You name it and it’s happened. Deaths, heartbreaks, divorces, abandonment, loneliness, exhaustion, stress, floods of tears, confusion,……the list can go on, but it’s depressing to type and I’m sure to even read for you. 

This is why I haven’t blogged in a while. Sorry.

Life is Kenya continues to go on, day by day. I’m surviving, but it’s most assuredly not by my own might. As I continue to serve here and as doors continue to open with opportunity after opportunity towards the fruition of God’s will for me here, a huge blaze comes and takes someone or something away. A person I desired to do ministry with, a close friend, or the fire just reveals the true character of people and leaves me in a pool of disappointment. 

Now that I’ve begun the “recovery stage” after a frustrating first couple of months of 2012, the ash is settling and my eyes are seeing why things had to be, why certain people can’t take the same path as me, and why my hopes should be set precisely on my loving Father in heaven. These “impurites” that God took away are making my path much sweeter. I could say bittersweet, but I’m focusing more on the sweetness of God, because He does everything for my good. And your good, too. That’s who I serve. No matter how hard it seems. My purpose on Earth, whether in Kenya or USA, is to serve Him. 

Therefore, God, if your will for my life leaves me with 3rd degree burns and the sweetness of your glory, let your fire rain from heaven. I’ll stand still and know that you are God. Regardless of what happens around me, as things change from ashes to ashes and dust to dust, my eyes will stay focused on You, for You still sit on your throne.

 

Purify me till I am seen as precious and pure gold before You. 

 

Friends. Family. Prayers are needed. If there was ever a time to be on our knees in warfare for God, that time is now. Ministry here in Kenya is blossoming from the once tiny bud that was planted from birth, that I discovered years ago. And quite frankly, Satan isn’t liking it. We all know who will be victorious in the end, but this is not the time to be faint or shallow in our faith. My foundation is fully on the biblical truth and promises of my Savior, will you stand with me? Will you pray with/for me? The full bloom is ahead and I’m feeling the unfolding of every sweet petal. Your prayers of sweet rain, or prayers of protection (thorns) from the enemy that’s trying to pluck this beautiful flower of sweet fragrance before God, we can all join and see this ministry do great things.

 

Your faith always strengthens mine. I’m so ready to see beauty from these months of ashes. 

 

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, he has sent me  to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound…to comfort all who mourn;…to give them a BEAUTIFUL HEADDRESS instead of ASHES, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the PLANTING of the Lord, that he may be glorified.” -Isaiah 61: 1-3

 

 

Quick (and Exciting) Update

Hello folks! Good things are being done in Kenya and I pray that even greater things are being done where you are! This will be a quick, yet EXCITING update!!!  Which means, one thing, bullets! Let’s go!

• Update #1: Lucy, or Abbas, the sweet 10 year old at Murang’a Rescue Center that was diagnosed with cerebral palsy as well as being mentally challenged, has finally been accepted to a boarding school!!!!! All this time, Lucy has been waiting around the orphanage and learning little to nothing from the Aunties that serve there. This has been a battle for several months, taking her from school to school, and getting many rejections due to her challenges and now a school in Thika (about 30-40 min drive from Murang’a) has accepted my sweet friend. This will definitely challenge her but in the most glorious way! PRAISE BE TO GOD! I’ll miss her smiling face when I come to visit the Rescue Center but it brings more joy to my heart to know that she’s getting what she deserves,…a chance.
  

  Sweet Lucy!

• Update #2: I went and searched for an NGO name today and it was approved!!!!!!!!!!! My desire for a full-swinging NGO has been so on my heart for a couple of years and now to know that the Kenyan government not only approves the organization name, but also approves the basis of what it stands for brings me much joy! God is surely working things out through me. I’m so excited to be used and bring glory to his name. Please continue to pray with me as I get all the logistics done (fees, forms, meetings) and that God’s peace guides me.
• Update #3: The beautiful girls at Upendo Children’s Home needs your help yet again! Two girls, Mary Wanjiku and Catherine Wanjiku, are needing sponsors to attend High School. They finished their 8th grade exams and made an average of 350 points out of 500. I’m still going through details with Esther, Upendo’s social worker, as she helps them find a school (boarding or day) that is suitable for them. Please keep them in prayer as always.
• Update #4: I’m engaged!!! Did I tell you that? Yeah, well, I am. Anywho, please keep me in your prayers as I balance NGO logistics as well as Wedding logistics. Both, I’ve never done before.
• BIGGEST PRAYER REQUEST: Please pray for the church I attend here, Murang’a Town Baptist Church. There have been some challenges among the church leaders and Satan is definitely trying to tear down what God has established as good in this community! Pray diligently. It is needed!!!

Anyway, this modem is about to die and I must post all of this while it’s on my heart! I love you and I pray that God brings me you many blessings this weekend and much grace and mercy for the days after that.

P.S. I turn 24 on Tuesday, January 24th.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I hope 2012 has been kind to you all so far! I’m expecting great things for this year, with this verse in mind:

‎”Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. “(Philippians 3:13, 14 NIV)

BEFORE WE BEGIN MORE OF THIS 2012 JOURNEY, I WANT TO SHARE WITH YOU PHOTOS FROM MURANG’A RESCUE CENTER’S CHRISTMAS!!!

Setting up all the goodies in the living room

Lucy enjoying her alphabet/number blocks

Hot Wheels!

Creative minds at work with the building blocks!

 

Thanks for all that donated! The kids were so surprised when they came inside to find toys, little cakes, soccer balls, etc!

 Have a great new year!

 

 

 

 

Upendo Fun Day!!!!

Last week was Upendo Children’s Home Fun Day!!! The girls had such a great time and it was honestly ministry at it’s finest. Here are some pics of the day! Enjoy.

Due to the rainy season the road to the Children's Home was unsafe for cars....

Ministry calls, we serve, by any means necessary

"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns." -Isaiah 52: 7

Decorations.

Preparing beef for burgers. (Over 6 lbs of beef...after scrubbing my hands for a full day the raw beef smile finally diminished. PTL!)

Talking to the beautiful girls...

Being a manicurist for a day....

Showing off their nails. So much Joy!

Pretty nails.

End of day, before leaving. Successful day!

 

I cherish these girls so much. Even though the day presented some challenges (cooking over 60 burger patties, failing electricity, weather challenges, etc), the message was still brought forth and God was glorified!

 

Fearfully and wonderfully made.

 

Thanks for the prayers and support to make such events possible!!!