On the Journey

December 6, 2012

By Faith

“For we walk by faith and not by sight” – 2 Corinthians 5:7

Growing up, I always pictured Abraham when I heard the phrase – “to walk by faith”. He was called to a land that had no name, he packed up his family, his help, his livestock, his everything, and started walking until the Lord told him to stop. In my eyes, he truly walked by faith and not by sight. There was nothing to see – he had no idea where the Lord was taking him.

However, walking by faith and not by sight isn’t just for when you literally can’t see what’s next. I’m learning that it’s also for when you know the next step. Walking by faith still applies even when He’s shown you exactly where to go.

At this particular time in my life, I’ve been realizing that although I can see my surroundings, and although I know that I am in the center of where He has moved my family – I still have to walk by faith. There are plenty of days that I look around and nothing looks the way I imagined it. In my head, a year and a half after living here, I thought there would be bible studies – possibly more than one, that didn’t require me memorizing something in Malagasy or still needing my testimony typed out on paper to refer to when sharing. In my mind, I saw our family living in a bush setting and being closer to our people. However, when I look out, that’s not what I see – not with my limited sight anyway. I have to choose to walk by faith. To trust that, for now, we are where He needs us to be. I have to choose to have faith that He is speaking through me with the Malagasy that I know and through the works He has set aside for me to do. I have to choose to walk by faith and not by sight.

“All your ways are good, all your ways are sure, I will trust in you alone,

higher than my sight, high above my life, I will trust in you alone

Where you go, I’ll go

Where you stay, I’ll stay

When you move, I’ll move

I will follow you”

(Chris Tomlin)

December 4, 2012

ST4T

Our conference in Kenya was such a blessing. We spent the week in ST4T training. ST4T is the method we use among the Mahafaly people to share God’s word. It consists of 21 discipleship stories and 21 church stories – all from God’s word. As a group, we learned and helped teach the 21 discipleship stories so that we would be familiar with them in English and could then return home to learn them in our local language. This was exciting to be a part of, because although we’ve already been learning these stories in Mahafaly and Steve has been a part of sharing them out in Mahafaly Land – we had never been trained in the whole process. We asked a lot of questions, memorized a lot of stories, and learned a great deal of how to be more effective personally in this method.

We are also very thankful for the volunteer team that came to take care of our kiddos. They taught Bible stories, did crafts, played games, and sang songs - Ryleigh had a blast! If I haven't mentioned this before - go and give your nursery workers a hug at your church! They are a blessing, even if you haven't realized it!!!

Please pray for us as we work (yes, it is indeed hard work) to memorize these first 21 stories in Mahafaly dialect. The goal would be to share these orally and not read them from our papers! Pray for the Mahafaly to be diligent in memorizing and hiding His word in their hearts. Pray that we would be faithful in keeping those we share with accountable to sharing the stories as well.

December 2, 2012

The Pursuit

I've been overwhelmed by the pursuit of my Father this week. It started during our training conference on Tuesday with the story of Adam & Eve. After they choose to sin by eating of the tree that He told them not to...they hide out of shame. What happens next? For those of you familiar with the story, you know that God comes to them as He was in the habit of doing and asks where they are. Now, I know that God indeed knew exactly where they were but He still asked, He still sought after them. God already knew they had sinned, that they had broken this perfect relationship with their Creator, and yet He still wanted to find them, to talk with them, to pursue them.

As I sat and dwelt on that fact, perhaps a part of the story that I hadn't focused on before, I was humbled by His love for me. He knows everything about me. He knows how much I will mess up, how many times I will hurt Him and yet He still pursues me. From the dawning of time, He pursued me. His pursuit continues even today. When I fail to spend daily time with Him - He pursues me. When I struggle to see any evidence of His fruit in my life - He pursues me. When I turn my back and try to hide - He pursues me. Oh what marvelous, burden lifting, peace and joy His pursuit creates in my life.