The Lord has been reminding me often lately that I am just the role He created me for at this time in my life. Often I feel overwhelmed at the amount of people I am supposed to help (over 150), but the past 2 days I have been watching short videos from some of our workers overseas and I remember why I do this! What a gift and a privilege to be a part of our Father's work in this way! I wish I could post all the videos on this blog or on Facebook but for the safety or our workers I won't.
Just after coming to Jesus, God put the needs of the world before my face and they broke my heart (thanks to my wonderful home fellowship EV Free Fullerton). I knew I had to do something to make a difference and get this good news to people who have never heard it. To this day when I watch a video or see a slide show with pictures of the unreached I have to fight back tears. If you know me...I'm not a crier. My hubby often teases me that I cry about the needs of the world, yet at our wedding when he surprised me by singing a beautiful heartfelt song straight from the heart not one tear fell. I often joking think if someone cut me open I think I would bleed mi$$ions. The caring for, financial support, sending out, encouraging, blessings, praying for, loving, being an advocate for mi$$ionaries is my heartbeat. Having experienced life overseas myself I know it's a lonely, hard, frustrating and even depressing at times lifestyle to choose. And yet I wouldn't change my 6 years overseas for anything in the world. They made me who I am and gave me a DEEP love for the people of the M. E. as well a desire to do all I can to help mi$$ionaries thrive not just survive as I sometimes did.
In case you haven't heard the term 'unreached peoples' they are defined as a group which contains less than 2% Evangelical Christian. Did you know the alarming fact that out of $100 given to Christian work only 1 penny goes to the unreached?!?!? It blows my mind! We need to focus more on sending people to the unreached. There are many hungry to know the One True God, to know grace, forgiveness and true Love but just can't. One of our workers in an very unreached part of Asia wrote this today, "'When we die and God judges us, our good deeds can never outweigh our bad. I wake up in the morning ready to lie. How can I be saved?' Pray for my friend to see that faith in Jesus alone can save us from our great disobedience towards God." Do you want to begin giving to people focused on unreached peoples let me know and I can connect you with a mi$$ionary who may be under supported. Has there been a certain country on your heart, but you don't know what to do with that? You could start giving to a worker so that they can stay and really invest in the lives of people who need to hear this GREAT news!
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
A big picture look at the needs in the world today
People group stats: approximately 16,000 people groups in the world and 6,600 UPGs (unreached people groups).
• Language statistics (from the Wycliffe “Ethnologue”):
o 6,900 languages in the world.
o 2,252 needing Bible translation.
o Other languages have either the whole Bible, Bible portions, the NT, or may not need a translation because scripture is available in the majority language.
o Tops languages spoke as “mother tongue” – (stats from Operation World)
1st – Mandarin 1.2 billion
2nd – Spanish 329 million
3rd – English 328 million
4th – Arabic 221 million
5th and 6th – Hindi and Bengali
There is still a tremendous need. Please pray that the Lord of the harvest continues to send out workers into his harvest field!
• Language statistics (from the Wycliffe “Ethnologue”):
o 6,900 languages in the world.
o 2,252 needing Bible translation.
o Other languages have either the whole Bible, Bible portions, the NT, or may not need a translation because scripture is available in the majority language.
o Tops languages spoke as “mother tongue” – (stats from Operation World)
1st – Mandarin 1.2 billion
2nd – Spanish 329 million
3rd – English 328 million
4th – Arabic 221 million
5th and 6th – Hindi and Bengali
There is still a tremendous need. Please pray that the Lord of the harvest continues to send out workers into his harvest field!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Another Miracle
For those of you you received my last email update you heard the wonderful story of God's provision. Today I have another amazing story! Katie, who I wrote about several months ago here has an AMAZING story about how God not only healed her but also provided in unbelievable ways.
Katie was diagnosed with TTP which landed her 32 days in the hospital and received over 250 bags of blood all with NO insurance. That's right NONE! She was planning to move overseas in July of last year so she quite her job in May leaving her with no medical coverage. During the first days of her stay in the hospital she was flooded with fears and frustrations knowing there was nothing she could do herself. In the midst of these emotions she had a flood of peace and an inaudible voice asked, "Do you trust me?"
She knew then that God was going to do something amazing, but none of us ever imagined what. Three weeks after being discharged, she got a call from the Froedtert Hospial Charity informing her that she had recieved a grant that covered 100% of ALL medical bills for a 6 month period- probably about $400,000.00. She also qualified for a program in which the pharmaceutical company reimburses the hospital for the costof the Bio-Med treatment which was $40,000 for the 4 treatments she required.
Needless to say, she stands amazed at the way God provided above and beyond what she ever would have thought to ask. Her joy abounds! It abounded before all of this happened, but had deepened even more. She hopes to be on her way to the field sometime this summer depending on her financial support and teach the children of some of our workers in North Africa. Please pray that here health remains stable! And praise the Lord for his goodness!
Katie was diagnosed with TTP which landed her 32 days in the hospital and received over 250 bags of blood all with NO insurance. That's right NONE! She was planning to move overseas in July of last year so she quite her job in May leaving her with no medical coverage. During the first days of her stay in the hospital she was flooded with fears and frustrations knowing there was nothing she could do herself. In the midst of these emotions she had a flood of peace and an inaudible voice asked, "Do you trust me?"
She knew then that God was going to do something amazing, but none of us ever imagined what. Three weeks after being discharged, she got a call from the Froedtert Hospial Charity informing her that she had recieved a grant that covered 100% of ALL medical bills for a 6 month period- probably about $400,000.00. She also qualified for a program in which the pharmaceutical company reimburses the hospital for the costof the Bio-Med treatment which was $40,000 for the 4 treatments she required.
Needless to say, she stands amazed at the way God provided above and beyond what she ever would have thought to ask. Her joy abounds! It abounded before all of this happened, but had deepened even more. She hopes to be on her way to the field sometime this summer depending on her financial support and teach the children of some of our workers in North Africa. Please pray that here health remains stable! And praise the Lord for his goodness!
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