I hope you all are having a fabulous morning! The last two weeks have been insanely busy for me at work, but I was reminded to “ Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.” (Phil 2:14-16) I find it very hard not to complain, when I am tired and exhausted. I really should be counting my blessing rather thinking of all the things that I can complain about. Seriously if we all took our time to think of our blessings, list would be endless. I would like to encourage you today to count your blessing no matter what you are going through in this chapter of your journey. List 5 blessings that thank God for them!!!!
1) Family 2) Health 3) Roof over my head 4) Food 5) Job
On my way to work, I began to pray that God would give me some sort of sign that He is hearing my prayers and knows my broken heart. There are days that I just can’t figure out where He is going with His perfect will, because quite honestly most days it just doesn’t make much sense to me. He has the power to redeem my parents from the pits of hell and He has the power to break my dad’s drinking addiction, yet for many years now my prayers have been answered. I didn’t want to test God, but I just wanted to hear from Him.
The day at work went pretty uneventful until I was headed to class in the afternoon. It was pouring outside and I began to converse with God. “Why is it so easy for me to believe that you divided the sea, yet I am having a hard time believing that You will redeem my parents from the pits of hell?”, I proceed to question God. As our conversation went on, it started to rain harder outside. When I looked up to the sky, I saw God’s answer!!!
I saw a beautiful rainbow (see picture attached), that reminded me that God is faithful to His promises. Even though I still struggles with understanding God’s will, I sure feel comforted in knowing that God never waivers from His Word.
On Sunday I was traveling to Franklin, NC to speak share my testimony about the OCC. I was looking forward to meeting new people, but was dreading to drive up the curvy mountain. By curvy I mean that you have to drive no faster than 30 mph. My trip started out just fine until I noticed a car was following me way too close for my comfort zone. At that moment I had to make a choice of either continue to drive normally or to pull aside and let the car pass me. I chose the latter one.
Because I chose to pull to the side to let the car pass me, I was blessed by a beautiful view of colorful trees and a reminder how majestic is the God that I serve. Each tree was different; some trees were covered with red leaves, others with yellow, brown and green. Needless to say the view was breath taking. As I attempted to take pictures of God’s beautiful creation, I was reminded that I serve artistic God who crafted you and me to be different. Some people are blessed with gift of teaching, others with gift of compassion and the list goes on and not one person is alike, just like not one tree that I was admiring was alike. But just as each tree radiated true beauty of nature, each human being radiates beauty of God’s perfect creation.
It never seizes to amaze me that I was so special to God that He knew me before I was born. Jeremiah 1:5 says, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart for my holy purpose.” God knew and numbered all my days before I was even born, isn’t it amazing? Psalm 139:16 says, “your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
My friend, I hope today you can take comfort in knowing that God carefully crafted you, because He loved you first. He has been plans for you, if you will only yield to His Sovereign will.
Does God care about what seems to us is a small prayer requests? Absolutely! He reassured me of that this past summer. Right after Christmas we decided that my mom will come to the US for another visit during the summer time. We both were so thrilled that we would get to see each other again. As soon as we set the date, I looked at my school calendar to see what class I would be taking during my mom’s visit. And it was international business.
Since I majored in international business undergrad, I wasn’t too concerned with the subject. However, part of me still asked “what if”. What is my teacher would be so difficult, that all I would have time to do is to write papers and read the book during my mom’s visit. So I began to pray starting in January that God would place a teacher who would not overload us with homework. “Lord, I really want to spend my time with my mom and not with international business”, I prayed quietly each night. “Would you please place a teacher in our class that would understand that we all work full time and have families?”
I love that the Word of God says in Isaiah 65:24, “Before they call I will answer, while they are still speaking I will hear.” I continued to pray for the teacher as I was preparing for my mom’s trip. It was Tuesday, the very first international business class. I was nervous when the teacher stepped in to our classroom, yet was quickly relieved when I saw our agenda for the next 6 weeks. Our teacher was a retired pastor, who taught us scripture through devotions at the beginning of each class. Each night that I traveled to school, I couldn’t wait to find out which topic in the Bible our teacher would cover in his devotions. And to be honest with you, I was so uplifted each night when I left to go home, that I was certain that God placed devotion on our teacher’s heart just for me to hear.
One night I recall our teacher shared with us Isaiah 40:31, “but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” The teacher asked us if we knew significance of why the Bible used eagle as an example. We all remained quite. Our teacher then proceeded to tell us that eagles have sockets that control their wings. When they take off, the bird trusts that the socket would lock the wings in place making eagle glide through the air without any work or effort. Thus eagles never grow weary or tired, when flying. The scripture promises a believer the same thing. That once we rely and place our trust in the Lord, we will never grow tired or weary. He will never let us down and will uplift us, just as the sockets will never let the eagle down allowing them to fry effortlessly.
So here you go. Not only did the Lord answered, what seemed to me a very small prayer request, but He also blessed me with a teacher, who was a constant source of encouragement through God’s Holy Word.
In the fall I stay very busy by traveling mostly throughout the state of South Carolina sharing my testimony about the Operation Christmas Child. One particular weekend I was invited to speak in Georgia at 3 different events. I was so thrilled and humbled that God would choose someone like me, a girl who falls short of His glory daily, to share a story that He has written for me with others.
On Saturday night I had the privilege of sharing my story with OCC volunteers and was blessed with meeting people who have the desire to serve the Lord through this ministry. Also I must say the food that we ate that night was delicious. On Sunday morning I had an honor of sharing my testimony with a church who participates in collecting shoe boxes. Afterwards I enjoyed speaking to people and must say I loved also receiving hugs from them! Before you know it was evening time and I was getting physically tired. I prayed that the Lord would hide me once again behind the cross that He would receive all the glory, honor and praise as I speak to a different congregation about the Operation Christmas Child.
People were very receptive of the message and once again I was blessed beyond my imagination by speaking to men and women after the service. Because my husband and I worked with youth at our church, these groups of young people have a very special place in my heart. So you can only imaging how blessed one can be, when a teenager comes up to you and ask names of your parents so he can continue to pray for them. Yep, that was my blessing when a young man came up to me with his grandmother after the service and asked for my parents’ names.
Just when I thought I have spoken to everyone, I noticed a shy young man (high school age) standing waiting to speak to me. We shook hands and briefly spoke to each other. When the young man walked away, I was told that he probably could relate to my story because his mother suffers with alcoholism (where as in my family it is my dad) and the young man always prays for his mom. The moment I sat in the car, I was burdened for the young man, whose name I later found out is Mark.
Perhaps because I know that as a teenager it is unbelievably hard to carry this burden what feels like alone. But it is unbelievably comforting to know that God promises in His word that, “My burden is light and my yoke is easy” (Matt 11:30). And the truth is that it doesn’t get easier as an adult to watch your parent suffer with substance abuse. But I continuously have to remind myself of God’s promises that He has given us in His Word.
God is faithful in hearing our cries and as soon as I had the opportunity to speak to my husband, I shared with him about Mark and asked Daniel to pray for him and his mom. Today I would like to ask you to pray for Mark’s peace and his mom’s alcoholism recovery.
How can we pray for you today?
"It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. When he saw that this pleased Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four solders each (that’s 16 soldiers for one person…crazy!!!! ~my comment). Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover. So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him". Acts 12:1-5
I was in Spain when I read about the tragic news of a woman who took her life leaving her son and husband behind. She attended the church and in fact was there the weekend before her death. Although I have never met this woman, my Spirit was grieving. I felt sick to my stomach as I lifted the family up in prayer for peace and comfort. This tragedy has reminded me of importance to minister to a church family.
I don’t believe that one can go out to minister to a stranger effectively without taking the time to minister to the church family first. There have been many Sundays that I would walk to church passing people right and left without really caring enough to stop and sincerely ask how things are going. We all talk to the same group of people and warm the same pew Sunday after Sunday after Sunday. If you take just one minute to look around, the church is filled what looks like happy people. But happy faces don’t always mean happy hearts. One can be hurting and is in need of encouragement, yet may feel that no one around cares enough to stop and actually listen.
As my husband has previously said, “What is the point of asking people how they are doing, when they don’t even stop long enough to listen?” And he is right, but why can’t we find 10 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour to stop and listen? Because we live in a busy society that tell us that time is money.
I recall a time that I was standing in the elevator with the stranger and we quickly exchanged “hi, how are you?” The stranger proceeded to tell me that he was not doing well, because his friend was dying of cancer. I was taken by surprise, because I was not expecting the stranger to tell me how he was actually doing. Shame on me!
Valuable lessons can be learned from mistakes and the Lord has impressed the following on my heart. Each Sunday I am to partake in pew hopping. This means that each Sunday I am to seat on a different pew next to people that I do not know well. Before the preaching starts I am to take the time to get to know people who are seating next to me. This challenge excites me and makes me nervous all at the same time. Do you want to join me in pew hopping?
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” ~John 13:34-35
When we moved to the mountains, Daniel and I quickly became friends with Craig and Vickie. Daniel would go fishing with Craig and I would spend my time talking to Vickie on the phone. The age difference never stood between us, since the sisterhood in Christ united us. I often would share my hurting heart for my parents’ salvation with Vickie, only to receive a sweet word of encouragement that was grounded in the Word of God.
I recall a time when “He is Mighty to Save” song came on the radio and Vickie with a sweet spirit said to me, “Every time this song comes on the radio, I pray for your mom and dad’s salvation”. It was during the season of life that every time I heard this song, the Holy Spirit within me would dance.
My Spirit was rejoicing in the fact that I had a sister in Christ that took her time to uplift my parents in prayer and used a song as a reminder to pray. I was also rejoicing in the fact that my God is MIGHTY to save, because nothing is impossible to Him. The Word of God says, "The LORD your God is with you, He is Mighty to save." (Zeph 3:17) The thoughtful act of my friend’s prayer made me realize that I can do the same thing for those around me. I can ask the Lord to bring a specific person to my mind during the time that I am listening to a Christian radio station and lift them up in prayer. In that I can continue to lift them up every time I hear the same song.
Do you have a friend who is in need of a prayer? Find a song associated with his or her circumstance and lift a friend up in pray every time you hear the song. I can promise that your friend would be forever grateful!
“I thank my God every time I remember you.” ~Phil 1:3
I had one of those days… upset and tired of fighting God I felt hopeless.
“Will my parents ever come to know You, Lord? Will it take an act of Your army for my dad to stop drinking?” I asked God as I wiped away the tears. “Why is that when John next door asks you for something, you answer in a matter of minutes? And I have been praying for 10 years and you are still silent to my prayers?”
That day I felt so weary spiritually that I was certain that no one in the whole wide world understands the burden that I have for my parents. There are days that I feel the burden is so heavy, that the only comfort to my soul is when my knees hit the floor as I pour out my pain to the Lord.
I am so thankful that God continues to love me even when I question His intentions. He reminded me that He is not silent to my cry, when I glanced at my computer and noticed an e-mail from a church member. Ellen knows my burden for my parents and God spoke through her when she wrote:
“Your dad has been heavily on my heart today and I want you to know that I am praying for him”.
How did she know that I needed to hear that encouragement right then? Because I serve a Mighty God who knows everything and placed my dad on Ellen’s heart. In return she was obedient to lifting my dad up in prayer and blessing me when I needed the most through a word of encouragement.
That same day, I shared a prayer request with a small group of prayer warriors and received another comforting e-mail from Paula, whom I have never met. Her encouraging words were a comfort to my hurting soul. In addition to her kind words, she blessed me with several books via mail to help me never give up praying.
By others’ generosity, I was reminded that God hears my cry and will answer in His time and according to His will. He also reminded me that He can use me to be a comfort to others. When He places someone on my mind that not only should I pray, but also take my time to send a note of encouragement to that person. A kind word goes a long way….
Philippians 1:3, “I thank my God every time I remember you”.
I was sad to tell Daniel good bye, because I knew that I would not see him for one month as he was leaving to attend a military camp. We hugged and Daniel said that he would call me as soon as his plane lands to let me know that he made it safely. Many hours later I received a bothersome phone call from Daniel letting me know that all his dry food was stolen from his bag along with a flashlight and a crumbly TSA note stuck in the bag informed Daniel that his bag was inspected.
I stayed calm for about 5 minutes processing my conversation with Daniel. About a month before Daniel had to leave for camp, I began to coupon shop for items like beef jerky and protein bars. Little by little a stash of dried food was growing and I felt better knowing that my husband would not have to surviving the next month on MRE (meals – ready to eat) only. So you can imagine what I was feeling as I was told that the food was gone. My hard work of scouting every single store for good deals was vanished as quickly as Daniel’s 1 minute call that also informed me that military will be collecting everyone’s phone in a few hours.
As soon as we hung up I told the people I was surrounded by what have happened.
“Oh boy! These people picked the wrong person to mess with. They are about to deal with Oxmeana, the one who spent days on the phone with airline customer service, when my mama was treated poorly during her winter trip. Yep, the same one who didn’t stop when electronics store told her there was nothing that they can do with malfunctioned computer that she only had for less than one month. But what bothers me the most is that the food was taken from a military bag. Common, seriously?! And a flashlight…why would some one need a flashlight?” I said with anger and disappointed as I was searching for TSA contact info online.
My anger was fueled even more when the TSA representative told me that I would have to fill out a gazillion page report and they would only then start investigation. Unhappy I was ready to do whatever it took for justice to prevail. This means that if I have to fill out multiple page report, I would. The remainder of the day I rehearsed in my mind what I would say in the letter that I was planning to write very soon.
Even before going to bed, I couldn’t stop thinking about the food situation. I began to pray.
“Lord, if the person was hungry, why didn’t he or she just leave us a note saying so? I wouldn’t be angry then. It bothers me that someone chose to still the food…out of a military bag to make the matter worst”.
Just as I was preparing to fall asleep, the Lord gently whispered Matt 5:40 in my ear.
“And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well”.
“But Lord”, I answered dissatisfied. “I worked hard for my "tunic" and "cloak". It took time to find the deals and coupons and now someone else enjoys my hard work!”
But the Lord continued to impress upon my heart to forgive and forget. It was never mine to begin with. He will take care of the rest. And I followed His instructions of forgiving and forgetting.
Note: As I share with you my life lessons, I want you to know that I am far from being perfect. I am a sinner who falls short of God's glory and He continues to teach me daily to be more like Him.
It was 10:30 pm and I was driving back home from school. I was tired and ready to go to bed, yet scared to walk in to the house alone since Daniel was out of town. Although we live in the middle of nowhere, in the mountains, uneasiness of parking my car and running to the door left me asking God for help. I began to pray, “Lord, you know I am a chicken when it comes to walking alone in the dark. Please send your angels to guard me!” As I began to gain confidence that I will be just fine unlocking the door without supervision, I noticed a car that appeared from nowhere behind me.
Most of the nights, I am one of the few people on the road that late going up the mountain. It felt strange that this car appeared all of a sudden behind me. One minute I look and there is no one behind me, and five minutes later I look and there is a car following me. I decided to stay calm and see if the car will turn to the right, where almost all cars make a turn. Unfortunately for me the car did not veer to the right and I began to wonder who would be driving up the mountain so late besides me. I also began to wonder if God heard my cry 10 minutes ago for protection.
At this point my prayer for protection became very loud as I time and time again asked God to keep me safe. Finally I was almost home and the car was still following me. As I turned in to our driveway, I stopped and looked back. Laughter filled the car as I realized that my God was answering my prayer all along my drive up the mountain. The car that has been following me for the last 10 minutes turned out to be a police car!!! And let me just share something with you, I rarely see policemen patrolling the mountain and I have never seen a policeman near our house so late at night.
That night the Lord has revealed to me that He is very attentive to my prayer requests. He also revealed to me that no request is too little or insignificant to Him. He is omnipotent and omnipresent Lord who says in Isaiah 65:24 “Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.” God heard my cry and used a police car that appeared from nowhere to escort me all the way home. That night the Lord has also showed me that I need to trust in Him and have faith that He will answer my prayer request. Proverbs 3:5,6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight”.
I was tired, exhausted and overwhelmed emotionally, physically and spiritually. It was during the time that I found out after planning for many months in my mind the trip to Belarus that I can not go. I was confused, angry and distant. A dear friend of mine one Sunday morning asked how things were going for me and I lost it. Tears streamed down my face washing away my mascara while I was sharing my heart with a friend. She hugged me and suggested that during my quite time I should read the book of Job.
I was familiar with Job’s life and wondered what I would learn from reading it again. But I took my friend’s advice and read several chapters each night. My heart was breaking for Job as I watched him lose everything (children, livestock and had to deal with his mean wife) without knowing the reason behind it. God however had a bigger picture when He gave permission for devil to test Job’s faith. God knew ahead of time that Job would not turn away from Him. I didn’t feel that God was speaking to me through the beginning chapters of the book, until I came to almost the end of the story. God spoke to me when He revealed Himself to Job and pretty much asked why Job questioned Him instead of trusted Him.
God’s response didn’t settle too well with me. “Lord, don’t you want me to come to You, when I am confused and not certain why I am going through the valley? Don’t you want my honest heart, instead of a pretense response that everything is OK, when it is not? Don’t you want me to be real with You? All Job was doing is wondering what did he do to deserve it. You know that we are made of flesh and it is very hard to sometimes accept the situation without knowing the outcome” I said out loud while letting God know that I didn’t like that He was not gentle with Job. That night I went to bed upset.
Several days have past and I shared my heart with Daniel’s mom (Karen) over the phone. I told her that God came across with His response very stern, like a grandfather figure instead of a friend. Seriously, Job was in so much pain from awful sores on his body and God didn’t even comfort him. Karen listened to me and asked me to go back to the very beginning when God took away the hedge of protection over Job and allowed devil to test him. It clicked to me that God knew at that point that Job would not turn his back on Him. Even though Job would not understand the reason behind his “valley”, God wanted Job to trust Him. He was molding his character. In the same way, God wants my worries to be gone about not being able to see my dad and trust Him that everything will work out according to His ways and in His time. He knows the future and I don’t. His will is perfect.
But God’s teaching through Job didn’t stop here. Not only did God reminded me to trust in Him, but He also showed me that He is full of grace! When Daniel returned from a military camp, I was reading his journal. Since we couldn’t communicate with each other for 3 weeks, we wrote letters to one another. One day Daniel shared his thoughts about missing his granddaddy (Ted). As I was reading the deep thought’s of my husband, I was hurting with him. I have never lost a close family member, thus I couldn’t share in the same pain that Daniel was experiencing, but in one way I can sympathize with him, because I miss my mama and daddy. I can’t call them when I want to, I can’t hug them when I want to and the big ocean that is between us doesn’t help the situation one bit. So Daniel missing his grandpa was hurting me too.
For anyone who met Ted would say that he was a man of God. Ted was a preacher and oh boy, he loved God’s Word! Every time I would ask a question related to God, he would pull out the Bible and feed me God’s Word. Needless to say, I never left hungry, just thirsting for more. So you can imagine that it was a total shock for all, when we learned that Ted was diagnosed with cancer. Questions rushed through my mind wondering “Why, Lord?” But Ted never asked that question, he was fine with whatever the outcome God had for Him, because he knew that he was going to a better place. But to those around him, it was difficult to watch Ted during his last days suffering in pain and not to wonder.
After Ted passed away, month or so later when I learn of another preacher’s tragic death, I questioned God again. “God, why would you allow someone to die so painfully after they have served you all their life?” I asked out loud. He brought me to Matt 10:39, “He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.” I understood that day that Ted’s life has just begun, when he met Jesus face to face. I see Ted’s life somewhat parallel to Job’s in that God didn’t give the reason for the valley to either of them, but all He wanted for both to do is to trust His sovereign will. Ted did just that.
One like myself may look and wonder why someone who lived all their life for the Lord has to die with cancer, while someone else lived their life with their back turned to God, yet live a “good” long life. This statement has crossed my mind several times and I always left confused until today. Because that someone, who is living their life with their back, turned to God are my parents. When Ted took his last breath, everyone was certain that he was meeting Jesus and will spend his eternity in heaven. But if something was to happen to my parents today, I don’t have that comfort. If one asks is it still fair that they are alive living a “good” life? The answer is grace, God’s grace! Oh, how I am thankful for that grace. Why is that someone still here? Because God’s Word says, in 2 Peter 3:9 , “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” Grace, God’s grace! He extends grace to the “lost” and it is my deepest desire that one day my parents will be “found”. Grace, God’s grace!
I am beautiful! Why would I say that?! Well, because the God that I serve is beautiful, and His beauty is hard to miss. All it takes is for me to look around at His creation and I stand in awe at the works of His hands. Now, God’s Word says in that I was created in His image (Gen 1:27) and since I find God beautiful…that makes me beautiful too. By the way, you are drop dead gorgeous, since you were created in His image too!
Sure, I can look in the mirror and find a million things that I would like to change about my outer appearance. If only I had a flatter stomach, my garnet shirt would look so much better on me. Or if only I had silky straight hair, I wouldn’t then have to worry about my fuzzy uncontrollable hair during the rainy days. Or if only … and the list continues. My outer appearance is not of an importance to God.
To be accepted by God I do not have to spend hundreds of dollars on hair products or do crunches in vain. He loves me just the way I am, because He carefully crafted me. And I find it amazing that He knew me before I was born. Jer 1:5 says, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.”
Knowing that my body is just a temporary dwelling place, I find that the real beauty lies within me. Proverbs 31:30 gently reminds us that “Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing.” I can spend 5 hours in front of the mirror applying the most expensive makeup, hiding pimples, blemishes and wrinkles just to know that when I wash my face all the imperfections will still be there. In the same way, as a Christian I can spend hours, days or years covering my sin. I can fool you, but I can not fool God. He knows my heart and my imperfections!!! In His Word God clearly underlines that the state of one’s heart is of greater importance to Him. 1 Samuel 16:7 says, “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart”.
When God is looking at my heart, I want Him to be pleased. I do admit that I am a sinner, who falls short of God’s glory. However, I find comfort in knowing that when God looks at me He sees beauty, because I was created in His image.
Today I would like to take just a few minutes of your time and to share with you the process of packing a shoe box. As a teenager, who received a shoe box at the age of 13, I remember smiling for ear to ear as I asked other kids from school about the content of their box. The joy of receiving a shoe box was unforgettable. Now, 13 years later, my husband and I participate in this wonderful ministry by packing the shoe boxes for children around the world each year.
Before you go shopping for shoe box items, say a prayer. Ask the Lord to draw you to items that you should pack in your box. This is very important step, because there maybe a child somewhere in China praying for a specific item and God can use your shoe box to answer the child’s prayer. Are you excited yet? Well, my friend, I am so excited that I just can’t seat still. To know that my God can use something as small as a shoe box to answer a child’s prayer across the world blows my mind. Furthermore, I feel humble that God would even consider using me as a part of His divine plan!
My God is bigger than a box, so let your imagination go wild when packing a shoe box. You can include school supplies, toys, candy, and toiletries. Now, you can’t pack war related toys, chocolate candy or liquid toiletries like shampoo. Even though the program is called Operation Christmas Child, most children receive their shoe boxes after Christmas. As I child, I received my shoe box in the spring. It takes a long time for boxes to travel, thus if you include liquid items and the bottle breaks, the content of the box will be ruined. The same goes for chocolate that can melt when the box travels through hot countries of Africa. As far as war related toys like soldiers, just be mindful that some children see real life soldiers every day and probably do not want to be reminded of their circumstances by seeing war related toys in the box.
Finally make sure to include a letter in your shoe box. In my classroom only one or two people received a letter from the family who packed a shoe box. Everyone was so jealous because we all wanted to write back and thank the family for the gift. And what an amazing opportunity this presents to minister to a child in a foreign country, who may never otherwise hear the name of Jesus.
Before you close the shoe box, spend some time in prayer. Pray for the child who will receive the shoe box and ask the Lord to touch this child in a special way. Once again, God can move the mountain with a simple shoe box.
If you have any suggestions as to what items to include in the shoe box, please share with us!
Acts 20:35, “It is much more a blessing to give than to receive”
Matt 25:40, "... whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."
My favorite part about traveling and sharing my testimony about the shoe box is that I have the privilege of meeting incredible people. Often I hear new testimonies from the people I meet about the power of a shoe box. The blessing of knowing how powerful and mighty my God has always left me standing in awe of Him. Story shared by OCC volunteer
As OCC volunteers prayed before distributing shoe boxes to small children in a foreign country, they noticed a young girl quietly sitting in a corner. They watched her as she silently prayed. Not knowing of her prayer request, volunteers began to hand out the shoe boxes to children. They handed a shoe box (for her age group) to the young girl and watched her facial expression change as she opened the colorful box. The volunteers learned that the girl has a younger sister and she has been praying for a dress that would fit her sister’s small frame. Do you know what she received in her shoe box? Yep, a dress that was just her sister’s size. God is still in prayer answering business and can move the mountains through a simple shoe box. Story shared by OCC volunteer
The day the shoe boxes were distributed to small children, the laughter and joy of receiving a gift has filled the room. One by one each child received a box until the volunteers noticed that they had one more child in need of a box and no more shoe boxes to give. Wondering what to do next, volunteers began to brainstorm some ideas. But to their surprise God has already worked everything out ahead of time. One of the children, who received a shoe box, came to the child who was standing without the gift and offered to share the content of his box. The amazing thing about the child’s shoe box is that it had two of everything. You never know how God can use a simple shoe box to bless a child.
Acts 20:35, “It is much more a blessing to give than to receive”
Matt 25:40, "... whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."
My Speaking Engagements for 2010 August 22nd
Buffalo Baptist Church - 11:00 am
1424 Main St
Buffalo, SC 29321
August 29th
Spartanburg, SC
(details to come)
September 19th
East Pickens Baptist Church – 9:15 am and 10:45 am
2244 Gentry Memorial Hwy
Pickens, SC
October 2 and 3rd
Oct. 2 - Central Georgia volunteers (location TBD) at 7 pm
Oct. 3 - Mt. Calvary Baptist Church Abney Rd, Cochran, GA 11 am service
Oct 3 - Second Baptist Church Moody Rd, Warher Robins, GA 6 pm service
October 17th
Mount Holly First Baptist Church
300 South Main St
Mt. Holly, NC
Come on over to any of these locations as I share my story of receiving a shoe box. I would love to meet you!
Last week I shared with you my personal story of receiving a shoe box. Today I would like to share a story that I came across in the Operation Christmas Child magazine about a year ago.
"While distributing Operation Christmas Child shoe box gifts in a village in Ghana, a member of out National Leadership Team noticed the thickly calloused feet of a young boy. "Please, God, let this boy receive a pair of shoes in his box!" the woman prayed. The boy had never owned a pair of shoes and walked barefoot on a six-mile round trip to school and back to his home each day. When the child opened his box, he found, not just one pair of shoes, but two pair. And both sets of shoes were just his size! The volunteer rejoiced when she saw that God had placed the perfect gift into the hands - and onto the feet - of this needy child." (article from OCC magazine)
"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights..." James 1:17
(sharing my testimony with volunteers at Charlotte, NC processing center)
I was born in a small country of Belarus, located near Russia. In 1986, when I was two years old, Chernobyl happened. The nuclear explosion contaminated with radiation the land and the lives of many people. From the words of my grandmother (I was too young to remember anything), my parent were out of town the day the accident happened. It was a sunny day with a demonstration being held down town of my city of Mogilev. While adults were participating in a parade, us, children, were playing outside at a kindergarten. Because my grandmother was a doctor, she was one of the first people to be notified of the nuclear explosion. She rushed to get me from the kindergarten and informed the teacher to keep children inside. For the next several days I stayed home under my grandmother’s watch. One of the major side effects of the radiation is thyroid cancer. I am blessed and as far as I know my health was not affected by this tragedy. To keep things on a brighter side, I joke that I glow from time to time, but it is because I love the Lord. In fact because of the accident, God has opened many doors in my life and I have been blessed beyond my wildest imagination.
When I was 6 years old, my mama took me to a church, whose doors just opened. For the next 10 years the church played an important part in my life. It was during these years that I prayed and prayed for my family. Growing up my daddy drank, which often resulted in my parents arguing. It also lead me to spend a lot of time on my knees praying, crying and begging God to restore my family. Let me pause for a second and let you know that I have the world’s greatest dad, who has a heart of gold. And my mom, well she is just the greatest mama I could have asked for. Needless to say, God has blessed me very much with my family, it just my daddy had the chains of alcohol wrapped around him. What made this matter most difficult is that neither my mom nor my dad knew the Lord then nor know Him today. I would covet your prayers if you can lift them up in your prayer today.
Prayer is a powerful tool, yet often as a child I felt that God was silent to my prayer and wondered if He was even listening to my cries. Today I know that He cares so much that He even bottles my tears. In Psalm 56:8 it says, “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each on in your book.” Isn’t it amazing to know that God cares about us that much?! I sure do find comfort in this verse.
As time passed, the Lord reminded of His comfort, when one day my classmates and I were instructed to go to our classroom. The bright and beautifully wrapped shoe boxes, sponsored by the Samaritan's Purse, were all piled in the corner of the classroom. The joy of receiving a gift from overseas made us all very happy. We could not wait to pick out our own box and see what goodies we received. For the next day, week and what felt like a month we all asked each other, “What did you get? And what did you get?” More than any toy or school supply, every single child wanted to receive a letter in his or her shoe box. Unfortunately only 1 or 2 children in my class received a letter and we were all so jealous that we could not write and thank the family for the gift.
I am sure you are all wondering what I have received in my shoe box! Drum roll please….
Well. I hate to disappoint you, but I can not remember. My mom remembers toys, colorful pens and pencils, but all the content of my box have been completely wiped out from my memory. I joke that if I knew that God was going to use me ten years later to share my testimony, I would have written it down. But I did not know and did not write it down. As I wondered why didn’t God allow me to retain in my memory all the goodies that I received, and one day He revealed to me as I was sharing my testimony with a congregation in small town in Arkansas. When it was time to tell the congregation about me not remembering the content of thebox, I froze. And right then, right there, the Lord has revealed it to me the truth. The reason that I do not remember all the items is because they were not that important.
(processing my own shoe box at the processing center)
Now let me explain to you why the toys, candy and school supplies were not important before you quit reading. Candy won’t fill up a tummy of a hungry child in Africa for years; toys may comfort a broken heart of a child in Russia for only days. Pens will be lost and broken. BUT the message of Jesus Christ that the shoe box carries, gives the eternal hope that is found in my Savior to a child! God is so much bigger than any shoe box and He uses a simple shoe box to answer some children’s prayers and to remind others that He loves them so much. As I look back in my life and wonder what the shoe box meant to me, the Lord brings me to Joshua 1:5, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” The days that I prayed as a child and wondered if God was listening, He gently reminded me through a stranger’s kindness that He was there when I wept and He was there when I rejoiced. He did not leave my side. This makes me want to SHOUT and praise His name!!! I don’t know the family who packed my shoe box, but I sure am thankful for their obedience of gving me the gift.
A year after I received a shoe box, God opened the door for me to come to the US to attend high school. A loving family in South Carolina opened their hearts and their home for me to finish high school. During the youth trip in high school, I came to have a personal relationship with the Lord. After my high school graduation, I went on to majoring in international business at the University of South Carolina thinking that I will be a CEO one day living in a New York City. Today I am happy to report that I am not a CEO and I do not live in a New York City. In fact, the Lord has molded me during my college years and shortly after my graduation I went on a mission trip to Kenya for one month. Two weeks after the mission trip I married a man of dreams, whom I am happily married now for three years.
(receiving a hug from Franklin Graham)
In a fall the Lord blesses me beyond my imagination by keeping me busy as I travel to different churches and share my testimony. I always meet the most wonderful people and always blessed by their desire to serve the Lord through the Operation Christmas Child. If you ever participated or will participate in this project, Thank You for blessing me and all the children around the world through a simple gift of a shoe box.
But before I let you go, we need your help!!! Would you share this story with someone today? If you have a blog, will you link up and share with your readers? If you have a tweeter, will you tweet? If you have a Sunday school class, will you share it? If you have a friend, will you e-mail it? The goal is to involve as many people as possible in this wonderful project, so many more children around the world can experience the blessing of a simple shoe box. At the end God will get all the glory, honor and praise!
If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail me at tightwadintraining@gmail.com .
Every time I read Proverbs 31 about a virtuous woman, I feel exhausted. At time I wonder if the woman ever had time to sleep. To me sleep is important, because when I lack sleep and feel exhausted… well I am not the world’s most pleasant person to be around (at least I am honest, right?!). However, I admire the virtues that the Proverbs 31 woman demonstrates and I do strive to be a godly woman daily.
Verses 13 and 20 touch me the most, when I try to mimic the virtues. In verse 13 she is “willingly (accepted by choice) works with her hands”. The key word is willingly with out complaining, force or pride. I do not believe that works with her hands means that she loads her dishes in the dishwasher or turns the dial up for the laundry to dry for 80 minutes. Somehow I picture roughness of her hands that show the signs of hard labor. She is not afraid to get her hands dirty and thus is blessed by the fruits of her labor.
Her labor is not in vain when she reaches out with her hands to the needy in verse 20. The servant heart is what touches me. Oh how I want to have a servant heart… to be the hands and feet of my Savior! But would I jump for joy when God asks me to “wash the feet of a homeless person?” I would love to say yes, but until I am faced with the task I would rather leave this question unanswered. In John 13:12 when Jesus washed the feet of the disciples, He showed us that to serve others may require us to get our hands dirty.
By serving what if the Lord appointed you to eat lunch with a homeless woman every week? Would you let the whole world know about your act of kindness, or would you keep it to yourself? Would you serve to receive recognition or would you serve humbly so that God would get all the glory? The choice is yours and it is my prayer that through your act of “washing someone’s feet”, the Lord of the universe would get the glory, honor and praise.
"You know, Lord, how I serve you with great emotional ferver in the limelight. You know how eagerly I speak for you at a Women's Club. You know my genuine enthusiasm at a Bible study. But how would I react, I wonder, if you pointed to a basin of water and asked me to wash the calloused feet of a bent and wrinkled old woman day after day, month after month, in a room where nobody saw and nobody knew?" ~Ruth Harms Calkin
The first year of our marriage was definitely a learning experience for both of us. I was so thrilled to cook, clean and simply to be a wife that saying “I DO” was nothing less but joyous. However, when the reality sat in, cooking, cleaning and being a wife 24/7 was at times overwhelming. There were days that I prayed asking the Lord to change Daniel. “The least he could do, God, is to take the stinking cup of coffee that he only drank half way, to the sink.” I could only imagine what Daniel must have prayed….umm…probably for me to stop whining.
Little by little my prayers have changed. Instead of praying that God would change Daniel’s ways, I began to ask God to change my ways. The desire of my heart was to be the best godly wife that the Lord designed for me to be, however my flesh often rebelled against the desire. The area in which I struggled the most was submission.
Seriously, have Daniel not heard the song about the independent women that were asked to raise their hand up in the air? Perhaps I should have accidentally placed the CD with the song in Daniel’s car, so that he could grasp the idea of independency and forget the definition of submission. But no matter how hard I tried to covey the message, the Holy Spirit kept on bringing me to Eph 5:22, “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.” Ouch…it hurts, because I was doing the opposite of what the Lord instructed me to do. And when I allowed the desires of my heart and not my flesh to guide me, the Lord began to transform me and my desires.
Transformation was not only intended for women. In my opinion, men have the hardest command in Eph 5:25, “Husbands, love your wives as Christ also loved the church”. Have you ever stopped for a moment and though about Christ’ unconditional love for you? I have, but my mind can not comprehend how He could love a sinner who falls short of His glory day after day, months after months and year after year. You see when I mess up; God doesn’t turn away from me…instead He keeps on loving me, unconditionally day after day, months after months and year after year. My husband is to follow the example. When I get irritable and not pleasant to be around, my husband is to love me. When my big mouth says hurtful things, my husband is to love me. When I do not look my best, my husband is to love me. Watching Daniel stepping in the role of a husband and loving me just the way I am has giving me a tiny glimpse of just how much my Heavenly Father loves me.
Prayer is a powerful tool in a marriage and can transform the hearts and desires of two people!
If I could choose one person to job shadow, it would be Solomon, the guy from the Bible who was super wise. In 1 Kings 2:12 the Lord said, “… I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before, nor shall any like you arise after you.” As I read about Solomon’s life, I was amazed how richly God has blessed him. People from all over the world came to Solomon for wisdom and his name was known among the nations.
Fame and wealth didn’t take away Solomon’s humility and desire to serve the Lord. The smart man used the best of the best materials to build the temple. Not to mention that he didn’t hold back gold and used it to decorate the sacred place, where God promised to dwell. I was so mesmerized by Solomon’s dedication to the Lord, until… well, until he disappointed me.
Disappointment came when I read 1 Kings 11:4, “For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God.”
“Oh, no…not you”, with disappointment I exclaimed. “How could you turn away from God when He appeared before you twice and blessed you beyond your imagination? Turn around, you are headed for destruction!!!”
As I continued to read, I quickly learned that there were consequences to Solomon’s actions, which set off a light bulb above my head. Ding, ding, ding, ding!!! Sometimes as Christians we find ourselves in the same situation as Solomon. God extends grace to us, blesses us richly and sets up the path (perfect path) for us to follow. The only problem is that we sometimes push it all to the side and take a road that is full of signs that scream destruction. Yet, somehow we tune out the loud noise just to find ourselves in the mess. The road that once seemed pleasing to the eye is not longer attractive, because it is filled with consequences that we have to face.
I was heading in the wrong directions, when coupons became my god. As silly as it sounds, I was worshiping a piece of paper that saved me $0.50 instead of worshiping One True God that saved my life. At first couponing world was fun and quite honest addicting. I couldn’t wait to get off work so I could make my pit stop at the grocery store or run to a drug store at lunch time to buy another tube of toothpaste to add to my already overflowing collection of Colgate, Aquafresh and Crest.
Shamefully I must admit that I have woken up before at 5 am just so that I can drive to a grocery store 40 minutes away before work for a triple coupon event. However, my spiritual life became stagnant, not to mention that my prayer life became nonexistent. Every single moment was occupied with thoughts of saving money, while doing my best utilizing my knowledge about couponing. I didn’t think much of my obsession and was good at justifying it. After all, I was saving our family money so we can get out of debt. Isn’t what God would want me to do in the first place? Not at the expense of ignoring Him. The Word clearly states in Ex 20:3, "You shall have no other gods before me.”
Thankfully after much conviction I turned away from worshiping coupons to worshiping my One True God before facing the consequences of my actions. Today I have a healthy relationship with the pieces of paper that allow our family to be good stewards of God’s riches. I no longer get up at 5 am in order to snag a bottle of French’s mustard (which I don’t even like), instead I strive to spend time daily in soaking up God’s Word that is full of wisdom, love and grace. Just like Solomon for a while I chose to serve other gods, but oh how grateful am I for the Holy Spirit’s conviction that lead me back to the right path.
Welcome to Tightwad In Training!
My goal is to focus on saving money by sharing with people tips and ideas all while learning to be a good steward with what the Lord has blessed me with.
Thanks for stopping by!
