Personality....

We were looking at our pictures this month and laughing at the many interesting personality traits that Aria is showing lately....

Smiles

Funny faces

Posing

Skipping town without us

Driving like a maniac

Dressing to impress

and crashing hard at the end of the day...her preferred way to fall asleep lately....

Wonder where she gets it...

Catching up

A few quick clips about what has been happening, since I have not posted anything in so long...

Two weeks ago we spent most of the week working on personality types, trying to get to know each other, and how we interact together so that we are able to function well on outreach.

Last week we did what was called Plumb Line Week. That is where we look at how we interact based on past experiences. The end result was to pray against all of the experiences and thoughts that we have that keep us from performing in the way that God designed us. We ended the week by putting our shortcomings out in the open so that we could all pray about them.

This week is all about the principles of outreach. So we are trying to bring together ideas and habits that will make outreach the most successful.

This is our week just past the halfway point here in Colorado Springs. With all of the issues of being sick that we had at the beginning we are just having the chance to really get out. This weekend we get to head to the Zoo and Helen Hunt Falls as a group. We also plan as a family to visit a park that we found last weekend and do some climbing. Anya came up with the idea after seeing some climbers in Garden of the Gods last weekend.

Each week is also bringing more information about our trip to Thailand, and we are growing in excitement for heading out in late June. There is so much to learn, most importantly being able to trust God and pray as we go that we will have the greatest impact possible as we head out.

Please keep praying for us to be directed by God in our steps and to not be held back by any doubt or concern that we have. Things have gone so great so far, we are really anxious to see what else is to come!

Forgiveness~ by Charli

It's been more than thirty years since I've seen him. The last time I shared space with him, my mother had arranged for us to meet at Washington Park, in Over the Rhine. Go OTR!!! Perhaps my mother knew this would be the last time we would see each other before my brother and I were put into foster care. I certainly didn't, but two things I did know for sure at the age of six: I did not like my father and he was a bad man. He tried offering me candy at the park, but I wanted nothing he had to give. I don't think I even looked him in the eyes because I have no memory or picture of his face. I just know he was there.

I have to tell you that God truly protected my little heart from becoming angry or bitter towards this man. But when I came to an age of accountability, I had a choice to make, a seed to sow. And I chose to forgive Micheal for being a perpetrator instead of a loving father.

Now, it's been years since I made that choice and I've often wondered, "Have I really forgiven him?" I made the choice to forgive yes, but the benefits were for me. I refused to carry around hurt and bitterness and I refused to still give him power in my life. But had I truly forgiven Micheal? Something was missing and I couldn't figure out why my forgiveness was not complete...until last week. . Wanna know what God said to me? God said to pray for his deepest needs. Wow! I never thought of that. His deepest needs uh?...not God bless Micheal, please keep him safe, and give him a cookie. Amen. But his deepest needs.

Was I willing to love Micheal as I did myself? Could I extend forgiveness not for my sake, but for my brother's sake, that he might receive the same liberty and freedom that Jesus has so lovingly given to me. Only by the grace that God gave me, could I do so.

Can I tell you my friend just a few of the feelings I experienced after this time of prayer? I felt forgiving, loving, gentle, compassionate, warm-hearted, peaceful, and joyful. Praying on behalf of Micheal, literally set me free from years of bondage!!! And God used this prayer as a healing balm to say to me, it is finished.

I'm learning that forgiveness is treating the other person as though they have never done anything wrong. I am learning that I have no "rights" to self preserve, love conditionally, or judge others. As a side note, the school we are in is called a DTS, which stands for Discipleship Training School. Around here we laugh (to keep from crying) and say our school is DTS...Death to Self. Hooray...more of You Lord and none of me.

Maybe like me, you wonder if you have truly and wholly forgiven someone who has wronged you, a family member, someone at church, a spouse or friend. If you could give me a few more minutes, I'd like to share with you some thoughts from a book called, The Bait of Satan by John Bevere. I found these words helpful in my forgiving process in terms of dying to myself and giving up my "rights" to be and stay offended, which by the way is a HUGE trap that Satan uses to keep us divided...especially as the body.

And Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay his life down for a friend." (John 15:13) We can not lay our lives down for someone we do not trust. We can not lay down our lives for God unless we know and trust Him. We must know and trust the nature and character of God. We must have the assurance that He would never do anything to harm us...

God is love; there is no selfishness or evil in Him...

When you know that God would never do anything to harm or destroy you, and whatever He does or does not do in your life is in your best interest, then you will freely give yourself to Him. You will gladly lay down your life for the Master. If you have given yourself totally to Jesus and are committed to His care, you cannot be offended because you are not your own. Those who are hurt and disappointed are those who have come to Jesus for what He can do for them, not because of who He is."

Ouch...Ouch...Ouch...Did you feel that too? If you did, pray it out to the Lord.

"Christians are living stones whose houses are on the rock of Jesus Christ. When storms come, they do not run, take offense, or blame others. Rather in the storms of life, they stand firm...This does not come by strong will or personality (thank you Lord). It is a gift of grace to all who place their confidence in God, throwing away the confidence of self. But to give yourself in total abandonment you must know the One who holds your life."

You've heard, "love covers a multitude of sin", well I am learning that trust in the character of God covers a multitude of offenses! I hope that God has stirred your heart as He is doing mine.

And I pray that you would know to the fullest the One who holds your life, and know to the fullest the price Jesus paid (for you and those who have offended you) to live in freedom. Offenders and offendee's, we are all at the mercy of the cross.

Thank God that mercy triumphs over judgement! (James 2:13)

Treasure hunt

We went on a treasure hunt today! For those who are not familiar with a treasure hunt, you simply pray for God to reveal things about a person that he wants you to pray for, and they become your treasure to seek out using what was revealed during prayer. So our class split into four groups and prayed, then went out in search of treasure.

Our group came up with many clues: red t-shirt, red hat, black shoes, named Jim, a picture of a particular park, a picture of a military tank, a back problem, a beard, Starbucks, and the feeling that someone would approach us. So we set out for the park that we saw a vision of. At the park we saw few people but felt we should pray for the park and the daycare next to the park. Seeing noone by the description at the park, we felt we should walk up the street. As we walked, one of our group members saw a man leaving the library who was an exact match to all of the physical characteristics that we felt. Three of the guys in the group stopped and talked to him, and found out his name was Jim!!! He had a back injury and other injuries from a military accident, and his family is homeless. Since he was in a hurry, we took the name of his family members and agreed to pray for him. I can only believe Jim was as much in awe as us when we knew his name before he said it, as well as about his injury to his back.

That was followed up by the ladies in the group walking down another street and finding a Starbucks, where they first prayed for a man that they met. After that, as the were leaving, they were approached by 2 young ladies who were doing a survey for a Philosophy class, on what people thought was "the meaning of life". They all got into a conversation and prayed for the girls who were doing the survey, as well as sharing what we felt the meaning of life was.

How awesome to have such strong confirmation that God hears your voice and also speaks to us when we approach him with a pure heart just wanting to do his work.

Thinking differently

Preparing for the outreach at the end of DTS will definitely require a change to how we think, but that is the goal of a YWAM DTS right? Our speaker this week is filled with 39 years of stories about how he has lived his life listening for God's voice and following it, not concerning himself with how illogical it sometimes sounds; just doing what he hears, with great success and a lifetime of stories to increase a persons faith. As he puts it, our only vocation in life is to learn to hear from God, so that we can find God's will for our lives. If we figure that out everything else will fall in line. That is what he is teaching us to do now.

So as I think back about our last minute meeting to choose the location of our outreach, 20 minutes to pray and decide where we are going once we knew the choices, and little information that we have about next steps, leadership is not concerned about this and neither should we be. The leadership at YWAM makes no move unless they feel that they hear God, and when they are listening hear, everything works out as it is intended. So our job is to stop thinking and start listening...just like the goal we had set a couple off weeks ago (seems to me that God gave us a couple of weeks practice).

Time for us to wrap up our night; to stop fretting, thinking, planning, processing....and start listening. Keep praying for us, this gets more interesting by the day!

Exciting start to the week, we are going to Thailand!

We started this week with the announcement of where we will be going for outreach this summer. The group will be split four ways, and we are on the team heading to Thailand. For now that is all that we know, and we are excited that we will most likely have a part in deciding where we go and what we do when we get there. It is exciting for us to get Thailand since we have had so many times in the past that Thailand has had an influence on our decision to come here and do this DTS. So more will come on that but it is well so far.

A dilemma of conscience is also on our mind. On Thursday evening Charli and I had talked about an accident she was in before we left Cincinnati, and felt compelled to just tell the person who hit her that we would not ask them to repair the car. The damage was mostly paint chipped on the bumper, I fixed the only broken parts for $5 and about an hour of my time. So we decided to pray about it and call the person this past weekend. Then on the way home from Church Sunday, I was driving alone (since Charli and the girls stayed behind with Anya feeling a little sick), and was rear ended. So it is pretty clear the first guy is off the hook because the second guy did more damage to the bumper that exceeds the first damage, but again the bumper is not too bad, just cosmetic. The dilemma comes in that the second guy decided to just leave the scene without any exchange of information, and only because I got his license plate is he now found. So, do I offer the same grace to the second guy as the first? Bumper is still just chipped of paint, but the fact that he left the scene makes me want him to pay for the repair. Anyway, guess it is more to pray on...

Anya started a dance class today, and is doing great making friends. Aria is getting adjusted too, so not so much of a fuss on her long days in her class. Charli and I had a really tough time just after the outreach locations were picked, but whatever was causing that seems ot have lifted...so keep praying for us folks!

Quick fact from last weeks speaker Peter Warren: The word Judge in the bible is used as a translation from 4 different Greek words, that have a variety of meanings, So next time you are reading the bible, think about looking at the Greek version also to make sure you are really understanding what is being said in the translation. Good thing we have Google translator and bible applications.

Finally, our speaker of the week is Paul Hawkins. Here is something he taught today in Learning to Recognize God's Voice:

"Do not make a decision by your own understanding and then pray that God will bless your decision. Start by praying to God with a willing heart and see what he says to you."

Love you all!