Lazy Sunday afternoons

I am sittin' here trying to remember the last time I was home for a lazy Sunday afternoon.....I think it was in 2006! Anyway I made soup, salad, and baked potatoes for dinner. I am barefoot and just came in from putting some water in my geraniums. I was sitting by the front window and noticed a very droopy plant. I read 5 whole chapters in a book! About the only thing missing is Hymns By Request playing on the radio! Sorry that was one of those nostalgic moments. When I was a kid we listened a radio program on WFUR called "Hymns By Request." People sent in letters to request songs for birthdays, anniversaries, in memory of loved ones or just because they liked the hymn. We always had to take a nap on Sunday afternoons and it was the perfect way to relax if you weren't sleepy. I think hymns and singing in English are one of the things I miss most living in a foreign country. Please sing loud and with gusto the next time you are in church singing hymns!

How did I get on that subject? The next two weeks are going to be bussssssy! So maybe that's why God gave me a quiet Sunday afternoon. What do you do on Sunday afternoon?

We've got a two year old!

Relax Mom,

We just celebrated the two year anniversary of the church in Trojes!

It was/is so sweet to see 74 people singing and giving testimony of the goodness and faithfulness of God! We all marvelled at how God took a small kid's club and is turning it into a church family. Several people shared the changes God has made in their personal lives. We cried for those who went home to heaven in this past year and smiled as we listened to the gurgles of the new babies God has blessed us with. Then like all good Baptists we ate! Oh did we enjoy the wonderful foods the ladies whipped up. After dinner we played some games and just enjoyed each others company. In our evening service we are going through a discipleship/doctrine course. On Sunday it went from 6PM till 8:30PM! The questions and explaining were so deep yet no one wanted to leave!

I have often mentioned that the three room apartment that we meet in is bursting at the seams on Sunday. We continue to look for property to buy. Everytime we think it is going to happen...it doesn't. To be honest we have been discouraged. However a few weeks ago the lady who lives next to the church (and lends us an empty lot for big events) offered us the opportunity to put in a cement slab and a roof over it! She is going to completely enclose the property with a brick wall. We will have lots of room until God sees fit to give us our own place! Our growing "two year old" will have lots of room to test her wings and fly! We look forward to all that God will do in this coming year!

Let's talk more about hands and hearts...

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. John 10:27-28

I am truly amazed at medicine and technology today yet it's just like our heavenly Father to give me the privilege to say that Mom came through surgery with flying colors and believe it or not is already at home! In less than 24 hours she had surgery on her heart, rested for a night, and then headed for home! God is good all the time but sometimes we see His goodness a little more clearly! Take some time today to truly meditate on the verses above. Do you live life like you are in the palm of His hand? Do feel His gentle caress as you walk through trials and hardship? He is there all the time. He will lift you up eventually. Think of a time someone gave you a hand or simply held your hand. He does so much more He scoops you up in the powerful hand that formed the universe and holds you with the gentleness of a mother with her newborn.

There is one detail though. You have to believe His son died for your sins and rose from the dead to give you the eternal life mentioned in verse 28! If you do believe this, I pray you truly rest each moment in the palm of His hand. If you do not or until now have not believed in this miracle and gift of God, I pray you do not let this day end without asking Him to allow to see His hand reaching out to scoop you up and you scramble in like there will never be another chance!

I started this entry amazed by medicine and technology and end it acknowledging the hand that created it and allows it to heal our physical hearts. Make sure He also gets the opportunity to heal your spiritual heart.

Would you go to the throne...

Friday sometime around noon, my mom is having surgery again to repair or replace her pacemaker. She called today and said something was not working correctly. So she and I would truly appreciate your bringing her name before the throne of the Greatest Healer of all Time/Eternity. We have a very big and sovereign Lord and our confidence is in Him but...boy does it give extra peace to know others are praying for her! I will not complain if you pray for a little extra peace for me too. It is has been a crazy couple of monthes and I really was not ready for another call like this. Thanks!

No words to express...

Can I just ask you to pray for:

Irma-tumor in her nose

Guadalupe - congestive heart problems

Lucia-breast cancer

Lupita- lung problems

Abril-marital problems

Miriam- marital problems

Soccorro- marital problems

Elisabeth- unsaved husband and rebellious son

Evelia- marital problems and abuse

Bethany- grandfather fell and injured a vertabrae

Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. James 5:13-18