Me And "My Boys"

Traveling with His Little Feet for the last two or so months has been quite an adventure :D
We travel around the US, going to different churches, raising orphan awareness, and by God's grace, making an impact for the Kingdom on lives both here in the US and around the globe.
Each church that we are hosted by provides us with "host families", these are families in the church that have opened up their homes to us for the time that we will be in their area (usual two or three nights). Usually it's two children and one staff member per host home. The two wonderful children that I had the privilege of staying with in the host homes this last leg of the tour were Eyob and Yohannes. Two brothers from Ethiopia.
These two have provided me with many good laughs, fun stories, hugs, and sweet memories.
Here is a small peek into our time together:

Yohannes and Eyob's first time seeing snow.

"Sharing the love"



Eyob learning about the US in a fun way :-)
Eyob intently working on...something.

Yohannes at the park.

Aw! Isn't he adorable?

Yohannes and Detcho playing a game at one of the host homes.

Eyob and Nahagi. (Nahagi and Detcho are also in the choir and are brothers as well)

To read a sweet story about me and my boys click here

Only The Beginning...

I think it was a cool morning in the Fall 2010. If I recall correctly, it was one of those mornings in Colorado when the air was colder than the water, which caused a sort of foggy mist to hang over the lake at Ellerslie, by which I was walking.

On this particular morning, out by the lake, I was talking to Jesus.
You see, in my heart a longing was stirring, or rather was continuing to stir, as it had been there a while, a longing that I didn't see being filled any time to soon.

There had been times in the past when this longing would begin to bubble up, but I was usually pretty successful in pushing it down and putting it in Jesus hands. However there were times when that was easier than others.

This was one of those times when the longing was bubbling up more forcefully than usual and needed some attending to. Hence this time out by the lake.

Shortly before the end of my basic semester at Ellerslie I had applied for an internship with His Little Feet. It seemed like such a good fit for me. I could see so many ways that it seemed the Lord had been preparing me for this position. A longing began to form in my heart.

After waiting, putting it in the Lords hands, and crying out for His joy, whether I got the position or not, on August 10th 2010 I found out that I didn't get it.

The Lord was faithful (as He always is! Deu 7:9, Isa 49:7, 1Tim 5:24, 2Tim 3:3, Rev 19:11) and He filled me with joy, even though I didn't get the position.

So after a little brake I went back to Ellerslie and started my, "Advanced Leadership Training". Oh what a blessing that time was! I grew so much in those weeks and months and learned many things that would have been harder (I think) to learn on the road with HLF.

God grew and stretched me through that time at Ellerslie and I truly enjoyed it, but every once in a while that familiar longing would bubble up in my heart. It was usually easier to quell when the HLF team was out on the road and not around (I lived in the same building with them and when they were around I saw and heard allot of them:D It was great! And hard.) However, they would occasionally come back to the Ellerslie campus for short brakes in between their tour travels. As was the case during the time of the above mentioned Fall morning.

So there I was, out by the lake, talking to Jesus about it.

What I said went something like this "Jesus, You know how much I want this. But, if it's going to take me away from You, I don't want to touch it!"

And I meant it. I did long to be a part of this ministry that is impacting children from different parts of the world, as well as churches and families right here in the US, but if being a part of this ministry was going to take me anywhere, but closer to Jesus, I didn't want any part of it.

I think sometimes when I just talk things out- bring them into the light instead of just shoving them down- I see things more clearly, and that's what seemed to be the case on this day.

That is a memorable day to me. It was a day when I sat my desire before the Lord and found that even though it was intense, it fell short to my desire and longing for more of Him. I found that no matter what the enemy had to say about it, Jesus truly was first in my heart and my desire in wanting to work with HLF was a desire for Him and not just me. It was a desire that He was growing (even though I may not have fully grasped that at the time).

It was months later (I had already graduated from Ellerslie and had spent the Summer at home) on August 25th 2011 that I got a phone call from Mike Hahn, President and Co-founder of His Little Feet.
What he said changed my life for the next 9-10 months... and forever.

It was something like this, "Kourtney, we would like to invite you to be a part of the His Little Feet team"...

After months of waiting, praying, trusting, my God had proven faithful once again! He had tilled the ground, prepared the soil and planted a desire in my heart like a little seed. Then He had poured water on it and out of the rich dark soil I had seen a little shoot. I had longed to enjoy it right away, but my Daddy told me to wait, be patient. During that time of waiting He continued to till, water, weed and prune and when the time was just right He allowed me to see the first small bloom. I am now getting to enjoy sharing the fragrance of that small blossom with Him, and I am so thankful that He made me wait! But, even as beautiful as this small blossom is, I know that this is only one step in the amazing adventure that this life with Jesus is. He has more in store and I have a feeling this is only the beginning...

Here I Am...Send ME!

Christianity...

...is not simply the world seeing good in the people of God,
but rather the world seeing the good of the God of the people!

Hidden Treasures

Why are things that are so precious
hid in things of little worth?
Perhaps to show the life which Christ
would live here on the earth

Why is a diamond hid in a stone,
that is known as rough?
Wouldn't clay be far more soft
and not near so tough?

Christ ways are not our ways,
we choose the easy way out,
But He knows what He's after
and His treasures are far more stout

Than anything I've seen
formed in mud or pliable clay
Perhaps that's why He makes them thus
and hides them safely away

He forms these precious things in secret
Not on display like we
He even now is forming
a precious gem in me

He works in quiet places
Unseen by most every eye
Only those who truly seek
Will find where His treasures lie

So seek His treasures in hidden places
Though rough the digging may be
Look to Him and find true beauty
Where you didn't expect it to be!

The Terror of Love

Can love be terrible, my Lord?
Can gentleness be stern?
Ah yes!-intense is Love's desire
To purify His loved-'tis fire,
A holy fire to burn.
For He must fully perfect thee
Till in they likeness all may see
The beauty of thy Lord.

Can holy love be jealous, Lord?
Yes, jealous as the grave;
Till every hurtful idol be
Uptorn and wrested out of thee
Love will be stern to save;
Will spare thee not a single pain
Till thou be freed and pure again
And perfect as thy Lord.

Can love seem cruel, O my Lord?
Yes, like a sword the cure;
He will not spare thee, sin-sick soul,
Till He hath made thy sickness whole,
Until thine heart is pure.
For oh! He loves thee far too well
To leave thee in thy self-made hell,
A Savior is thy Lord!

From Mountains of Spices (chapter 10) by Hannah Hurnard

Carrying God's Burdens

I looked out of the window this morning and saw the sun streaming through the fluffy gray/white clouds which had been tented yellows and golds and pinks by said sun rays. As I was gazing upon this beauty a thought entered my mind, “you look out on a free land”.
How many thousands, even millions are there who don't have the freedom we have? How many countless myriads of Christians die for their faith, for simply loving Jesus, because Christianity is forbidden in their country?
How many people have lost their lives because they prayed to the One True God?
People of God what are we doing?!
We have freedom. We have comfort. We have plenty!
Are we just going to enjoy that freedom while our fellow brothers and sisters suffer? While there are still countless numbers who don't know Christ? While the Satan is still being glorified?

O God! Forgive us for our laxness! Forgive us for our selfish, self-centered, self-seeking...well I can't even really call that Christianity for “Christianity” is “like Christ” and I can say for myself that I have not been exemplifying Him in this way!
Oh God would You break our hearts for what breaks Yours and fill us with the hope that fills You!
I don't even know why God would want to give us His heart seeing how we have neglected and even trampled it in the past.
Lord, teach us to rightly handle Your heart. To carry Your burdens without dropping them when they get tedious of cumbersome.
Lord, please teach us perseverance and fill us with Your Spirit that we might be all that You would have us to be.
We MUST have YOU Jesus!
"The secret to imitation is impartation." ~Eric Ludy
We must have Jesus! We have NOTHING of worth without Him. All our righteousness is as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).
Lord Jesus, we need You! I need You!
Fill us with Yourself today. Lord, may each one who reads this find more of You today.
Thank You Jesus that You are faithful even when we are not! (Rev 19:11)


Please take a few minutes and scroll down to the bottom of this page and watch the short film "Depraved Indifference"

PRAISE JESUS!

With about 14 out of the last 18 days over 100 degrees and the other 4 days in the high 90's this mornings going out to mid 60's-ish was beautiful!


What's even better is I don't know that it has even sprinkled (maybe it has a tiny bit, I'm not sure) since the post I wrote on June 29th titled "He Opened the Floodgates". Well today He did it again!
I love Jesus!

God is a good God, YES HE IS!!

My brothers and sister and I thanked Jesus as the rain came pouring down. It is lovely to see puddles of water after so many days of dry hot weather!

Thank You Jesus!
We humbled ourselves and prayed and You are healing our land!

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." 2Chr 7:14

Faith

A dear friend of mine wrote this post on her blog and it blessed me so I thought I'd share. Click the link to read it- www.melodiousecho.blogspot.com/2011/07/just-imagine-if-we-had-faith-as-grain.html

Run With Endurance

More weight?
I asked for more strength and I got more weight?

Isn't it funny how when we want to build muscle we except the weight, but when it comes to spiritual fitness we often question it?
Why do we grit our teeth and lift one more time, take one more step, or pull one last rep in order to be physically fit, but when it comes to spiritual fitness we often don't exert ourselves?

Lord Jesus,
You have given us the grace to overcome, help us to decrease that You might increase. Consume us with You, the Faithful One!

This Sunday...

I will be out of town until next Friday. So if I don't post for a while that's probably why :D
Have a wonderful week and my you be drawn closer to Jesus as you seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness!

"Seek ye first the Kingdom of God
And the wealth of His righteousness
For wherever your treasures lie
There you will find your heart"

Words of Wisdom

"We must not chart our course by the footprints of the many, but rather by the words of this book" (the Bible)
~ From Pilgrims Progress, Christiana, "Greathart" speaking

Please Pray for Jamal

Go here: http://vomcblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/iraqi-house-church-leader-kidnapped.html for more info.

“It's so easy to know what to do,

but doing it, that's the challenge.”

Thank goodness we have the grace of Jesus!

Jesus, The Light!

Oh that I could be a light ablaze and shining bright in the darkness of this world. That I could be the one to show the way to the lost and ding souls. But I cannot. No. Not in and of myself. I have nothing to offer, and yet...I have EVERYTHING to offer! I am no longer just a dying soul wandering around in a dark and weary land. I am no longer stumbling around in the darkness trying to find my way. I am no longer alone, lonely, forsaken, destitute, starving, poor, naked, dying. No. I have found LIFE! Or rather, I was awakened to Life, Who dwells all around me. As I turned to Him He took me in. He showed me-and is showing me still- that I cannot save people. I cannot be the Light. I cannot be life to the dying souls. As I have yielded to Him, Jesus has taken over this being. He has shown me that no matter how well I treat people or make them feel in this life, if they don't have Him as their Savior what does that matter? What does it matter if someone is healthy, comfortable and well cared for for a lifetime here on earth and then they spend eternity in hell? I cannot save their souls, but He can. I cannot give them life, but I can point them to Life. I cannot be all they need, but I can point them to the All-in-all, Might, All-powerful, God of the universe. I cannot be their light, but as I die to self and yield this body fully to Christ Jesus and allow the Holy God of all to take over this being until it is "no longer I who live, but Christ liveth in me", as I decrees that He might increase and allow Him to poke holes in my selfish, self-seeking, self-centred, SELF, He begins to shine through. The only way that I can be a light to this world is by not being "I" at all, but by allowing the Light to shine through the emptied out shell of what used to be "me".

As I was writing this I got the mental picture of a car with an old broken down motor. It wasn't any good and in fact would most likely be quite an annoyance. But then that motor was removed and a bigger, better, shinier motor put in it's place. It was only after the first motor was removed and the new motor put in that the care was of any use. No longer is the car an inconvenience or annoyance. Now it is useful and enjoyable.
This is like us. We are like this car. It is not because of how good we are that we are used. It is because of how good the motor is that is propelling us forward.
Now the enemy will try to come in and say that we're not really anything special (and he's right, in and of ourselves we're not, but it is Christ in us that is WAY more than just special!). He says that we should just go back to our old spot on the lawn and stay there, quite being so prideful and showing off how we can get around. RUBBISH! Getting around is not showing off or being prideful, it's allowing God to showcase Himself in and through these bodies. We are no longer to be sitting around doing nothing! We are to be out there "getting around" to all the other cars parked on the side lawn with broken down motors and telling them that there is hope! All they have to do is repent, believe, yield, and receive.
Now to compare Jesus to a car motor is SUCH a degradation, but we in our human sized brains cannot fathom the vastness of Who He is.

So anyway this was not only for your benefits but I think I was also preaching to myself :D I don't know about you but I am encouraged by all that Christ has done and is doing in and through me. All glory to Jesus!

For the JOY Set Before Him

"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." Heb 12:1-2

Here is a smile, a hug, and a prayer from your sister in Christ who is running the race with you. Let us find our strength, hope and joy in Him Who is seated at the right hand of the Father and in Whom we abide!

"Follow Me"

This is a phrase used eighteen times in the New Testiment. Seventeen of these times it was used by Jesus, and the last is found in Acts 12:8 when the angel is leading Peter from the prison and he tells him to "follow me".

Something I found interesting as I was reading through the times this phrase was used is that each time Jesus used it (and allot of them were just repeets from the diffrent tellings of the Gospel) it had to do with denying self.
We cannot serve self and Jesus.

The first time this is used in the NT is in Matthew 4:19

"And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him." Mat 4:18-20

They straightway left their nets.
These were fishermen. Their nets were a majore part of their life. It was through these nets that they were enabled to supply themselves with fish, their sorce of income, their livelihood. Yet when Jesus walked by and said "follow Me" they straightway left their nets are followed.
Are we-am I- willing to leave the things that we depend on for our livelyhood (Peter andAndrew probably worked hard to get those nets) and the things that are our asurence of a desent life here on earth? Are we willing to cast it all aside and straightway follow Him?

2Corinthians 12:9

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Ah, how sweet these words are to my soul!

Grit Your Teeth

NO! I will not go back to sleep! I will pray, I'm not
listening to what you have to say flesh.
I keep shuffling around the
room.
Hm...if I just sit down on this couch then I could...NO! Don't
fall for it! Keep going! If I sit down I won't be able to pray better because
I'll be asleep.

Sometimes getting up before or shortly after sunrise is tough. But in order to have a good amount of time with Jesus before the kiddos wake up it is necessary.
Though- as I was telling a friend recently- it sometimes feels like I just spend most of the time fighting to stay awake.
In spite of this I have found that this morning time is a vital part of my day.
Without it I may not necessarily have a bad attitude, but I just feel like I'm lacking something. That substance that props up my day.
Jesus is the Bread of Life, if I don't come to Him first thing I find myself getting hungry (John 6:35).

So my encouragement to all who read this is: spend time with Jesus. Even if you have to get up at an "insane hour" of the morning, spend time with Jesus. You'll be so glad you did. Even if you don't notice a difference right away keep pressing in, soon you will notice the difference. You will began to have more joy in your heart, more patience in those trying times and you will notice more of Jesus sweet presence within you throughout the day, at least this is how it is for me. So grit your teeth, tell the flesh to be quite and keep pressing into Jesus!

Thank You Jesus for making Yourself available to Your people at all times! I Love You!

He Opened the Floodgates!

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,...Unto him be glory

Eph 3:20a & 21a

God is SO good!!

So we have been having quite a dry spell lately. We have been praying for rain.
Today when I was on my way back to the house from having my morning time with Jesus, I saw the cracks in the dry, thirsty ground and asked Jesus to fill those cracks with water.
The song "Open the Floodgates of Heaven, Let it Rain" has not only been reverberating in my head and heart, but has also been sung and hummed by other members of the family quite allot lately.
It would be one thing if we did have over a hundred head of cattle on our land (my Daddy's doing lease grassing, leasing our land out to a man to graze his cattle on), then it might not been such a big deal, though the horses probably wouldn't like it so much if the grass dried up.
So Momma and I decided that we were going to start praying for rain. We thought it would be fun if we just prayed for fat cows. We thought it would be quite a testimony if we had no grass and still had fat cows. Then we saw the problems with that. The man who owns the cows would probably move them if we didn't have any grass. Even if they were fat. He might not have the faith to believe they would stay that way without any grass :D So I suggested we pray for 1) Green grass. 2) Fat cows. 3) a jolly owner (who would want to leave his cows with us).
Well, after the pond in the pasture where my Papa's cows are dried up I could see the wisdom of praying for rain. God knew what He was doing when He made rain. It's allot easier just to pray for rain than to pray for green grass, fat cows, a jolly owner, water in the pond, the cracks in the ground to be filled...yeah, it's just wiser:D

So yesterday it looked like it was going to rain. Anticipation was high.
I heard someone say there wasn't supposed to be rain for another ten days or maybe this weekend at the earliest.
Was God going to do it?
That night the rain went around us. It was as if God was saying "Do you trust me?"
I had faith that my God would come through, He's ALWAYS faithful, maybe not always the way we think He should be, but He always is nonetheless.

Tonight I looked out the window at the huge, lumbering, gray cloud coming our way loaded down with water. Was this the answer to our prayers?
A small succession of pale colorful stripes began to peak out of the bluish gray mass. It began to get brighter and longer.
I asked John if he saw the rainbow and he asked "did He answer my prayers? I prayed for a rainbow!"
What had started out as a short pale striped piece of an arch soon grew brighter and stretched into a full ark with a dim ark above it. Not only that, but soon we could see one end resting in our pasture (something I've never seen before)God is so good to us!

It had been raining for a while now and John and I were out on the trampoline jumping and singing praises to our wonderful God. Thanking Jesus for His goodness in sending us rain. We were getting quite wet.
I had read and explained (the best I could) Ephesians 3:20 to John the night before and after I reminded him he quoted it in his own words over and over saying "He is able to do EXCEEDINGLY, ABUNDANTLY, ABOVE ALL we could ask or EVEN thing!!"
After a while I got off the trampoline. I could still hear John singing praises.
The rain began to stop. I walked over to John who had stopped singing and asked "Did you stop praising Him John?" He said "I'm praising Him in my heart." To which I replied something like "It stopped raining". He began to loudly praise Jesus once again and the other kids joined in. The rain began to pour once again.
We praised our Jesus for the wonderful rain. It only rain for about 30 or 40 minutes, but as Daddy, Mom and I were talking afterward, we think this is just the beginning. Sort of like the appetizer before the meal.
So this post is my offering of praise unto the One Who is able to do EXCEEDINGLY, ABUNDANTLY, ABOVE ALL that we ask or think! To HIM be glory! I Love You Jesus!

Quote From "The Spirit is Willing"

...your like "God, I'm willing but I'm weak."
And God's like "And I'm willing to help you."
~Eric Ludy

www.ellerslie.com/BT11.html

My Utmost For His Highest

Here are some things that stood out to me while I was reading today's section.

June 26th
"We...beseech you that ye receive not the grace of God in vain." Cor 6:1
Don't say- I will endure this until I can get away and pray. Pray now; draw on the grace of God in the moment

Draw now, not presently...Let circumstances bring you where they will, keep drawing on the grace of God in ever conceivable condition you may be in. One of the greatest proofs that you are drawing on the grace of God is that you can be humiliated without manifestation the slightest trace of anything by His grace.

I Will Go Lord!

Open Your Eyes

Privileged to Answer His Call

Praise Jesus!

Sing all ye little ones
To the goodness of God!
Praise the Lamb of Righteousness
For shedding His blood!

In the words of Mr. NRJohnson "Oh what a Jesus!"

If your wondering what I am celebrating about, just wait until you hear. It will most likely make you want to celebrate too!

Yet another sheep has entered the fold. Yet another sinner has found forgiveness and cleansing by the wonderful sacrifice of Christ!

Oh the glorious thought that the sacrifice that was made 2,000 years ago on that cross, the blood that was shed is still efficacious for the sinners of this present day.

This glorious event which has all the angels rejoicing in heaven, brings to mind a verse from a song that says:
"My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin not in part, but the whole
is nailed to the cross and I bare it no more
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord O my soul"

Okay let me rein it in a bit.
So here's the story: we have a young man staying with us these days. He's in his early teens.
So this young gentlemen-in-the-making had stated that he wanted to learn about God. Well I guess he came to the right place!
Not many days have elapsed since our young friend came to stay with us and yet God has done a work. God does not always take days and weeks to do the work He has set out to do. As was evidenced tonight when this young G-I-T-M gave his heart to Jesus.
"He's grinning from ear to ear" Said Momma upon entering the room after seeing said gentlemen to bed.

Hmm... if this is the state of a mere human, what must be the rejoicing in heaven?

Corrie Ten Boom

"Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?"

Of Mosquitoes a Cat and Persistence

This morning while I was having some quite time with the Lord, I got two lessons in persistence.

The first
I usually come outside in the early morning to be alone with Jesus and so far I haven't had much of a problem with distractions from the nature around me, usual it does the opposite, pointing my eyes to Christ.
But this morning as I was sitting out up against our gate an element of the nature around me began to invade my quite time.
This particular invasion was just that, it was a pesky nuisance and a distraction. It was persistent and annoying and itchy. If you haven't guessed it yet, it was mosquitoes. The little pests. For some reason they seemed to like my fingers this morning.
I would be sitting there, not bothering them, and they would come souring in and with that nasty little straw-like fixture on the front of there faces they would proceed to steal from the supply of blood with which I have been entrusted. Well, that wasn't about to happen without a fight! And I must say, most of them came out allot worse off than I did.

The Second
On my morning outings with Jesus we have obtained a tag-along. We usually have two, but one is a little more persistent than the other.
Each morning when I go out these two friends will usually fallow me around.
Well the smaller of the two has taken a fancy to getting a good scratching (which I made the mistake of giving her one morning, now she thinks she can have one every morning).
So this morning, I went out a little earlier than usual and nether of my friends were around.
I whistled for D.J. (our Border Collie) but I guess it was a little early for him.
Okay, I'll just be alone than this morning. I wasn't to perturbed by the idea. But then, as I came to my spot up by the gate, seemingly out of no-ware comes my other little friend. How she happened to be right by where I was going to by I don't know.
So in her usual fashion she began to rub “up and down and all the way around”.
In my usual fashion, I tried to ignore her.
I calmly took my seat and she began to persistently rub her nose and head under and around my hands, trying somehow to get them to scratch again. While, she wasn't that successful, so then she did something that wasn't acceptable! She unsheathed her claws and proceed to grab my hands and climb up my legs. She had already been pushed away, but she got a pretty good shove this time. (just encase you hadn't guessed- and I'm not quite sure what to say if you haven't- this friend is our little gray and white kitty, Lace or Lacy- I'm not sure which, she's Kay's cat)
So after that she went backed to nosing around my hands and amazingly they began to scratch. Hay, if it keeps her from clawing, I don't mind scratching her head a bit.

So these to episodes got me to thinking, why would a mosquito be willing to risk life and limb for just a few drops (if that) of blood?
And why would a little cat be willing to face rejection and “persecution” for a little scratch on the head?

The Conclusions I Came To:
For the mosquito: they had to have it. It was the very substance they had to have to sustain their life. Without it they would have died anyway.
For the cat: it was her joy and delight. She was willing to face a little hardship to gain what she held dear.

My Questions:
Are we so hungry for more of Christ that we are willing to risk our very life for more of Him? Is He the substance of our very life?
Is He so dear to us that we are willing to face rejection and persecution and still press forward toward more of Him? Is He our driving passion?

Are we going to let mosquitoes and little kitty-cats outdo us in our persistence toward the One Who gave His life that we might live? Toward Life Himself? Toward our Jesus?

Oh Lord, let me not be such a one!

Listen

Your Grace is Sufficient For Me

Your strength is made prefect when I am weak
And all that I cling to, I lay at your feet.
Your grace is sufficient for me!

May The Few By Shane Barnard

May the few be many, Lord
May they see You as You are
May Your kingdom come...

Glorious and mighty
are Your ways in all the earth
and may Your worth arrayed in glory
render hearts that only worship..You

Isn't His Blood Enough?

Isn't His blood enough
To cause your heart to break
Isn't His blood enough
He died for sinners to be saved
Isn't His blood enough
To get you out of your seat
Isn't His blood enough
To claim your hands and feet
Isn't His blood enough
He's calling you to more
Isn't His blood enough
To get you out that door
Isn't His blood enough
To call you to action
Isn't His blood enough
To quell every enemy faction
Isn't His blood enough
The power in which we stand
Isn't His blood enough
To save a sin soaked land
Isn't His blood enough
He shed it on the cross
Isn't His blood enough
To take us to the lost
Isn't His blood enough
To share it with the least
Isn't His blood enough
To see sinners released
Isn't His blood enough
Our loyalty to purchase
Isn't His blood enough
To deserve our deepest worship
Isn't His blood enough
To claim our deepest devotion
Isn't His blood enough
For us to give Him our will and emotion
Isn't His blood enough
Our very life to purchase
Isn't His blood enough
He died and shed it for us
Isn't His blood enough
To cover all our sin
Isn't His blood enough
To give us life IN HIM!

Remember Them That Are In Bonds

China: Yang Caizhen Released

Yang Caizhen, a Chinese Christian detained for organizing a prayer rally, was released from prison last February. With more than six months left in her sentence, Caizhen was given an early release due to poor health. She had been held at the Shanxi Women’s Prison in Taiyuan City for more than a year.

Relatives who had visited Caizhen said she did not look well. She was missing a front tooth, her hair had become very gray and her hands were swollen. Before her release on medical parole, Caizhen had been taken to the hospital for treatment several times during her imprisonment.

On Nov. 25, 2009, Caizhen was sentenced to two years of “re-education through labor” for organizing a prayer rally on Sept. 14, 2009, with the Linfen Church. The prayer rally was raided by 400 military police, who arrested Caizhen, her husband and three other pastors. They received sentences ranging from two years to seven years in prison.

Although the Linfen Church has 50,000 members, it is one of many unregistered house churches in China. Chinese house churches range in size from a handful of people meeting secretly in a home to large, public churches like Linfen that advertise and meet openly in a large church building. House churches operate independently from the government-controlled Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) churches and are therefore considered illegal. The TSPM is the only officially recognized Protestant church in China, with an estimated 20 million members. In comparison, there are an estimated 80 million to 120 million house church believers in China.

“Please remember [Chinese Christians] in your prayers, and appeal for them!” Caizhen’s daughter, Esther, wrote in a letter. “I call upon everyone to fight for religious freedom in China.” Esther also urges Christians to continue praying for her father and the other church leaders who remain in prison.

Sources: VOM Sources, Release International, China Aid Association

Posted: May 26, 2011


Heb 13:3 Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.

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This Two Year Old Is Oh So Close To Knowing Her Scripture Verse

A Life of Ceaseless Praise

Nothing of me Lord, nothing of me
Let this life be only, ever, all for Thee

Take these hands
And Take these feet
Use them for Your Kingdom

Take this life I have called my own
I bow before Thy royal throne

Take this heart
And take this mind
Use it for your glory

On the alter, with love and devotion
I offer it all with hands wide open

Take this will
And make it thine
It shall be no longer mine

Let me bring you glory and honor all of my days
May I live a life of ceaseless praise