Never Failed

 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart..." Proverbs 3:5

Truth.

I ask.

He gives.

He has not failed me.

I ask again.

I wait.

"Not yet." He says

He has not failed me.

I ask, anew.

"No." He says

I wonder.

Has He failed me now?

Indeed, He has never failed me.

listen.

Shut off your phone. Shut the door. Shut your mouth.

Settle down. Sit down.

No to-do list. No mindless entertainment.

Just listen up.

What if God has something to tell you?

Pruning

This popped out as I was reading the Bible last week and it still has not left me.

...he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. (John 15:2)

I feel like God has been pruning me. Pruning hurts. He's cutting off pieces, unnecessary things. He is simply letting me experience the pain of nursing school for example. My patience is being tested. My trust in Him, tested. God is also doing more internal pruning in me, things I cannot put into words. I noticed this process begin when I first came to Christ. I thought GOD WHY ME? Pain. Oh pain is a beautiful thing. I learned that it produces growth and learning. Pain produces fruit. It is almost a dark and weary subject, but we all go through pain. Know this, God prunes the branches are are already producing fruit so that they will produce more. That's good news to me because I feel this gentle, painful, excruciating process taking place in my life. I hope you do too. Glory to Jesus for this.

 

May your spiritual pruning lead to bigger, better, juicer and sweeter fruit for our Lord :)

 

Wisdom Calls Aloud

"Out in the open wisdom calls aloud,

she raises her voice in the public square;

on top of the wall she cries out,

at the city gate she makes her speech.." 

Proverbs 1:20, 21

I have always held the idea that wisdom is found in seclusion. In nature, alone, in a hidden place. But here it says that wisdom calls aloud in the open, in the public, at the city gate. How baffling!

 "If you look for it (wisdom) as for silver

and search for it as for hidden treasure,

then you will understand the fear of the Lord

and find the knowledge of God."

Proverbs 2:4,5

Trust is a Must

As we drove through the ice storm, I could tell my mom was afraid.  She was behind the wheel and trying not to swerve into the wrong lane or into a ditch.

I was ten years old at the time, and let me tell you: I was not afraid.  White-out conditions? Black ice? Who cares? (Nowadays I can't say I trust my mothers driving!)

Growing up without a father in the picture, all the paternal trust my little heart held was placed on my mama. I trusted her with every fiber of my being. When she was around worries did not exist. She ALWAYS knew what to do, she knew how to handle problems (ironically she is actually a huge worry-wart). As surely as the sun came up every morning and as surely as the apple fell from the tree- I knew with my mama's help everything would turn out alright in the end. 

So. That snow on that dark icy road did not trouble my child-like heart. I thought to myself: "We'll get home". And we did. 

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This is a perfect reflection of how God wants us to trust Him. With child-like faith. Have you ever seen a little munchkin hide behind their daddy's legs when a stranger nears? Or run to their dad's arms and bury themselves into his strong hold? Children cling. They depend. They trust. Because their parents are their lifeline. God wants that from me. And you. Storm in life? Must be time to trust.

I have set the LORD always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. (Psalm 16:8)

I Feel Like Writing Again

Take my life, Lord
You know my strife
So much like Hosea's wife
Nevertheless
Out of this mess
You have saved me
Set me free
You have opened my eyes
Shunned the lies
Truth is
Without this cross I am at a loss
I now take a seat
This I wish to repeat
Simply sitting here at Your feet

SFG Bible School Week 5 Video

Watch this video if you haven't seen it already. Yes I'm in it! Hehe :)

Week Five and Kentucky Trip

Week 5: Probably my favorite. Why? Because we got to study the book of Romans! The most studied, yet ignored, simple, yet complicated book of the Bible (my opinion). I loved it! It's the basic gospel message. And in the end it points to our foundation: Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross.

  Our teacher from Cleveland, Ohio. He is a man of passion. You can see how much he wishes us to understand and grab hold of the truth in the Scriptures. I loved that we actually opened up our Bibles in class. Sounds silly, but it was nice. I like not having notes printed out for me.

 Our dear Paul preached for the first time! Praise God! It was a touching message about our Jesus :) My favorite topic! I can't wait to see him preach in Rochester.

We had two presentations during week five. First was about Modern Christianity (my group) and the other was about Mormonism. A quote I thought was noteworthy by David Wilkerson: "God hates the LUKEWARM GOSPEL OF HALF-TRUTHS that is now spreading over the globe. This gospel says, 'Just believe in Jesus and you'll be saved. There's nothing more to it.' It ignores the whole counsel of God, which speaks of repenting from former sins, of taking up your cross, of being conformed to the image of Christ by the refining work of the Holy Spirit. It is totally silent about the reality of hell and an after-death judgment."

 It was our first bus trip with the 50-seat bus! It was so much fun!!

Oh yeah and half way to Kentucky the air conditioning inside the bus broke. The temperature reached just under 100 degrees. I think God was preparing us for the extreme conditions the missionary world. I am just glad that I am not too heat sensitive compared to others. Not bragging or anything, but I sleep under blankets no matter how high the temperature. Maybe I am destined to live in the Sub-African Sahara. Or Florida. Or on my own private island.

 First stop: Creation Museum!

Everything is based on God's word.

Noah's ark. There is so much at the museum, I would not be able to share it all with you.

Yes, dinosaurs too! Rawr!

The new part of the museum: all about bugs. So many different kinds of bugs. So grossly interesting. The guys really loved the bugs while most girls were pretty freaked out. They were all real bugs (not alive) and the only ones that scared me were the "mammoth" African Beetles or something. Those things were the size of my hand. Ew ew ew ew ew.

And the petting zoo. Look, it's a zorse! A zebra horse! Such a cool creature. Yes, I got to pet a zorse.

Then there are the chickens we got to pet. I think this picture is funny. Yaro has this super-compassionate look on his face while holding this chicken. Lol. I love chicken too. Fried chicken.

We are not ashamed of the gospel of Christ! This is our class motto for this year. Romans 1:16.

 

Then back on to the hot bus, singing songs, talking to each other about our favorite topic: dating and marriage haha.

 

At the end of the day, someone's gotta clean up. Looks like "Michael Motorcycle" doesn't mind too much.

So the trip was a success, praise God. This upcoming weekend we plan on visiting Cleveland, OH and Erie, PA. I am looking forward to everything. Guys, I am so glad I went to Bible school. God is so good! Now I am off to do some research for my paper! God bless y'all!

SFG Bible School Weeks 3 and 4

I cannot believe how much time is flying by! So here is an update of what we have been up to and how we are doing here in our little own world called "SFG Bible School". Above is an awesome girl, Liliya Silkovska. She is one smart cookie.

Twice a week we have "Student Church". Pretty much one group (5 groups in all ) leads service. And it is always blessed and interesting. I love seeing people get out of their comfort zone and preach for their first time, or sing. It's a good atmosphere to start.

We sang an old hymn and my favorite line was "One in Himself, I cannot die, my soul is purchased by His blo-o-o-d, my life is hid with Christ on high, with Christ my Savior and my God."

This is our week 3 teacher and it was his birthday! He taught on evangelism.

Here is Lesya, presenting on the topic of Atheism. She is so funny, just look at everyone smiling! :)

Resting on the Word. Maybe just napping. Hehe.

Our group. From left to right Julie (NC), Dennis (TN), Vadim (OH), Liliya (MI), Rostik (OH), Ninja (OH), me (NY) and below us is Tim (OH) and Yaro (NY). I'm actually surprised at how close we have gotten.

Week 4 was different because we had different teachers come in everyday due to a teacher not being able to make it from Ukraine because of Visa issues. Pastor Olesh was an amazing teacher for a day, we are hoping he could substitute in for a teacher again!

Planning and voting on our t-shirt designs.

Our main administrator: Alex Sinyk. He said "I am not photo-hygenic" Lol he meant to say "photogenic". I have a feeling that he really really loves us. And he really loves to scare us.

I love this shot. We have so many talented students in our class. When we have alone time, you can catch students throughout the church (inside, outside, here and there and anywhere) reading the Bible, praying, napping, playing guitar/piano, working on sermons, practicing for church or just chillin. It is one of the best feelings to walk in on someone praying in a room (that sounds wrong, I mean it just makes me so happy to see us have a passion for the Lord). What a blessing it is to be here! 

In the end, this is what it comes to: Living IN CHRIST. It does not matter if someone is in Bible school, at home, at work... If we are in Christ, we are in the right place. We are secure, our Rock is steady and our joy is great because our Jesus is good.

Love To Worship Spoken Word

Thoughts on Gods Will

God's will for you is unique. You will touch the lives of people no one else can touch. Just like that puzzle piece that touches certain pieces, no one else can stand in the place you stand in your life. Be it family, school, work, or neighborhood. There is no such thing as coincidence, it is all a beautiful master-mind plan of God. Every person you meet, every seemingly "random" encounter with those hungry for the Jesus in you; that is a circumstance that can never be repeated. So take a chance. Stand out. Be the light. Let Jesus be Jesus in you. Depend on Him. Jesus Himself said He cannot do anything without the Father. Who are we, mere humans, thinking we can be independent from the Father? So don't worry about God's will for your life, He will work everything together for the good of those who love Him. So love Him, depend on Him, cling to Him, stand on His firm foundation. Don't forget what was done on the cross. That's His will for you.

SFG Bible School Weeks 1-2 Video

This video was made by a few of our students. Made me want to laugh and cry. God bless :)

We Run

God pursues us.
It we who run from Him.

A part of us thinks:
     He is hiding.
     He is repulsed by us.
     He has turned His back on us.

It is not so.
He is after us.
Examine yourself.
Do you believe the lies?
In which direction are you running?

Pursue Him as He pursues you.

"Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you." James 4:8

It is a guarantee that you will collide in the middle.

I Was Wrong

I was wrong. My prayer was: "Lord help me be better, I want to be more like You." That's wrong. I was hoping God would help me out over here. I tend to always mess up, so why not ask Him to fix me up?

 Instead I felt like I heard God laugh. It's like the story when the little kid and dad are moving the couch together, the dad, using his strength to push while the little boy "helps". The little boy stops and looks up to his dad saying "Daddy, you're in my way of pushing!" The father can't help but let a chuckle escape from his throat.

That's how God chuckled at me.

Why? Why was my prayer wrong? It sounds like a good prayer. But I was looking for God to fix ME. After falling foolishly  soon after I prayed that prayer, I saw my weakness and inability to move that heavy couch. I found out why I was so silly. God does not want to work with my "me". He would rather get rid of the "me" and replace that with His Son.

He doesn't want to fix up my old self, He wants to completely flip my life upside-down...abolishing "me".

There is no better version of me. There is no "me" when it comes to a relationship with Christ.

It is your choice. Live with your "me", or crucify your flesh and let Christ completely take over.  

Value

*

A friend called me a few days ago asking me how much does a 13k ring cost? I kinda just went.. uhhh. I do not pay much attention to such matters, I have no idea. She proceeded to explain herself because I was beginning to wonder if she had received a proposal or something (lol). Turns out she found a ring a few years ago during her high school years and thought nothing of it; she simply thought it looked cool and added it onto her car key ring. Years pass by. A few days ago, she was with her friends in Tim Hortons and someone noticed that she had a real gold ring hanging on her keys. She was shocked to find out that the ring could possibly be very valuable! I can't help but think about every time she started the engine, the ring would hang there, possibly worth more than the car itself... all those years! Isn't that crazy? How could someone carry around such an object of value and not even understand the worth? It got me thinking... I am so very guilty of doing the same, in a spiritual sense. How often I walk around, adding God to my little key chain, never stopping to think... WOW, how precious and valuable! Maybe you can sympathize with me. Dear friends, let us stop a moment and take in the beauty of Christ, let us understand the unmeasurable value of what was done for us on the cross. Stop. Think. Stand in awe. Let's not be numb to the truth. Do not dare get used to it, do not dare forget the value of yourself, the value of Christ.

Have a blessed week everyone :)     

Tribulation, not Isolation

Going through a rough patch? We have all been there- publicly and privately.

Walking with God through the garden,

 beauty surrounds you, 

your hand in His,

 the dewy ground beneath you is soft and the air is cool.

 Possibly some time passes and you feel different... 

This may occur slowly without your notice or quickly- 

the ground seems dry, 

the grass withered, 

you no longer feel the grasp of God's hand in yours.

 Why did your beautiful walk in the garden come to a halt? You think... "Why?"

Why am I in the desert? Why is it so hard? And most painfully: Why did God leave me?  

   

Dear brother and sister, He has not left you. He may have let go of your hand, but His is right there watching over you. A trial does not equal disconnection from our Father. Hold onto the promise "I will never leave you nor forsake you.". When you are in Christ, you are in Christ. Simple. 

So remember: tribulation is not isolation.

Buryatia

Hey everyone! Sorry for being MIA for a bit, just making some changes to the blog look. It's good to be back. Ok this may seem totally random but I've been thinking about my missionary trip to Russia this past summer. Here are some pictures I found that I thought I'd share.

We found random kids off the street to play with.. Rather, they found us! This was at our church home.

Our very serious, dare I say...silly, spontaneous, people-loving pastor of the church. Mihayil Ivanovich. 

Beautifully hyper children.

The girl who didn't talk much, but she did dance when we sang songs. I still think about her.

Lake Baikal. We just sat on the rocks and stared at the majesty of God's hand.

The men did construction on a church in a small village. Those ponchos are simply a must-have for any wardrobe!

The play. The coat symbolized our sin and flesh and how Jesus took it all upon Himself at the cross.

Dashinema, part of our team. He had a moving testimony about how God healed him because he was completely paralyzed and his struggle with running from God and finally coming to know Jesus.

Our guys picked us flowers from a random field.

Brother Sasha. I still remember his laugh. He was a good bus driver.

In action: Throwing LOVE to the kids. (It was a play about sharing God's love)

My one and only Buryatia Family. I love them so much.

What an awesome experience we had! Thank you God!