As it turns out an upset stomach, runny nose, a snoring husband, and a daughter who has decided not to sleep creates opportunity for a much needed blog update. Armed with my Pepto (gotta admit I've always loved the taste) and my Puffs plus (best ever) I want to share with you what God has been teaching me.
My devotions have been in the book of Acts for a while. I love reading about how Christ started His church and the opposition and obstacles it overcame. How he turned an enemy into one of His greatest warriors. And how He extended His grace and mercy to the Gentile world.
One thing that has been standing out over and over as I read about Paul's journeys is as he would go into a city and preach the good news the religious leaders were the one who opposed his message the most. I understand it was a revolutionary way of thinking, but it was also prophecy fulfilled which Paul pointed out through scripture over and over again.
It really got me thinking about "religious" people versus "godly" people and how that plays out in our lives today. As we've been on this pre-field journey we've encountered many of the "religious", but I'm blessed to realize we've encountered much more of the "godly".
(Allow me to attempt to clearly define my use of the terms religious and godly in order to avoid offence. Religious: someone so steeped in the traditions of the church that they are unable to separate those traditions from scriptural mandates . Godly: someone who respects and honors the traditions of the church but discerns between tradition and scriptural mandates. Hopefully as you read on I'll make sense to you.)
Looking in Acts the "religious" people tended to hold to tradition as if it were scripture believing their tradition was godliness. They had forgotten who God was and tried to fit Him into their little box, and when God decided to break out they were appalled. When Paul preached Christ crucified and a life of faith by grace they were angered to the point of wanting to destroy him in order to destroy his message. And when he took the message to people outside their box they tried to force the new people to fit into it. When I look at the "religious" today I see people truly trying to please God, but who have lost sight of how big He really is. They are living in their little boxes, and when other Christians don't fit into their box there is strife and distention. Sometimes they become so isolated in their box that they do little good for the cause of Christ.
But then you see the "godly" people. Their eyes have been so opened to their sinfulness and God's holiness that they live freely by faith. They uphold God's word out of passionate love for their Savior, not for tradition's sake. (Disclaimer: I'm not slamming tradition. There is a place and a purpose for it, but it has to be in the right place for the right purpose.) And when God reveals Himself to them they can't help but share Him with everyone they come in contact with. They look beyond the surface issues to a deeper need. And when the opposition comes from within the box they stand strong, endure, and remain faithful to their sometimes unpopular calling that God has placed upon their lives. Continually Paul was arrested, stoned, threatened, or kicked out by the "religious" leaders of his day. But he got up, picked up his cross, and it's thrilling to see how God used him.
When we, as Believers, decide to follow Christ we aren't always going to be approved of. Sometimes it's easy to get discouraged by the rejection. But we have to look to God's word. Are we faithful to all God has written in it? Are we living with a pure heart at the feet of our Savior? Are we diligently following God every step of this journey He has called us to? Can we, with a clear conscience, say we have done all possible to live peaceably with all men? Can we stand before God unashamed? If we can answer yes to all these questions, when the opposition comes we can stand firm knowing we are right with God, and He will sustain and empower us.
God calls us into a passionate love relationship with Him. He offers us an abundant life. His yolk is easy and His burden is light. He calls us to live godly lives that lift Him up before all men. Our lives are to be a mirror of His love and saving grace to a dying world. If we are isolated inside our boxes the world dies around us. He has called us to be in the world, but not of it. My prayer is that we will all experience the joy that comes only from living freely in Christ with a heart unashamed before Him. And as we do His love and grace will pour out of our lives and into the lives of everyone we come in contact with.
I want God to build His kingdom through our family as we strive to live for Him and follow Him step by step on this amazing journey. I can't wait to experience all He is going to do in and through us as we are instruments for Him to accomplish His purposes. May we live "godly" lives and may God receive all the glory.
Monday, April 2, 2012
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Will You Help???
We are so excited that we are officially missionaries with IBM Global!!! Our support need has been set by our new mission board, and we are at 76% of our needed support. God has been so good and we are praising Him for His faithfulness!!
Through FAITH in what only God can do we would love to be on the field by
SEPTEMBER 3, 2012.
In order for that to happen we need to be at 100% support by July and for that to happen we need your help. I know sometimes it's easy to look at our budget and think we don't have a lot to give, and so we don't give at all. There are many missionaries and causes I would love to support, but "it's just not in the budget." And sometimes I think we tend to feel that giving a small amount would be insulting. Please know that every little bit helps.
We have no doubt that God has called us to this ministry, and we have no doubt in His perfect timing. We are tremendously thankful for everyone who has partnered with us in this ministry in prayer and finances. We do not take you for granted and wouldn't be where we are if it weren't for you. If you're already financially partnering with our ministry would you considering increasing your
PRAYER SUPPORT
for us? We need all the prayers we can get in order to faithfully carry out the work God has for us. Please pray with us that God would do some incredible things and help us get to Zambia by September.
We have prayerfully made the decision to call out for support. If you've been introduced to the ministry God has called us to or if you get our updates and have considered supporting us we would LOVE to have you partner with us. Whether you can only afford $3 -$5 a month or $20 or $100. We are asking you to pray and by faith ask God how much he would desire you to contribute to our ministry. There is no greater investment than in eternity. It's what God has called us to invest our lives in and our finances.
It has always made me uncomfortable asking for money. I always hated the fund raisers we had to do for choir or soccer as a kid in school. I had no desire to be the "big seller" and win the prizes.
What God has called our family to is infinitely more important than a school choir or soccer team jerseys. He has called us to invest in eternity, and by partnering with us you have a huge treasure stored up in Heaven and the prize is so much bigger than any school fund raiser.
If you would like to know more about our ministry please check out our website www.zambiasmith.com.
If you have an questions please contact us. We would love to answer whatever we can.
If you would like to have us discuss our ministry with you as an individual or at your church or bible study we would love to meet with you. Just contact us and we'll set a date!
And, if you know how God would have you contribute you can either contact our mission board and set that up, or IBM Global now has the ability to process pre-authorized ‘automated giving’ - either through EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer) or through recurring credit card transactions. To get started, simply click on this link and follow the instructions to register. Registering online will give you the ability to manage your online donations and access your gift history.
If you would like additional information regarding this service, please contact Jennifer Mitchell (the office manager at IBM Global) at jennifer.mitchell@ibmglobal.
And please tell your friends and family about this ministry. We would love to share with them all God is doing.
Thank you so much for all your love, encouragement and support. We are the body of Christ and God uses us to share His love with the world. Thank you for being His body and helping us do His work.
We're so grateful for you.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Sender or Goer??
God has called each of us to be involved in His global purposes for His kingdom. Some of us He calls as "goers". God has called our family to go to Zambia, Africa to share His love and salvation with all we come in contact. Many of you God has called as "senders". Even though you are not called to go yourself, God has called you to send those He has called to go. Your calling as a sender is every bit as real, important and necessary as ours is. With out your sending we couldn't go.
1. Prayer. There is tremendous power in prayer and we depend on yours to get us to Zambia. Please check our website or our prayer updates for current prayer requests. Please be praying that we would have opportunites to share our ministry and our support level would continue to increase.
2. Encouragement. We all, as believers, live in a constant spiritual battle. Satan wants to do whatever he possibly can to deter us from following God's will for our family. We need you to rally behind us with love and support to keep us going.
3. Finances. There is no way we could afford to move and minister in Zambia on our own. The Lord says, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." We need your help to meet the financial needs for our family and for our ministry. Please pray if God would have you to contribute monthly or as a one time gift to this ministry He has called us to.
4. Assistance. Our mission board and our church are great helps with the day to day, tedious details that need to be covered. Finances, record keeping, etc. But especially once we are on the field we will need help with those types of things and more. If you are gifted in these areas please pray if God would have you to contribute to our ministry in this way.
There are many more ways that you, as a sender, can be directly involved in this ministry. For more practical suggestions read the book "Serving as Senders" by Neil Pirollo. I believe that reading this book will open your eyes to the importance of following God's call on your life as a sender and help you use your spiritual gifting to impact whatever ministries God is calling you to get involved with.
We are also trying to schedule opportunities to share our ministry as we continue to raise the remaining 1/4 of our support. If you or someone you know would like us to share in your church, business, or to a group of individuals please let us know so we can get you on the schedule. We would love to share in whatever ways we can. You can contact us through email: www.zambiasmith.com.
Please be our senders and help us to get to Zambia as soon as we can!
Thank you to those who have been serving as senders to us. We can't thank you enough for how you have ministered to and with us. We're looking forward to what God is going to do in the future through our partnership in the ministry for His glory.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Showers of Blessings: A Sigh of Relief
It seems like the Lord is bringing things together in His perfect timing. We've experienced the "Calm After the Storm", and now we're receiving the "Showers of Blessing" which allow us to breath "A Sigh of Relief".
Please let me take a moment to list off these blessing one by one. There are only a few, but they are HUGE
requests that have been heavy on our hearts.
1. WE HAVE RENTERS!! We have a family of NINE who has recently moved into our house.
2. Our insurance company covered the cost of replacing our roof! It should be finished soon.
3. What we had anticipated to be a $3,500 repair on our truck turned out to be $15.00 cap that needed replaced!! Praise the Lord!
4. WE HAVE CHOSEN A MISSION BOARD!
After much prayer, research, discussions, exhausting traveling, prayer, prayer, and prayer we believe God desires us to join the mission family at IBM Global. We will hopefully be finishing up our applications soon so we can continue raising the necessary support to get us to the field.
And as a result of choosing a mission board...
5. We are able to set a departure date based on our current support raised and projected support increases.
We can not thank you enough for all your prayers and encouragement as we have weathered the storm and are now enjoying these showers of blessings. Our biggest prayer was that God would reveal Himself to us more fully through this time and that He would be glorified in our lives. We certainly know and trust Him better! We have confidence in His perfect timing and trust Him to lead us in the way we should go.
At the beginning when EBM first closed our prayer was Psalm 143:7,8
"Answer me quickly, O Lord!
My spirit fails!
Hide not your face from me...
... Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love,
for in you I trust.
Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul."
God has answered abundantly. We feel like we can take a huge "Sigh of Relief", and we are excited to see what He has next in our future. We are confident that whether it is a shower of blessing or a storm of circumstances He will help us through, teach us, guide us, and glorify Himself through it.
And we can't close without wishing you all a very
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
Enjoy this season of blessings and joy celebrating our wonderful Savior's birth.
Monday, December 12, 2011
An Opportunity for Owen
Dear friends,
We can not thank you enough for all your faithful prayers for our family. God has worked through you in our lives in tremendous ways. I'm now desperately asking for prayers for some dear family friends.
I'll let you read most of the story on their website, but I'll summarize for you a bit.
Tim and Elaine Dulaney are dear friends of ours. They attend out church and work in the youth group with us. They are a wonderful family, and we're so thankful for them. They have three boys. The oldest is Benjamin. When Ben was around 3 years old they found out that he has a degenerative, fatal genetic disorder called Sanfillipo Syndrome, or MPS IIIA. It has been difficult to see the disorder's effects on Benjamin as he grows, but we all love him dearly and are so thankful for God putting him in our lives. Their second son is Noah. He is the same age as Jorja and was blessed to not have the disorder himself. He is the typical four year old boy. And now comes Owen.
Owen is 4 months old and through an amnio during pregnancy Elaine found out Owen also has Sanfillipo. The specialist they were seeing offered them the hope of a stem cell treatment to delay the onset of the symptoms of the disorder and give them more time with him before the disorder took over, but there was no proof that it would work, and would possibly kill him. At the time the decided against it. Recently the specialist brought up a similar treatment that is still experimental, but a much better option. After much prayer Tim and Elaine decided to allow Owen to undergo this procedure. The procedure will take about six months to complete. The details of what the procedure requires are on their website, but in short, it will take 8 days of chemotherapy, a bone marrow transplant, and isolation as they evaluate how his body is receiving the transplant and he recovers.
Please pray for Owen, Tim and Elaine, and their family as they help with Ben and Noah. Please go to their blog to read all that is happening. Owen started chemo yesterday, December 11.
This family could desperately use your prayers, and if you feel led, your finances to help pay for this procedure and all the additional costs incurred through it. Check their blog for updates and information on how to help them financially.
Thank you so much! I trust you will pray diligently for this sweet sweet baby and his family. I can't wait to see how God works mightily through this entire situation.
We can not thank you enough for all your faithful prayers for our family. God has worked through you in our lives in tremendous ways. I'm now desperately asking for prayers for some dear family friends.
I'll let you read most of the story on their website, but I'll summarize for you a bit.
Tim and Elaine Dulaney are dear friends of ours. They attend out church and work in the youth group with us. They are a wonderful family, and we're so thankful for them. They have three boys. The oldest is Benjamin. When Ben was around 3 years old they found out that he has a degenerative, fatal genetic disorder called Sanfillipo Syndrome, or MPS IIIA. It has been difficult to see the disorder's effects on Benjamin as he grows, but we all love him dearly and are so thankful for God putting him in our lives. Their second son is Noah. He is the same age as Jorja and was blessed to not have the disorder himself. He is the typical four year old boy. And now comes Owen.
Owen is 4 months old and through an amnio during pregnancy Elaine found out Owen also has Sanfillipo. The specialist they were seeing offered them the hope of a stem cell treatment to delay the onset of the symptoms of the disorder and give them more time with him before the disorder took over, but there was no proof that it would work, and would possibly kill him. At the time the decided against it. Recently the specialist brought up a similar treatment that is still experimental, but a much better option. After much prayer Tim and Elaine decided to allow Owen to undergo this procedure. The procedure will take about six months to complete. The details of what the procedure requires are on their website, but in short, it will take 8 days of chemotherapy, a bone marrow transplant, and isolation as they evaluate how his body is receiving the transplant and he recovers.
Please pray for Owen, Tim and Elaine, and their family as they help with Ben and Noah. Please go to their blog to read all that is happening. Owen started chemo yesterday, December 11.
This family could desperately use your prayers, and if you feel led, your finances to help pay for this procedure and all the additional costs incurred through it. Check their blog for updates and information on how to help them financially.
Thank you so much! I trust you will pray diligently for this sweet sweet baby and his family. I can't wait to see how God works mightily through this entire situation.
Please visit their blog and let them know you're praying for them.
just click on An Opportunity for Owen
if that doesn't work go to:
www.anoportunity4owen.moonfruit.com
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
The Calm After the Storm
Things have sure seemed stormy. In life and in the weather! For the past couple of months it doesn't seem to stop raining here in West Virginia!! We're starting to wonder if God is preparing us for rainy season in Zambia. We're definitely taking our rain boots with us when we go. That's for sure. We're growing a bit weary of the wet and muck, but showers of blessing are also pouring on our lives after the storms of discouragement we've been going through.
It seemed like when our mission board went under at the beginning of September everything else in life decided to fall apart too. For a while we were confused about the present, and uncertain about the future. Everything seemed to be going wrong and we were helpless to fix any of it. I kept thinking that when things seem the most impossible is when God likes to prove Himself by doing something truly amazing. And the more I thought that the more impossible things seemed to become. God is proving Himself over and over, and our storms of discouragement have turned into showers of blessing.
As situations would come up we would call the kids together with us and pray for one specific thing at a time. The kids prayed for the situation and Jamie and I prayed that God would make Himself real to our kids through the circumstances. One day we came together as a family to pray for God to rebuild the funds that we lost when EBM went under, and that God would continue to increase our support level. While we were praying Jamie's phone rang, but we ignored it. After we were finished praying Jamie checked his voicemail. It was the pastor of one of the churches in our area. The church had voted to give us their annual faith giving offering to help us rebuild the funds we had lost, and they had also voted to start our support in November for 5% of our total support instead of in January like originally planned. What fun it was to call the kids back together and get to show them how in the very moment that they prayed for our needs God was providing. Thank you so very much, Tri-City Baptist Church. You are an answer to prayer in so many ways!
We have narrowed down our mission board search and will be deciding by the first week of December. We're pretty sure we know where God wants us we're just waiting to speak to our team members, the Chambers, in Zambia to get input from them before we make a final decision.
The roof of our house started leaking this "rainy season". We had it appraised to see how much it would cost to replace it. Wow!!! Expensive!!! But the appraiser said that it was hail and wind damage and to submit it to our insurance company to see if they would cover it. We got some estimates, submitted it to our insurance company and, praise God, they're going to cover it!! What a blessing!
As of Saturday, November 19, our house is officially on the market to rent. Please pray that God provides a renter for our house very soon. We almost have it empty... we just have to find the time to finish before someone comes to look at it.
As I type we are having the truck looked at to see what caused our radiator to blow. Please pray that it's not too horribly expensive, and a relatively easy fix. If it's what we think it is, it'll be a big fix with a big price tag. But God is providing, and we're confident He'll provide for this too.
So, as the storms of discouragement end and the showers of blessings fall a bit more freely we have our rain coats and boots on and we're stomping in the puddles enjoying every last drop. May you feel the showers of blessing as you celebrate this Thanksgiving season and share them with friends and family. Thank you for rejoicing with us in ours, and your continued prayers and support.
As situations would come up we would call the kids together with us and pray for one specific thing at a time. The kids prayed for the situation and Jamie and I prayed that God would make Himself real to our kids through the circumstances. One day we came together as a family to pray for God to rebuild the funds that we lost when EBM went under, and that God would continue to increase our support level. While we were praying Jamie's phone rang, but we ignored it. After we were finished praying Jamie checked his voicemail. It was the pastor of one of the churches in our area. The church had voted to give us their annual faith giving offering to help us rebuild the funds we had lost, and they had also voted to start our support in November for 5% of our total support instead of in January like originally planned. What fun it was to call the kids back together and get to show them how in the very moment that they prayed for our needs God was providing. Thank you so very much, Tri-City Baptist Church. You are an answer to prayer in so many ways!
We have narrowed down our mission board search and will be deciding by the first week of December. We're pretty sure we know where God wants us we're just waiting to speak to our team members, the Chambers, in Zambia to get input from them before we make a final decision.
The roof of our house started leaking this "rainy season". We had it appraised to see how much it would cost to replace it. Wow!!! Expensive!!! But the appraiser said that it was hail and wind damage and to submit it to our insurance company to see if they would cover it. We got some estimates, submitted it to our insurance company and, praise God, they're going to cover it!! What a blessing!
As of Saturday, November 19, our house is officially on the market to rent. Please pray that God provides a renter for our house very soon. We almost have it empty... we just have to find the time to finish before someone comes to look at it.
As I type we are having the truck looked at to see what caused our radiator to blow. Please pray that it's not too horribly expensive, and a relatively easy fix. If it's what we think it is, it'll be a big fix with a big price tag. But God is providing, and we're confident He'll provide for this too.
So, as the storms of discouragement end and the showers of blessings fall a bit more freely we have our rain coats and boots on and we're stomping in the puddles enjoying every last drop. May you feel the showers of blessing as you celebrate this Thanksgiving season and share them with friends and family. Thank you for rejoicing with us in ours, and your continued prayers and support.
Friday, October 21, 2011
A Plea for Prayer
We see over and over in scripture the power of prayer. God even says that the effectual, fervent prayers of a righteous man accomplish much. We're looking for as many righteous men (and women) as we can find. It seems that ever since EBM closed we've been feeling a little bit like Job.
Everything in life seems to be going wrong right now. We're still prayerfully researching mission boards, we found out we can't sell our house without taking a loss so we're going to have to rent it, the roof on the house started leaking like a sinking ship, Warrick started with croup early this year and the other two kids are sick, Jamie is having trouble with his school schedule, and the list could go on and on. Needless to say, we're exhausted.
Okay, back to the prayer topic. We've been calling the family together to have consentrated prayer together. Last week we sat down in our "living room" and had the kids pray for our support to continue to come in and for our start up costs for the field. While we were praying Jamie's phone rang, but of course we ignored it. When we were finished praying he checked his messages. There is a church in the Parkersburg area who has a faith giving offering once a year. This year their church decided to give it to our family to rebuild the start up costs we had saved for. What a blessing!! The church had also voted to start supporting us on a monthly basis in January, but they felt that giving such a large offering to a missionary they didn't support didn't make much sence. So they voted to start supporting us in November for 5% of our support level! Jamie and I have been praying that God would show to our kids, and remind us of, the power of prayer. While we were praying He was answering!! It was so exciting to be able to gather the kids just a few minutes after they prayed and tell them how God was answering while they were expressing their needs to Him. What a faithful God we serve!!
We have amped up the prayer time we spend as a family, and we see and know that God is working. We are asking for you to please do the same. Would you be willing to spend just five minutes a day praying for our family. We need rest, energy, renewal, wisdom, discernment, good health, and just for things to start working out. We have absolutely no doubts that our God is faithful and powerful and soverign and good. We trust Him completely to work out His will in our lives. We just need for Him to show us the next step so we can continue to follow Him on this journey. Please pray with us as we wait patiently on the Lord.
Everything in life seems to be going wrong right now. We're still prayerfully researching mission boards, we found out we can't sell our house without taking a loss so we're going to have to rent it, the roof on the house started leaking like a sinking ship, Warrick started with croup early this year and the other two kids are sick, Jamie is having trouble with his school schedule, and the list could go on and on. Needless to say, we're exhausted.
Speaking of the mission board situation. Our trip visiting mission boards was wonderful. It answered a lot of questions and we feel we got a really good idea of who these boards are. Now we just have to figure out which one God has for us. It was quick, and exhausting (our 13 hour drive to New Hampshire turned into 16 thanks to traffic), but we had a wonderful time together without the kids. The kids had a great time with family in Cincinnati. Please continue to pray for our wisdom and discernment in this big decision.
Okay, back to the prayer topic. We've been calling the family together to have consentrated prayer together. Last week we sat down in our "living room" and had the kids pray for our support to continue to come in and for our start up costs for the field. While we were praying Jamie's phone rang, but of course we ignored it. When we were finished praying he checked his messages. There is a church in the Parkersburg area who has a faith giving offering once a year. This year their church decided to give it to our family to rebuild the start up costs we had saved for. What a blessing!! The church had also voted to start supporting us on a monthly basis in January, but they felt that giving such a large offering to a missionary they didn't support didn't make much sence. So they voted to start supporting us in November for 5% of our support level! Jamie and I have been praying that God would show to our kids, and remind us of, the power of prayer. While we were praying He was answering!! It was so exciting to be able to gather the kids just a few minutes after they prayed and tell them how God was answering while they were expressing their needs to Him. What a faithful God we serve!!
We have amped up the prayer time we spend as a family, and we see and know that God is working. We are asking for you to please do the same. Would you be willing to spend just five minutes a day praying for our family. We need rest, energy, renewal, wisdom, discernment, good health, and just for things to start working out. We have absolutely no doubts that our God is faithful and powerful and soverign and good. We trust Him completely to work out His will in our lives. We just need for Him to show us the next step so we can continue to follow Him on this journey. Please pray with us as we wait patiently on the Lord.
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