About Me

My photo
Phenix City, Alabama, United States
I have been called by God to serve Him through ministry to the orphan children of Africa! I have just started this journey! My prayer is that God will grant me wings so that I may swiftly arrive on the field! Please pray for his guiding!

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Progress!

Wow! I can't sleep tonight as I think about God's goodness and his perfect timing! I am so overwhelmed. First thing this morning, I received a short e-mail from a missionary in Uganda, Tony Applegate. He runs the Grace Project in Masaska, Uganda. I actually went to church with he and his wife in Kansas City. I had e-mailed them at the suggestion of another Ugandan missionary but hadn't heard anything in a couple of weeks. I am praying God opens the doors he wants me to walk through so while I was not too anxious, I was wondering why I had not heard back. According to their message, they have moved to village with spotty Internet but will be getting back to me at the beginning of next week.

Then, at work today, I received a text message from a man who has a very affordable duplex for rent in the Lakebottom area whom I would like to rent from. However, he wasn't sure if he wanted to wait until I was ready to move May 1. He told me Saturday he would think about it over the weekend. Again, I just prayed that the Lord would put me where it was best and he texted me today indicating that he would hold the duplex! This move will save me $500 a month in rent and utilities that can be put towards paying off bills and saving for a survey trip and deputation!

Then (yes this is all TODAY) I came home after work to find my official application packet from Baptist Missions to Forgotten Peoples! They have accepted me into the application process based on my initial questionnaire and testimony! Praise God! The application process involves sending a number of references from my Pastor, friends and coworkers. Pray that all goes smoothly and God will continue to move me towards the Mission Board he would have me work with.
Check Spelling
I am so overwhelmed by God's working and his guiding hand. I studied today about brokenness before God. I never want to find myself in a place again where I am submitting to Satan and his plan! I am so thankful for this journey that God has me on and for his very real and tangible presence in my life. Please continue to pray for his leading and my patience! God, grant me wings to I can fly to Africa!

Tuesday, March 06, 2012

Bless the Lord - Application Sent Today!

Wow! I had an amazing day today! I was up late last night and afraid that would put a damper on the entire day because if I don't go to bed on time, I can't get up early enough to get my Bible study in which usually means a "not so good day" but on the contrary it was amazing. I got in a study today over lunch and I read from the book of Daniel. I was struck by Pastor Horton's message on Faithfulness the other night and I decided to read from Daniel and came across his praise after God had revealed the King's dream to him.

Daniel 2:19 Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. 20Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: 21And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding: 22He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him. 23I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee: for thou hast now made known unto us the king's matter.

I was convicted as to whether I ever BLESS THE LORD? I have plenty of reasons lately to bless him. I want to be faithful to him because he is proving himself so faithful to me. He is already making himself known to me through the gifts of new clothes, an unexpected monetary gift and even the arrival of a rebate card I had completely forgotten about showing up at JUST the right moment. Bless the Lord for his provision!

I completed and mailed out my initial application to a Missions Board today! I was thrilled and yet still scared to death. But in those moments I just pray to God to help my unbelief and lack of faith and to help me to step out of the boat and onto the waves! Each time I take a step of obedience despite my fears and doubts I feel God's precense like I never have before. In those moments I say to myself and sometimes outloud so Satan can hear...I am GOING, I am GOING, I am GOING! Bless the Lord for his strength!

I have found what looks like a good option for a rental at a very reasonable rate. I sent in an application for that and then had my first contact from someone that is interested in renting my current house! Bless the Lord for his perfect timing!

Then tonight I went for my walk, ran into some people that I hadn't seen for a couple of years who I invited back to church (I pray they will come) and during my walk I was actually able to "jog" (I use that term somewhat loosely) on a couple of legs of my 3 laps around idle hour! An important part of my journey to Africa is to continue to drop my weight and get into shape. Bless the Lord for his help!

Please keep praying about all these details; just for God's timing and guidance. There is not one thing I can find to worry about since I know my Heavenly Father is holding it all in his hands.

Saturday, March 03, 2012

Surrender to Africa....It's About Time!!!!

On May 3, 1995, I surrendered to full time Christian service or to whatever the Lord would have me to do. I remember the date because I wrote it in my Bible next to the verse that Pastor Wass (our Music Pastor and my Spiritual mentor at the time) gave me. The verse was "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye." Psalme 32:8. Interesting that verses right before that say "I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin....Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah." Psalm 32: 5, 7 It has been through a time of confession for living a life of disobedience that has brought me to this point in my life!

Seventeen years later I finally did it! I surrendered ALL! I was sharing my frustration with myself over how long it has taken in a conversation with a cousin, friend and sister in Christ today and she reminded me that it took God 40 years to prepare Moses so I don't feel so bad!

My family has always been involved with Missions-minded churches and I have seen many presentations through the years. I can remember watching various presentations but it was always the presentations to Africa that would get my heart pumping. I would look at the beautiful land and the beautiful people and just think how AMAZING it would be to be a missionary to Africa. "Kyle or Danielle just HAVE to be a missionary to Africa," I would think. "That would be so amazing!" All along it was me that God was summoning, and it just took me 17 years to figure out.

Have you ever had that moment when you look back at your life and God's hand and his leading in your life become so clear? Those of you who know me know that I have been in a different job every 2 years, a different home every 2 years (not including the last 7 years God had me trapped at TSYS) always searching for the contentment and fulfillment I lacked! I remember wondering why I was 46 years old, and still didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up? I can see now, it was an unrest brought on by not being where God wanted for me to be! Don't get me wrong, everything is in his time, but when I look back at what I thought were blunders or missed opportunities career-wise, i can see that it was God ensuring that I didn't become too comfortable in any of those positions! He had something more important for me to do.

I think about how many times I would pack the kids up in the van on a minutes notice and take off cross country in the middle of the night. People would be aghast that a woman would travel alone like that with 2 small children in tow and no means of protection. I even remember taking a wrong turn and getting lost in inner-city St. Louis one time! But I never felt afraid. I LOVED being on the road, taking those road trips. And I have made those trips several times by myself since the children have been grown with no fear or trepidation. What more perfect personality type for deputation and the mission field!

I think about how I have enjoyed the houses I have lived in and that I have collected some "things" that mean something to me, but for the most part, I am relatively unsentimental about things. I have no problem doing a "clean out". Throwing things out, taking them to the Goodwill or selling them in a garage sale. I am not materialisticly driven! Again, a great attitude for someone who will be flying half-way across the world!

All those times wondering if I was crazy and I wasn't after all! It was all part of my time in the wilderness, my time of preparation for what God wanted me to be. Moses held a staff in his hand. It was an indication of his position in life and what he had become. God asked him to lay it down. He was saying, "What you have become, I want you to lay it down and I will use it to set people free". Moses laid it down, but then God turned it into a serpent, which was a fearful thing. Moses fled from it! But God said, "Pick it up by the tail!" Not by the head, where it would be safe, but by the tail, where Moses could get bit. Sometimes what God asks us to do is a fearful thing. I have a great deal of fear and trepidation about laying down my life, such as it is, and allowing God to use it to set people free. I am willing to present my body a living sacrifice, but with sacrifice there is death. A death of some of the hopes and dreams you had or the expectations for how you would be spending the end of your life. But the beauty of the sacrifice is in that death and in the pain! That is what makes it so valuable, like the death of Christ on the Cross!

So I have laid down my staff and now I am picking that serpent up by the tail and packing up and selling off my life to take myself to the jungles of Africa to see how God will use me there! I can't take credit for the story above. It was given to me by my cousin, friend and sister-in-Christ. Each time I find myself wondering if I am "crazy", God puts someone in my path to speak just the right words of encouragement to me.

Please pray as I begin preparations, apply with a mission board and down-size my life! My goal is to be on the field in the Fall of 2013. I pray God grants me wings so I can fly to Africa!

Welcome Back to Blogspot

Wow, it appears as if my last post was about 5 years ago! I got out of the blogging and into the facebooking along with most everyone else. I have decided to reinstate my blog and to start capturing everything God has been doing in my heart and life over the last 20 years that has lead me to surrender to full-time ministry in Africa. I don't plan on sharing detailed information on Facebook at this point of my journey, but thought I could post information here and share with just a few individuals SO please don't pin me, share me or like me! If you have comments leave them here on blogspot! God bless and it is good to be back!