Friday, June 27, 2008

To God Be the Glory ...Great Things He Hath Done!

....If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and you night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always, he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.Isaiah 58:9-11

I wish that you could see David and I at our PO BOX.We really are like two children. Right or wrong, we behave like we are waiting for that one special gift you asked for at Christmas. The gift that everyone is hiding until they've watched you sweat it out and graciously accept all the other things that you didn't ask for when the question "What do you want for Christmas ?" was proposed. We almost break into a run to get to the box.
To spare you the ugly details.. today was different. I was running this sacred PO BOX run solo. I had my worship music on to a hip-hop Jesus piece, it is Friday and the sun is out, windows are down. I even sprung out of my car with an enthusiasm that caught myself and a total stranger off guard. What would be in the box? Anything?....no, nothing!

I was really pathetic getting back into the car. The sun was still shinning, windows were still down.However, I changed the music to a little David Crowder Band (mellow with deep lyrics) and the tears came. Now, I want to stop here because I DONT want you to stop here. Please keep reading. The intention is to bring you into my car so that you can get a glimpse of what God did for us today. Anyway, I am leaving the post office and began a prayer basically like this. Lord, YOU alone cause the winds to blow. Lord, YOU alone cause the waves to rise. Lord, you alone have given me life and even bigger still....you have given me ETERNAL life. Lord, YOU alone have given me this day...not for Guatemala...but for here and the people you mesh us with TODAY. God forbid me not to miss the blessing of today by seeking so much of tomorrow that this is gone...the feeling of knowing our souls thirst for a land we do not yet know ...led and inspired by a God whom we DO know and trusting you to take us out each day and to be your hands and to be your feet. In your timing God ....all of it ...only in YOUR timing. ....Amen.

I'll wrap this up quickly. A beautiful time of worship led me to an incredible day of peace and contentment and opened me up for my family to be amazingly blessed....Summit Baptist Church held their VBS this week. They chose us for their mission project and called us this afternoon to say that they have raised 5,840.00 on our behalf....Was brokenness essential for worship today? It was at the Evans home. Deep brokenness was met with great GLORY.

To God be the glory, great things he hath done!
We love you all!
Blessed and Refreshed,
Evans family

PS. This donation today made 7,140.00 given to us by vacation Bible schools....never consider ANYTHING that God is invited to as a small possiblity.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

We're still here! ...and still blogging.

okay... I give up ! I'm trying to post pictures of our house remodeling but can't get the photos to post... so I'll to try again later. I have mentioned in our newsletter for everyone to check out our house here because it really is amazing.. However, for the last 2 weeks I have tried to upload my photos with no luck. Meanwhile, we've had a TON of awesome things going on and need to updated everyone.
1. We LOVE our small space! What started as a "what are we doin?" has ended with a "why didn't we do this sooner?" Our children LOVE their "little brown house". I LOVE to clean our little brown house, the older guys and David LOVE to work on projects at our little brown house,etc... That saying,big things come in small packages is really true!
2.our church had VBS last week and we all had a blast! Somehow, they (our church) managed to be sooo sneaky that they surprised us by collecting $1326.52 to go towards our ministry funds. The children brought in their money all week that they had collected and I was completely SHOCKED ! ( David was in on it the night before) I could only cry tears ... I was so humbled by the moment. All week I had been watching the children stuffing money into their classes jar. When the church presented us with the gift I honestly could see the little faces that I had sat and watched that week carefully putting in their change. WOW!
3.Another church called and said that they were having a mission challenge presented to their kids and we were the ministry that they were going to help out. WOW again!
4.I met the mother of a friend who travels with her husband to do ministry in Guatemala twice a year! She was amazing! One of her daughters is serving the Lord in Guatemala and I was able to have lunch with her. She was able to give me LOTS of info that will be great to have as we get settled in. The more wonderful news is that she will only be living about 10-30 minutes away from us!
Lastly, we are up to 30 % on our support raising endeavors! This is wonderful to us and we are grateful to our team mates who are sending us out! If you think that you might be interested in sending us off or keeping us on the field with a monthly pledge you can find us at www.fh.hcstaff.org. Just look for us by last name ...EVANS FAMILY.
One last thing, I was challenged by a thought today and wanted to pass this challenge on to you ( whoever "you" are)... Are you procrastinating about acting on something God has spoken to you ? .... forgiveness, confession, acceptance, encouragement.... What if your procrastination ended today?
Hmmmmm..... it got me thinking.

Getting busy,
the Evans

Sunday, June 8, 2008

God So Desires to Love On You Today!

It's interesting the way that God strokes our shoulders, rubs our heads, holds us to his chest .... all of the things that we do as parents to physically comfort our children... I am finding that God does the same to comfort this child (me) as well.

We have moved into our wonderful home that God has provided. We have been loaned a car to use the remainder of our time here in Rome while we clean, park and sell our van. We have been given meals unexpectedly(thank you !!!) which come perfectly in timeing. We have been given plants for our yard. We are reviving sickly sod( my husband is sooo talented) ...it is truely AMAZING! All of this and somehow I still felt a little twitch in my heart. What is this I wondered? How could a much loved child of Gods' have a twitch in her heart that needed something else after ALL that we'd been given ?! ... Prayer.... that was the twitch! Thank you to all of the girls who included me in a precious time of fellowship , bizarre "book talk" ( which was only bizarre because I didn't know about the SHACK before getting together...heehee) and encouragment to share the very different road we're on which is not really different ... it's just a journey in Spanish(smile). I arrived with a twitch and left with an encouraged spirit . As I type this I have to say that although it's June and almost 100 degrees somehow that makes me sound like the Grinch! (opps!) I hope that if you have a little "twitch " in your heart, a little "ping" of an empty love tank .. that you'll take this truth and share with those around you ... ask for prayer... God so desires to love on you today... and since we ( the believers in Jesus )are to be his hands and feet.... get movin' .... get talkin' ... just hang out ! After all, it is summer!!! whoo-hooo!