Psalm 18 :28-36

28 You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.

29 With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall.

30 As for God, his way is perfect;the word of the Lord is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.

31For who is God besides the Lord? And who is the Rock except our God?

32 It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.

33 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights.

34 He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

35 You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great.

36 You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn.

Psalm 18:28-36

Yesterday a dear friend found out that her husband has cancer . I cannot say a word that has any value above the value of our Fathers word and so that is where I went this morning and found this great nugget of truth for my soul. My prayer is that it will encourage you and speak to your soul as well. When we feel like we can not do anything it is imperative to remember that God can do it all! Whatever HIS all is...........we just have to find a place of rest in that.

Trust and obey, for there's no other way

To be happy in Jesus, than to trust and obey.

My deepest love goes out to those who are hurting today. Just remember vrs 29... with my God I can scale a wall...even if the wall is cancer.

Peace,

Melinda

This is an unusually quiet Sat. morning at my house. Having time to get on the computer while the sun is up is very odd. I had a wonderful time with the Lord this morning and found myself in awe of the salvation that has been extended to me. These days we are seeing the Lord grant us many miracles using many people. Our faith in God is ALIVE , ACTIVE and REAL. I have a very real sense of knowing that God is using this time of building up for the days that are to come when we travel and live in a foreign country. While the country of Guatemala is foreign to us , to our Lord, it is common. The faith that he is building up here is the same faith that we will call on in uncertain times that are bound to be ever present with this journey we are on. I don't know how you might have come across my little spot in cyber space but I have to tell you the TRUTH...

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body , I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!
Galatians 2:20-21

So where are you at with that?...... Just something to think about. Who ever you are.... you are loved and worth great value. Grab a Bible and check it out! Have an awesome Saturday!

M

How Exciting!!!

How exciting!! Our support team is growing by leaps and bounds. Last night I actually laid my head down for sleep and caught a deep breath...wow! We're really going to Guatemala! I want to wait and share the exact numbers in our November newsletter so I am keeping it a secret for now but I can say that we are over our numbers from the last letter by more than 10% in our outbound budget and our monthly budget has raised at least 5% so far!!!!! HOW EXCITING!!!!

I found this quote from a missionary who is serving in Mexico. He had this on his newsletter:

regarding missions... "you are either called to go down into the well or you are called to hold the rope. If you can't go yourself, what you can do is send someone down who is called and willing to go." .... Blessings,

The Evans ..... willing to go down in the well.... will you hold the rope? If so... check us out at http://www.fh.stafflist.org/.

I Found 2 New LOVES Today....

Finding one new thing that you love in one day is awesome...Finding 2 new things that you love in one day is WONDERFULLY SPECIAL!

1. MOPS- I had the blessings of speaking to this beautiful group of women today ! Wow! Where was this when I had all of my guys as preschoolers. I was so encouraged to see these women really aspiring to be GREAT mothers! very encouraging...

2. Ru Sans has take out! (sushi)..... David and I saw FIREPROOF last Friday and it was AMAZING ! Also amazing but on a totally insignificant level (okay, it has value because it was food) anyway, sushi at Ru Sans! We had incredible company and great food after seeing a real heart moving movie...My mind drifts back to the movie even just typing it ..(focus)...anyway, I thought I would stop in to the restaurant and see if I could get a roll to go ...David thought not but ... I got it! I'm so addicted to this! I should say that we've only tried 3 things on the menu of 200+ possibilities but it's all good... I'm stretching and for anyone who knows me really well...stretching in the food department is, well, stretching! I'm a bit "just give me the same " kinda girl... when I find something that I like I don't venture to far from it ..not this time. I'm in .... yes, there is a place for sushi in my life.....now if only I could work in MOPS ...no preschoolers though ...at least, not today (smile)...

I hope that the Lord will put something new in your path these next few days to stretch you , encourage you and in general ... just give you the shout out that life is all about new. You get a new day, a new chance, a new life... The kinda stuff that the Lord will lead you to discover and love will never leave you feeling like you just ate raw fish.... instead, you'll just take your learners bite and probably go back for more... only next time,it'll be take out for the road.

Adios-
Heading for Guatemala one day soon ( We have a promise from the Lord),
Melinda

Adventure Racing

This past Saturday Cooper, Jacob and their youth leader were in an adventure race here in our town. They had to run about 4 miles, bike about 8 miles and canoe 3 miles. They WON the race!!! What an awesome accomplishment! We are so proud of them!

So, our boys were in this adventure race.... Once the race started they had to run to a designated area and scavenge to find their papers .Then they hopped onto their bikes, then changed into their running shoes and ran for a while , then bike again, then loaded their canoe and THEN ran to the finish line. In between all of this, they had points where they had to sprint up hills,etc and get a card punched. Then after they finished the race, they had to answer trivia questions about things they came across while on their "adventure". (whew! ) I couldn't help but relate it to this great adventure race that the Evans are on. We have received our call and have been shot out into the race much like a race horse ..or ..an adventure racer. We seem to always be turning, changing, adjusting, growing yet steadily, focused on the end ... which the obvious would be Guatemala. The largest difference may be that at the end of all of this support raising we may reach our goal of Guatemala and be the ones to ask all of the questions....like......why didn't we eat more Tex-mex before leaving, why didn't we grab that last thing at Wal-mart? why didn't we order that kitchen ware that we wanted (okay, that is... that I wanted because I have a weirdness about cooking in metals that I can't identify..weird, I know) ... Anyway, what an exciting turn everyday seems to present and yet God continues to follow us...not like poperatce (sp?)but like a father.... eternally concerned for the runner, the distractions, the endurance.... And the best part is that although the race is there to be run.... We've already won... God secured the victory through his son Jesus ! A crucifixion paid it all and resurrection that said it all ..we run...not in vain but in GLORY.... Glory that presents peace when all is exhausted ...Glory that will be with us forever .... AMEN

No T-shirt required ,

The Evans ...aka... Adventure Racers for Jesus

Go LIONS!!!!

You can't really take in the Fall season without a little football. Jacob is playing football with a local Christian school and LOVING it! We are quite the site ... the eight Evans all showing up with their Lions T-shirts and water bottles in hand. We had a man stop us at the last game and ask if we were a home school group. David and I laughed and told him ..no, just our family. The man had such a funny look on his face. Little did he realize that we have a few friends that could make our little clan look like a TINY group.... W's,A's and S's...SO, if you haven't felt the cooler air outside, you should take a few minutes and throw the ball around with your kids, friends or pet and celebrate this great American game! GOOOOOO UCS !

***update on support raising****

Things are moving along! We are excited to say that we are at about 52% of our outbound budget and a little over 30% of our monthly budget. We (David and I) have set a leave date of March 1, 2009. This is a target date set by David and I (not FH) just to help us as a family try to tie up ends with the holidays and our school year. It is hard to believe that the Lord may be willing for us to leave as early as 6 months from now . It's hard to believe that we are making the largest move of our lives and we are not in the smallest way in control of any of it. What an awesome place to be! I have cried at realizing the time is fleeing and David and I have rejoiced sweetly when we see the Lord bringing our support in. This adventure is a rollercoaster of emotions and I'm sure that we ain't seen nothin' yet! (smile).....What kind of faith would it take to just read a sign in the sky or live out life following a yellow brick road? .... As for me and my house we will serve the Lord....even when things aren't so clear.. we know God to be faithful!

Thank you for droppin' in on our blog. I have no idea where the southern sayin' came in ...but for tonight .... good night yall!

Melinda