Thursday, August 30, 2007

Another Team Member Added

Greetings Dear Ones…

We are steadily moving forward in regard to our trip to Quito. We have prayer groups meeting in 5 different states, plus the missionary women in Quito praying for the trip. The states include Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, North Carolina and South Carolina. These groups are meeting for at least one hour weekly to pray specifically for the missionary women that will be attending, the team that will be coming, our messages, the worship time, the activity and free time, financial provision, and anything else God puts in our hearts to pray for regarding the retreat. I encourage you if you are praying for us weekly, daily, etc., we would love to hear from you and to know where you are from.

I am excited to share with you that Patty Shipp, a dear friend, board member, and as I call her my personal….Techno Barbie (without blonde hair, ha,ha,ha) whom I have learned not to leave the country without, is making a way for us to be able to allow those of you that are making contributions to the trip through prayer and financial support to be able to access more of the personal aspect of the trip. So pray for her as she works on this.

Our team is now up to 13 with two more spots to fill. This past week as our prayer group here at home was praying God really impressed me that there was some else from my home church that was suppose to be on this trip. I shared that with the group after prayer. The next day I was visiting with a woman in our church that helps to head our Women’s Ministry and as I was preparing to walk off the LORD impressed heavily upon me that she was the one. I called her later in the afternoon and shared with her what had happened and reminded her that I am not trying to be her Holy Spirit but that I was being obedient to what God had laid on my heart. I then asked her to pray and be open to what God would be speaking to her heart. She did pray and spoke with her husband and got his blessing and we are glad to have Janice Mobley come on board with us.

It is so important to remember that if God has something in store for you, He will tell you as well as the other people. So many times in my counseling ministry I hear people tell me that so and so told them that they where going to be doing so and so. I always remind women that when someone shares something with me that God has supposedly told them about me or that I am suppose to do…that one of two things is happening: (1) God has already began showing me that personally and that person’s word is for affirmation, and or (2) God hasn’t shown me that yet personally so I put it on the shelf until He reveals it to me in His timing and still it is affirmation and to be quite honest with you I have had some things told to me by others that God has yet to affirm so, those kind words ( and sometimes not so kind) from others on the shelf! And trust me my flesh rises up at times and wants to open the jar (of the kind words of course) as from God but I learned years ago that He isn’t withholding anything from me and if it is of Him, He will reveal it to me in His time.

Sorry, you will learn that sometimes I take a little “side bar” if you will. You know what a “side bar” is; it isn’t the main meal just something extra. Some people call it chasing rabbits. I’m a believer that attends a Southern Baptist church; we have to make everything about food! Ha,ha,ha,ha.

I am looking forward to some of you writing to us and sharing your hearts, your thoughts and your stories.

His, Vickie

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Back to everyday life...

Hope this entry finds each of you doing well. It was good to get away from the office for a week. Hurricane Aaron was nipping at our heels towards the end of the week but ended up going around us there in Padre Island. The most wind and rain we got was coming back to Arkansas.

We almost have our team for Quito, Ecuador in place. I’m excited about that! But for those of you that are praying for us and watching what God is up to in our ministry we will also begin preparations for a retreat to the missionary women in the Costa Rica area to take place Feb. 4-11, 2008. If you would like to see your church be a part of a trip then please prayerfully go to your women’s ministry leader, WMU leader, pastor, etc. and refer them to our web site http://www.purejoyinternational.org. We will be glad to send you a promo video (in the process of being developed), brochure, etc. and I will follow that up with a personal visit if you believe God is leading you to be involved with us by sending team members on a trip, joining as prayer partners, sponsoring missionaries through financial support, etc.

Please remember to pray for our speakers, music person, hospitality people, activities person, etc. for our Quito Trip! We have 39 missionary women signed up for our Quito trip thus far. We like to cap it at 50 because it helps me to honor the vision I believe God gave me for this ministry and that is intimacy with Him and each other throughout the retreat. So, we eat together, worship together, study God’s word together, play together and relax together!

As I spoke with one of the missionaries by email yesterday in Quito I closed my correspondence with her by saying, “Have a Jesus Day.” Immediately it hit me, what are we saying to someone when we say “Have a Jesus Day”? Sounds spiritual but what are we really saying? Then I started to ponder what was a day like was for Jesus? No place to lay His head, people out to kill Him, people calling Him names, talking about Him behind His back, etc., etc.,. In our world we would call that “a bad day”. So, I close with this, if we REALLY are closing the gap between us and our relationship with the Lord so that we may wholly follow Him, expect some bad days!

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Update on Quito Retreat

Greetings in the precious name of the Lord!
I am coming to you this week from the beach where I am trying to recuperate from Kids Camp. Now that was an experience!

I want to let you all know how things are going concerning the Quito retreat planning. Team members are coming together and there will soon be a page with team members and their bios on our web site. This will give you an opportunity to get to know the team members and give you faces to pray for as you keep Pure Joy in your prayers.

As you lift this ministry up please continue to pray for God’s direction in every aspect of the Quito retreat. Please also pray for God’s provision for the team and for the missionaries that will be attending the retreat. Pray specifically for financial partners for this retreat. Check back for more updates next week.