Morning....

Well, my dear ones, I have been on quite the little journey the past 10 days!  This 'morning' I finally woke up and knew that I was on my way to getting well!  Praise the LORD!  Seriously, I have been down since Sunday night a week ago.  Yes, I went to the doctor, which is why come Saturday of this past weekend I thought I might just keep a speaking engagement to a church not so far from home.  That all went well until in the middle of it my left ear just went crazy and I felt like I was speaking out of a tin can.  The visit with the ladies was wonderful!!  They were so precious and really do see their church getting on board with helping with gifting and praying and one of their ladies is traveling to Tanzania with us!  God is good!  By the time I got back home however, I had some shooting pains going through my ear.  So not pretty.  Got back in to a different doctor yesterday (you take whoever will see you when you walk in) and he for sure did me right!  He told me I should start feeling better today and he was right.  I'm up and putting in half a day at the office.  Pain is gone; pressure will be there for a while due to serious inner ear infection from allergy driven stuff.  I'm just so thankful.  And thank all of you for your comments to me during the week when I didn't feel like posting last week.  You are kind.

You know when you are laid up for awhile that can be good or bad.  In my case it just means lots of thinking if I’m not asleep or praying, which is good.  So, this weekend several from our church headed to Peru for a medical missions trip.  When I thought of them and have been praying for them I think of how the people in other countries live with pain and disease as part of their daily lives.  They live above it yet it is steadily and slowly taking their lives away.  I am so thankful for those that go and minister to needs in places where you have to keep your focus on what God has equipped you for right in front of you because you would otherwise wonder what is the point - it seems too overwhelming.

This summer our missionaries will be receiving help from many stateside missions trips by local churches that make this part of their summer ministry programs.  Pray for the missionaries as they help coordinate plans for the teams and for the teams to be sensitive to what the local missionaries know are the real needs of the people versus our agendas.  Also pray for people that are traveling in this capacity for the first time. Pray God will speak clearly to their hearts about why He has them on this journey.  (I am praying very much for one of my friends in Peru to hear a special word from the LORD while she is giving of herself to the locals!)   

We also have one of our Pure Joy staff and her church, which is one of our partnering churches, headed to Guatemala to do work in several orphanages and children's feeding centers there.    They are traveling with Manna Worldwide.  Please keep them in your prayers as well.

My dear ones, .... please know that missions are happening all around us from the back door to the ends of the earth!  As His children we are responsible to be a part of it on some level.  He will show you!  But you have to be looking for Him.  God passes us by on so many opportunities not because He didn't provide it but because we were too busy with our personal lives to see the kingdom opportunity!  Get involved in kingdom work - it is good for the soul!!!

Love you all....

His,

Vickie

Thought for the week:  "Christ wants not nibblers of the possible, but grabbers of the impossible." — C.T. Studd  

Translated He wants Faith Walkers!!!!