Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Praying for our children....

As we meet weekly to pray for our trip to Tanzania the team is faithful to pray for one another. One of the things that we seem to have on most of our agendas to pray for is our children. I use that term loosely because children could mean your small child, grade school age child, high school age, college age, and or adult children. It could mean a grandchild, a niece or nephew, great grandchildren, etc. You get the idea. I suspect as women we take on the greatest responsibility of  "what did I do wrong" when our kids aren't behaving and or living the way we would like for them to behave or live (and of course the men will let you, ha,ha,ha).  Let me start by saying to all of you mothers and dads out there, "God is a perfect parent and look at His children".  I rest my case. ha,ha,ha,ha,ha I tell parents all the time if you have been a parent for more than 30 seconds you have probably done something wrong! ha,ha,ha,ha,ha    While God is the perfect parent and we (as His children) still don't do so well behaving and living the way He desires for us you can be assured that you as the imperfect parent will too have children that don't behave and live the way you would like for them all the time. Yes, I know some of you are not holding out for all the time you are just holding out for a few times a year!  ha,ha,ha  

Let me encourage you to remember God's word in Matthew 6:33 (ESV) "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."  

Whether your children are young or older the truth is you are in no position to be all God intended for you to be in their lives if your life is out of order. So make sure you are "seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness" and He will give you all you need and sustain you in their journey. And LORD knows you will need to be sustained!!!   

Here is a fun little video rap song on for parents if you haven't seen it. (It came out over a year ago but it's still cute!)

Don't forget to pray for the missionary women that will be attending the Tanzania retreat!! And the team members as we are at the beginning of preparations for the trip. Everything is moving smoothly (Praise God!!). Don't forget to be prayerful about giving to help sponsor the missionary women that will be attending.

Love you guys, 

His,
Vickie


Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Whoever Said......

Whoever said, "if you are going to be a missionary you need to learn a very important word, ‘flexibility'" was so correct. Some of us probably need to learn that word whether we are a missionary or not. ha,ha,ha. Tony Robbins (motivational speaker) once said, "Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach."   

Well, that is just what we are doing regarding Burkina Faso. Our dates have changed since the last blog because we found out there is a very important Home School Co-op meeting the last week of January in Burkina Faso. Therefore, to give more missionary women the opportunity to join us we have moved the dates to the week before. So, effective as of this writing, the Burkina Faso Retreat is January 21-24, 2015.
  
I feel pretty safe in saying that is our settled upon date. So please begin to pray if you believe God wants you to be a part of the team. We have a few spots still open for team members. Contact me at vickie@purejoyinternational.org.  

The Tanzania team members are off and running.
Team meetings took place in Oklahoma, Chicago, and Arkansas this week. Within two weeks over 315 people will be praying very specifically, very intentionally and very personally for the 50 missionary women that will attend the November Retreat.   They will be praying for their marriages, families, children, ministries, peer relationships, the people they minister to, etc. Thank you all that have started giving towards this Retreat. As of last week we had 11 and 1/2 missionary women sponsored. That leaves us with 38 1/2 ladies to go. So keep giving until we reach the goal.  

As I close today I want to encourage you with a word from A.W. Tozer. As many of you have heard me say "I'm sure he was supposed to be my husband but he died shortly after I was born and was already married." Go figure!

                                                        The Reality Of Pride
The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way . . . do I hate.
Proverbs 8:13   

Let me warn you of the danger and the bigotry of human pride. You will find it everywhere in the world, and it will feast on almost anything that will make it fat!

I have come to the conclusion that many people I have met are not ever going to get right with God because they have determined that they simply will not humble themselves, ever! Pride is an awesome quality in mankind, not only in Jesus’ day, but in ours as well.

I heard a newscast in which one of India’s highest officials was trying to deny a report that Christian missionaries were being hindered in their work in India. He said, “We are not hindering the propagation of the Christian doctrine in India. In fact, we understand that there have actually been a few people of low caste who have believed the Christian teaching.”

Oh, the rising pride in his voice as he made the statement. The helpless and the hopeless in the lowest caste—he was not going to get in their way if they wanted to believe in Christ. Yes, the bigotry of human pride is everywhere!

Lord, sometimes pride has a way of sneaking up on me so slowly and naturally that I don’t recognize it. You have my permission, Lord, to root out the pride in the dark corners of my being.

                                                                                  Mornings with Tozer, by A. W. Tozer. 

Love you all,

His,
Vickie

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Burkina Faso Retreat Change of Dates..

For those of you tracking our Burkina Faso Retreat we have changed our dates for the retreat. We were unable to secure a hotel in a timely manner even though we have been working on it for months.  I have to believe that this is God's timing. For whatever reason He did not want us in the country during the month of September. Therefore, after talking with our missionary contact in Burkina we have changed the dates to January 28th -31st, 2015, for the actual retreat. Team members will leave out on the 23rd and return on the 1st of Feb (give or take on either end depending on flights). I share this with you to let you know that as of this writing there are a few team member spots available if you believe God is tugging on your heart about this trip. If so, please contact me ASAP at vickie@purejoyinternational.org.

The Tanzania team is full, hotel secured, missionaries registered and we are full with a waiting list. Please pray as we begin to meet weekly for prayer in preparation for leaving the country. If you are a regular supporter of the missionary women when we are doing a particular retreat this is the time to start giving. We have 50 missionary women to sponsor. It cost $500 per a missionary to sponsor a lady. All donations towards sponsorship of any amount are appreciated as we begin our journey of preparation to leave the country November 12, 2014. Please go to our web site at www.purejoyinternational.org and donate today. Click the "Donate Here" button in the top right corner for instructions. Here is why we ask you to give so they can attend 4 days and 3 nights free of charge... 

If the video does not show (that is a possibility if you receive the blog via email) click here to view it.

Your donations do help us to fulfill the vision God has given us which is to keep our missionary/missionary families on the field of service God has lead them to serve in for His Glory and the souls of men. Remember, while we need you to be generous givers regarding resources the most important thing you can do is PRAY!  Pray for the missionary women, for us, and for what God wants to accomplish through this ministry each time we step into their world to bring them a spiritual drink in the middle of their journey. 

2 Samuel 23:15 (ESV)
And David said longingly, “Oh, that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate!”

Love you all....

His,
Vickie

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Evergreen....

My friends in Tulsa, OK., are going to think I'm getting ready to write about them because the name of their church is "Evergreen". But, actually I'm not. However, what I'm writing could be true of the people in their church family and/or yours or mine.

God really got my attention this week as I was reading through the Chronological Bible Study Devotional readings. We are covering a lot of Psalms right now. The verse that hung on my heart this week so far is out of Psalm 92:12.  


Psalm 92:12 (ESV) 
The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 





I love to research what commentaries have to say on the things God puts on my heart. So, the one that really encouraged me was from Charles Spurgeon's collection of "The Treasury of David" which reads...

Verse 12. The song now contrasts the condition of the righteous with that of the graceless. The wicked "spring as the grass", but the righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, whose growth may not be so rapid, but whose endurance for centuries is in fine contrast with the transitory verdure of the meadow. When we see a noble palm standing erect, sending all its strength upward in one bold column, and growing amid the dearth and drought of the desert, we have a fine picture of the godly man, who in his uprightness aims alone at the glory of God; and, independent of outward circumstances, is made by divine grace to live and thrive where all things else perish. The text tells us not only what the righteous is, but what he shall be; come what may, the good man shall flourish, and flourish after the noblest manner. He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. This is another noble and long lived tree. "As the days of a tree are the days of my people", saith the Lord. On the summit of the mountain, unsheltered from the blast, the cedar waves its mighty branches in perpetual verdure, and so the truly godly man under all adversities retains the joy of his soul, and continues to make progress in the divine life. Grass, which makes hay for oxen, is a good enough emblem of the unregenerate; but cedars, which build the temple of the Lord, are none too excellent to set forth the heirs of heaven.


Something noteworthy to understand about the palm tree and the Cedar in Lebanon: They are both Evergreen trees. That means they are a plant that has leaves in all four seasons, and are always green which is where the term "evergreen" comes from. The palm tree is found mostly in dry, desert, tropical areas, the cedar of Lebanon in the mountains. 


Such a power packed breakdown of that verse! Oh, don't we all need to be reminded often that we should be "aiming alone for the glory of God"! I know I do! "Not moved by our outward circumstances"! Isn't that the journey we are all on! To be able to "by divine grace live and thrive where all things else perish"! Only God in us can accomplish that through us! And like the cedar of Lebanon haven't we all felt "unsheltered from the blast"! We use the term "blindsided", meaning we had no idea that was coming at us. Whew! But yet in all the adversities, "retains the joy of his soul, and continues to make progress in the divine life". I pray that God will continue to grow me in the ability to retain the joy of my soul in the storms. I don't think I do so well at that these days. But the desire for God to continue to grow me in that is Big! I desire that of you, too, that our lights may continue to shine in an ever-increasing dark world that we may reach the nations for His Glory!

Love you all,

His,
Vickie