Monday, September 30, 2019

Sao Paulo, Registration Closed…


We have closed registration for Sao Paulo, Brazil as of Wednesday night, September 25, 2019.
Please continue to pray for the team and the missionary women that will be attending the conference. 
Thank you to all that have sponsored the missionary women to be able to attend free of charge except for travel to and from the conference.  Also, thank you to our prayer warriors, those that gift, give and are going from your local churches.
You all are the BEST!  Our ministry is blessed because of you!

For A Good Laugh…
This past Tuesday, my great-nephew (BK) and his cousin (RS) (respectively 7 and 9 years of age) were riding in the back seat on the way home from spending time after school together, having had quite the fun time.  As usual, no matter where they are together, eventually someone must go home.  This usually leads to some form of a meltdown for whichever one must leave. On this day RS was having to go home. 
To keep this in perspective, several days earlier BK had gotten in trouble about something and was upset with me. Instead of having a full-blown meltdown, he left the room and went to his Nana’s room. Several minutes later I went in to check on him and he was laying across her bed but had calmed himself down. I told him how very proud I was of him that he had chosen to control his temper instead of allowing it to control him. Of course, he loved the encouragement!
Now, back to the back-seat conversation. As RS continued to be upset BK decided to share his 7-year-old wisdom with him.The conversation went something like this; 
BK:  I’m going to tell you how to control your temper when you get mad.
RS:  Looks at him like, “What?”
BK:  When you get mad, run into your room and SLAM your face on your bed!
RS: Still looking at him like, “What?”
BK: Really! It will knock some sense into you!
Of course, I was laughing to myself so hard I’m sure they had to have noticed. And I’m confident that RS left the car that day still thinking “What”?  
Proverbs 25:28 (MSG)
A person without self-control is like a house with its doors and windows knocked out.
Have a great week and remember, take time to laugh!
His,
Vickie

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Brazil…

We are three weeks out from the team leaving the country to head to Sao Paulo, Brazil. Please pray diligently for all details to come together. Registration Deadline for missionary women to sign up is next Wednesday, October 25, 2019. We count it as Pure Joy and an honor to be able to come alongside the missionary women and encourage them.  


On Another note… 

As I sat outside the other morning, engulfed with the sounds and sights of nature  -  birds chirping, frogs croaking, squirrels running to and fro, lake waters moved by a gentle breeze, geese flying over, hummingbirds, spiders, and butterflies going about their day - all is peaceable.

Then out of nowhere there is this large snap and cracking sound and all a sudden an unsuspecting tree limb makes its way to the ground 50 yards away. As you walk up on it you realize it’s dead. Sitting here I never even saw it. It just kind of fit in among the other limbs until it fell to the ground.

That tree limb got me to thinking about people we are around daily and weekly. So many people going through life looking like they are ok but, on the inside, they are dying. Maybe their marriage is falling apart, maybe they have a problem with their children, work related issues, church related issues, money issues, health issues, mental stress issues, etc., etc., but the truth is we have become so good at hiding our struggles for fear of others thoughts, feelings and/or actions towards us that whether the need is for Jesus, encouragement, help, a friend, or someone to just notice I’m dying here, we don’t say a word. And soon enough, like that limb, we snap and crack and fall to the ground.

Can I encourage us today? We all know those around us that we are familiar with daily and weekly. Don’t ignore when something doesn’t look right, sound right and/or puts a check in your spirit. Maybe they need to know Jesus, maybe they need a word of encouragement, maybe they just need a listening ear, a helping hand, or a hug. But, don’t ignore things that don’t seem right to you. Trust God’s spirit in you to direct your steps! Ask God to give you eyes to see and know.

And finally, thank you to my friends near and far that I serve with daily, study God’s word with weekly, and those that send emails, make phone calls, text, etc., that don’t mind stepping in my bowl of Cheerios when I am acting weirder than usual. Ha,ha I’m confident God has placed you in my life so I would not become one of those fallen limbs. Thank you, God.

Philippians 2:4 (ESV)
Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.


His,
Vickie

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Deadline Closing In…

There are only 15 days until the opportunity to register for Pure Joy International São Paulo, Brazil conference closes. Please get the word out ASAP to anyone that you know is thinking about attending and/or hasn’t heard about it yet. Go to www.purejoyinternational.org to register. Final deadline is September 25th, 2019. No rooms secured after that date.

We have 40 missionary women sponsored as of now. We have 25 signed up. Please don’t stop giving towards sponsorships so we are prepared when remaining 25 slots get filled. Please keep praying for God to get the word out to those missionaries that need this conference.

Nehemiah

I love that book of the Bible. So rich and full of biblical principles on leadership, accountability, warfare, etc. One of my favorite biblical principles comes out of Nehemiah 2:1-5.
Nehemiah 2:1-4 (ESV)

In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. And the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart.” Then I was very much afraid. I said to the king, “Let the king live forever! Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ graves, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?” Then the king said to me, “What are you requesting?” So, I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ graves, that I may rebuild it.”

Did you catch that little sentence? So, I prayed to the God of heaven.

Nehemiah is standing before the king that he is the cupbearer to. Their relationship is obviously close enough that the King realizes Nehemiah is struggling in his spirit with something. The king asked him what’s up? (paraphrased). In that instance, in that millimeter of a second, Nehemiah in his mind looked to God and prayed. He didn’t fall on his knees, he didn’t run to the prayer room, he didn’t call others for prayer, he went to God immediately and only God knows what he prayed but this we know, it wasn’t a dissertation. It was short, sweet, sincere, believing by faith God was listening. And then he addressed the king. In real life time I suspect there was hardly a pause between what the king asked and his response. Yet, in-between that pause Nehemiah ran to the throne room.

I am trying to apply this principle to my life daily. And the more I desire to apply it, the more I recognize the times I don’t. Ugh!!

Can I encourage all of us to take time to pause, to run to the throne room before we speak or engage in actions that could have been handled differently, if we had just looked to Him even for a second. Just enough to change our focus so we could deal with it through His eyes.

By the way, it was amazing to read the rest of Chapter 2 of Nehemiah to see the king’s graciousness to him. May we know His graciousness as we look toward Him increasingly more!

His,
Vickie