We thank God for that!

A little update on Ruth.  Here visit to the clinic was helpful; the doctors were familiar with her case and gave her an iv to re-hydrate her.  She was at the clinic for 4 days and is now home and doing better.  Please keep praying for this precious little one!

Restoration

In art, restoration often involves returning a piece to it's former glory: cleaning up the residue of age, touching up parts of the piece that have faded with time, showing the current audience all of the splendor and beauty that the artist intended for the original audience.

As I seek to understand God's restoration in my own life, God's challenged me to think further than this.  When God speaks of restoration, He isn't simply referring to bringing us back to the time before we first sin or before we first experienced the brokenness of our fallen world.  No!  God challenges us to go further than that, challenges us to see who He created us to be before the beginning of time (Ephesians 1:4-5).  He longs to show us what it means to be restored in Him and to Him, longs for us to know life apart from our sin nature. He wants us to understand the completeness found solely in who we are in Him.

More so, God wants us to understand that this restoration is something that has already taken place!  We have a future hope in Christ, AND we have hope in Christ NOW!  For God has already restored us through the death and resurrection of Christ!  Our God is mighty to save!  God has not left us in our shameful state or our brokenness; He has replaced our shame with a double portion, our disgrace with everlasting joy (Isaiah 61:7).  In Christ, we are completely restored, for it is no longer we but Christ in us who lives (Galatians 2:20).  We have been restored, COMPLETELY restored, in Christ and to Christ!  Our God is mighty to save!

LORD, teach me to live in this restored life.  Teach me to live as a vessel of You.  Teach me to live a life free of past regrets and sin, free of striving, free of self-seeking sinfulness.  Teach me to live as Christ.

Further prayer

PLEASE pray for baby Sidney who was severely burnt in a horrible accident. Shehas already lost her twin sister, fought to live through a measles outbreak and now needs healing from this. Thank you!

Oh how I love this sweet little one!

Calling all warriors

From Amber and Jako, friends in Zambia

Dear friends, family, and cherished prayer warriors - it is time for urgent prayers once again.  We want to ask if you will please keep the newest addition to our orphanage (Ruth) in your prayers.  She came to us last week, weighing only 6.7kg's (14lbs 12 oz) at 1 year and 8 months of age.  While we didn't expect her transition to our orphanage to be an easy one (in less than a month she has dealt with the death of her mom (her father passed away earlier), been diagnosed with HIV, and lived with 3 different families) but we hoped that with some good nutrition (she was living only on plain cornmeal porridge), and loving care from the housemothers that we would see a quick improvement for this very sick, precious, little girl however her health has continued to decline.  Along with her bouts of crying, lack of interest in food, diarrhea, and a general "failure to thrive" she has lost more weight and at only 5.4kg's now (11lbs 14 oz) her health condition is getting more serious every day.  Tomorrow she will be taken to the local village clinic for her HIV review so we are asking for prayers for her, wisdom for the doctors, and grace and strength for the housemothers in caring for her.  Our prayer is that God will grant Ruth favor and mercy and that she will be brought to health and strength in order to know and proclaim the love and care of our heavenly gracious Father.

 

On a more positive note - remember little Isaac who we asked for prayers for earlier?  Here is a more recent picture of him.  When we got back from South Africa we couldn’t believe it was the same baby! Thanks be to God who truly hears, cares, and answers prayers.

 

with much gratitude and appreciation for your prayers and intercessions for us and the ministry and thanks to God for his watch care, healing, and provision,

 

Jako and Amber Joubert

 

Mission of Love Community Orphanage

Mukamba, Zambia

www.missionoflovezambia.blogspot.com  

PLEASE PRAY FOR THESE PRECIOUS LITTLE ONES!

J-term and a new semester

"You can go to God if you are weighed down by the demands and pressures of your life. Go to Jesus. He will give you rest from all your burdens, you must surrender all of it and believe Him to ‘work all things together for good’ for your sake, when have laid them at the altar of the Lord, let them alone to the Lord who will care for them and do not think about them anymore. In exchange, take on the yoke of Christ, which is easy and light. Be kingdom-minded: His Kingdom come and His will be done. Strive no more, your worries are futile, your own understanding and reasoning are meaningless when God’s hand is in your life (He does whatever He pleases for His glory and your sanctification), your thoughts are not higher than His. In His presence there is fullness of joy, at His right Hand are pleasures forevermore. That is where you need to go. Go to Jesus to empty yourself of worldly burdens and cares of this life and be filled with the simplicity of the joy and goodness and grace of the Lord. He will fill you up with Himself. In His presence, you will find rest and restoration for your weary souls. You will learn that joy and satisfaction and peace comes from His throne of grace and not the world nor the circumstances of your life and see that you are truly blessed beyond measure through the riches of God that is in Christ Jesus, His Son, being made available to us, His sons and daughters."

A good reminder as I push through the effects of j-term and the start of a new semester.  =)

The click of swords and bandaids

Yesterday at church I filled in for the 4th/5th grade small group teacher, and as usual, the kids probably taught me more than I taught them.

I didn't have my usual patience, and there was one boy in particular who I was really struggling to engage with patiently.

Our lesson was on self-control, specifically controlling your words, and this particular boy initially found the sword of hurting words much more appealing than the boring bandaids of healing words (who's idea was it to use a sword as an example of a bad thing with 5th grade boys?), and found each example of hurtful words  much more amusing than their opposite (mainly because he got to use such forbidden words in church of all places).

Then somewhere in the lesson, there was an obvious change in him; even his physical demeanor changed as he stopped his fidgeting for just a moment to comment: "Wait.  Maybe I really do need to change my words and be more careful of what I say."

Click!  Something within him allowed the boy to see past the distractions of the illustration to see God's truth. After seemingly missing the entire lesson, it's message clicked inside him and immediately resulted in change.  And this teacher couldn't have been more relieved.

I wonder how often God feels that same relief when dealing with us: He's constantly empowering us with our truth, and yet we habitually struggle to accept it; just like this boy, we miss His messages because of the distraction and draw of the things of this world; we get caught up in the flash of swords that we miss His truth.  And yet He patiently and graciously continues to teach us, continues to fill our lives with opportunities to know Him more, to know the truth of His creation and its purposes, until we move our attention from the draw of earthly swords to the sword of the Spirit.

Just call me auntie

My favorite Christmas present by far!

My precious nephew, Ezra Jackson.  Born Christmas night at 8:07.  A peanut at 6 lbs 3 oz and 19.75 in 

Dear Tank, get ready to get spoiled by your auntie!