Since I’m moving on July 13th, it made me curious to see how many times other people have moved in their life times. This move will make close to 13 moves for me (I think… I’m a little fuzzy with before I was 5). So I created a poll on my blog to find out.
The results should be available to you when you vote.
Source: How many times have you moved?
“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” – Jeremiah 29:11
“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” – John 14:27
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to [His] purpose.” – Romans 8:28
“Fear not, for I [am] with you; Be not dismayed, for I [am] your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” – Isaiah 41:10
Lately I’ve been rather scatter brained. It feels like so many things are happening in my life right now (won’t really go into detail), that they are just creating a fog in my brain that I can’t seem to get rid of. Usually when this happens I will simply give it all to the Lord and let Him handle it because I really don’t need to worry myself over them. This is what I thought I was doing this time, but for some strange reason they all came rushing back with no warning. So again I find myself scatter-brained and trying to call on the promises of the Lord to carry me through. A good song that I’ve been repeatedly listening to (I tend to do that when I need to get a message drilled into my head, listen to a single song about 100 times a day) is Promises by Sanctus Real.Â
Source: God’s Promise
So I was thinking recently about what I would say if the question was asked me “How would you describe yourself in a few sentences?”
I wasnt sure at first, but after a little while I came up with this:
My name is Alexandrea Wessner, and I am a child of the One True God. My mission in life is to love others as God loves me, and make His name known throughout the nations. This is accomplished through my pursuing a relationship with Jesus Christ that grows deeper daily.
And that is who I am in a nutshell. Thanks for reading.
Source: Who Am I?
What is love? Well, according to 1 Corinthians 13
“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.”
One of the things I love most about God is that the Bible says
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” – 1 John 4:7-8
Without Him, there is no love. It is through Him that we as believers are able to love the way it states in 1 Corinthians. In my own power it is easy to “love” people who I get along with day to day, when I feel like it and when it is convenient to me. But deep down, that kind of love is a selfish love. Notice how it is dependent upon whether or not I feel like it. But God’s love is neverending; it is unfailing. He loved me WHILE I WAS STILL A SINNER! (Romans 5:8)
“In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” – 1 John 4:9-10
Through me, God is able to love others if I will lay down my selfish pride and allow Him to use me in that way. Which is why forgiveness is so important.
See, because Jesus was sinless, He was able to take on all the sins of the world (a crushing and agonizing weight) so that we sinful beings may one day stand in the Glory of God as heirs to the Kingdom of light. There is no sin greater than the others, it is all sin in the eyes of the Lord. All we need to do is repent of our sin and ask for His forgiveness, and He freely gives it because He paid in full at Calvary. It’s that simple!
How can I accept this forgiveness for my own sins and not pass it onto others? This reminds me of the parable Jesus shares in Matthew 18:21-35.
“Then Peter came to Him and said, ‘Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?’
Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay for the debt. So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.'”
This is what brings us to the real reason for this blog post. See, Fathers Day is this Sunday, June 16th. A day to honor our dads and encourage them as they continue to lead our households as Christ leads the Church. But I have two earthly dads…
One is my biological father. I met him when I was 18 years old when he found me on Facebook. And I am so blessed that the Lord brought him back into my life, and I do love him and the rest of that side of my family. I also look forward to growing that relationship with him.
Second is my Daddy. He is the one who raised me as his own daughter since before I can remember. He adopted me under his name when I was 5 years old. He comforted me when I was sad, taught me how to drive, tickled me, and watched Spongebob Squarepants with me and my brother. But my Dad sinned, as we all do, however this sin put him in jail… where he currently is. Yes this was a big sin, especially in the world’s eyes, but God loves him and will or has already forgiven him.
I believe in a God who forgives sins as far as the east is from the west. Who keeps no records of wrongs. Yes, Dad sinned, but God can heal and forgive. Nothing is impossible with Him.
I am not saying that once he is out of jail that everything will go back to how it was… No, that’s redicilous and frankly it would be very unwise for me to do. And if anyone knows how bad his sin was, it would be me, because I had to endure it for 9 years of my life, though it hurt many whom I love. But that doesnt change the fact that he is my dad and I love him. I believe God will restore him and will heal him because I have been praying for that. And God answers prayers.
So this Fathers Day I find myself conflicted. As Im sure you can now imagine why. I would love to celebrate this Father’s Day without feeling like a horrible person for even thinking about my dad. He’s my dad, and he’s the one the Lord gave to me. I’d love to tell him that every time I hear the song “Good Night My Angel” by Billy Joel, or “Butterfly Kisses” by Bob Carlisle I think of him and all the good memories I have of him. Because the bad do not out way the good. I’ve been told my whole life to think positively and to remember good things even if bad things happen.
So happy Father’s Day Daddy, and happy Father’s Day Danny (my biological Dad). I love you both.
Source: A Conflicted Fathers Day
Imagine a life where even before you were born, your parents didn’t want you. Because they knew you were a girl, they debated aborting you in hopes that next time they would be blessed with a son. In India, it’s illegal to get an ultrasound to check the gender of your baby because of this very reason. In fact, 50,000 baby girls are aborted every month in Asia.
Okay, so you were born. But since you are a girl, you run the risk of being murdered by your family. One story, among many, tells of a family who had twins, a boy and a girl. They rejoiced over the birth of their baby boy, but threw the baby girl off the roof of their building. How terrible is that?!
Suppose your family had mercy on you, and you were spared this horrific murder. You are still at the bottom of the food chain in the family…literally. You will be last to be fed – if there’s enough food, you aren’t really worthy of an education, you’re so malnurished that you might get sick, but since your family is poor, there isn’t enough money to spare for you to see a doctor. One of GFA’s medical teams came across a couple who brought a dying baby to them. The situation was so terrible that the staff immediately said for them to rush to the nearest hospital to get the baby treatment, even providing them the funds to get to the hospital. The couple didn’t move, and the staff asked why they weren’t rushing off to save their child’s life. They replied, that since it’s a girl, it’s not worth the trouble. That poor baby is probably dead by now…
Say you make it through childhood and you are a thriving young lady, despite all that is against you. Your parents have picked out a husband for you, and you are nearing your wedding day. You don’t even know the guy, but to bring honor to your family and obey your father, you must go through with the marriage. Once married your husband becomes abusive, and your family couldn’t give a very good dowry becuase they are poor. Your husband gets angry and it’s quite possible that you might be doused with kerosene and burned to death in your own kitchen. This happens to 7,000 women a year in India alone.
Let’s say your lucky though and your husband marries you and loves you. This is the first time you have experienced love in your life and are so happy to have the tides turned. You live with him for a few years time, and he is a stick gatherer, everyday going into the jungle to gather sticks for firewood to sell in town. Life goes on, but one day your husband doesn’t come back. A few days later, you discover that he was killed in the jungle by a tiger, leaving you and your children to fend for yourselves. The grief is unbearable! Not only did you lose the man you loved so dearly, but you are blamed for his death and shunned by society, your friends forsake you, and your family pretends you don’t exist.
How are you going to survive now? How will you provide for your children? What is there to do? You could go to the city and become a prostitute, you could beg alongside your children, you could try to find a job – but who would want to hire a widow?
This is the life for many women in Asia. But Gospel for Asia is changing this, one woman at a time through their Women Ministry. This ministry will teach women life skills such as reading, writing, and basic math. They will experience the love of Jesus through the Women Missionaries who can meet with and understand their pain. They might even receive a gift such as a sewing machine or a water buffalo, so they can provide for their families!
You can have a part in sharing love with these desperate women at the bottom of society. It doesn’t take much to share Jesus with a woman all the way around the globe. If you’re unable to give financially, that’s perfectly fine! Prayer is a very powerful tool, and those women need it. Pray for wisdom with the women missionaries, pray for the women who haven’t yet heard of Jesus who can wash their pain away, pray for the unborn babies – for their protection, most of all – Pray for the Kingdom of God to be proclaimed to the uttermost parts of the world.
Here’s a cool music video that I worked on that explains a bit more:
Thanks for listening,
Alley
Yesterday I had the privilege to spend quality time with my Mommy, made extra special because it happened to be a few days after Mother’s Day. She was asked to give a presentation for work here in Dallas, so she took a halfday and was able to spend it with me. We went to Escape and she experienced the goodness of bubble tea (she didn’t like it), her faces were most amusing as she tried it. “They feel like snot!” she exclaimed with a sickened expresion on her face. To which I responded “Oh, but it tastes amazing!” and happily slurped up a few of the “pearls” through my straw.
Next we went to the lake in the huge community near where I live and we relaxed near the water’s edge enjoying the gentle breeze and the mist it carried from the fountain in the middle of the lake. Soon we were joined by a few mallard ducks. There were about 6 males who were chatty and then a female appeared with her ducklings in tow. Upon seeing the female approach, the males swarmed her and proceeded to chase her as she was tried to keep her ducklings in line. It was a very funny scene to watch, and we pretended to speak for the ducks:
“Hey! Leave me alone! I’m just trying to take my kids for a swim!” – Female
“Hey! HEY!!! Look at me! Can I help? HEeeellloooooo Gorgeous!” – Males speaking over each other
“That’s it children, we are never coming back to this lake…. talk about rude.” – Female to ducklings
As we were laughing about the ducks we hear this scream “LUUUUCY! LUCY GET BACK HERE! LUUUUUCCCCYYYYY!!!!!”
We look over startled at this teenage girl yelling for a small dog that had broken off its leash and started chasing the Canada geese in the lake. The geese were none too happy and started freaking out trying to intimidate the dog. We got up and went over to the girl to see if we could help at all, but the dog was getting further and further from shore and the geese were getting angrier. I thought for a second that if the dog started to have issues, I would jump in after it, but only if it got that bad. I didn’t want to see a dog drown or get killed by a goose.
We tried to help calling for the dog, but then a teenage boy comes up near her and takes his shoes, socks, shirt, and hat off, takes his phone out of his pocket and dives in after the dog. He doesn’t have much luck as this little dog was booking it. So the boy came back to shore. By this point in time, the dog had made its way over to a dock that was nearby and the girl ran over to take it out of the water. That boy sure got some major brownie points.
Over all it was a rather eventful day and I thankfully didn’t have to jump into a lake.
Source: I Almost Jumped in a Lake!
This past Saturday a group of us GFA peoples went out to have a nerf war at a playground near one of the familie’s house. It was a great form of exercise, and I rediscovered some muscles that have long since been dormant in my body. Pushing through the pain, I must say that playing with nerf guns outside when it’s slightly windy is a challenge. I had near perfect aim… when we were inside… but then add the element of teams, adrenaline, and wind… I was lucky if I could hit one person each round!
Though I did find out that Tim and I make a pretty good team. We played where if you were shot, someone on your team had to come and tag you to unfreeze you, but if both of you were shot, then your team was out. So much like how a medic in Team Fortress 2 stays right by a heavy so you can annihilate your foes without much harm done to the dynamic duo, I was Tim’s medic and we made a really good team! (see you can learn practical applications from video games! Like…. how to survive in an all out Nerf war!)
I’m looking forward to the next nerf war, and I’ve even brought my nerf gun to my desk at work, and it’s already played a big part in the sanity of our little web department. Here’s the story:
Adam came by to work on my computer and while he was here, I was playing around with my nerf gun. Natalya sees Danny down the hallway and says “aw! Danny was just in the hallway… I know! I’ll email him!” So she proceeds to email Danny (the vice president of our organization). Her email was something along the lines of “I need you! unless you’re doing something really important”. A few minutes later, Danny comes into Web and I release a stream of nerf darts at him. To which he says “I knew there was something up, Natalya never emails me that, I should have come around the other way so I could have seen you too! (referring to me standing near my desk out of view of the door)”
You know you work in an awesome place when you can shoot the vice president of the organization with a nerf gun and he thinks it’s cool.
My weapon of choice
Source: Nerf Wars!
There are many times in my life when I think I have learned as much as I can in a certain area, and since God has grown me and healed me, I don’t ever need to come back to that area. Yes, the Lord has healed me, and I’m not saying that His healing wasn’t perfect and what I needed at that time, but there is always room for growth and it’s my own pride to say I don’t need to grow anymore in that area.
Recently I have started a Bible Study called The Hem of His Garment, and have also started reading the Bondage Breaker with Tim. Before starting these I was a little weary because I know the Lord has healed me from my past and I’m moving forward in my relationship with Him because of it. I was under the impression that since I know the Lord has healed me, I’m invincible (in a sense) to what may come up regarding my past. But that was my pride speaking, and a lie from the enemy in his attempt to keep me from seeking the Lord continuously in that area of my life and continuously taking each thought captive that I may stay in the light and not stray from the Truth I believe.
So far in the study I have learned about the wrong and right guilt and shame, about righteous and unrighteous anger, and more about Jesus’ anguish on the cross as He willingly laid down His life for me.
I always find it interesting how the Lord speaks into my life. I’m not sure if it’s because I have a thick skull to get through, or if it’s just His way of solidifying a certain message, but He always relates everything in my life to what He is showing me. So, I am learning about all these things at the same time, going through trials that relate to the things I’m learning, and then reading about the life of Jesus and how much He loves me, all at the same time. I guess that learning things in threes to make it permanent really is valid!
Anyways, that is where I am right now and I’m sure the Lord has more for me to learn through these studies. Please pray for my heart to be open and soft to His molding and teaching. Also that I will have patience with myself as I am a slow learner sometimes. Thank you all for your prayers!
The past couple of weeks has been full of many opportunities to serve. I travelled to Tennessee with a group of GFA staff and students to work a booth at the National Religious Broadcasters conference (NRB). Although it was a tiring 6 days, it was also very enjoyable to spend time in fellowship with people I wouldnt normally hang out with.
Everything from the 12hr drive there and back, to meeting people like Kay Arther who stopped by the booth, made the lack of sleep and long hours worth it. Not to mention I ended up sponsoring another Bridge of Hope boy!
After getting back from NRB, preparations began for Gospel for Asia’s Renewing Your Passion conference that is happening from the 15 – 17th of march (this weekend). I have been asked to man the myGFA booth during breaks, lead one of the two video teams who will be recording the sessions, and I volunteered to help out with registration because my best friend Katie (who is over the registration part of the conference) is a man down. Even though there will be a lot on my plate (as well as everyone else’s) it will be great to meet the different ministry partners and extended family of the ministry, as they all gather in our office.
With RYP coming up, there is also the other tasks I am responsible for day-to-day. Such as writing copy for the weekly email digests, posting the twitter statuses, writing the copy for the World Water day landing page, etc.
Even though there is a lot going on, I still feel at peace. I am thankful that I am not on my own through this stressful time. The Lord already knew this time would come around, AND He promises to be with me through it all. He never gives us anything we can’t handle through His strength. Praise God for a body of believers who work together for the furtherance of His Kingdom.
Source: Peace in the middle of Chaos
I am so blessed to serve with a Body of Believers who are really like the Church in Acts. We are all here for two purposes: to grow closer to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and to proclaim His name and His glory to those millions who havent heard His name.
The reason I write this post is because I have been struggling with headaches consistantly everyday for the past… 7 months? And when I walked down the hallway today, someone stopped me to see how Im doing, when I mentioned the headache, they stopped what they were doing and prayed for me right then and there. This is not an uncommon occurance, actually it happens all the time. We are a people who pray together constantly, are transparent with one another as the Body should be, we are there to encourage and give of ourselves (out of the strength of God) to help others, we love others even when its hard to do. The staff here at Gospel for Asia are living out what it means to be the Body of Christ. And I am so encourged by it.
Im sure there are other places out there that are similar. But Im blessed to be a part of this family.
Source: A Little Taste of Heaven