The Adventures of Darcey & Watson

So, the other night God gave me the ability to cry again. Yes, I know it sounds strange, that being able to cry again would be a prayer request of mine, but as I mentioned in an earlier post of mine, I haven’t been able to cry for a long while. Teary eyed, yes. but full out crying, where tears run down your face and your nose gets all stuffy, and you want to just curl up in a ball and be alone. That’s what happened. For once, I’m not going to go into much detail about it. But I thought I’d write on here that God has answered my prayer. And I’m thankful for the moment I got to share with just Him and me, as I sat there and wept.

Anyway! Off to impacting thousands of lost souls in Asia!

Source: An Answer to Prayer

So, I went camping this past weekend with a group of friends. Like always, I brought my camera in the hopes of capturing some of the memories of laughter, rock climbing, avoiding the blue algae infested lake, worship, fires, and setting up the tents in the dark. You know, the normal. But I went to turn on my camera, and it was dead. It wouldn’t turn on. I charged the battery, so I knew it wasn’t that. it was officially dead.
How tragic! I didn’t know what to do without a camera! I felt kinda lost. So I prayed. “Lord, help me to remember these moments, give me a photographic memory for just this weekend. Please!”
And He did! I remember all the highlights. The beauty of His creation. The fellowship between all us friends. Was amazing!
Needless to say, when I got back, I began to search for a new camera. Decided to invest in a digital SLR. After much research, and lots of help from friends and my gpa, I bought a D3100 off of Amazon. Can’t wait till it arrives!!

Source: Dead Camera

I had an “aha moment” just now as I was listening to my current favorite song “How He Loves” by John Mark Mcmillan, while chatting with a friend of mine about how we are trusting God for the future instead of us trying to manipulate circumstances so they work out how we want them, instead of how God wants them.

This is what I sent him:

it’s crazy that EVERYTHING in our lives was planned out to perfection before we were even born.
that God planned what we would learn, how we would learn it, and when would learn to apply it.
meaning that everything that happened before we learned the truth, before it finally “clicked” was His plan as well. That those experiences are what brought us to the realization of His Truth in this very moment.
Just like everything we are learning now is for preparation for what’s in store for us in the future.
everything is timed perfectly
so perfectly in fact that we often times miss it
we miss what He is doing and has done until He points it out to us.
and it’s all so that we can know how much He loves us. All so that we can then turn and give glory to Him for working the good in our lives amidst all the bad that we perceived as bad, which was actually for out ultimate good.

Isn’t that crazy? God is so good. Anyway… that was my Aha moment.

Here’s also that song that I mentioned above. I recorded it for ya. Sorry the quality isn’t that great…

Source: God’s Timing is Perfect

So, I am training to participate in the Tough Mudder challenge taking place on April 1, 2012. This challenge is a 10-12 mile run full of multiple obstacle courses that are INTENSE. Anyway, part of this training I’m enduring is to work up to running 10 miles. Yes, I said it. I am training to run 10 mile, do at least 6 pull ups, and many other physically demanding activities. So I am now biking to work most days of the week, instead of driving. I’m running three times a week. I walked an hour and 20 minutes from my place to a friends house against the wind and in the cold. And I’m playing DDR more often to work up my cardio and such. And of course, I’m eating healthier.

Let’s just say I am exhausted. But I feel so good and healthy! I’m liking this and I think I’ll keep it up even after the tough mudder.

Source: Am I Crazy?

So I just recently had a revelation. An “ah-ha!” moment, I would normally say. You know the verse Philippians 4:4 where Paul writes “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I will say rejoice!”

Gospel for Asia is an organization born from prayer. Literally, it started as a tuesday night prayer meeting in our founders house, and still to this day, we are a living breathing organism grounded in the greatest weapon given to Believers in Christ. Prayer. We have Monday, Thursday, and Friday morning prayer before we go to our battle stations, we have Tuesday night prayer every week, we have a Friday night all night prayer on the first Friday of every month, as departments we have prayer once, twice, or even three times a week, and of course there is personal prayer time. I’m not saying this to brag or anything, but just to make a point.  With our lives grounded in prayer, you can bet that we see the effects of those prayer requests every day, sometimes immediately after we’ve prayed. I don’t know about you, but for me, this is a cause to rejoice.

Some of the answers to prayer may include, healing for brothers and sisters, whole villages coming to know the Lord through the various ministries we have on the field, people in the west faithfully giving more than they have in excess to further God’s work, etc. Aren’t these amazing things?! But what about those prayer requests that we don’t get the result we had been hoping for? Say, we pray for healing for a brother in Asia who was brutally beaten for professing Christ Our Savior, we pray and we pray and we pray, but then that brother goes to be with the Lord. How is that a good thing for the family that he left behind, or for the believers he was discipling in a distant village, or even for those who persecuted him? Doesn’t Paul say Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS?

Is the word “always” subjected to only the happy answers to prayer? Shouldn’t we also rejoice in the answers to prayer that aren’t as happy? Praise the Lord that brother is no longer suffering, but he is forever in the eternal presence of our Lord Jesus! Praise the Lord I didn’t get the raise in my paycheck, because HE knows what I need more than I could ever imagine!  Praise the Lord for _______ (you fill in the blank).

Often times working in ministry I will get caught up in the numbers of the results. No matter how hard I try not to focus on the numbers, it seems to always creep into mind. Recently we have been praying for year-end giving via the web. We’re praying for a “million dollar” day. Which would be AMAZING, but what happens if we don’t reach that? Or if the numbers go down? Will we still be praising the Lord for the lives transformed by the gifts given by those who were perhaps sacrificing the comforts offered in America, what someone might call the “widow’s mite”? I want to say I would rejoice in this situation. I want to say I would rejoice in every situation, whether it be death, or new life, or sickness, or health. I will definitely be praying for the Lord to make this transformation in my heart and mind.

But then I find it hard to rejoice in death when often times it’s a death of someone who hasn’t yet come to know the Savior, the Comforter, my Father in Heaven. How can I rejoice? They are headed to the worst possible suffering one could ever endure, and not just for a day, but for eternity in Hell!  But then I remind myself of Romans 8:28 “ALL THINGS work for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose.” If ALL THINGS work for the good of those who love God, then I have to trust that the Lord has it all under control.

If you would like to do something to make an impact on these lost and dying souls, share the love of Christ with someone who hasn’t heard before. Well you’re in luck. It just so happens that we are in the last two months of the year 2011. Meaning, it is time to start thinking about Christmas gifts. Praying for the loved ones that will be joining you on both Thanksgiving and Christmas, that they will come to know the Lord. But what about those that we are praying for in Asia? You know…the ones I talked about earlier, the ones who are in need of healing, the ones who are being persecuted daily just because they were born as a Dalit, the broken, the blind, the lame.  Remember them?  Make it your prayer request that they would come to know the Lord. Believe Him for that. He is not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9). And if you would like to give a life-altering gift this year, I know the perfect place to do so. www.forgottenchristmas.org. Don’t just give because you feel bad for them, give because you love God and love those who He created. Love them as you would your own son, daughter, mother, father, brother, sister, etc.

I am praying for each of you. I may not know your name, or what you look like, but I do know that God loves you more than you could ever fathom. And I pray that if you know Him, that you would grow in Him. If you don’t know Him, I pray that you will come to know and love Him just as He knows and loves you (even before you were born!).

God Bless,

Alley/Alex/Owley

Source: Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS