GET THE MORALES FAMILY OUTTA ZAMBIA FOR A BREAK CAMPAIGN

It’s been almost two and a half years since the Morales family has been in the United States. Thank you guys for supporting us and making it possible for us to serve in Zambia with the street children...

It has been no small challenge these last couple of years. Most mission agencies and resources estimate a three to five year adjustment period for those serving in foreign fields. Guess what: it’s pretty dang close.We are just now feeling like we are getting a handle on things here. Cross-cultural ministries can be tough like that. But we look back on these last three years and recognize that God has been in control of everything.There is no wasted time, unless we ourselves choose to waste it. God works all things together for good to them that love him and are called according to his purpose (I can say that this is for you guys as well as for us).

There are also resources that talk about how Tactical Field Operatives (my new term for missionary,TFOs) are affected as individuals and as a family. In short, batteries tend to die after prolonged use. Jesus himself, when confronted and literally touched with a chronically ill woman’s needs, says he felt power going out of him.That is the long-term cost of ministr y. As you pour out, you have to depend upon the Holy Spirit to pour back in.

In short, we need a break. Our vessels are running on fumes, our meters are bordering on red. Our family is very much in need of a geographical break as well. I know, I know, “those roughnecks that started the China Inland Mission back in the 1800s didn’t get a break for years, AND they had no email, no online baggage check-in for the flight, no 3G USB internet thingies.”We grew up in the 80’s, whaddya want from us?

THE POINT

We still feel called to the streets of Lusaka and street children.We still see that there is a need.We are praying about how to meet that need. But before we can re-engage, we need to be engaged ourselves.We need to be poured into, our oil needs to be changed, and we need to just chill in a familiar environment and hear what the Lord is speaking.

THE CHALLENGE

Plane tickets, for a family of five returning to the States, round trip, are somewhere north of 7,500 USD and somewhere south of 9Gs (ouch).

We need to raise that much to return home and be able to return to Zambia. We recognize that ALOT of you guys have sacrificed much to give to this work, and it is very difficult to send out a plea in these times of economic adversity (the President’s words, not mine).

Well, that’s all for now. If you feel inclined (or led) to give, you can do so online at https://www.tscnyc.org/ donate_tsc.php. Click on “Make a One Time Gift,” than click “Missions - Give Toward Someones Trip” on the drop down menu.There should be a field appearing directly underneath that says Missionary First and Last Name.That would be us.

Our target for going home is end of May, beginning of June.Thanks so much for your support. See you soon.

Emotional Peanuts

Last night our 6 year old daughter was telling me about this little girl who is very.....how shall I put this?........very un-decided about Hannah’s friendship to her.  One day she is Hannah’s best friend and the next day she has decided that Hannah can’t be her friend anymore.  Why are women so fickle?  Needless to say that this has left Hannah very confused and frustrated.  She is a very upfront child who has always been sure of who she is and what her life is all about.  It is one of the things about Hannah that I respect.  So, to have little girls constantly changing their minds about her has just about pushed my poor middle child over the edge as she has never had to experience this in her short little life before.  She is coming from the point of view that everyone must view life through the same transparent guileless lenses that she does.  

As they were outside at school yesterday having snack, and after having broken my poor transparent daughter’s heart yet again with her fickleness, she goes up to Hannah asking if she would share her peanuts that I had packed in her snack.  Hannah said “No!”  then turned around and went about her day.  “WHY would I want to share my peanuts with someone who doesn’t value my friendship!?”  (6 year olds don’t have the maturity to put that into words, but flow with me here)  

So, quickly I said a prayer in my mind “LORD I NEED WISDOM NOW FOR THIS ONE!”  

I was proud of her for standing up for herself, you see because Hannah would take her wanting peanuts as a sign of friendship and would then place herself in a position of being hurt.  I do the same thing all the time.  This person just wounded me, but I have something they want, so all of a sudden I am their best friend.  So I think “Surely, I must have been mistaken before.”  Then I get myself into a place of pouring out and never getting poured back into.  Then when the person has used up all my “peanuts”  I get sucker punched in the gut and am left a quivering mass of emotion and wondering what it was that I did wrong.  I begin to feel as if I am responsible for the other persons responses and issues.  Follow me?  Does anyone identify with where I am going?  

Basically what I am trying to get at is that I see in Hannah an issue that the Lord is getting at in me.  And it has motivated me all the more to get into God’s word about it and find the solution there.  It also excited me because I can see how God is using the pain of my own experiences in this area to help my daughter along.  

I can hear the questions “YOU MEAN MISSIONARIES DON’T WALK AROUND ON A FLUFFY PINK CLOUD OF LOVE AND MERCY ALL THE TIME!?”  Let me tell you something that might shock the socks off you.....Being a missionary in Africa has been the MOST difficult struggle because I have had to come face to face with so much in my own life that I had carefully hidden, unknowingly, in the States.  

So, we talked about it.  We talked about what Jesus would want her to do.....would she want her to share the peanuts with someone who has hurt her feelings?  YES!  BUT Hannah doesn’t have to get put in a place of, for lack of a better term, emotional abuse.  She is valuable in God’s eyes and so is that other child!  God wants us to have boundaries, but he wants us to walk in love and grace.  

Do you need to “share peanuts” with someone today?  I know it is hard....and I don’t know what that looks like for each one of us..maybe that means every time you are tempted to dwell on the hurt, commit to pray for the person.....maybe it means to go out for coffee with them,  maybe you need to write a letter,  I don’t know!  But listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit and he will guide you and give you what you need! 

Choose love and joy and choose to forgive and God will give you what you need to accomplish what He has commanded of you!  

SO GET OUT THERE AND SHARE SOME PEANUTS TODAY!!!!

The Cross is to Heavy

Someone forwarded this to me and I thought it was so cool I had to share....Let me know what you think ?  Awesome!! We complain about the cross we bear but don't realize it is preparing us for the dip in the road that God can see and we can't.  Whatever your cross, whatever your pain, There will always be sunshine, after the rain.... Perhaps you may stumble, perhaps even fall; but God's always ready, to answer your call..... He knows every heartache, sees every tear, A word from His lips, can calm every fear... Your sorrows may linger, throughout the night, But suddenly vanish, dawn's early light... The Savior is waiting, somewhere above, To give you His grace, and send you His love.... God promises a safe landing, not a calm passage. ...and you question God -'why me?'.. Always look at the bigger picture......  A day without the Lord- Is a day wasted.

 

Right vs. Wrong

Have you ever been so right that your wrong?  

Taking up a “just” cause because you think you are so right and everyone else around you in so wrong.  I am not talking about the cause of Christ here either people.  I am talking about the need to win an argument.  Or the need to prove to the person who has wronged you HOW wrong they actually were.  Why!?  I mean if they won’t hear you or don’t see it, why?  Just let it go!  There is biblical protocol to follow in situations like that, you go to someone with an offense, but after a while you NEED to LET IT GO!  

I have watched a good friend of mine fall into that trap and he has since lost his job because of it.  He started out with such good intentions and heart.  But he was so afraid someone was going to run him over that he clung to what he thought was right so fiercely that it drove people away.  When all along people respected him and thought of his work very highly.  

A few weeks ago I was struck with the realization that I to have struggled with that same flaw.  My daughter Amira and I have entered that to fun phase of mother daughter relationship where we argue.  No missing the point that she is 8 and that there are fundamental issues that we are teaching her, I saw this flaw in me because I was noticing it in her.  AND IT SCARED THE HOOVIES OUTTA ME!!!!    I can be so right that I am wrong.........DING DING DING!!  WHAT!?  Me?  NO WAY JOSE’.  I am to humble for that sort of pride.  Then it hit me with a mallet in the back of my head....maybe that is why bitterness has always been a struggle with me!!!  Maybe that is why I struggle with feeling stressed out and burdened and burnt out.  

THEN I REALIZED WITH SUCH CLARITY THAT THE ONLY TORCH I AM TO CARRY IS THE TORCH OF JESUS CHRIST!!!!!!!  If an issue arises that doesn’t have anything to do with Jesus Christ and his dying on the cross for the souls of many I AM NOT TO PICK IT UP!!!  Something like this take discernment and focus on Christ because we can get so easily pulled in so many different directions.  Don’t take me wrong, in parenting you have to pick your battles and you have to win them, BUT do so with grace and humility!  Not with the driving need to prove how right you are.  

I don’t know if that makes any sense to anyone else but me, but I feel free!!!!!!

JESUS IS THE AUTHOR AND THE FINISHER OF OUR FAITH AND IN HIM WE HAVE THE VICTORY!!!  

experimenting

I am experiementing with pictures to put into the blog.  This is an impala in the back yard of a lodge Luis and I stayed at last year for our anniversary.  

social networking

I watched portions of the movie SOCIAL NETWORK yesterday.  Seen it?  SUPER SAD!!!  Here is this kid (I am not even going to attempt to spell his name) who is the youngest BILLIONAIRE in the world, the dude INVENTED Facebook and in the end.......if the movie is to be believed.......he is a sad lonely person with no one to talk to, but all the money in the world to spend.    Kind of ironic isn’t it?  The movie portrays the person who created the greatest social network ever as being a sad and lonely person.  

Got me thinking....

1. HOW WOULD I SPEND $25,000,000,000???  Luis said he would tithe first.  What is 10% of that?  Take of two zeros and you got yourself a happy orphanage in africa....then we would take 100 million of that and buy a house in all of our favorite countries.  I would buy the GAP and be outfitted with groovy clothes for life along with my entire family and the orphanage!  Probably thrown in a lypo-suction for the fun of it.  ....you get my point, the list is endless...

2. If the movie is to be believed......the guy spent a lot of time and energy building this empire and lost his friends in the process.  Is ambition worth it?  What is my goal in life?  Do I run people over in the process?  Am I hurting anyone to meet my goals?  Even if my goals are valuable and good, I have to be careful not to forget the people closest to me.  My family, my kids....GOD GRANT ME THE EYES TO SEE THEM ALWAYS!!  Let me take that a step further, there are people in my life, the grocery store clerk, the security guard in the parking lot, the kids on the street, they all deserve consideration, respect and the Love of Jesus! Let me take it even further than that!  HOW OFTEN TO I FORGET JESUS IN MY QUEST TO SERVE HIM AND BRING GLORY TO HIS NAME!?  “To busy to pray”....isn’t that to true to often? 

Lord, help me to see those around me as you see them!  To often I am so consumed with my day and the fiery trial of the moment.  Forgive me for being selfish!!  Thank you for your grace and your love!!!!!  I don’t want to get to the end of my life and it is all worthless because I forgot you in all the things I was trying to do for You!  

PHEW!!

PHEW....the kids are off to school, husband is out the door to a street outreach, and I have a few minutes to myself before I begin the all important battle of de-crapping the kids bedroom.  UGH....You know it is time to de-crap when you can’t find school sneakers a measly  2 hours after taking them off.  

So, what has Myranda been “musing” about lately?  Psalm 91...folks, the battles are fierce, the struggle is exhausting and to often we take it upon ourselves what the Lord has never intended for us to.  (Or maybe it is just me and my need to be in control) Whether being a missionary in Lusaka, Zambia or a clerk in a grocery store, or a nursery worker in the 10 am Sunday service the battle for our souls and our testimony is F-I-E-R-C-E.  I have am beginning to come into a place of freedom in my life to understand that it isn’t my battle!  I don’t have to fix it for everyone, I don’t have to prove how right I am (cause doesn’t that just make me more wrong in the end?).  All Jesus expects of me is to be myself and to trust and obey.....FEEL A SONG COMING ON!?  For theres no other way....to be HAPPY in Jesus...than to trust and obey......You guys, that is HUGE with a capital HU for me!  I have fought and fought and fought the Lord on this one.  

PREACH IT GIRL!!!  AMEN SISTA!!!  

The conclusion I have come to is this.....God doesn't NEED me...he CHOOSES to use me....He didn't bring my family to Africa because we have so much to offer......He brought me here to deal with me!!!!!  THAT IS A FACT FOLKS.....take it to the bank....deposit it and earn interest!  

Ok, so please allow me to include some verses that I have been reading on this very same topic.......these are just some verses that I was doing a personal study on....

Psalm 91

He who dwells  in the secret place(protection, shelter) of the Most Hight shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. (or dwell habitually)                                          

Psalm 27:5

For  in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion.  In the secret place of his tabernacle, He shall hide me;  He shall set me high upon a rock.  

Psalm 31:20

You shall hide them in the secret place of your presence from the plots of man,  You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion.  

Psalm 32:7

You are my hiding place, you shall preserve me from trouble.  You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. 

Psalm 17:8

Keep me as the apple of Your eye, hide me under the shadow of your wings.

Isaiah 25:4

For you have been a strength to the poor. a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat, for the blast of the terrible ones is a storm against the wall!

Isaiah 32:2

A man will be as a hiding place from the wind. and a cover from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land

Job 5:15, 21

But, He saves the needy from the sword, from the mouth of the mighty and from their hand! You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, and you shall not be afraid of destruction when it comes.  

Psalm 9:9, 10

The Lord will also be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.  And those who know Your name will put their trust in You, for You Lord have NOT forsaken those who seek You!

Exodus 15:1

I will sing to the Lord, For he has triumphed gloriously, the horse and the rider he has thrown into the sea!

Isaiah 4:6

And there will be a tabernacle for shade in the daytime from the heat, for a place of refuge, and for a shelter from storm and rain!

Psalm 46:1-3

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble!  There fore we will not fear even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling.  

I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress. My God in Him I will trust!

Psalm 142:5

I cried out to You, O lord, I said “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”

Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence.

Psalm 124:7-8

Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers, the snare is broken and we have escaped!  Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth!

Proverbs 6:5

Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, and like a bird from the hand of the fowler.  

He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge.  His truth shall be your shield and buckler!

Psalm 17:8

Keep me as the apple of Your eye  Hide me under the shadow of Your wings! 

You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day

Job 5:19

He shall deliver you in six troubles, yes in seven no evil shall touch you.  

Psalm 112:7-8

He will not be afraid of evil tidings, His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.  His heart is established He will NOT be afraid until he sees his desire upon his enemies.  

Isaiah 43:2

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;  and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.  When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you!

*Psalm 34:4, 19

I sought the Lord, and he heard me!  And delivered me from ALL my fears!  Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all!

1 Corinthians 10:13

No temptation has overtaken you except such as in common to man but God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted  beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make a way of escape, that you may be able to bear it!

Proverbs 24:16

For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity!

Proverbs 1:33

But whoever listens to me will dwell safely, and will be secure without fear of evil. 

Psalm 66:12

You have caused men to ride over our heads;  we went through fire and through water, but you brought us out to rich fulfillment.  

Deuteronomy 31:6

Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them!  For the Lord your God, he is the one who goes with you!  He WILL NOT LEAVE YOU NOR FORSAKE YOU!!

Jeremiah 30:11

For I am with you, says the Lord. to save you!  Though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you, yet I will not make a complete end of you. But I will correct you in justice, and will not you go altogether unpunished.  

Daniel 3:25

LOOK! He answered, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God!!!

JESUS IS THE FOURTH MAN IN THE FIRE!!!!  HALLELUJAH!!!!

BE BLESSED EVERYONE!!! YOU ALL ROCK!!!!!!!!