Saturday, October 22, 2011
Friday, October 21, 2011
God's grace and order wins...
"God's grace and order wins...The victim's faint pulse picks up; the hearts of the hopeless pump red blood as you put your ear to their lips. Orphans get parents, the homeless get homes." Psalm 10:16-18 (The Message)
Andy and I read this last night and it just struck our hearts. We just love the amazing grace of God! We see it in action constantly in our own lives and we're seeing it in abundance here in Northern Ireland. Every day we're hearing stories from the community of darkness to light transformation and of a people who love Jesus and who are bold enough to believe that God has called his people to make an eternal difference!
Literally stories of death to life! Of broken to whole! Of heads hung low to eyes raised up! It's such a privilege to be in this environment, we really feel that we're learning stacks and continue to be so thankful!
We feel like we're starting to find a bit more of a rhythm to life and are figuring out better our roles and just enjoying taking time together as a family. We really love learning together! In some ways our Tuesday's at Encounter are a little like being back at Bible College together...although now our theological conversation is enhanced by Noah and Anna's input! We love being able to watch, learn, see and then go away and study/think for ourselves and try to work through Biblical, theological and pastoral implications.
But we just have so much to be thankful for! We're so thankful for fresh experiences of him, of deeper insight into his heart of compassion, and in seeing the way that he is working in and through people in this community - it's so exciting!
Andy and I read this last night and it just struck our hearts. We just love the amazing grace of God! We see it in action constantly in our own lives and we're seeing it in abundance here in Northern Ireland. Every day we're hearing stories from the community of darkness to light transformation and of a people who love Jesus and who are bold enough to believe that God has called his people to make an eternal difference!
Literally stories of death to life! Of broken to whole! Of heads hung low to eyes raised up! It's such a privilege to be in this environment, we really feel that we're learning stacks and continue to be so thankful!
We feel like we're starting to find a bit more of a rhythm to life and are figuring out better our roles and just enjoying taking time together as a family. We really love learning together! In some ways our Tuesday's at Encounter are a little like being back at Bible College together...although now our theological conversation is enhanced by Noah and Anna's input! We love being able to watch, learn, see and then go away and study/think for ourselves and try to work through Biblical, theological and pastoral implications.
But we just have so much to be thankful for! We're so thankful for fresh experiences of him, of deeper insight into his heart of compassion, and in seeing the way that he is working in and through people in this community - it's so exciting!
Friday, October 7, 2011
A man called Brian
Pray that God would open the eyes and heart of Brian.
It's all very exciting following Jesus
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Another week flies by!
Starting to feel like we're in a time speeding warp! Another week has passed by here in Portstewart, another week filled with new experiences, new people, exciting opportunities, refreshment, encouragement and with a few challenges thrown in between, as we continue to settle here as a family.
Noah comes home nearly every day with a new very Northern Irish saying! He's already experienced a few problems in misunderstanding his teacher at school, which he finds very funny! He came out of class one day last week laughing while saying "You'll never guess what the teacher told us to do at snack time Mum! She told us to get our breakfast out! So I said to the teacher - no, you're being silly, it's snack time, not breakfast!" And then I replied to him, "Are you sure she wasn't telling you to get your break out Noah?" "No mummy, she definitely said braaake! (in his best Northern Irish accent!)" We're just praising God in the way that he's settling in, he loves going to school and always is full of stories when we pick him up.
We're continuing to settle into a new 'rhythm' to life, trying to juggle family time, marriage time, personal devotional time and work time and just setting up clear boundaries around those. We truly feel blessed by the flexibility we have as a family and the ability for Andy to occasionally take the kids for a couple of hours so Rho can do some more focussed work and for Rho to still have the majority of her time looking after the kids while Andy's out meeting folks and setting up new areas of ministry. Andy's also started a spot of gardening locally fairly regularly to supplement our income.
We love being in Room Enough and on those days that we've found tougher (mostly due to kiddies not sleeping the night before!) we just hold tight to the reality that we feel we're in the right place for now and that God is moving, guiding, shaping and working in our lives in so many ways and many which we'll probably not realised until the years to come!
We read Psalm 1 together the other night and we both have been meditating on it since we read it...
We were especially blessed by the idea of the trees planted by the riverbank, gaining life and nourishment by the fresh water flowing near by and causing them to bear fruit not just in one season, but at all times. We're continually reminded that we need to continually draw from God's well of life! Without Him, we can do nothing!
Noah comes home nearly every day with a new very Northern Irish saying! He's already experienced a few problems in misunderstanding his teacher at school, which he finds very funny! He came out of class one day last week laughing while saying "You'll never guess what the teacher told us to do at snack time Mum! She told us to get our breakfast out! So I said to the teacher - no, you're being silly, it's snack time, not breakfast!" And then I replied to him, "Are you sure she wasn't telling you to get your break out Noah?" "No mummy, she definitely said braaake! (in his best Northern Irish accent!)" We're just praising God in the way that he's settling in, he loves going to school and always is full of stories when we pick him up.
We're continuing to settle into a new 'rhythm' to life, trying to juggle family time, marriage time, personal devotional time and work time and just setting up clear boundaries around those. We truly feel blessed by the flexibility we have as a family and the ability for Andy to occasionally take the kids for a couple of hours so Rho can do some more focussed work and for Rho to still have the majority of her time looking after the kids while Andy's out meeting folks and setting up new areas of ministry. Andy's also started a spot of gardening locally fairly regularly to supplement our income.
We love being in Room Enough and on those days that we've found tougher (mostly due to kiddies not sleeping the night before!) we just hold tight to the reality that we feel we're in the right place for now and that God is moving, guiding, shaping and working in our lives in so many ways and many which we'll probably not realised until the years to come!
We read Psalm 1 together the other night and we both have been meditating on it since we read it...
"they delight in the law of the Lord,
meditating on it day and night.
They are like trees planted along the riverbank,
bearing fruit each season"
We were especially blessed by the idea of the trees planted by the riverbank, gaining life and nourishment by the fresh water flowing near by and causing them to bear fruit not just in one season, but at all times. We're continually reminded that we need to continually draw from God's well of life! Without Him, we can do nothing!
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