battle wounds

battle wounds

Its month three here in Washington and strangely enough it feels sometimes like year three. Its amazing how quickly things become habit, and how quickly you adjust to the feeling of driving to the same places and seeing the same people every day. Even though its been only three months a lot has happened. We are really excited about how God has been speaking to us and what he has been moving us to do here. He continues to give us guidance about our involvement in the youth ministry we volunteer with. We are currently helping them to design their new youth room in the new church building they will be moving into in a couple of weeks. Its wonderful getting to start with a completely blank slate and pray to God about how he would have it designed and built.

However, in the last couple of months we have met some opposition from Satan like we had never experienced before. Tim has been sick for three months, he had a cold that started the week we got here. We expected him to get better on his own but somehow never did. We have been struggling on and off again with depression from the really cloudy weather. The clouds here block the sun 99% of the time which makes it difficult to feel normal if you were born and raised in a state where the sun shines all year round. Last week our puppy Tiger ate 1/2 of a rat carcass that he found under our porch. Apparently the rat had died from eating rat poison and therefore tiger was poisoned. We rushed him to the emergency vet, where he spent the day in intensive care and was given tons of shots and fluids etc. We are so grateful that he is still with us even though most days when I get home from work and see that he has utterly DESTROYED our kitchen, I just want to throw him outside and wait for one of the bald eagles we have in our back yard to scoop him up for a snack. So far we have only called poison control once and had one ER visit with him. This is pretty good considering that Birdy spent the first year of her life at the vet.

So this week my car went into the shop because it has been leaking mass amounts of oil. It turns out that it needs $1800 dollars of work to get it back up and going again. sheesh. And while it was in the shop...Tims car completely broke down and we had it towed to the same shop. It turns out his isn't as costly of a repair, and I think we might even be able to do it (fingers crossed). So all those things are just the surface issues. In fact they haven't really been bothering us too much they just add to the stress of a stronger, never ending spiritual battle. We have been hit hard continually in our minds, our hearts and our marriage. We are praising the Lord for this opposition as we know that God is using it for his glory. Here is a beautiful excerpt from the book Wild At Heart that reminded us this week just how real and important this battle is.

"You will be wounded. Just because this battle is spiritual doesn’t mean it’s not real; it is, and the wounds a man can take are in some ways more ugly than those that come in a firefight. To lose a leg is nothing compared to losing heart; to be crippled by shrapnel need not destroy your soul, but to be crippled by shame and guilt may. You will be wounded by the Enemy. He knows the wounds of your past, and he will try to wound you again in the same place. But these wounds are different; these are honor-wounds."

Wild At Heart pg 176.

Lately we have been finding ourselves worn out, tired, sometimes afraid and overwhelmed, angry and frustrated. Our spiritual wounds feel far more real than anything that happens in the physical realm that discomforts us. But through all this we are finally learning how to fight together and to use the glorious weapons the lord has equipped us with. Praise His beautiful and awesome name!

For more information on spiritual warfare click here

2 Corinthians 4:2

2 Corinthians 4:2

So finally we write a new post on this little blog of ours. Its not that we have been too busy to write, or that we have lost interest in giving regular updates, its more that we have felt that there has not been anything fascinating going on here that you must know about. However, Tim got an e-mail this week from Ryan. It was a link to a daily devotional with a particularly wonderful entry for May 16th. It really touched us both so we thought we would put it on here to share with you. The basis of the contents of the devotional are 2 Corinthians 4:2. It just so happens that we are studying 2 Corinthians, but we must have missed this verse. God has a funny way of bringing things to your attention if we are too dense to miss them the first time around.
So before you read the devotional here is a quick update on life here in the rainy part of the country. Things here have been moving right along. We are struggling most with learning how to find contentment in God alone and not focus on our circumstances so much. What an impossible task. We are finding the move to be a little more challenging than we initially though, mostly because the weather is difficult to get used to and we feel a little out of our element at times. Because of this we praise God! He has been speaking to us about a ministry that involves getting together people our age, so we are praying about what he would have us to do to be a part of bringing His vision to pass.

Here is the devotional: You can also link to it directly by clicking here.

"Our Approach to Ministry"

We have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. (2 Corinthians 4:2)

God has made us His servants under the new covenant of grace. "God…made us…ministers of the new covenant" (2 Corinthians 3:5-6). Those who desire to serve the Lord by grace have a very distinctive approach to ministry. "We have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully."

It is so sad that the many ministry approaches in the church world include motives and methodologies that are kept hidden, because their true character is shameful. Some of these dishonorable approaches involve "walking in craftiness" (such as, manipulating people through carnal enticements). Others involve "handling the word of God deceitfully" (such as, preaching what people want to hear, instead of what the scriptures actually say). If we are going to serve God by grace, we must reject such tactics.

Instead, we want to serve God "by manifestation of the truth." We minister by a candid declaration of God's truth, not by a deceptive operation of man's tricks. Also, we desire that our lives be a commendation of our message, not a contradiction of it: "commending ourselves to every man's conscience." As we proclaim God's truth, we humbly ask God to impact our lives by that truth, in order to become an example of what we preach. The Lord will use this to touch others deep in their consciences.

It is God's will that our ministries impact more than men's minds (which can be reached by mere ideas, concepts, or systems). It is His intention that our testimonies reach beyond men's emotions (which can be touched by exciting stories, condemning insinuations, or inspiring ideals). He certainly does not want us to appeal to people's pride ("let God make you someone others will envy") or to their covetousness ("give to our ministry, and God will give you ten-fold in return"). Rather, God desires to reach their consciences, that "image-of-God" imprint that convicts people of sin and of their need for God: "who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness" (Romans 2:15).

O God of truth and holiness, I long to serve You by grace. I want to reject manipulating people and distorting Your word. Make my life a vessel of honor that confirms Your truth. As I minister to others, touch them deep in their hearts, by the power of Your grace, stirring them to seek after You, Amen.