Christmas Love

We celebrated Christmas so differently this year than we ever have the past 30 years. We had no tree, no decorations, and no family. We spent the day of Christmas eve at the beach with Janene & Brian as it was their last day of "Vacation with a Purpose." I remember laying down flat on the beach in a warm embrace of peace when all of a sudden I heard just to my left fireworks going off. Here in Costa Rica fireworks go off every evening on the weekend! I was reminded that every day is simply something to celebrate. Seeing a roman candle go off in the daytime says more about celebration than filling a night sky with color. It is celebrating the savior's birth!
After we dropped off the Smales at the Lucas home, we arrived back home and gave our neighbors the gifts we got them. Little Emil's mom has come over a few times to chat and share a cup of coffee with me. I'm amazed at what you can talk about and understand speaking two different languages to one another! I was reminded that love is it's own language. It comes from the heart. What a gift friendship is. From there, we headed on over to the Lucas' for a special Christmas dinner that Angela had for all of us. It was scrumptous! & so was the wine! I was reminded that friends love no matter what.
On Christmas morning we got to talk with our children and family on skpe. What a blessing it was to see them all together without us. I never have missed a Christmas with my children before and God has provided for us a way. It may not be the same as being together, but it's all we got. I miss them so much. I am grateful for a program like skype that I get to see their faces. I don't think I want to miss another Christmas without them. Next year will be different. Later on for dinner,we got picked up by our new friends Russ & Shirley. We made a couple of new friends too! We all brought a dish and ate a great meal together. It was funny and great that we all ended up going back to our houses to get our dogs to join the Christmas celebration with us. We had just as many people as there were dogs! All the dogs got along and I was reminded that where the spirit of God is there is peace and goodwill.
Thanking God for His presence, His reminders, my husband & children, the gift of friendship with my friends both old & new, and for the babe born on Christmas Day who makes everything possible!

HIS SECOND COMING

It seems every year after Christmas, I always yearn even more for the Lord’s second coming. As Christmas day approaches, I think of the way He humbly came into the world as a baby born of an unknown virgin from Palestine. The “WORD” became human flesh and dwelt among us. His birth was only announced to a few shepherds. A few wise kings seeked him out. I think about how in the gospel of John it says that the true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. Although the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him.
When the day finally comes, nothing about His second coming will be secretive. EVERYONE will see it. Jesus said that the gospel of the kingdom would be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations and then the end would come. In other words, the task of world missions will be completed and not a single person will be left out.
“At the time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.” Matthew 24:30
What a complete contrast to the way He came into the world!
The world still carries on with business the day after Christmas. The second coming of Christ will be an earth shattering event. Nothing about it will be a secret. Man will not be able to hide or pretend or ignore Him!
Are you ready?

DAY BY DAY

As I was reading the story in the gospel of Luke about the man who was asking for bread not for himself, but for someone else in need; I thought about our 2 couples Angel & Tanya Cheek & Brian & Janine Smale that have been here in Costa Rica with The Brook Ministries “Vacation with a Purpose."
This story takes place at midnight! That tells me it was a desperate situation. The man had nothing to give to his friend, so he had to leave his home to go ask someone else for bread so he could return and give it to his friend.
How many of us have bread to give someone else? How many of us have no bread to give someone else who needs it? I believe the object of when Jesus said at the end of the Lord’s prayer “Give us this day our daily bread” is not only that we may have our needs met, but that we may receive something spiritually and physically and in turn pass it on to someone else.
Many of us are willing to share the spiritual bread, but reluctant to let go of the physical bread. Some will minister spiritually, but will not be anxious to help someone temporally. Sometimes it’s easier to just pray for orphans, than it is to do something tangible to help them.
For these 2 couples, they gave of themselves in both of these ways. They gave out of the overflow of their daily bread that they received from the Lord. They have not only enjoyed God’s physical & spiritual blessings, but have had the privilege of sharing them with those less fortunate. YOU GUYS ROCK!!!!!

DAILY Pray for physical Bread…..DAILY Pray for Spiritual Bread

Growing Pains

Like any good relationship, it takes work, it takes acceptance, it takes communication down to the core, to get to the issue at hand. It takes knowledge and understanding because no two people are alike or think alike. It's like a snowflake that God has made differnt and unique like no other. It takes understanding and God's great love within us to overcome our own selfish desires and to put on his understanding and not our very own.

a servant is the least....the last shall be first and the first shall be last. To me, there is great satifaction in that. For Jesus is our example. He took on the sin of the world and yet had great understanding far beyond our own comprehesion. It was narrow focus on what the father wanted, what the father would be proud of and what the father ultimately would accomplish by having his son die on a cross for the sins of the world.
Our relationship with Christ and how we allow him to work through us is ultimately the joy of our lives. The choice is ours, the result is contentment that this physical world can not give. It means service with excellence and giving all for His glory and to show the world just how marvelous He is!
As we live each day in relationships it's in small ways our love is evident in little ways day by day. Our relationship with Christ is to be lived out daily in love. It will be manifest in our desire to offer up every "least" thing to Him, to do the smallest task faithfully, confess the "little" sins quickly, be strict with our minutes as well as our hours.
"Do you love me?" Jesus asks.
"Why of course Lord- didn't I do this great thing for you?
"But child- I am looking for something much smaller."
"Do you care about our relationship" asks the wife.
"Why of course Dear- didn't I buy you this grand house?"
"Yes my husband, I'm looking for something much smaller. I'm looking for understanding, a tender word or touch day by day"
There are smaller things that matter more at the moment. Seize those moments. Be obedient....live a life of Love

Celebrate

The last few weeks have really flown by. We've been on the move!
A few weeks ago we went with some friends to attend their church down in Jaco. The services are in English & Spanish and they have a good mix of people too. The Pastor is from the states and he started the church about 5 years ago. There is a problem of theft, drugs, and prostitution in this area. We heard 4 life changing testimonies and I was really surprised when Steve went up there. It was God's call for him to speak as well as for us to attend this service. It ended with some powerful prayer and praise.
On Friday we attended a benefit Spaghetti dinner for the English speaking church Pastor here in Atenas. His name is Bob and the money that was raised will help support his medical bills as he just got out of the hospital healing from heart surgery. The picture is his wife Marlene and the owners of Kay's Gringo Postres(Kay & Tom). The restaurant is well known by all the gringos. It was great to meet new people and connect and so wonderful for the community to get together to support Bob.

Yesterday we went to our church's annual Christmas party held at a beautiful place that I heard was owned by Channel 23. We loaded up the Bushwacker and brought a few families so they could attend. It was a wonderful service with lots of praise, then we shared a good meal together and alot of the children went swimming. It warmed our hearts to see the childrens happy faces when they received their Christmas present. Pastor Oldermar passed them out to each child by name. Three church members stood up and shared their testimonies and Pastor Oldemar made a point by expressing how grateful he was for all the new people the Lord has brought to the church this year from all over the world and then he named them specifically too. They have welcomed us and made us feel apart of the family with plenty of opportunity to serve. We really like our new church family!
We've been praying to fill our next conference in January. Please pray with us as this is our first U.S. Pastors event. Steve and I have been working a little each day on our individual ministries and missionary support. I've been working on contacting the Pastor's wives from the past 3 conferences to follow up with them with another massage and to help them by providing education materials on the importance of physical renewal. I've got my first appointment scheduled today! I'm excited! Steve is going to be my driver! I'm also in the process now of building a database of health tips to pass out to their specific need & I pray for a workshop in the future for these ladies in the area of health and wellness. Please pray for wisdom,direction,& fluidity with my daily schedule for the best use of my time when I'm not serving at our conferences. I'm in process of working at a quiropractic office in town and starting my own massage business in our home to help support our living expenses and another tent-making opportunity on the horizon. God is good! Thank you for your support & prayers friends!

DOS CUMPLEANOS

Yesterday was The Brook Teams last day for spanish class for awhile. It was a memorable finish especially since we celebrated two members of the teams birthdays! That would be my love Steve and Steve and Angela's daughter Stephanie. Steve's birthday was on the first and Stephanie's is today the 3rd.
The school had the works: a pinata and a delicious birthday cake for them and afterwards we played two games that challenged us with speaking in spanish. It was alot of fun!
I feel so blessed to be apart of this great team! And I am in agreement and prayer with the director as she blessed them both by saying " I pray for continued health and many more prosperous years!" God Bless you my Love!....God Bless You Stephanie! & FELIZ CUMPLEANOS!