THE EARRING – March 10, 2017

“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?  Who of you by worrying can add a single house to his life?”  Matt. 6:26, 27

I have what many people refer to as, great ‘travel hair’; very low maintenance, very dry, and carefree.   I have really super dry hair, so I only wash my hair every few weeks.  It is long, thick and takes a full 24 hours to air dry.   Yesterday was our day off, so I decided to wash my hair.  All went as usual, went to bed, up the next morning, off to run errands, when I noticed one of my five earrings in one ear was missing.  I was driving, so I scanned my brain for where it may be.  Hummm, lets see, the night before I washed my hair, so more then likely, it is down the drain.  And if it didn’t make the drain, this morning I washed the new pup, swept the floor and mopped it, then washed the van…there was no way I was going to find that tiny earring.  So I went about my day trying to find another earring for that hole, as I didn’t want it to close up.  I said a quick prayer about it, but really didn’t want to bother God with such trivial things matters.  I had been dealing with a lot of stress over some fairly important things with the center.  I had to fire someone and the backlash of that has been just short of frightening.  Their behavior has been shocking, and I have spent a lot of time praying and meditating on the situation.  It hasn’t gotten any better since fall, and in some ways worse.  I hate to, and won’t question God on this, I know that something will happen, and ‘light’ will shine to show truth.  But when you are in the high tide of troubles, sometimes you just don’t see God in all of it, you wonder, why these troubles, when all you have tried to do is bring Jesus to the world.  Praying to God for ‘break through’ with some people; I didn’t want to bother God with this earring matter.    But as I went about my day, I would mutter a prayer, here and there, and look, but not finding anything…

As a tidied up in the kitchen, I thought of my coat hood, and that maybe the earring was in there, but as I reached for my coat to check the hood, I saw something just under the kitchen table on the freshly swept and mopped floor.  My EARRING!  So blown away for this, as God cares about even such small details that we don’t want to bother Him with, He is ready and waiting for us to call on His for His intervention.  He knew I had been struggling, and He was assuring me that ‘he’s got it covered.’

Luke 12:7

Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. 

August 13, 2015

Every night, without fail, we are bombed.  Thursday night was exceptionally loud, to the point they hit us about 15x in a row, one after another, I wasn’t sure it was going to stop.  I talked on line with a few friends, prayer warriors.  I tend to not talk with Rich, as it just worries him, and he feels helpless to help us…it is a frustrating dilemma to be in for any loved one of someone in a dangerous situation.  You try to convey to people what you are experiencing, but words can never define what you are experiencing.  Sheer fright, sheer terror…and the noise, it is unbearable.  You can’t put in ear plugs, because you have to hear the bombs going and coming, you have to listen…you have to detect the direction that it is coming, the type of bomb being used, and listen…listen for the ‘whizzing’, how close is it, then you discern what to do next.   This is life…it isn’t ‘water coolers’, clean houses, pushing papers, party planning, back to school shopping…it is surviving the bombs.

My friend wrote this to me about a vision she had, so I thought I would share it:

“I was thinking a lot about you today and chatting to God about you. Were your ears burning?

And I had a vision of a beautiful natural bridge one made of wood. It was over a large river away from houses and people. Green grass and forests nearby. On the opposite side was sunny and luscious plants trees and sun. Lovely children ran across the bridge and I felt the vibrations and loud sounds as they ran across. On the other side they ran Free safe but they kept going on. I didn’t see any further. But the bridge remained. I believe you are the bridge across the river and the bridge is supported by God. You will feel the vibrations and sounds of everyone God brings to you. You will enable them but they will go on and you remain so that more can cross. You will enable more and more. God is your support and foundation. But more but more he built you up here because he knows you stayed when others left. Amen x

Teresa, you are the bridge He is the support and foundation. Just because you stayed when everyone else ran away, you have already served your purpose. You will feel the stamping of the feet running through you, you will feel them all, and you wont always know or see what has happened to them, the precious ones running through you. You are amazing and golden. You don’t know what you have achieved yet, one day you will see in all the Glory how many people you touched and helped. God knew you would not run away, he knows your heart. He knows what you are suffering now. Sacrifice loss, fear anxiety so many things. But you are an enabler and an encourager; you give strength just by standing in that place and not giving up or leaving them in their hour of need.

God is with you now and always.

I am praying and so proud of you Lady

I cannot tell you how proud I am of you to tell people that there is someone who did not leave and doing so much. I am proud to know you

when trouble first started Teresa, there was a mass exodus of people who claimed to know God, missionaries priests etc, I will not judge them it is not my place, but I felt angry they left, Sorry, I am Irish LOL

True Courage Teresa: ‘Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.”  Ambrose Redmoon

We are exactly that, human, and we feel fear, we are supposed to. It’s having fear but acting anyway

That is what God enables us to do

He gives us the strength when we are most afraid

when we do not know or understand, because without God I would only have fear, with God I am enabled to have courage

Deep in our souls we know who we really are, but the present and clear dangers are in front of our eyes, we see death and we know the reality of life on this Earth. But God sees beyond that, he knows what is in front beyond what we see and know

So, we stand still in the midst of everything that is chaotic, and wait for the still peace calm of the Holy Spirit to sustain us

Teresa, God is with you completely now and always”

Romans 8

The whole chapter is so encouraging

 Romans 8:28 – 39 Amen More Than Conquerors 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. 31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all–how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died–more than that, who was raised to life–is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.

My response to her: “These words encouraged me, because really no one except those who have been here, understand this fear, and challenge to be here and help those in need.  The day in and day out challenge to discern needs, and decide what to do in each situation.  Thanks love, you are the best, XXX”

Going back to U.S. is such a culture shock.  People are so caught up in things that really don’t matter, things of no consequence, but things that only bring more drama into their empty lives.  I think about those I left behind;  mothers worried about where they will get money for bread for their children, while those here worry about ballet lessons, the latest fashion, and entertainment.  My heart breaks for those that were born to such a life, and those that were born here to so much.  Injustice.   We like to say, and it has been preached, ‘we were born here in this land of plenty, and blessed beyond compare, so that we can inturn bless others, but the truth of the matter, is that many don’t bless others with their over abundance of ‘plenty’, they just buy MORE for themselves.    Is there true sacrificial giving?  Really?  What have ‘we’ done without so that someone else could have the minimum.?   

I remember my friend Elizabeth, she and her family gave up cable T.V. for one year and gave what would have been their monthly ‘bill money’ to help orphans in China!  Granted, cable isn’t a huge sacrifice, but it is at least something; that everyone felt the ‘sting’.  A year later when I spoke with Elizabeth about this, she said, ‘our family got closer, we talked more, played family games…reconnected….it was a good thing, and children in China benefitted too.’  A win – win, sounds good.    A challenge for myself and others.   What I can say, is that while in UA, I didn’t watch T.V.  I tried to watch the Jewish Network, but after the separatists invaded, they took that station, and eventually, took them all.  Russian propaganda is all that is on T.V., even showing planes that are attacking ground structures trying to get people to believe that Ukraine is being the aggressor. The problem is, if you really look at the news segments, you can see on the sides of the plane other country flags, but you have to look. They ‘fuzz’ the video to try and fool people, and they do a pretty good job of it; but anyway, the point is that I didn’t have news, just the internet, when that was working, and then I can get the BBC, and U.S. news programs.  I spent hours just talking to God…as I had no one else to talk to.  We had conversations about life, about others, just everything.  By doing this, when the war ‘storm’ imposed itself on me, I had a calm assurance, He was with me, and truly felt his protection.    I don’t feel that here in the U.S.  We are way tooo self reliant on not only people, but ‘things’.  In addition, we are very comfortable with our lifestyle.  We don’t ‘need’ God, because we can fix everything ourselves.  It is very sad for me to see, as I see this with my family, friends and even myself at times. I usually think I don’t want to ‘bother’ God will my trivial problems, when that is exactly what He is waiting for, for us to come to Him with everything.   I’m not sure what it will take to get them to ‘come around’…prayerfully NOT a civil war.

9/7/14 –  First Sunday, and it is an odd welcome.  Not a word in the services about my arrival.  It isn’t so much about ME, but about our fellow brothers and sisters in the trenches in UA.  Prayer for THEM.  Prayer for Ukraine.  So many suffering, and it just seems that no one cares.  It is baffling. When people are not mentioned in prayer, when it isn’t acknowledged that there are people, suffering and DYING, there is a problem.  Lord, help me to discern what to do about this.   I cannot just sit idlely by and not acknowledge our friends suffering.  This isn’t ‘right’, it isn’t what the Bible teaches at all.  So why do I sit and do nothing?   So the service goes on, people being told that God wants us to be happy, wants us to rejoice in Him; this isn’t about US, our happiness, what about others, their suffering, our lack of mercy for them??   This is what I want to hear about…people being brought to conviction about their lives, lifestyles, convicted to DO something that will effect someone else, not we must live a life that satisfies themselves.  I don’t know what to make of all this, but I’m prayerful as to what to do about it.

9/9/2014 – 9/9/2014 – On the phone with Valia, as the shelling continues in Dz.  So much for the ceasefire.   She says that they bought food today and will distribute to 5 displaced families on Friday.  I don’t understand the ‘wait’, but it could be that they could not get there.   She talked about buying food for the church members, but I’m not so sure about this…as when they could have FREE food, they didn’t want it, so I’m not so sure about going and buying food, that they may not even eat.    Humm….  They seem somewhat prideful in many ways, for been so needy.   Our funds have been drastically depleted, as many people think that we have pulled out of eastern Ukraine, where it is just the opposite, we are still here, and the work has increased due to so many people fleeing the unprovoked attack of Russia.

I was reading over the battle at Ilovaisk trying to get a sense of what happened… so scary the way the UA men were led to believe one thing and then something else happened.  Over 300 of the 600 were just gunned down after they had been told they had safe passage through a large open field. They were gunned down.    There must be investigation for this, and punishment.  So many just gone, my heart just hurts for these men and their families. Putin is such a snake, he must be held accountable. The knowledge of eternal accountability is understood, I just can’t imagine if my loved one was told, and given the impression if they laid their weapon down, they would be given a ‘green corridor’ to cross the field back to UA, and instead they were slaughtered like ‘sitting ducks’. Who does that? Who structs others to do that? Only evil, pure evil.!

I’m gearing up to return to Ukraine, and the ticket is bought, and I will leave late October. It is certainly a bitter-sweet to leave my family, and return. My sweet granddaughter just cries and cries when I leave, begging me to stay. It is extremely difficult to say ‘good-bye’…

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