the ask.

“If you ask the Father for anything in My name,

He will give it to you.

Until now you have asked for nothing in My name;

Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.”

John 16:23-24

“After God, it is YOU”, is a phrase that Matt and I commonly hear. 

Someone needs some money for school or for a doctor or needs food or books or sound systems or a visa, and to add to an already convincing argument, finishes the ask with “After God, it is YOU I am relying on!  You are my only hope…just after God!”

While this argument makes it incredibly hard to say ‘no’ to whatever the request, we were reminded a few months ago by a missionary friend that “after God” there is NONE.  While that may be how we are perceived, we are not to be the ‘only hope after God’ or ‘fully relied upon after God’, nor should we start thinking of ourselves that way!

Praise the Lord, there is none like Him or after Him, none needed in addition to Him or alongside of Him!  We've never been here because He needs us to be...just thankful to be used by Him nonetheless.

And here’s the kicker that’s got me thinking this week…It seems from this passage that God WANTS us to ask Him, telling His disciples that their joy can’t be made full until they have asked for things in His name.

Huh. 

Because we get so exhausted and even irritated at being asked, asked, asked all the time, I fall into the lie-mindset that I am bothering Him, or exhausting Him, or annoying Him, by asking for anything.

I try to save up my asking for something REALLY important, try to merit my ask before I make it, or feel the need to pair an apology with my ask.  “Sorry to be asking this, but…” 

But here Jesus is urging His friends to ask, to ask for anything!  Anything in His name, and it will be given, AND we will receive, AND our joy will be made full.

Why is that?  Why would He WANT us to ask Him for things when it gets so exhausting to have people asking US for things all the time?

Is it possible that asking is a sign of our faith?  If I ask Him for nothing, am I exhibiting any faith?  Is it possible that I’m not asking because I don’t really think He can do it?  Or because I don’t think I need Him to? 

Is it possible that refusing to ask God for things could be because of my pride?  Could it be that I have just so busied myself that I don’t even have time to think about what I really want to be asking Him? 

Does He LIKE giving good gifts to His children?  Yes…

            If you then, being evil, like to give good gifts to your children, how much more then will your Father who is in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him?  Matthew 7:11

Does He LIKE when we speak to Him? Yes… After asking us to pray SO many times in the Bible, He must enjoy His command.

           

Does He LIKE doing things that only He can?  Yes…Not just for the ones receiving or beholding the miracle, but He takes joy in changing, in creating, in doing, in working!

Matt and I get tired sometimes of being asked for things all the time because we AREN’T God.

We frequently CAN’T do anything about situations people are in, so being asked over and over to work miracles is painful.  We don’t have what it takes to be anyone’s “only hope”, so being treated as such is frustrating and overwhelming.  We aren’t second to God—because there IS none—so be addressed as such feels so impossible!  We are so limited by time, money and energy that being confronted as unlimited beings is overpowering.

But He! 

Perhaps part of why He loves our requests because it shows Him that for us, He is IT!  He is ONLY.  He is powerful.  He is able.  And we believe it.  Enough to ask Him. 

It’s one thing to believe that He can do it.  But are we asking Him to? 

He WANTS us to, and after dwelling more on this passage, I believe that even our asking can be given as a gift unto Him, our One and Only.

So, what are we asking today in His name?

babies

We had a great time at church yesterday seeing baby Victoria (and three other little ones) dedicated, and hearing Lucner preach.

In light of Doctor Rodney's (Bethesda Clinic head and pastor of the Vaudreil Church) recent near-death experience (appendectomy), Lucner shared that many people had threatened to leave the faith if Dr. Rodney had died.  

He preached a great sermon on our disappointment when God doesn't seem to do what we wanted Him to do, or when we wanted Him to do it, using John the Baptist's beheading as text.  

 It was a great sermon and a great reminder that we are here for His glory, and a great re-commitment for myself to be seeking, praying for and living for His glory above my own desires.






Baby Victoria, meanwhile, looks so much like Luna (and looked so cute in her huge dress and matching cap and veil)! We also got to sit with Gertha and baby Thalia, and it's always so good to have some time with this gorgeous little one!

Also saw friend and student Devicoeur there.  Having Dodo and Bubba at church with us made the three hour (yeah, that's a full 180 minute church service on a wood bench) SO much easier with the girls...extra help!  Sofie had to cut out half way through, but Lily made it the whole service.  MAN, this girl is going to miss her Dodo and Bubba come Thursday!

We continue to be so thankful for Lucner, for the ways God is using he and Luna, and for this little miracle!

on the first day of Christmas...

We may have been in shorts, and the tree might have come from a garbage bag full of roaches, but it is the weekend after Thanksgiving, and we decorated!  Lily had SO MUCH fun!

 She INSISTED that Matt try on "Santa's Boot" (a Christmas stocking).

 Sofie loved the lights, and has officially mastered sitting by herself...being a Haitian reindeer...and wearing Lily's shorts on her head.

Lily "re"opened her favorite Christmas thing of all time, a nativity set Uncle Don got her for her first Christmas.   The entire rest of the day she lined up the wise men, fed the donkeys, napped with Baby Jesus, and made the angel sing...it was great.  We caught Sofie gnawing on the camel, so the love for the Fisher Price nativity set lives on!

Tomorrow Lucner's daughter is being presented at church (similar to a dedication in the States), so we're heading to Vaudreil for that and stopping at Gertha's to see how Thalia is doing.  The last visiting professors of the semester left today (Jim and Sue S., Jerry C.), and we're soaking up our last few days with Dodo and Bubba before they head back to Canada on Thursday.  

Monday, Matt starts back into teaching Romans and Intro to the Old Testament, and we're heading into our last 3 weeks of teaching for the semester!  You can now follow Matt on Twitter at matthaiti.

a Great Thanksgiving

crafted...

baked...

smelled...

sweated...

waited...

 yielded...

ATE...

talked and laughed, remembered and laughed.

grateful.

for friends, family, food, freedom...yes.  But, most, for the things no one can take away...

He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world

He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus to Himself

He freely bestowed His grace on us

in Him we have redemption through His blood

in Him we have forgiveness of our trespasses

He made known to us the mystery of His will

We have obtained an inheritance

We are sealed in Him with the Spirit as a promise

Eph. 1

if we do not grow weary

Let us not lose heart in doing good,
for in due time we will reap
if we do not grow weary.


So then, while we can,
let us do good to all people,
and especially to those
who are in the household of faith.


May it never be that I would boast,
except in the cross of Jesus,
through which the world has been crucified to me,
and I to the world.


a new creation.

Instead of telling you why I need this verse today, I'm just going to keep holding on to it...believing it to be true, and trusting Him who gave it to give me all I need to do it.

Galatians 6

working from a place of rest

...was the theme of this year's much-needed retreat, based on John 4 when a worn-out Jesus rested, asked for water, and shared living water with the Samaritan woman.  

And these are the people that we work from rest together with, apart.  We may only see each other once a week, but we are so blessed to find ourselves a part of this household of faith and one-minded community!  From 86 to 6 months, Oregon to Delaware, we are praising the Lord tonight for such a family!  (And this was AFTER four days and 15 hours in the car together :)

(l to r: Maury, treasury, Marilyn and Dave, treasury and acting field leader, Erica, elementary teacher, Bud and Cindy, maintenance and child sponsorship program, Kate, elementary teacher)

Crossing the border...never easy.  We somehow managed to do it on foot this time, and were charged $0 douane for all the stuff (namely dairy products and frozen turkeys!) we bought in the DR...great news!  

 The DR and Haiti might share the same island, but the moment you cross the border going either way, you're in a whole new world...Creole to Spanish, soccer to baseball, African culture to Latino culture, bicycles to millions of mopeds, mangoes and papaya to grapes and tangerines.  

 And Sousoua, DR, was ever so beautiful.  

To help gap the literal dozens of languages represented at the hotel where we stayed, buffets were simplified with a photo of whatever animal was in the pan...Lily thought this was delightful.  The ex-vegetarian in me had a bit more trouble.  

 It is debatable whether it was Lily or Sofie who enjoyed the pool more.  Mommy and Poppy would have enjoyed it more if it had been 10 degrees warmer.  Haitian heat has ruined us.  

 Just being in such a quiet and beautiful place helped us relocate that healthy place of inner rest in Him...we also found a lot of opportunities to laugh, from shopping trauma to fishing tales, cross-cultural stories to those of days long past, it was good to laugh with a North American sense of humor :)

 Then we shared in several different sessions of Bible study, prayer, praise and singing, and we are So Grateful for Miss Sue, who played with Lily and most often with Sofia, too, so that we could share this time with our team without forming playdough or being chewed on (Sof is teething like crazy!) at the same time.

 We're just as grateful for her husband, Jim, for guiding these times together.

 There may not be any other kids on the field right now, but Lily was gleeful all weekend to have so much time with "my friends."  Mr. Silly Bud is one of her favorites.

The guys had a great fishing trip, though somehow after 6 hours, there was not ONE fish to be caught (I suggested they should have tried casting their nets on the other side, but...) and the girls returned after a much more productive shopping trip :)

Was shopping with options in a packed-out Dominican store in Spanish and with Peso pricing really overwhelming?  Yes.  

Did every single one of our credit cards get shut down for "Irregular Card Activity"?  Yes.  

Did our American or Haitian cash work?  No.  

Did we almost have to put back a cart-full of groceries?  Yes.  

Did we finally get everything paid for yet end up with 10,000 pesos that are no good in Haiti?  Yes.  

Did we do all of this in several languages?  Yes.  

Did we do all of this with 2 babies?  Yes.

Did we finally get everything loaded up only to discover the battery of the van was dead?  Yes.

Are we really glad Matt skipped the fishing trip to take the ladies shopping?

oh yeah.

 Getting a good picture of BOTH girls is starting to prove impossible...

 impossible.

Another 7 hour car trip/border crossing today has us admittedly exhausted tonight, but very grateful to have been met by Him, to be blessed by family and to be safely home and back to work tomorrow!