Thursday, September 09, 2004

Why Me?

Hebrews 2:17 "Therefore in all things He had to be made like His brethren that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God..."

Before the Father sent the Son, He had never experienced the trials, the pain, or the suffering of the human race. After Jesus came, suffered and died for all of us, He could more perfectly empathize with us and He was not ashamed to call us brothers.

Sometimes (Usually!) when I am going through a trial or difficult time, I often ask the question "WHY?" ("Why ME?!") Recently I realized that many times God wants me to experience certain things first hand, so that I will be more understanding and merciful toward my brothers and sisters in Christ who struggle with those same things.

Friday, June 25, 2004

AMAZING... think about it...


If you win a thousand people to the Lord every day for 35 years, you will have won 12,000,000 people.

 
If you win one person to the Lord every year and disciple them to win one person to the Lord every year, in 35 years you will have won 9,000,000,000 people, or the entire population of the world.

Sunday, June 06, 2004

Starting from September, Grace Christian Fellowship, will have a school. Luke will start when the school opens in Septemer, but Katie will finish Japanese elementary school next March. So, we decided to let her wait a year so she could "graduate" with her friends.

Wednesday, June 02, 2004

Two times in two days I came across the following quote...

"Love without truth is hypocrisy. Truth without love is brutality."

And I think about this verse:

"Open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed.  Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." Proverbs 27:5-6

Matthew Henry's commentary says...

"It is good for us to be reproved, and told of our faults, by our friends. If true love in the heart has but zeal and courage enough to show itself in dealing plainly with our friends, and reproving them for what they say and do amiss, this is really better, not only than secret hatred (as Lev. 19:17), but than secret love, that love to our neighbours which does not show itself in this good fruit, which compliments them in their sins, to the prejudice of their souls. Faithful are the reproofs of a friend, though for the present they are painful as wounds. It is a sign that our friends are faithful indeed if, in love to our souls, they will not suffer sin upon us, nor let us alone in it. "

Loving honesty leads to healthy relationships. I want my friends to tell me the truth... what I need to hear, not just what they think I want to hear. Honesty involves risk. But true friends are willing to take that risk.

Sunday, April 18, 2004

Trust His Heart

I love this song, because it is so true. I don't understand, all I have is questions, and I may never have answers. But one thing I know, one thing that will never change, is how very much God loves me, and when I can't see His plan, I can trust His heart. And so can you.



All things work for the good
Though sometimes we can't see how they could
Struggles that break our hearts in two
Sometimes blind us to the truth

Our Father knows what's best for us
His ways are not our own
So when your pathway grows dim
And you just can't see Him,
Remember He's still on the throne

     Chorus:

     God is too wise to be mistaken
     God is too good to be unkind
     So when you don't understand
     When don't see His plan
     When you can't trace His hand
     Trust His Heart

He sees the master plan
He holds the future in His hand,
Don't live as those who have no hope,
While our hope is found in Him.

We see the present clearly
But He sees the first and last
And like a tapestry He's weaving you and me,
To someday be just like Him

He alone is faithful and true
He alone knows what is best for you

When you can't trace His hand
When you don't see His plan
When you don't understand
Trust His Heart

Written by Eddie Carswell & Babbie Mason copyright ©1989 Word Music, Inc.

Saturday, April 17, 2004

Jesus is in the Fire

It is with much sadness that I have to share that Thursday night, I started spotting and it continued through the night with some light cramping. Friday morning we went to the Dr. and had 3 ultrasounds which all confirmed that our baby died at about 9 weeks (2 weeks ago). The baby had classic signs of chromosomal defects that would have never allowed it to grow to term. A D&C was scheduled immediately, and I am now at home being taken care of, by our wonderful church family.

Thursday night, when I was praying, I opened my daily devotional book to read that day's message, here is what it said...

April 15
Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. Acts 14:22

How do we enter into the Kingdom?- through much tribulation.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego knew this. They were in a fiery trial indeed, yet they did not come out until they were ordered out (Daniel 3:26) because they preferred walking in the fire with the Lord to sitting in the shade without Him.

What happened to the fourth Man in the furnace? -He remained in the fire (Daniel 3:25)
Where is Jesus- the fourth Man- today?
In the fire.

We have a tendency to try to avoid the fire whenever possible- and it's a great mistake. I'm not saying we should be masochists. I am, however, saying:

It's in the fire, When times are tough, When your heart is breaking.... that Jesus is most visible, Most real, Most precious. *Taken from "A Day's Journey" by Jon Courson.

Even though it wasn't what I was hoping to hear at the time, I knew that God was telling me that He was going through it with me, and that He would prove it true, when our hearts are breaking that is when He is most visible, most real, most precious.

Of course we are devastated, and sad... but as Paul said... "We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed-- 2 Corinthians 4:8-9

And Jesus' own words... "Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted." Matthew 5:4

This is from Mark: We've had many friends go through this and wow, what an eye-opener this has been to me, in order to empathize with them. I think what is hitting me the worse tonight is how Lukie was soooo looking forward to being a big brother, and being like his dad, he wears his emotions on his sleeve. And when Renee mentioned tonight about he would have made such a good big brother, it just about broke his heart again, and mine also...Please pray especially for the kids, as we don't know exactly how this will affect them; especially Katie as she is not quite so emotional so not sure what all she's thinking and feeling.

We love you all, and thank you so much for your prayers and support.

Thursday, March 11, 2004

SURPRISE!!! The Van Clan is going to have a new addition in November. Yep. We're pregnant. (mostly me!) I thought Mark might need CPR when I first told him, but thankfully, he has recovered quite nicely. Needless to say we are shocked, since Katie and Luke are almost 12 and 10. It will be like starting over completely, buying maternity clothes, baby gear, baby toys, etc. etc. What an adventure!

Thursday, February 26, 2004

At the end of April our family will take a mission trip to Puerto Vallarta Mexico for the Festival of Life. You can read about the festivals here... http://www.horizonsd.org/festival_of_life.html

Saturday, January 24, 2004

Wow, I just realized I haven't been here for a while. Tonight I was surfing the net (which I also haven't done in a while) and I came across a really good article by Ravi Zacharias.... http://www.gospelcom.net/rzim/publications/jttran.php?jtcode=JT04WRZ