Packing
up four lives, moving across the world and hoping for the best seems
to make sense to this mama when all other areas of life swing in the
pendulum of change. However we could not have predicted the spiritual
rebuttal that would unfold in the wake of saying “yes” to God yet
again. Following our decision to go as a family to Thailand, the
weeks days and hours preceding our departure, felt like a battle of
epic proportions in staying the course. Rosyn experienced her first
grand mal seizure as well as a change in medication, we packed up all
of our belongings into storage (we will continue searching for Vancouver housing while in Thailand), and we packed suitcases and made
preparations to venture off into the unknown on our first missions
trip outside Canada and to a developing Nation.
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| Vancouver YVR; the big adventure awaits!! |
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| Thai friends with gifts to give! |
Among
each of these unfolding events this last month, the health of our
child seemed the centre of what I'll call a spiritual tug of war. I
cannot begin to wrap my head around the spiritual realm in which we
live – but I do know God tells us; for
our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the
spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (paraphrased
Ephesians 6:12). It would make sense that a
threat upon our highly cherished gift, our child, would be easily
used to cloud our vision of truth and certainty in trusting God.
Satan set out to destroy our hope in our Father's goodness and
instil fear in place of trust. There were days/hours/moments when the fear crept in all around and I believed that going to Thailand was crazy and that I would be putting Rosyn at risk, but Christ's perfect love cast out all fear, and I chose to believe in The Truth instead of the lies. These trials have tested our faith immensely and as such we have built perseverance, and been gifted a depth in our love of Christ. Practically God has shown us that we will be uniquely equipped to share God's love as a fellow YWAMer
pointed out; you have been given the gift now to connect with parents
in Thailand who may feel they have no control over what is happening
to their child. God's plan is always for His glory!
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| Fun and games |
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| "shoulder shoulder, head" leading Compassion International Children's Day |
And
out of these ashes will come tears of joy. Our arrival to the Elisha Children Home (ECH) in North East Thailand has been exceedingly more
than we could have ever asked or imagined. Christ reigns in this
place and His spirit lives in the abundant service of the people He
has placed to live and work at ECH. Not only have we been blessed by
the people at ECH, our portion only multiplies as we walk along side
our team paying witness to God at work in their lives; it is yet another gift to partake in the journey of those who are seeking to know God and
make Him known. Three fold; our little ladies have experienced a connection with the other children and the workers here at ECH that has come so naturally we again find Gods insurmountable gifts of grace sprinkled throughout our time here. It is unlikely I could even begin to do justice in expressing the beauty and wonder of our experience here so far and so my words of our time boast in nothing but goodness from Jesus Christ alone - there is nothing better!
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| Tears of Joy:) |
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| The Lord provides, Jehovah Jirah |
As
I sit back and ask myself why, why do I, the least deserving, get any
of these gifts at all? Why would I cross the world and find God, and
His good glory here waiting for me to unwrap? This is God, this is
the centre of His character; to give love. And so the story seems
fitting; as I unwrap the seemingly endless gifts of His glory here in Thailand that we
celebrate the birth of our Saviour; the greatest gift of all.
May you find all the glorious gifts Christ has come to offer you this season!
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| Ma Pon and Pa Don who oversee ECH |
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| Compassion International games! |
Jenny (N, R & P)
