Hey all :)
Dear Friends and Family!
How about taking a few minutes to be really encouraged?! I decided an update about all that God is doing with our kiddos is LONG overdue. So grab a cup o’ coffee and be prepared to smile J!
First and most exciting, about 2 months ago I was baking cookies with Ki’Ara (13) when what seemed out of the blue she says, “Ok, Coach Julz, I’m ready.” I looked around, “Ooookkkkk? For what?” She said, “To pray. You know…I’m ready for Him to be IN me.” Just like that! We scurried around the crazy house looking for a semi-quiet room and right there on Bella’s bunk bed Ki’Ara prayed and asked the Lord to be in her life.
This is just one example of MANY the Lord has sent our way, to remind us that WE do not PRODUCE the fruit. We simply plant some seeds and water as long as He allows. In HIS time and His way, the fruit flourishes. Praise God!
Not long after that, one of the 16 year old boys came to us asking what he should do when his thoughts are bad. I shared with him the power of God’s Word for His children and quoted the first scripture that came to mind, “Greater is He that is IN me than he that is in this world!” Right there on the hood of the minivan, just before we were about to leave, he kept reciting it over and over until he walked off ten feet of the ground and excited to try to this out for himself. Again, just plant, water , & count on God to take it from there. J
Two weeks ago, we planned a baptism party for Ki’Ara in my parent’s hot tub. The whole gang gathered and couldn’t wait to celebrate with her. Unfortunately, Ki’Ara had several really hard things said to her that day at school about her brother’s untimely death and that night her emotions were really strong. When she broke down in tears, the family (all 20 or so of us! J) were able to simply demonstrate His love and understanding that the baptism could easily be rescheduled. She was relieved and is ready to reschedule! Another girl told her, “I’ll do it with you as soon as I get my weave out!” Ha!
We are beginning a new project together. A GARDEN! Last Thursday planted seeds in flats and hand painted our garden stakes. I am so excited to see how God uses this experience to reveal Himself even more to these kids. We are also re-starting construction on our prayer shack! This week we were given a gift for all of the lumber!!! We’ve dug a ditch for electricity to be run to it and prepared the foundation. Inside our little prayer shack we will have bean bags, walls covered in chalkboard paint , art supplies, legos, music and more. Our hopes are that each of these kids will begin to treasure their time to be ‘alone with God’ expressing themselves however He leads. Their little worlds don’t allow much quiet and alone time. Google 24-7 Prayer if you have never heard of this concept. Upon completion, we would LOVE to open this shack to be filled with 24/7 prayer for hopefully a week by anyone (that’s YOU! J) willing to join us!!!
Just last week we had an unexpected blessing of fruit. Some of you may have received the email about Kurtis (16). His brother was Kordero. Since witnessing the murder of his brother and best friend, Kurtis has been suffering from reoccurring nightmares. The other night he opened up to us in a very beautiful and transparent way desperate for prayer. Right there in Braums, the kids all held hands and asked God to give him peaceful rest. Just as you probably expected the Lord has blessed Kordero with peaceful rest since then! He told me, “I’m sleeping till 8am without waking up! And I told God thank you! I know it was Him who did it!” Love it.
A couple nights before Easter we stayed up way too late with the kids talking about why we celebrate Easter, why the world celebrates Easter, and how we can thank God for sending His Son and raising Him from the dead so we could have eternal life! We watched the movie Passion of the Christ and all wept and prayed together.
Chris and I both have really noticed over the past year how much love and discipleship the older boys need. Because of this, Chris and several guys started taking them bowling every Saturday morning. They have a ball, make all kinds of crazy bets, and mingle God in all over the place. He wakes up dragging and comes home 10 ft off the ground :). The guys seem to be loving it and calling every Sat by 6 AM!!!! to make sure they are still going....ugh! ha
Finally, God has been soooo gracious to send us many, many beautiful people with a heart to bless these kiddos with His love. Many from our house church and the wind business have been coming on a regular basis and being so patient as the kids grew comfortable with them. It is so awesome to watch them open up to those that are there simply to share the love of Christ!
God also sent an amazing administrative friend to me to volunteer her talents!!! So many of you have volunteered over the past year to bless and support this gathering in any way needed. This may be just what you are looking for….keep reading just a LITTLE more!
As you can imagine, feeding a group of 20+ every week is quite a task. My friend has offered to begin a volunteer page on the internet that you can access anytime to find a spot that fits your availability. Anything from bring a dessert, salad, veggie, casserole, whatever! I’m certain she’ll be able to explain it better than me, but our hope is that anyone desiring to bless what the Lord is doing over here could do so in a way that easily fits your budget and time! I can’t explain what a blessing this would be to me!!!
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN GIVING THIS WAY….would you please reply just saying, SEND ME MORE INFO –I’M INTERESTED! (And feel free to pass this out to anyone I may have missed.) Like I said, you could give one time, every couple weeks, whatever. How cool is this….the Lord literally sent someone to my home a couple weeks ago to give us a FREE DEEP FREEZE! So now you could drop off at your convenience and it could be in the freezer waiting! He’s amazing!
Alright, I could go on forever but will refrain! God is good and greatly to be praised! He loves these kids so much more than we do and it is an honor to co-labor with HIM! It is so awesome to see these kids experiencing His love in ways that we are certain will effect their lives for years to come. Please continue praying for us! He is the source of all good things!
Much much love to you!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment