Accepting Weakness

"Do you not know?

     Have you not heard?

He Lord is the everlasting God,

     the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary,

     and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary

     and increases the power of the weak. 

Even youths grow tired and weary, 

     and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.

They will sore on wings like eagles,

     they will run and not grow weary,

     they will walk and not be faint."

Isaiah 40:28-31

I am weak.  

Yes, I will admit it!  There was a time in my life where I might not have so easily admitted this.  I might have said it, but not really meant it, but not anymore!  I understand this clearly now...

We are finished.  After 8 years of waiting, preparing, saving, working, and studying we are done!  Yet, we have only just begun.

As we have struggled and worked these last 8 years God has been stripping aways bits of ourselves.  He has been working in our lives, challenging us, growing us, and ultimately humbling us.  

As we have walked this road God has been revealing to us that we are weak.  The only reason we are where we are at today is because God has provided us with amazing strength in our times of weakness!  

Our Graduating Class

I have been growing in my understanding of what it means to rest in Christ.  To truly give Him my burdens and lean on Him.  I have recently come the realization the effects of stress on my body and also how stressed out I usually am.  Once again, I've received a glimpse as to how weak I am.   As Isaiah wrote "He gives strength to the weary, and increases the power of the weak..." I find such hope in the midst of my weakness!   

As Mitch and I graduate and as we transition, yet again, into a new big chapter in our lives I am reminded of the LORDS strength.

 I am reminded that He is the One who works through the lives of those who trust Him.  If there is one thing we have learned during our time in training, its that we cannot do this task!

How encouraging, right?  

I mean, the one thing we were here to learn how to do, we found out we cannot do!  

Well, we cannot do it on our own.  

Isaiah 40:28 starts off with a little, but very important word: BUT.  

"Even youths grow tired and weary, 

     and young men stumble and fall;

but..."

But what?!  

"BUT those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.

They will sore on wings like eagles,

     they will run and not grow weary,

     they will walk and not be faint."

The task of moving to a completely different place in this world that does everything differently that we do, in hopes to teach ourselves their language and then teach them how to read and write, translate the Bible and teach it to them is impossible!  We cannot do it in our own strength or ability.  BUT...

The LORD will renew our strength.

             

Im not sure if this makes sense or not, but I am thankful for God's Word and the encouragement and hope that this passage brings me.  

As we graduate we understand the hugeness of what we are desiring to do.  We understand that it is God who will lead us, guide us, and equip us with what it is going to take.  We understand that we cannot do it, that we are weak...

BUT...

Finishing STRONG!

It has been a while since we have written anything.  It seems that this last season of our training has been quite the whirlwind!

We are approaching the end.  The end of our training that is.

4 weeks and we will be graduated!  This time of equipping has been amazing!  We have been challenged and have grown SO much.  We have learned what it takes to take God's Word to unreached people groups of this world, and the biggest lesson we have learned in all of this is that there is absolutely NO way we can do it.

One might ask then, 'how is it that you're going to do it?!'.  Well,  we cant forget that this is God's work.  We are willing to go, but we have to rely on God to work through us.  We need Him.  Like the hymn says "Lord I need you, Oh i need you.  Every hour I need you!  My one defence, my righteousness!  Oh God how I need you!"

We are in the midst of our Language Practicum class right now where we are putting our skills to work as we go through the steps of learning the German language.  We wont learn the entire language by any means, but rather will be able to practice all of the things we will do when we learn a new language overseas.

Amy has been in class with us some of the days, and she quite enjoys seeing all of the students and listening as the teacher speaks.

We are working hard at finishing this training strong!  We are so thankful for this season of training, and we are getting really excited about the upcoming time of partnership development!

A big THANK YOU to all those who are partnered with us through prayer and finances as we have trained.  God has used you in amazing ways to encourage us!

God is SO good, and we have so much to be thankful for. :)

To Be Faithful Part 2

The last post we did was about faith.  It seems like that our faith is always being tested!  We trust God with one thing, and just after that something else really big comes up that stretches us to trust Him even more.  I guess that is the christian life...  :)

When I last wrote, we didn't know where our next steps would take us.  We were in Nova Scotia for the summer looking to reconnect and build up our financial support team more.  We were very behind in some of our school bills, and in order for us to return we were needing to raise a hefty chunk of money.

In our own eyes it seemed impossible, but we knew that if it was God's will for us to return to the training and finish this year that He would do something amazing.

Our last Sunday in Nova Scotia was one that was leaving us hanging.  We would tell people: "See you next week or next year!".  As we sat in the airport waiting to board our flight we still didn't know what was going to happen.  Up to that point in time we still needed several thousand dollars if we were to start up classes in just two days.  Right before we boarded our flight Mitch checked our e-mail one last time and when I saw the look on his face I just knew God had done something huge!  He showed me the phone and told me to read this e-mail that we had just received.  I read it and it was from someone who wanted to look after the rest of our remaining debt!

We walked down the terminal to board our flight,  tears in our eyes, humbled again as to why God would choose to use us.  

He is faithful!

God is rarely early but He is always on time.

So here we are!  One month into our final semester of training at the MTC with just 3 months left.  Classes are going great!  We have finished up our Literacy course and we both really enjoyed that.  Learning how we can teach a people group how to read and write for the first time was great, and it got us pumped up for the idea of one day doing it outside of the classroom.

We began our Language Practicum this past week.  That will be the single most biggest class we will have.  It will run from now until the end of the semester, and in it we will be putting to practice all of the things we have learned so far.  We have been partnered up with a student who spend many years in Germany and has German family members.  We will be doing language sessions with him as we will do once we move into a cultural context, in addition to some cultural sessions.  We will be using the program to input all of the data that we collect and learn from him, and will have to prepare a report on what we learned through this whole time.

Adjusting to the life of new parents plus us both being full time students its been a bit crazy.  This new class is going to be very time consuming, and will entail a lot of homework.  We will have to work out a childcare program for Amy with our classmates as well.  This is to give us a feel for what it will be like overseas.  If babysitters are needed then us and our co-workers will need to work that out amongst ourselves.  All of this is to prepare us for what we will face overseas, accept that there will be all of this, plus more and all in a new place and culture!  Are we ever thankful that we have a body of believers going along side us through prayer and support?!

We trust His provisions in the day to day as well as in the big things.  

God is faithful!

To Be Faithful

What does it look like to be faithful?     

The faithfulness of God is something that I often have wondered about, wrestled with, and been blown away by.  God seems to always open my mind more and more about what it means to understand His faithfulness.

Looking through the Old Testament one of the biggest themes is the faithfulness of God.  Time and time again God proved Himself faithful to a faithless people.  He revealed his love and desire to have a relationship with them even when they spat in His face and worshiped false gods.  He stayed true to His promises even when his chosen people chose to turn their back on Him and trust in themselves, or others...anyone but Him.

And in the New Testament we see Jesus.  Beautiful Jesus.  We get to see the face of the One who we were told about, the One who we get to walk and talk with, the One who is going to save us.  We get to witness the faithfulness of the Father lived out in the life and death of Christ.  How beautiful is Gods faithfulness!  How mind blowingly amazing is it that we know this One, the Holy One, this Most Faithful One?!

As I sit here typing, sipping my tea, and listening to music filled with the reminder of God's faithfulness I cant help but look back and see the hand of God working in our life.  God has indeed been faithful to His people throughout history, and He has also been faithful to Mitch and I.

Most of the time we don't understand what God is doing in our life.  Most of the time we ask God for His will to be done, yet do all we can to see our desires come true.  The constant battle between 'Your will be done' and 'give me what I want' rages in our minds.  Yet in the midst of that battle God is walking along side us, faithful.  He knows what we need, when and how we need it.

He is faithful.

All we need to do is take every worrisome thought captive, and trust that He is who He says He is, and that is in fact FAITHFUL.

In the Mighty Jungle

The beginning Process.  No leaves on the trees, Amanda still pregnant, and a lot to clear of all the leaves.

Day 1 of building!  All the upright polls had to go in, fresh green leaves and Amy Grace at 1 month old!

End of day 2!  Uprights up, as well as the roof polls.  

While the men were away for 3 days on the mens hike, I got to work on a few small projects like finishing our shelves...

...our bed, and our dresser shelving.  As well as tending to Amy of course!

After 2 long weeks of building Move in day came!  It was a bit chilly and we got started early in the morning.  Amy Grace all bundled up at 6 weeks old.  

Mitchell got to practice his tree cutting skills a lot while we were in Jungle Camp.  Mostly he had to use a bow saw cutting and chopping it all by hand.  This day though we had a demonstration on how to properly use a chainsaw, and we cut down some of the larger dead trees that needed to come down. 

Amy stayed nice and warm in her cozy fleece sleeping sacks a friend made for her.  :)

The view from our bed.  My most favourite place!  We had lots to do each day to get the basic things done, but we did also have a lot of down time!  I loved spending time reading, napping and relaxing with Amy on our bed.  Mitch wired a couple computer fans to our car battery so on the hot days we could lay in bed and have a cool breeze blowing our way.

Amy began smiling while we were there!  She also began teething, putting her hand to her mouth and cooing.  She just LOVED looking up at our clear roof and seeing all the shadows and lights move.  It was like one big mobile for her!

We had to take part in a chicken butchering.  From the live bird to the meat in the bag we learned how to kill, clean and cut up a chicken.  Pretty interesting!  Most countries overseas dont have their meats prepared like we have it here in North America.  There is often some dirty work involved in eating meat most other places.

The view of our house.  

The Georgian Bay.  Both the men and the women went on a hike along this beautiful coastline!  The men hiked for 3 days during one of our building weeks, and the women went for two days the last week of Jungle camp.  I only went for the 1st day of the hike.  Mitch had Amy all day and they both enjoyed their 1 on 1 time together.  

Some of the ladies on the hike.

Mitch directing a water balloon relay game with all of the kids.  The adults all took turns leading games in the afternoons for the kids.  It was great to see everyone come together and help out in keeping the children busy.  :)

This is just a snapshot of our time in Jungle Camp!  We had a lot of fun, were challenged and grew in many ways!  We are so thankful for the opportunity to train in such a unique and awesome way!   

Home Again...Home Again...

I am home!

I was discharged from the hospital on Sunday!  Mitch came down on Saturday to spend the weekend with me (which was wonderful!!!), and they let me go home with him.

It is very nice to be home!  It has been quite the roller coaster though.  When they first admitted me they said I'd most likely be in the hospital until the baby was born.  Then last wednesday I went into false labor and for a little bit thought that I was going to have our baby.  After some intense re-hydration my contractions slowed down and stopped.  Then I found out later last week that if I could make it through the weekend that they would send me home!  I was thrilled with that news, but again it took some readjusting mentally and emotionally.  

It has been a season of being flexible and having to adjust for sure.  It was weird to be in the hospital and not have a newborn to care for, then it was weird to come home from the hospital and not have a newborn to care for.  I am thrilled that our baby is still in my womb, dont get me wrong, it is the best place for it to be...but I guess I just have no way of knowing what to expect with this little one!

It was wonderful to be back in classes.  I was able to skype into class while I was away, but it is great to be back and sitting in on classes.

I met with my Doula a couple days ago.  Mitch and I are so blessed to have her!  She is on staff here at the NTM headquarters and offers her services free of charge for staff and students.  I always hoped to have a Doula and am blessed to have her here with us at this time!  :)

As we are in a very exciting season, we cant help but be reminded of why we are here.  We are here to train and be equipped.  As individuals, and as a family.  We cant help but be reminded of all those around this world that do not have hope.  Our baby will be able to hear of God's saving grace and love, so many parents and children around this world do not have that option!  Our hearts cry is for those to hear God's Word.  We are trusting God every step of the way.  As we train and as we grow as a family we are looking to Him to work through our lives and use us.   :)

To Rest

God calls us all to rest, to rest in Him, to trust Him, and to ultimately rely on Him for all we need.  He is our Source of strength, peace, comfort, and SO much more.

As I type this I sit in a state of literal rest.  We are expecting our first child to be born in the next 2 months or so, and it appears that our baby is trying to come sooner than its expected time!  So, here I sit in the hospital, resting.  We are very thankful for a healthy baby, and that I too am healthy!  It just seems like our baby is anxious to come sooner rather than later, and one thing that we have learned on this journey of having children, is that we are not in control of this process!

Coming to the realization that your child might very well come early and need some extra time and help in the hospital is very unsettling.  As parents we naturally want what is best for our children!  No parent hopes that their child be born earlier than 'normal', and we are no different.

God is teaching us what it means to not only physically rest in Him, but also what it means to rest on Him.  God is not surprised at what is happening with our baby right now.  God knew that all of this would be coming, and He is faithful to sustain us through it!

"I lay down and slept;

I woke again, for the Lord sustained me."

Psalms 3:5

32 Week Ultrasound: profile & arm

As we seek Him and His perfect timing, our understanding of what it means to trust Him is growing!  God knows exactly what is best for us, and our family, and we find that as we learn to rest on Him, He is faithful to sustain us and to give us peace.  So...as the days pass we will trust Him.  God knows exactly when our baby will arrive!  Our task until that day is to rest. 

So that His name is glorified!

The training up of the next generation of missionaries....what is needed in this task? 

Check out this video to get a glimpse of one way we can come together in seeing this task done!

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, 

for it is Godʼs power for salvation to 

everyone who believes"

Romans 1:16

He is GOOD!

God is Good  

If you ask people in today's society what they think about God's goodness, you would be met with many differing views.  So many seem to think that because they do not understand what is happening in their life that God must not be good; that if hard times come, that God cannot really be good. 

~

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

    neither are your ways my ways,”

declares the Lord.

9 

As the heavens are higher than the earth,

    so are my ways higher than your ways

    and my thoughts than your thoughts."

Isaiah 55:8-9

~

God declares through the hand of Isaiah that His 'ways are higher than (my) ways'.  I may not always understand why God has chosen to have certain things come my way, but that doesn't make His ways wrong.  God is still good  even if hard time come!

~

"for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances....

 I can do all this through him who gives me strength."

Philippians 4:11, 13

~

I find encouragement through what God did in Paul's life.  Paul knew what it was like to have much, and to have little.  He was a prominent man in his society and was well-liked.  He, at another time in his life, was also hated by most and went without.  God showed him what it was like to be content regardless of his circumstances, and He relied on God for the strength he needed.  And God was faithful to supply him with that strength he!  God, through the life of Paul, expressed His goodness.

Knowing of God's goodness has transformed our lives.  It's given us hope when we had none.  It's given us strength when we were weak.  God's goodness is a solid rock that we have landed on time and time again, and yet our hearts break.

Why?

Our hearts break for those who do not know his goodness, who cannot know it.  There are people, like you and me, who cannot understand God's goodness because they do not have His Word in their language!  There are those who, year after year, live in fear of spirits.  Those who, every day, have all they do revolve around keeping spirits happy as to not be tormented or punished by them...those who do not know of the joy that comes from God's goodness!

Our prayer is that they will know.  That those who have already been given this hope will come together and see God's Word taken to those who do not yet have it!  

God is good and they need to know!  

When We Don't See

What do you do when you cant see?
When God brings you to a place where you are unable to see what is ahead of you.

As we prepare to welcome our child into this world we, like all parents, are met with a certain amount of blindness, not knowing what to expect or exactly what we have coming.  As I sit and type this, feeling our little baby wiggle around inside me, I cannot help but recognize those feelings.  I have no idea what is coming!

God has brought us here to train.  To train for something that is of most importance to us, and to God!  We long to play a role in taking His Word to those who do not have it.  There are so many that have never felt the hope that we have!  There are so many that go to sleep at the end of every day living in fear, who have not yet been able to know the peace that can only come from God.  Every single day Mitch and I thank God for what He has done for us!  We are so thankful for Christ's death, a death that was not deserved, but was freely given so that we might know the God who created us, loves us, and longs to know us in a personal relationship.  We have been given freedom!  And we long for others to know this same freedom.  That is why we are here. 

We both cannot deny the fact that God has brought us this far.  The things that have taken place up to this point in our lives that have lead us to this exact moment have been undeniably God working His will out in our lives.

As we head into March break, prepare for our babies arrival, and look to finishing up this coming semester we are met with darkness, blindness.  We cannot see how things are going to go in the months to come.  We cannot know if our baby will come early, on time, or late.  We cannot see the way in which God is going to provide for us to stay here, and we cannot see anything that He might have for us to come in our future.

But we can see that He is sovereign.  We can see that He will direct us in His timing.  We can see that He is good, and we can trust that He will lead us in the way that is best for us and our family.

So...today.  Today is what we have.  Today we will trust Him.  Today we will look to our Saviour for strength, for wisdom, and for peace.  Today we will choose to believe the One that saved us from darkness, hopelessness, and fear.  Today we will rest in our own blindness and rely upon His perfect sight to guide us as we each day at a time.

He is Able!!!

I love it when God reminds me of Truth.  Today has been one of those days when He has done that for the both of us.
We were reminded today to look back, to see what God has done and to be encouraged and excited by it as He continues to work around us.  He is amazing!  I am awestruck at how God works in the lives of His people!  He is doing so much in this world, and it blows me away!
I am reminded of His love for His creation.  He desires a relationship with those He has created.  He see's the faces of every single person on this earth.  He desires a relationship with every single one of them.  What a priceless gift it is to have His Word.  His Word is His love letter us, and it cuts deep in my heart to know that there are so many people that do not have it.

We just finished studying through Acts, and I love to see how God used the early believers to spread His Word.  The reason we have it today in English is because of the faithfulness of the saints that came before us!  I am so thankful!  There are still so many people that are waiting.  So many people that do not yet have it.  My hearts cry is for those who haven't been given this priceless gift.  The goal of taking Gods Word to those who do not have it in their native language is able to be accomplished!  To goal is reachable and just takes those who are willing.  A willing heart is the most powerful thing that we can offer God.  He is the One doing the work, we just have to be willing.

Are you willing?  He is able.    

Amanda's Roller-Coaster

   Some of my (Amanda's) thoughts lately...

     It seems that the days are just moving along.  Each day is such a sweet blessing!  Mitch and I are here, in a season of equipping.  The reality of this often hits me and leaves me feeling blessed.  God is SO good!

With our fellowship Group...a wonderful group of people!  

     I also find myself, naturally, in a new place.  Next week I enter my 3rd trimester in carrying our little one.  I am in the midst of schooling and training, but along with all of that I am in the process of preparing to be a mother.  I have been in 'crazy' nesting mode, as Mitch has been telling me often, lately.  In the midst of classes, homework and local ministry I feel the strong urge to prepare.  We are so blessed and have been able to equip the baby's room with most of what it needs for free!  I have been reminded of how amazingly God provided for us when we were in Bible School and were getting married with very little income, and I am in awe of how God is yet again providing for us.
   
     God has been teaching me so much on dependance on Him.  We have just about reached the halfway point in our training!  We came in faith as to how we would pay our bills and tuition, and God has provided so much.  As I look to the remaining half of our time here, I do not understand or know how we are going to cover the costs...just like I didn't know before we came.  I LOVE seeing God move and work!  While I have to admit I have moments of weakness and fear, I am very excited to see how God is going to continue to work in our life and provide for our family.  Our desire is to serve Him, and He has brought us this far...I will continue to trust Him with the things I cannot see.

A couple of belly shots

     I am also been looking to Him daily for physical and emotional strength.  I titled this post 'Amanda's Roller-Coaster' because I feel as if that is what I have been on lately.  Each day comes and with it a flood of emotions.  I have been struggling with lots of physical pain as our baby grows and my belly gets bigger.  I have been greatly restricted in what I can do in a day's time, and that has been quite the challenge for me.  Sleep isn't coming easily either, and that can do funny things to someone who is already feeling at the edge of her emotional stability.  I have been growing in my understanding in what it means to trust Him daily.  I am weak.  I just cant do it...But HE can.  2 Corinthians 12:9-10 says

 "...My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with ... difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong."  

     So as each day comes, I look to Him.  With each burst of unpredictable emotions, I seek Him.  With each fearful thought, I trust Him.  And with each twinge of pain, I rest in His strength.

s0uNdz & 5yMb0Ls...Say What?!

Sounds & Symbols, or Phonetics, has been consuming much of our time as of late.  This class, in particular, has been one of the ones that we have been looking forward to for many years!  In it we are breaking down all of the sounds that the human body can make, not just the ones we make in English.

Some might ask "why are you learning Phonetics?  I thought you were at 'Bible school'?"  

While some of our classes include Bible courses, we are here to train how to learn and translate the Bible into an unknown language, with many of them being only spoken languages.  So a thorough understanding of how languages are formed, and how each sound is made and represented is vital for us to reach this goal.

 Jesus said:

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations..."

For us, that word "all" means just that, all.  There are over 2,000 people groups that do not have God's Word in their heart language, and we want to be a part in seeing that number reduced!  

So here we are, in a class with 23 students who share this same passion...studying phonetics...so that one day more people will be able to know and read God's love story to them.  If we learn how they speak, we will then be able to tell them the freedom and hope they can have through Jesus!

Want to join with us as we train and be a part of our team?  Click here to find out how!

Christmas Blessings

This past Christmas was filled with so many blessings for us!  We were excited to be able to fly home to Nova Scotia to celebrate with our friends and family there.  We were constantly reminded of Gods amazing timing and provision through our time there. 

A friend took some pregnancy pictures
while we were there.  What a special
gift to us!

We were able to fly to and from without any travel interruptions, praise God for that!!!  Both times we were just a few hours away from storms.  

We had several wonderful opportunities to connect with loved ones during our 3 weeks, and as always the time just flew on by!

We went to Nova Scotia with great expectations in a way...Expectations from God.  As we traveled we were very aware of our financial need back here in Ontario for our tuition.  We believed during our time there that God would work and that He would be the one to provide for us if it is His will for us to be here in the training.  God most definitely moved, but it wasn't at all how we expected Him to.

We were plagued with horrible winter weather our whole time in Nova Scotia, and we were not able to visit some church's like we had hoped to while we were there.  3 weeks just didn't seem like enough time to do everything that we felt needed to be done, but we chose to trust God in His timing in the midst of the uncontrollable circumstances.  

We were blessed to speak at our home church, Immanuel Baptist Church.  What an encouragement that body of friends are to us!!!  

After we shared at our Church

We left Nova Scotia just a few short days ago feeling encouraged by those who chose to join with us in this task of seeing the Gospel taken to those without it, yet still hopeful in how God was going to provide the rest of our tuition needs still waiting for us in Ontario.

We began classes today, and as we went to class we checked our mailbox and we were amazed to find a letter that came just after we left back in December.  In that letter was a generous donation to us that would cover almost all of our tuition bill remaining for last semester!!!  What an amazing surprise!  It was there waiting for us the whole time!  Mitch and I are so thankful, humbled, and astounded yet again by those in our lives who have chosen to partner with us.  We were reminded again at how it is God who is providing all we need while we are here, and we are SO thankful for the generous hearts of those God has placed in our lives!

Thanks to all of you who have partnered with us.  Thanks to all of you who have been an encouragement to us.  Thanks to every single one of you who prays for us, and for most thanks be to God for being Jehovah Jireh, the One Who Provides!!!

Beginning today with our North American World View course