Praying for NO SNOW!

This weekend I am traveling to my hometown and meeting with two families in hopes they will become financial partners with me. I am also speaking at my home church, Bado Community Church. There is supposed to be some winter weather this weekend so pray for safe travels and good attendance in church so I may reach as many as possible! I am excited to see how the good Lord leads!

Also, I am sure there will be a million people to thank along the way, but one has been brought to my attention! My brother-in-law, Eric (Kerry’s hubbie), has deemed himself my IT manager! He has helped me tremendously in the tech department by assisting in the newsletter and prayer card. He is a busy guy, but he loves me! Thanks, Eric!

This next week is mid-terms and the next two weekends are full with fundraising so it will be busy! Wish me luck!

じゃまた。 (Ja mata) See you later!

In my personal devotions I am in Psalm. I have really been enjoying each Psalm and I am encouraged by David’s rejoicing even in the darkest of time. David supports the fact that no matter what situation someone is facing, God will always be there to fall back on. Throughout the entire book of Psalms this is mentioned again and again.

My favorite Psalm so far is Psalm 30. I am not for sure if it just really applied to what I was going through the night I read it, but every time I have read it after that I fall more and more in love with it. It is 12 verses, but I am going to type it all out so you can get the full effect of it now.

Psalm 30 (NIV):
1 I will exalt you, O Lord, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me. 2 O Lord my God, I called to you for help and you healed me. 3 O Lord, you brought me up from the grave; you spared me from going down into the pit. 4 Sing to the Lord, you saints of his; praise his holy name. 5 For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. 6 When I felt secure, I said, “I will never be shaken.” 7 O Lord, when you favored me, you made my mountain stand firm; but when you hid your face, I was dismayed. 8 To you, O Lord, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy: 9 “What gain is there in my destruction, in my going down into the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness? 10 Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me; O Lord, be my help.” 11 You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, 12 that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.

There are so many things in this passage that the reader can point out, but to spare you from reading all of my thoughts I will only mention a couple of things. God’s favor does last a lifetime. Even though we are so unworthy and even though we are sinful every day, through Jesus we are blameless in His sight! He has given us the victory, too! Even when we are in the darkest times, God is right beside us. He is with us through thick and thin, like a best friend (only better!). He is our foundation, even if we fall into the pit. We fall into His arms if we have Him as a firm foundation. So whatever struggles you are facing today remember that God is right beside you and He cares. He wants to provide comfort and turn your wailing into dancing! And if you are doing pretty well today, don’t forget to praise His! Praise His Holy name if you are in the pit or on the mountain!

Allison

I love it when God uses other people to minister to us! I love to see His faithfulness in action! Last Saturday I was walking out of Wal-Mart (my least favorites place!) and I saw a table set up with some merchandise on it. I noticed the sign on the table said, “Teen Challenge Women’s Ministry”. This intrigued me because women’s ministry is my heart and my passion! So I walked over and started talking to a young woman who was standing at the table. Her name was Allison. Allison had been a meth addict for 7 years until she found her way to Teen Challenge Women’s Ministry. Through this program she has been off of meth for 6 months! Praise God! She obviously still has a long road ahead of her. Anyone who has ever been addicted to anything knows the struggles that lay ahead of her. However, she has let Jesus take control of her life. Her eagerness was shown by the simple “Good Mornings!” she was yelling across the parking lot even when it was freezing and spitting snow. How many of us would be so eager to show Jesus’ love and hope in this type of setting! I think many of us would view this as an obligation, but not Allison. Her newness in Christ allowed her to be an effective witness for the Kingdom. I ask you to pray with me for Allison. She has 8 months left in the program before she is done. Pray for her strength to finish out the program and her strength for when she leaves. Pray for her relationship with Jesus Christ. Pray that the relationship only strengthens and she is able to reach many people for her Jesus. Pray that God sends accountable people her way so she has a strong support network to help her through the low times and rejoice with her through the victories!

Teen Challenge Women’s Ministry is a program for women 17 and older. This program takes in women who have life-controlling situations like addictions, eating disorders, depression, and self-mutilation. The women stay at the program for 13 months and during this time the women are taught how to work through their issues by first focusing on God. They are also taught how to deal with their situations and learn life skills that will stay with them after they leave the campus. This program is free of charge for the women who come to the program. There is not one yet in Missouri, but there is one in Arkansas and over half the women in Arkansas are from Missouri so there is real need for on in Missouri. There are also these programs directed towards men and there are five men facilities in Missouri. Pray that the funds are raised to begin the program in Missouri and it has the same success other facilities have. Praise God for people who are willing to develop these programs for women who are hurting and Praise God for giving these women the willingness to admit their weaknesses and seek help in a Christian setting.

My dream would be to work at one of these facilities! I know of several different programs around the country that offer these types of services to women who are hurting. Like I said before, my heart is for women like Allison, women who don’t know where else to turn, women who feel like all hope is lost. There is an answer and there is hope! His name is Jesus! During these hard economic times these programs are flourishing! Many people are giving their time and money to help women in need so let this be your glimpse of hope for the day!

New Look!

Thanks to my wonderful sister, Kerry, my blog has a new look! Thanks!

I have been pretty busy the last week, working on a lot of missions things. I have my first newsletter done and my prayer cards are almost done. My newsletters will be coming out this week or next. My prayer cards will be at every speaking event and then if you decide to become a prayer partner, you will also receive a prayer card. Things are definitely picking up! Also, as you can see to the right of my blog, I am starting to speak at churches. In the next couple of weeks, that schedule should be pretty full (if it is God's will!) Kerry has deemed herself (much to my pleasure!) my fundraiser manager! She has a lot of great ideas and is working hard everyday to get things done. We are ordering prayer bracelets and making some neat prayer key chains to sell. The bracelets are going to be $2 and I am not sure about the key chains yet. There are also some different fundraiser parties in the works. My mom, Kerry, and good friend Claire are working on those. Also, I am getting ready to have a get together for most of my family. Through this I can reach them in the masses! :) So, hopefully, the next couple of months are going to be busy with fundraising and hopefully God will see fit to bless these efforts.

I am so grateful to family and friends (and even some people I didn't expect) to step up and really put an effort in helping me. I could not do this without you guys and my life would be a lot harder. May God bless you for giving your time and money to His purpose!

CSI: Springfield

The pictures above are: Dumpster - The Crime Scene, Wallet - The Offender, Hand - The Accomplice, and Me - The VICTIM! When you add this up you get a mess! So there I was, an unsuspecting citizen, when I had to do something I NEVER though I would do - dumpster dive! I was going about my normal busy day and was taking out the trash. Sounds like a no brainer, right?! No, not for Amanda! When I threw the trash into the dumpster, I also threw my wallet in! I then had to proceed to jump into the dumpster (which was empty except for a little trash, a dead animal, and a lot of yuck!) to retrieve my wallet. Then, I had to use ALL of my strength to lift myself out of the pit of grossness. So, moral of the story - don' throw away the trash! :)

Faith is...

Hey! I hope everyone is doing well! I have had a good couple of weeks. I have spent some good time with family thanks to a couple of birthdays (Maddie turned 2 and Kerry turned more than that!) Everyone had a good time, except maybe for Eric who is on round 2 of the flu!

School is moving along. We are in the 5th week of classes so I am a third of the way down with my last semester! I can’t believe it is here. What I am going to do afterwards?! Haha I am lucky to have an answer to that, but the problem comes when people ask what I am going to do after Japan. Only God knows and hopefully one day He will share that with me! :)

Faith is hard to keep! “Keep up the faith!” is a common phrase, but work is involved in keeping faith. Someone can’t just say they have faith and it automatically comes to them. During this entire process of preparing for Japan and then to actual go has been the biggest test my faith has ever had. If someone were to tell me two years ago I would be doing missions, I may have laughed in their face! The idea sounds good, but to actually do it is a whole other story. So every step of the way has taken faith. The only way I can follow through with God’s plan for my life is faith. The only way for me to understand God’s will for my life is faith. The only way my family can get through this is faith. If I didn’t have an ounce of faith I could not have surrendered my life fully to God because this is scary! The unknown is scary and if you know me at all, you know I don’t like the unknown! I get stressed out at a fly on the wall! But I did have enough faith to say yes and as I go through this journey my faith keeps increasing and increasing. I am beginning to not care what the rest of my life has for me, because God has the rest of my life in His hands! I am not worrying about whom I am going to marry, where we are going to live, how I am going to make a living, or how many kids I am going to have because I know that God has the answers. I know God has the plan so I can’t plan for anything! I can have my desires and hope God fulfills them, but I can’t plan on it! God knows what is best for my life and He knows what I can do for His kingdom. It is SCARY, but I am excited to get the answer! I am excited to see what God has for me because it is a million times better than my dreams, a million times better than I can even imagine!

So here I go at “Keeping up the faith!” The next step is support raising! I will be making calls this week asking for support, financial and prayer. It takes courage, courage I can only find in God, for me to make these calls. So as you are reading this, please pray for me as I call. Pray for God to speak through me and pray for the individuals I am calling. My total amount I need to raise is $19,000.00. Yeah, it is big, but so is my God! He knows where the money will come from and when! Also, if you feel like you and your family should give support, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I am not completely for sure who all is reading this blog, but most of you I know I will be contacting in the next few weeks. However, don’t hesitate to ask for me information!

I hope everyone has a great week! And “Faith is” is a great song by Beckah Shae! You should check it out!
Amanda