Gratitude

Gratitude is a joyful commitment of one’s personality to God (borrowed this from Bakers encyclopedia), I am grateful and joyful. 

This will be short post (those of you who know me well are laughing as I have difficulty being brief).  Started this post around Thanksgiving so of course I need to list what I am thankful for.  First and most importantly Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior without Him in my life I don’t know where I would be.  I am so grateful to know I am with Him and that wherever I go He is leading.  I am so grateful for each and every one of you who reads this, who prays, who reaches out to me, who shares their struggles.  God Bless all of you.  I am thankful for my family, preparing for a visit from my Dad and looking forward to that.  I am thankful for my friends who have become family to me and my church family.  I am thankful for a job and career that allows me to serve the Lord and serve others.  I am thankful for God’s provision.  I have much more to list, but promised to keep it brief. 

No updates on short term or long term missions opportunities, but I am thankful to be where I am.  

Be Like Epaphras

Ok, I know this title is odd for some of you, but please read on.  Over the last few weeks I have shared with several people in my life that I feel I am called for missions and of course the question comes when? My answer is always the same; God has not shown me where or when.  Of course most people look at me like I am crazy when I say this or just don’t believe it will happen.  It made me think and pray about this and even wonder if I am missing something.  I am not necessarily doubting His call, but am I paying attention to God speaking to me or am I still trying to do things too much on my own? As in Proverbs 3 am I leaning on my own understanding or am I letting go. 

So, this brings us to Epaphras.  He was a great evangelizer and a companion of Paul during his imprisonment and he like Paul sacrificially loved and cared for the unbelievers around him.  Do I do this?  Paul’s high regard for Epaphras was evidenced by his use of such terms as “beloved fellow servant,” “faithful minister of Christ” (Col 1:7), and “servant of Christ” (Col 4:12).  Could I be described as an Epaphras?  Well I know the answer to that is a resounding no.  However, I would like to be more like Him and this is my prayer request.   In Colossians 4:12 Paul writes ¹² Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.   Help me to pray more earnestly and to struggle on behalf of the lost.

Honestly, I am feeling a little lost and I am trying to patiently wait yet to move ahead in obedience.  Not sure what that looks like.  So I will worship, pray and serve where I am in the meantime.  I cannot thank you all enough for your prayers, even writing this comforts me as I know you are lifting me up to our Lord.  Thank You and I am praying for you.  Please email me any prayer requests you have or feel free to post comments on the blog.  

Serving God and Man

Why do I serve / Why do I want to serve?

            You know it is interesting, I have never really thought about why I choose to serve others I just do.  For myself I believe God made me this way, long before I even acknowledged His existence or chose to follow Him I always had a desire to serve others.  A dear friend (who hopefully is reading this) says I have a heart the size of Texas, I don’t know about that but if I do it is because God made me this way. 

            What I have realized as I grow in my faith is serving others for God and His Kingdom’s Glory and purpose is different than just serving.  We as Christians are commanded to serve others in love. Our acts of service should ultimately all point to the gospel and God’s love for us.  We should be different in the way we serve.   This difference comes from our hearts, if we are saved by God then we must live each moment believing that.   If we are saved by God we should value that salvation and out of the overflow of our gratefulness to Him we should want to serve His children and share this precious gift with them.  Service at its best is worship of God, just as in Old Testament times service was about bringing sacrifices to God. 

Serving sacrificially and with humility is the difference and the example Christ gave us.  Christ made the ultimate sacrifice for us, who are we to decide who gets sacrifice and service when what we sacrifice is so very little compared to what He took on for us. 

Phillipians 2 gives a  model of this sacrificial and humble servanthood. 

Christ’s Example of Humility

2 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, ² complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. ³ Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. ⁴ Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. ⁵ Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. ⁹ Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

            I am writing all this about serving to challenge others and also to challenge myself to get out and serve more.  For me personally serving others is a joy and I have realized that I am not serving as much as I have in the past.  I still feel called to serve internationally short term and long term, BUT GOD (love that expression) is not calling me anywhere specific right now.  I will strive to be patient and serve Him wherever I am.  Please pray for guidance and wisdom in seeking out some service opportunities here and continue to pray for any upcoming international missions trips.  The trip to Honduras in January is not going to happen, I am open to what / where God wants me to do or be.  (Or at least I am trying to be, that is a little scary when you spell it out like that). 

            Thank you for your faithful prayers and God Bless all of You.

Alison

GOD'S ANSWERS ARE WISER THAN OUR PRAYERS

God’s Answers are Wiser than Our Prayers
A friend many years ago gave me a magnet that says “GOD’S ANSWERS ARE WISER THAN OUR PRAYERS”. Well, one Christmas I placed this on the outside of my front door in the middle of my Christmas wreath for decoration. When I went to remove it I could not. That magnet is now basically melted to the front door of my house as a reminder to myself and all who enter my home that God does have everything under control just maybe not the way we think it should be happening.

Ok, part of this blog and the reason for it is for me to be honest with myself and all of you, my prayer warriors….. I have no idea what God is doing in my life right now. There are a few things such as full time missions that I believe are supposed to happen but He is not revealing to me when or where. I have a tremendous desire to go on a short term missions trip, have not been on one in almost two years and I have the time and the finances yet this also is not coming together. It appears more than likely the trip to Honduras in January is not going to happen. The head of this ministry and I were emailing back and forth yesterday and we both have had experiences where things don’t come together and later you see the reason for it. However, when I am in the midst of this not knowing and doors closing sometimes it is difficult. I try to remind myself of all of God’s provision which is much more than I ever could have asked for, prayed for or dreamed of in my wildest dreams. My life looks nothing like I thought it would if you had asked me 10 years ago but it is SO MUCH BETTER!!!!

 So, I ask for your prayers for wisdom and guidance along with patience yet again. Isaiah 30:15 says “in quietness and trust will be your strength”, my desire is to seek God more and rest in Him so please join me in praying for this.

 Yet again, PT’s sermon came along at the right time as a reminder of the challenge to keep the faith. Challenging me to not look for God to answer my questions, but instead to focus on what God wants me to be instead of what He wants me to do. Please join me in praying as Paul did to the church at Colossae, I am praying this for all of you.

 Thanksgiving and Prayer 3
 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people—5 the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel 6 that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace.7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant,[c] who is a faithful minister of Christ on our[d] behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit. 9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you.We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,[e] 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you[f] to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Endurance

ENDURANCE God disciplines those He loves, His discipline yields righteousness. We are called to endure, but even more to rejoice in our struggles. When we are tired and weary we must / I must remember all Jesus endured for me. My trivial trials are nothing compared to what He endured. Endurance is the ability or strength to continue or last, especially despite fatigue, stress, or other adverse conditions. Do I endure or do I get caught up in my earthly weakness? I am being honest here, I do get caught up too much at times in this world and my earthly struggles. So, please pray for strength and endurance for me. Many of you know I did a marathon (yes 26.2 miles) a few months ago and I know it sounds cliché but life really is like running that marathon. One foot in front of the other, trying to live and enjoy each and every moment. Despite the pain, the doubting voices in your head or naysayers around you. Really, it should all be only for Him anyway……… So, I go forward and struggle with this (please pray, life has been a little overwhelming lately). Again I cannot thank all of you enough for your prayers, they are making an impact. I went away a few weeks ago for a personal retreat and one of my friends dubbed this my “happiness”. The more I thought and prayed about this, he was correct. This was an opportunity for me to rest, reflect, rejuvenate and most importantly spend some quality time with God. Thank you Lord for this opportunity and I pray that each of you find your own “happiness” time with God, rest is critical to being able to endure our daily struggles. My happiness comes from my relationship with God, not anything worldly. I strive to remember that each moment of every day. As you prayer warriors know, I feel like I am supposed to go on a short term mission trip soon. Well, God has placed what sounds like a wonderful opportunity in my path and after prayer and counsel I have accepted (well actually I am sending the application and deposit as soon as I post this). If God allows I will be going to Honduras January 25, 2014 – February 1, 2014. Will be going with Jeff Andler Ministries (www.jeffandlerministries.org) and partnering with Open Eyes Ministries in Honduras (www.openeyes.org) to share God’s love, providing spiritual and medical care. So please pray for endurance and for this missions opportunity, may God use this team in a mighty way all for His glory. Open Eyes Ministries also offers a protégé program for those feeling called to full time missions work internationally (I love how God works, I have done research on the organization and looked at their website many times. As I am typing this I looked one more time to verify the web address and this was the first time I noted this protégé program). We will see, placing all this in God’s wonderful hands. God Bless, Alison

Faith

Thanks again prayer warriors, the prayers are helping.  I am diving into God’s word and seeking the path He has for me. 

For the last few weeks I have been wondering if maybe this is not really God’s plan for me.  Did I get it wrong?  I have several friends who are called to missions and their plans are progressing while I feel like I am not moving anywhere.  I still have not heard back from some opportunities I looked into last month.  Again, I am not trying to make things happen and trying hard to be patient. 

I love how God works and sometimes hits me over the head or as a friend says He sends us some flashing neon signs.  I am studying Hebrews and was reading about faith; persistent hope in God and His promises.  Hebrews11:1 Faith is the assurance (confidence) of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.  As I prayed over this I asked God if this desire, this thing I hope for (an opportunity to go on a short term mission trip and the eventual opportunity to go full time) was from Him or not.  I truly, truly believe this is a hope and a promise from God.  I just do not understand His timing, so please keep praying for me in this regard.

 God only confirmed this today at church, I have been writing this blog entry for a few days but decided to wait to post it until after service.  We are studying the book of Nehemiah and how to be effective leaders.  Now, I am in no way saying I am an effective leader but what this sermon showed me is that I am on the correct path.   Some characteristics of a leader were outlined (PT, I apologize for the paraphrasing).

1.      A compelling purpose.  For me this is to share the gospel boldly to the unreached

2.      A clear perspective.  I am immersing myself more and more in Gods word and praying for wisdom, please join me in that prayer.

3.      A continual prayer.  “It is impossible to pray and worry”, thanks for those words PT.  I will pray and rest in God and His perfect timing more.

4.      A courageous persistence.  So, if I believe this call is from God which I do then my job is to keep it up, don’t quit and be faithful.  To have courage in the presence of fear of the unknown and keep moving in spite of any fear. 

So, God show me the next step, in your time and in the meantime I will pray and study. 

Thank you all for spending your valuable time reading this and praying for me.  I continue to pray for you.

Alison

(on a side note, the one year anniversary of the sudden death of my mother is the end of this month please keep myself and my family in your prayers)

Pray for the unreached

June 2013

Yes, I know June is halfway over (it has been a busy month).  I was going to send out an email this morning telling all of you prayer warriors that we would not have a June update and to wait for July, but GOD (love that expression) placed some things on my heart today.

I am so thankful to be a part of a church that loves God and wants to reach the world with His good news.  As we commissioned our Haiti team this morning (please be in prayer for them) I was overwhelmed by the numbers quoted by PT of the still remaining unreached people groups.  I am not going to quote them as I will get them wrong, but suffice it to say a lot!!!

So, still waiting for God to show me where to go……

I am sending out some emails to a few groups, so please be in prayer.  Again, I don’t want to make anything happen.  My desire is to be patient and follow God wherever He leads.  Please pray for my patience and discernment. 

On a side note, many of you know I was training for a marathon.  Funny what those big birthdays make you do.  I want to thank my prayer supporters and most importantly my God who not only carried this body the entire 26.2 miles, but blessed us with perfect running weather.  My prayer prior to the race was that I would remember to have fun and I can honestly say I did and never, not once did I think about quitting.  So, thank you Lord for getting me across that finish line and I am NEVER doing another marathon.  I learned patience and perseverance during my training and I know this training time and race has taught me many things that apply to other aspects of my life.

Thanks Everyone and I keep praying for all of you

Alison

Prayers of the Saints

Roca Fuerte May 2013

Prayers of the Saints

God hears our prayers and Jesus intercedes for us.  Our prayers are lifted up like fragrant incense to our Lord in heaven. 

I continue to be convicted to pray more and to spend more time with God, I have to admit I am making very slow progress with this.  Please continue to pray for me in this regard.  I know that the reason I keep hearing wait from God is that he knows I am not ready and He is preparing me for great things. 

While I am waiting to see where He wants to send me, I must become even more bold in my faith.  Thanks to the pastors at West Cabarrus Church for providing a training opportunity and challenging us to diligently pray for the lost who are near to us.  http://myhopewithbillygraham.org  Check this out for more information.  I am excited yet anxious about this opportunity, but look forward to the training.  As I have been praying for two lost people in my life and two lost people in a friend’s life my heart is truly broken, I am burdened to share God’s love and praying for their hearts to be softened and ears to be opened to this opportunity to share the gospel.  I also pray that God would bring more people into my life and into my home to share with. 

For those that don’t know I had a BIG birthday a few weeks ago (one of those zero ones).  I had the amazing opportunity, thank you Lord to go away to a resort for the day and just spend time with God, take care of me and to reflect.  Specifically, I looked back over the last 10 years of my life.  For those that did not know me then, I am a totally different person because of my relationship with God.  In April 2003 I was in a very difficult and what I though was hopeless situation in my life.  As I sat down to reflect, I was afraid to open those journals from 10 years ago.  I knew I needed to remember how I was so that I can remember what God has done in my new life.  I was not a believer at that time, but God was at work in my heart and people were praying for me.    What impressed me as I read those journal entries from 10 years ago was the hopelessness and the emotional rollercoaster I was on.  As most of you know I have been through some rough stuff in the last year, but I know I will never be that hopeless again because know I understand that God has it all under control and loves me and wants the best for me.  All I need to do is listen and believe God’s voice of truth…… (All we all need to do is listen to Him and to believe). 

I continue to pray for all of you, thanks for taking the time to read these blog entries and pray for me. 

p.s. I still don’t know where or when God wants me to hit the mission field.  I have the time, the finances and the desire to go on a mission trip this year.  Just waiting for Him to show me where and when, I am waiting Lord.  

He is Able

Roca Fuerte April 2013

God is Able

I know in my heart that God is Able, but I have to humbly admit that I do not always live my life that way.  This Resurrection Sunday morning, God reminded me of just how powerful, omniscient and loving He is.  He is Able!!!  He has given me strength and power to overcome and as one of the songs I was shouting out this morning says “The same power that conquered the grave lives in me”.  Wow, stop for a moment and think about that………

Thank you all for the prayers, I know they are helping to give me peace and patience.  I was blessed to have three days off this weekend and much of my time was spent in prayer and in God’s word.  I feel refreshed and renewed, now I just need to stay more in prayer and God’s word so please continue to pray for this.
 I also had the amazing opportunity to attend The Secret Church simulcast on Friday night hosted by David Platt this was an extremely intense 6+ hour bible study and time of worship.  If you have never been to one of these check it out it: www.radical.net.  I still have a ton to digest from that night, but already God is using what was taught to continue to challenge me.  The goal of Secret Church is to know His word and to know His persecuted, that is one of my ongoing personal goals to know both of these more. 

David Platt (speaking from God’s word) gave a challenge to live more urgently and with a heartbreaking compassion for the lost.  So, here is where I need some more prayer because I don’t know what God’s plan is for me in regards to this.  I believe that I am called to full time Missions, I believe that call is only from God.  I know I am not ready yet and that is one of the main reasons for this blog to build my prayer support to prepare me for what lays ahead.  So, how do I balance God telling me to wait and His word that tells us to live urgently.  James 4: ¹³ Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— ¹⁴ yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. ¹⁵ Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” ¹⁶ As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. ¹⁷ So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. 

As I spent a day in prayer this past Good Friday (yes it is good) I started looking at missions opportunities online.  I keep saying to myself not to try and make things happen, but for those that know what a planner I am I had to at least look.  After a period of looking online and some opportunities to pray about I randomly opened one of many devotional books on my shelf and this was the first thing I read “Stop trying to work things out before their times have come……..”.  I had to laugh, love that God has a sense of humor. 

So, I continue to wait and pray and try like crazy to not make things happen.  I know God has much greater plans than I could even begin to imagine and He will reveal them to me in His timing. 

Please also pray for all the missionaries out there and for their supporters back home along with praying for more obedient servants to step forward and accept God’s call to missions.  Matthew 9: ³⁷ Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; ³⁸ therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

May God Bless all of You and on this Resurrection Sunday remember tetelestai, it is finished!!

Be Bold in Sharing The Good News

I know this update is coming out a little late, I have had some technology issues. 

First of all I want you all to know I have been praying for you. 

In the last week or two I have been shown a few opportunities to promote global missions locally and also to go on a short term mission trip.  I am praying, so far do not know where God is leading me.  There is also a specific country (fairly closed to visitors, so will not be named) that God has had on my heart for several years and continues to place on my heart.  If this is where He wants to use me, pray He will provide opportunity.  Please join me in praying for wisdom and guidance. 

I am trying to embrace a lifestyle of expectancy, believing and living for God all of the time.  That is so hard in our culture, but my prayer is that I would be more bold in my faith allowing God to use me more.  As I have been praying about full time missions and where God is leading me, I have been challenged to share the gospel more here at home with those around me.  I have been praying for God to give me the opportunities and the words to share. 

I have had some personal struggles lately, I know that I have Hope and I am striving to rest in that.  We are studying Paul’s letters to the church in our New Testament class and his encouragement and prayers for the churches have been like prayers for me as I read them.  Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.  Please pray for myself and my family, we are still grieving greatly the loss of my mother.  My Mom always made a huge deal about celebrations and my Dad just had his first birthday in 56 years without her there.  My birthday is coming up in April as is her birthday so this will be a rough couple of months, BUT GOD has it all under control and I know that. 

Thanks for the prayers, let me know of any specific prayer requests I can be lifting up for you. 

February 2013, Revolutionize your prayer life (thanks PT)

I promise this entry is much shorter.  Thank you all very much for your continued prayers and support.  I am praying for guidance and discernment and ask that you come alongside me in that.  I believe in my heart that God’s desire for my life is full time missions, but so far that is all He is revealing to me.  I have no idea when or where.  I had the conversation with someone just yesterday about feeling called to full time missions and of course their first question was where, very quickly followed by when.  “I don’t know” is such a strange answer to many, but it did provide me an opportunity to witness to this person and of course that was God’s plan all along.  For those that know me well, the unknown is not easy for the planner in me.  I do have a peace and I continue to Pray, Wait, Expect and Hope on God’s promises.

 I believe there is a short term Missions trip in 2013 that I am supposed to go on, but so far the specific trip and location have not been revealed to me.  I know God has a plan and I am trying to follow it. I have a few opportunities, but so far none are feeling right.

 Please help me pray for boldness in sharing my faith and pray for those that don’t know him.  Someone recently posted on facebook (no I don’t normally quote facebook) “The hardest prayer a person can pray, for someone they love, is that God would use whatever it takes to bring a person to their knees.  Therefore, I must keep praying for those whom I love”.  This is so true and I can see God honoring this prayer in the lives of some that are very close to me, while it hurts it also brings me joy as I know their hearts are softening and they are becoming more open to surrendering to the God that already has it all worked out and loves them dearly. 

This morning’s service at church (thanks Pastor Terry) was one I really needed.  Talking about revolutionizing our prayer lives.  I believe this is part of the reason for a delay in God’s response to my prayers.  He desires a more revolutionary prayer life for me, so please pray that I may take some of the wonderful and practical advice given this morning to heart and make a change.  I want you all to know that as I send out this update I am praying for each of you and I humbly continue to ask for your prayers. 

God Bless You All and please feel free to send me any specific prayer requests. 

Welcome Again

 I knew it had been a long time since I visited this blog but I did not realize it had been 9 months.  Forgive me for not keeping this updated and I ask that you continue to pray for me and I will be keeping this updated at least once a month.  I guess I need some help with accountability on this, so if you are praying for me and don’t see regular updates please email me a friendly reminder.  Please subscribe to the blog if you can so you get the updates.  Also, I promise all entries will not be this long but this one was 9 months in the making.  For those that don’t like to read a lot I have bolded some specific prayer requests.

As we enter into a new year I do not believe in resolutions but I do like to reflect on all that God has done in the last year.  As most of you know 2012 was not an easy year, but thanks to God, His miraculous provision and all of you prayer warriors I persevered. He has taught me a lot and I look forward to many new adventures in 2013. 

2012 started with God really guiding me to take some next steps when it came to His call for me to enter into Missions full time.  He led me to continue the pursuit my Masters in Christian Ministry now at Charlotte Bible College (check it out: www.charlottebiblecollege.com) and to go to an IMB meeting to get more information which led to the beginning of this blog and building my prayer support. 

It was also impressed upon me in 2012 to go somewhere different (or “funky” as I like to say) on a mission trip and somewhere more difficult physically.  As most of you know I am a planner, but God in His infinite wisdom told me not to plan in 2012.  So, I looked into a mission’s trip to Asia and waited on God and His timing to work it out.  Little did I know that God had other plans for 2012 and for any vacation time that I had.  I love how God has everything already worked out, I sent an email to the person about the trip ready to commit if it felt right for the fall of 2012.  This person did not email back for two weeks and when he did it was the day after I hopped on a plane to California after a call in the middle of the night that my mother was being airlifted to the ICU at Stanford Hospital after suffering a ruptured aneurysm in her brain.  If I had received that email just 24 hours earlier I would have said I was going on that trip and committed my time to that journey, but God (love that expression, BUT GOD) in His ultimate wisdom had waited.  I had the privilege to spend 11 days with my mother in the ICU at Stanford Hospital and I have some amazing memories and answers to prayer from those days.  For those that don’t know I flew back to North Carolina after 11 days with my mother leaving her in stable condition having told her over and over how much I loved her and that myself and lots of others were praying for her.  Well, less than 36 hours later she suffered a complication and we had to make the decision to let her go. 

Losing my Mom and then my Grandmother later in 2012 were some of the most difficult times in my life BUT GOD had everything prepared and worked out and I know He has got this all under control.  So, I go forward.  We are studying about crucible life moments in a small group I have recently joined.  A crucible is a vessel that is heated (I remember them from Chemistry class) and nothing comes out of this crucible the way it went in.  Just like these crucible moments in my life over the last few months, I am not the same but I am ok.  Isaiah 43:2 “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire, you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you”.  Throughout this whole experience I have not been overwhelmed or consumed and that is all because I have a God who loves me deeply and I am His.  I pray and ask you to pray incessantly for those that do not know this God who loves them and wants to be with them. 

I prayed in the New Year, I am ready for 2013 and excited for God’s plans.  I am also studying Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby, wow is all I have to say and if some of you have not read this, please get it (thanks Pastor Terry Seamon for mentioning the study).  I am asking for prayers for 2013 and God’s plan on my life in general.  He has impressed upon me to wait, I have a magnet that says Wait, Hope, Expect and that is what I am striving to do.  Pray for my patience and for me to let go of any expectations or plans I may have so that I may pursue and come alongside God’s plans where He is working.  Pray that I would completely trust God and draw nearer to Him.  Pray for me to be obedient when God does call me to something or somewhere.  I believe there may be a short term mission trip I am supposed to be on in 2013 but have no idea when or where, so please pray for that. 

I know that I am chosen by God and precious to Him and He will place me where He desires.  I have no idea what that looks like and I am ok with that.  1Peter 2:4 “As you come to Him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”  This blog is entitled roca fuerte, strong or solid rock and we believers are to be strong and living rocks showing Christ’s love to others.  I pray I may be better at this. 

God Bless all of you and thanks for reading this LONG message, look for an update around 2/1/13. 

Alison