The 2011 Review

This year has been full of God's Grace and Goodness to us!  It has been a year of blessings, family and friends!  Here's to 2011!

 New Floors...

New church...

New Love...

New Sports...

Old Sports...

New Braces...

Old Friends...

New Friends...

New Traditions...

Old Traditions...

New Sights...

New Life In Christ...

Michelle March 28

Kathy December 16

Some of the people I shared Christ with who received

salvation in July

 

This year has been wonderful and full.  I am so thankful for all that I have experienced this year; both good and bad!  I am so thankful to be the wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend to some of the most wonderful people I know.  I am most thankful, as I look back over the year, for the opportunities God has given me to share the great news of his Son.  Looking forward to the New Year and all that God will do in it.  Blessings to you...

Exciting email!

We received an email from Pastor Timothy today!  He said he was happy to hear from us and that he would send us all the details about Isaac soon.  We are overwhelmed and overjoyed! 

Could this be our son? 

                                       (This great picture was taken by my friend Stacy Scott)
                                                                 Isaac is on the right!

We Light a Candle...

I was talking with my boys recently about giving 100%.  I dislike the "let me just do enough to get by" attitude that crops up at times.  It seems to me that I have lectured instructed them repeatedly about always doing their best.  I have used my heavenly Father's words..."Whatever you do... do it as unto the Lord, not men"... and  I have used my earthly father's words, "Anything worth doing, is worth doing right." 

After having one of those conversations with them again I found myself thinking about it long after our school day was finished.  I was rolling in around in my head as I lay down to sleep and again as I showered the next morning. Praying about it I was gently reminded of all the times I also do just enough to get by and fail to give my all.  Repentance is a sweet thing!  My kids have me as their mom and teacher, which is a pretty big disadvantage BUT we all have Jesus as our example which is an even bigger advantage.  Thank GOD!  What would help us all remember? 

Then it came to me... we could light a candle.  So the FIRST thing we do in school each morning is light that candle and put it in the center of the table.  I wrote the familiar phrase "Jesus is the head of this house... the silent observer of every conversation; the invisible host at every meal." on the board.  We talked about remembering that Jesus is right there with us when we are doing our school work too.   There is something sweet about the moment when we light the candle each morning and remember Jesus is worth EVERYTHING and He is right there with us.  He is near.

Isaac

Well, we just got back from a week at the beach.  We had a wonderful and relaxing week of sun and sand.  The best part was the Bible study time with my hubby on the 4th floor porch each morning.  We made a decision while we were at the beach.  A really BIG decision.  I have been home from Uganda for over a month and we have been praying since then about some specific things.  While we were at the beach, God answered us about one of those things in a BIG way. 

While in Lakeside Village on the beautiful banks of Lake Victoria... I met Pastor Timothy.  He is terrific.  He is the pastor in that village and he actually worked with us the whole time we were Uganda.  While in his village I met lots of children, which happened in every village actually!  BUT, in his village I took several pictures of one specific child.  This child captured my heart and I took a few different shots of him throughout that day.  Looking back now, I realize that I did not take multiple shots of any kids except the orphans at the babies home and this particular child.

(Pastor Timothy with his big smile standing on the right)

The next day, after a long day of ministry, I was riding home on the bus beside Pastor Timothy and I showed him the pictures of that child on my camera.  I asked him if he knew that child.  He smiled and said, "Yes, he is one of my orphans."  I was surprised.  Pastor Timothy, like so many of the pastors we met, has biological children and several orphans in his home.  He told me that the child's name is Isaac and that he lives with his family because his parents died of AIDS.  He suggested my husband and I pray about adopting him.  I laughed.  I told him it is too hard, too expensive and takes too long. 

 Kevin and I have been praying about adopting ever since.  At the beach, God confirmed for us that he wants us to step out in faith and adopt.  Is Isaac, our son?  We don't know but God does.  Isaac means "he laughs" and for Abraham who laughed when God told him he would have a son in his old age, the name was a constant reminder of his lack of faith initially.  I laughed too when Timothy suggested we adopt this Isaac and exhibited my own lack of faith.  If Isaac is our son, his name will be a constant reminder to me as well!  So, on September 1, 2011 we sent an email to Pastor Timothy from the porch at the beach.  We anxiously await his reply.  Pray with us for God's will for Isaac....

Pastor Robert

We have a new member of the family!  His name is Robert.  He is officially a Rainear!  Mike and I met him in Uganda and we have signed up with Arise Africe to be his sponsor family.  He is the Pastor or Emmanuel Baptist Church.  He has a humble and gentle spirit.  Mike introduced him to Goldfish, Slim Jim's, and Nabbs!  He is a man of God doing what God has created him to do.  What a joy for us to be able to partner with him!   

Missing Uganda

I am missing Uganda.  That is cazy, I know, because I just got home.  I can't explain it but I really miss it, so much!  I find myself looking at pictures of the orphans as I pray for them and eagerly reading the blog of a friend who is still there to gather any news and information about the people I met there.  I am thrilled to receive email from my Ugandan friends and hear about them! I am living differently because I have been there... making different choices.  Praying is more urgent for me and takes much more time because there are so many more things to pray about.  I read something today that made me say, "A Ha!"

"The hardest places to leave are the places God leads us to.
Because those are the places where you are shaped and molded into a new person. Those are the places where your heart expands, your mind is open to new perspectives, and your eyes begin to really see.
The places God leads us to are holy, set apart from the places we travel to on our own will.
But here’s the wonderfully divine thing about God: he meets us in the places we go on our own. When our sin or stubbornness or selfish desire takes us to places he doesn’t intend, he will not abandon us. He will come to us, enter into our ways, our brokenness – like when he became flesh on this earth. He is good. And present in all things, in all places.
But the places where God is present and the places where he wills you are very different.
When you’ve experienced both, you feel and know the difference. They are both special. They are both spiritual. But the life that pursues God will find herself following God, rather than God finding her. And these places where she follows God requires great faith. Because sometimes these places are new or mysterious. Challenging or confusing. Like going to a land you have never been. Or traveling to a city to deliver a message of judgment from God. Or carrying a child that is from the Lord, not a man. Or fellowshipping with a Gentile. Or dying a humble death on a cross…
…Or leaving a job with great pay, in order to take one that is more right for your family. Or leaving behind a life you love in order to learn how to really live. Or adopting children after your nest has been empty for years. Or stepping away from church activities and programs in order to be more available to those who need to taste and see that the Lord is good.
It’s often difficult to anticipate a holy God. Because his ways are so different than our ways. We want higher, he wants humble. We want fast, he wants eternal. We want an easy journey, he wants a holy journey. We want to fix, he wants to redeem. We want what we think is right, he wants what he knows is good. We want perfection, he wants a genuine heart.
His ways truly are higher than ours. The places he is going are better than the places we are going. So why do we struggle with saying yes? With being available? With joining him? Do we not trust him?
Do we not trust our life to the very one who breathed it in us?
The places where God leads us, takes us, pulls us aren’t always fun filled, but they are spirit filled. And it’s this presence of the Spirit that keeps us longing for those places, drawing us back to serve more, love better.
Africa is not more spiritual than America. It’s a holy place on the journey of people seeking the will of God. And that is what sets it apart. In the hustle and bustle of American culture, those holy places are harder to find. We get lost in our schedules and religious practices, and we find ourselves following culture and traditions more than Jesus. But our faithful God comes looking for his people, enters into their buildings of worship, hears their cries, forgives their sin, and draws them closer to his heart. But it’s when God’s people begin pursuing him with genuine worship, available hearts and willing hands that radical living, going and helping take us to those holy places where God intends us to walk and live."  Lori Manry

Preparing now for my second trip to Uganda... anyone want to go with me?  :)

Fear

While we were in Uganda we spoke with and prayed with many people.  In one village we were asked to pray that the lightning would stay in the sky because many people were being killed by it.  This became a bit of a theme in other villages as well and I realized that for many rural villagers this is a real fear for them. 

Another fear for them is demons.  Witch doctors and the powers of darkness are very real in Uganda and in one village one of my team members asked the children we were working with, "What are some things you are afraid of?"  One child raised his hand and replied "being sacrificed" because in his village the witch doctors sacrifice children.  Some members of our team actually had a child in their group who had a demon in her and there was one room where we stayed that the girls in that room experienced many scary things at night.  Demons are a real fear in Uganda and even I spent much time in prayer about them because I was fearful too, especially for Mike.

Kids who were afraid of being sacrificed.

The biggest fear I saw in the people of Uganda, though, was sickness and death.  They see so much of it.  The people of Uganda fear malaria.  Everywhere we went the nurses on our team were treating malaria.  Access to treatment for this is nearly impossible for many because of cost.  Many, many people die of preventable and treatable illness every day in Uganda because they can not afford the prevention or treatment.  They fear AIDS.  We saw AIDS orphans everywhere we went.  They fear death.

graves in the village

AIDS Orphans

My comfortable, suburban, American life doesn't easily relate to these things.  I am not afraid of lightning.  I do not worry about children being sacrificed.  I have never stayed awake at night praying for protection from demons for my 12 year old son.  I have access to adequate medical care in the event that I or one of my kids gets sick.  I do not fear death because I know it is only a doorway to life. 

I had the priveledge of speaking to a group of women, wives and mothers, while in Uganda.  I chose scripture from the end of Mark 4 and all of 5 to remind them of the power of Jesus.  He has power over all nature as seen in the calming of the storm.  He has power over lightning.  He has power over demons as shown in the account of Him casting them into the swine.  Demons need His permission for anything they do.  He has power over all sickness as shown by the healing of the woman with the issue of blood who touched the hem of His garment.  He has power over death as the story of the synagogue ruler, Jairus, clearly shows.  I reminded them that lightning does not have the final word.  Demons and witch doctors do not have the final word.  Malaria does not have the final word.  AIDS does not have the final word.  Most of all, death does not have the final word.  Jesus has the final word.  Faith in Jesus is not confidence that bad things won't happen but confidence that He is with us in them.  Jesus' power is most clearly displayed by walking with us through the bad stuff not keeping us away from it.  Even if we are not healed from physical disease He always makes us whole.  Even if we encounter demons, our salvation is safe with Him.  Even though we die, we live. 

The women I spoke to.

Our fears may look different than those rural villagers in Uganda but I was reminded in a BIG way that Jesus has power over anything that we fear.  He is always with us. He cares for us.  He calms the storms of life. We are safe in Him.  He brings peace.  Praying for my Ugandan friends today.

Hope

I just returned from a 2 weeks mission trip in Uganda with my oldest son Michael.  It was life changing for both of us.  I know I will not be able to articulate all that I experienced but I want to record some things here so we can remember.  From the first day we saw many people give their lives to Christ and that continued the whole time.  It sounds crazy to me to hear myself say this but I lost track of how very many people were saved by day 3 because it was just so many.  Our team was 24 in total and so each day between schools and prisons and hut to hut evangelism and teaching at the local churches there was a harvest.  Since we have never seen that kind of response to Jesus here in the states, it was wonderfully overwhelming for both of us.  

           This was the first women I saw give her heart to Christ on the first day of ministry.

This Muslim woman, whose name was Rheema, told us she had never heard of Jesus.  She listened intently as we shared and accepted a Bible from us.  She thanked us for coming and telling her the story of Jesus and that she would think about what she had learned.  The next day some other people in our group visited her again and she accepted Christ. 

This woman accepted Christ after I shared with her.  Her daughter

(in the yellow dress) stopped me afterward and said she too wanted to be saved!

Here she is after praying for salvation.

Praying for salvation!

The same women and her daughter after they both received Jesus

with 2 team members and 2 translators.

The man in the center and the two women at the lower left corner all were saved after I shared the gospel with them.  They had a lot of questions and we spent a long time visiting with them.

All of the adults in this photo were saved except for the woman holding the baby (she was already a Christian).  We shared with the man and woman on the bench and the woman kneeling at first.  The man standing in orange came up after we started and the man kneeling in front was walking by this house and heard us talking and stopped to listen.  All of them made the decision the trust Jesus for salvation!

39 men at this prison accepted Christ after the gospel was presented.

This woman heard that out group would be in this village on the day we were there.  She started walking and took a boat across Lake Victoria the day before we met her to get to us.  Her journey was long and her son was very sick with Malaria.  She arrived late in the afternoon as we were finishing up a full day of ministry.  She sat beside me and said, "You take my baby."  I know I will never forget that moment.  I had a translator come and help us talk to each other.  She told me she needed hope for her baby.  I shared the great love of Christ with her and she eagerly accepted salvation.  A nurse from our team treated her son and gave him medicine to take home.  We fed them both and gave them some water, money for the trip home, clothes for her son and flip flops for her.  She thanked us as she got up to start the long trip home and said she had found the Hope she was looking for. 

Jesus is Hope.  His gospel is still the greatest story ever told.  He is still seeking and saving those who are lost.  He is still renewing the hope of those who wait on Him.  "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you"  I Peter 1:3-4