Saturday, May 26, 2012
3 Gifts Flat
Last fall I began reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann VosKamp. Before I had even finished reading it, the women’s group at my local church invited all of the women to a luncheon and announced that we would be reading Ann’s book throughout the year; journaling our gifts and sharing our blessings and thoughts regarding the book. Books and journals were provided to each of us. The writings from the women at church were wonderful and before long we even had our own blog to share our blessings. Each month, when the women’s newsletter came out, new stories were shared and new ways of experiencing the book and recording our blessings were presented to us. The last newsletter gave 31 different ways to look for gifts/blessings such as 3 gifts before 9 AM; 3 gifts found in difficult people, etc. One of them was 3 Gifts Flat. That one stood out as odd to me, but I realized I had experienced tremendous blessing in numerous gifts flat in the last ten days. But before I can finish this story, I need to back up…
In January, my home church launched a project called Gospel Unleashed. It was phase three of a ministry whose purpose/desire was to ensure that everyone would experience the gospel both here and around the world. I am the director of the Uganda initiative for Gospel Unleashed and know that fund raising is a responsibility of my position, but it is not something I enjoy doing. I would much rather be in Uganda without any modern conveniences than fundraising from the comforts of home. As a leap of faith, I indicated in writing that I would fundraise at least $5000 for 2012. I reluctantly mailed the note because I knew it meant I had to do it. Ugh! Three days later, a woman from a weekly bible study I attend said God had been speaking to her about helping me with my efforts in Uganda. She mobilized the women of the group and they began donating. They even encouraged another organization to offering matching funds. I was sharing both stories with a friend/prayer warrior later that week and she pointed out that by sending that note, I was wading deeper into my faith with God. The obedience & efforts of the women at the bible study was God’s way of saying to me, “I already have this under control. I was just waiting for you to demonstrate a little more faith.” (Is it OK to quote God?)
On the last day of the bible study, before summer vacation began, the women blessed our Uganda Initiative with enough money to purchase bibles for every student at the Light of Africa Model School in Kabasindagizi, Uganda. So, the first gift flat was a check from a group of obedient women. That one flat gift would allow me to provide 250 flat bibles. God already knows the impact those bibles will have on His kingdom, but I can only imagine.
Shortly thereafter, a member of the team traveling with me said she had friends who wanted to bless the team with a gift to defer their traveling expenses. It was nearly ½ of what they still needed. Another flat check arrived. In the same meeting where she announced this blessing, another member of the team handed me a flat check from her mother to cover the cost of two sustainability projects in Uganda. This flat gift will provide a means for our partner agency in Uganda to be well on their way to self-sufficiency. Another couple offered to cover the entire cost of the marriage ministry we will be holding in Uganda in June. These flat gifts now exceed my goal by more than double.
Other flat gifts have also arrived in the form of other offerings of money, a new digital camera for a missionary friend in Uganda and fabric for a quilt project to benefit a baby orphanage.
An elder of my home church, after being told about the generous gifts that had been received, said to me, “Isn't it amazing when you find yourself in His will, how quickly He can get those cattle on a thousand hills to market”? From Psalm 50:10
Another item on Ann’s list was 3 Gifts Unexpected. These blessings were certainly unexpected, but I don’t know why I am surprised by them. Our God is amazing! He wants the gospel (Good News) unleashed in every corner of the world and I am blessed beyond measure to be a part of his efforts in Uganda.
Thank you for your gifts of money, supplies, sacrifice, prayers and love.
His daughter,
Kelly J. Huenink
kjhuenink@hotmail.com
Saturday, March 31, 2012
The Day
It's going to be a busy day. I hope it will be a good day. I help my husband load some cattle to go to the sale barn then clean up to go to town. We meet for chiropractic appointments (keeping old bones in alignment!) and have lunch at the sale barn. Make a deposit at the bank, pay a bill. Good day so far. Now it's time to go see my mom at the nursing home. Alzheimer's and a series of seizures have changed her from a happy, wanting to be busy and caring woman to a fragile person needing much care. And recently she contracted Influenza A and it has stolen more of her life and personality.
What will I find today? Will she know me? Will she be able to carry on a conversation? But she is tired and uncertain and does not know me. She says "I don't like it here." I say she has been very sick and needs rest to get stronger. I sing hymns to calm her and she drifts off to sleep. In my heart I know she is just fading away. But I will continue to write my 1000 gifts.
342. She was a great, loving mother
343. She liked to try new things
344. She took Girls Scouts across the USA by car to experience our country
345. She taught me bookeeping, how to cook, how to sew, how to garden
346. She showed me how to serve others with gladness
347. She loved Jesus and shared that Good News with me and others
348. For the special aide at Devonshire who really cares about my mom
329. God's grace that continues to hold me up through it all
Earline
What will I find today? Will she know me? Will she be able to carry on a conversation? But she is tired and uncertain and does not know me. She says "I don't like it here." I say she has been very sick and needs rest to get stronger. I sing hymns to calm her and she drifts off to sleep. In my heart I know she is just fading away. But I will continue to write my 1000 gifts.
342. She was a great, loving mother
343. She liked to try new things
344. She took Girls Scouts across the USA by car to experience our country
345. She taught me bookeeping, how to cook, how to sew, how to garden
346. She showed me how to serve others with gladness
347. She loved Jesus and shared that Good News with me and others
348. For the special aide at Devonshire who really cares about my mom
329. God's grace that continues to hold me up through it all
Earline
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Identity
I've missed a deadline, fallen asleep on the couch with dishes still in the sink and kids not tucked into bed, and I've felt like I botch everything, mess everything up, and I've had to say it right out loud. "Praise not Perfection. He wants my praise not my perfection."
And when I have just had to take a deep breath and take captive every thought by counting gifts. 'Thank you Lord, for sun lining clouds and hot water to soak these pots, and that my identity is in what Christ did for me, not in what anyone thinks of me, and that your love never lets me go."
Ann Voskamp, A Holy Experience
And when I have just had to take a deep breath and take captive every thought by counting gifts. 'Thank you Lord, for sun lining clouds and hot water to soak these pots, and that my identity is in what Christ did for me, not in what anyone thinks of me, and that your love never lets me go."
Ann Voskamp, A Holy Experience
Unexpected Gift
#171 – A laying hen
Never did I think a laying hen would be the most significant gift I would ever receive. And not only that, but never did I think the lesson that gift taught me would come from a 3 year old who demonstrated what it means to be truly courageous.
Courage finds its greatest expression in love and sacrifice. That is the Reader’s Digest version of 1 John 3. In The Message, Eugene Peterson writes about love and sacrifice in this way…
For this is the original message we heard: We should love each other. 1 John 11
This is how we've come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for each other, and not just be out for ourselves. If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God's love? It disappears. And you made it disappear. 1 John 16-17
I believe Pastor Dale would say the Reader’s Digest version of this verse is “Loving and sacrificing with our EVERYTHINGNESS”.
Angel demonstrated that kind of love to me. Not just with the gift of a laying hen, but in the way she goes around her village convincing the young and old that they should love and trust the Mzungu (white foreigner/missionary) by telling them, “Do not be afraid. She is my friend”. I don’t know if Angel knows Christ, but she understands how to live like Christ. I believe her family must be believers, because in their physical “poorness”, they seem to have become completely dependent on God and are spiritually “wealthy”. When you are spiritually “wealthy”, you can give out of your nothingness because you have trust that Christ is taking care of everything.
Ann VosKamp writes about a different, yet similar, kind of courage.
“Jesus calls me to surrender and there’s nothing like releasing fears and falling into peace. It terrifies, true. But it exhilarates. This, this is what I’ve always wanted and never knew; this utter trust, this enlivening fall of surrender into the safe hands.”
Ann understands what it means to be courageous. Angel demonstrates it. I am learning it and I pray each of you will experience this kind of courageous, sacrificial love as well.
Kelly Huenink
Never did I think a laying hen would be the most significant gift I would ever receive. And not only that, but never did I think the lesson that gift taught me would come from a 3 year old who demonstrated what it means to be truly courageous.
Courage finds its greatest expression in love and sacrifice. That is the Reader’s Digest version of 1 John 3. In The Message, Eugene Peterson writes about love and sacrifice in this way…
For this is the original message we heard: We should love each other. 1 John 11
This is how we've come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for each other, and not just be out for ourselves. If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God's love? It disappears. And you made it disappear. 1 John 16-17
I believe Pastor Dale would say the Reader’s Digest version of this verse is “Loving and sacrificing with our EVERYTHINGNESS”.
Angel demonstrated that kind of love to me. Not just with the gift of a laying hen, but in the way she goes around her village convincing the young and old that they should love and trust the Mzungu (white foreigner/missionary) by telling them, “Do not be afraid. She is my friend”. I don’t know if Angel knows Christ, but she understands how to live like Christ. I believe her family must be believers, because in their physical “poorness”, they seem to have become completely dependent on God and are spiritually “wealthy”. When you are spiritually “wealthy”, you can give out of your nothingness because you have trust that Christ is taking care of everything.
Ann VosKamp writes about a different, yet similar, kind of courage.
“Jesus calls me to surrender and there’s nothing like releasing fears and falling into peace. It terrifies, true. But it exhilarates. This, this is what I’ve always wanted and never knew; this utter trust, this enlivening fall of surrender into the safe hands.”
Ann understands what it means to be courageous. Angel demonstrates it. I am learning it and I pray each of you will experience this kind of courageous, sacrificial love as well.
Kelly Huenink
Saturday, January 14, 2012
"Birds of the air..."
Saturday, January 14, 2012
I had just finished breakfast and noticed a commotion outside the kitchen door. The ditch bank and the trees along the bank were alive with hundreds of blackbirds. Now they are not my favorite bird, but it was obvious they didn’t care. The blackbirds were having great fun. As if watching a wave of water coming in from the ocean, they flew to the ground and back to the trees, slowly moving closer and closer to our yard and then they were gone to another playground. I felt God’s lesson coming my way. I prepared myself to listen to Him.
We continue to have health issues. Bob has another surgery coming up this week and my back and legs continue to torture me with pain. I had complained this very morning about paying for an MRI to find out that the MRI didn’t pick up anything wrong. “Maybe it is …..” I quit listening after I had received the news. All I could think about was how I had wasted our money for a good report. Then I started scolding myself for my negative feelings, as I was reminded that people every day have tests that cost so they CAN get a good report.
That’s when it happened. In my gray, foggy mood, I saw God’s workings in nature – the dance of joy.
“Look at the birds in the air. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them. And (Helen) you know that you are worth much more than birds. You cannot add any time to your life by worrying about it.” Matthew 6:26-27
Forgive me Lord for placing the focus of my day on something meaningless. Help me to give you honor and glory each and every moment of my life. Amen
#78 God’s creation enjoying life
--Helen Duncan
I had just finished breakfast and noticed a commotion outside the kitchen door. The ditch bank and the trees along the bank were alive with hundreds of blackbirds. Now they are not my favorite bird, but it was obvious they didn’t care. The blackbirds were having great fun. As if watching a wave of water coming in from the ocean, they flew to the ground and back to the trees, slowly moving closer and closer to our yard and then they were gone to another playground. I felt God’s lesson coming my way. I prepared myself to listen to Him.
We continue to have health issues. Bob has another surgery coming up this week and my back and legs continue to torture me with pain. I had complained this very morning about paying for an MRI to find out that the MRI didn’t pick up anything wrong. “Maybe it is …..” I quit listening after I had received the news. All I could think about was how I had wasted our money for a good report. Then I started scolding myself for my negative feelings, as I was reminded that people every day have tests that cost so they CAN get a good report.
That’s when it happened. In my gray, foggy mood, I saw God’s workings in nature – the dance of joy.
“Look at the birds in the air. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them. And (Helen) you know that you are worth much more than birds. You cannot add any time to your life by worrying about it.” Matthew 6:26-27
Forgive me Lord for placing the focus of my day on something meaningless. Help me to give you honor and glory each and every moment of my life. Amen
#78 God’s creation enjoying life
--Helen Duncan
Monday, January 2, 2012
A New Year
"This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24
The one hundred eighteenth psalm reminds us that today, like every other day, is a cause for celebration. God gives us this day; He fills it to the brim with possibilities, and He challenges us to use it to His purposes. The day is presented to us fresh and clean at midnight, free of charge, but we must beware: Today is a non-renewable resource---once it's gone, it's gone forever. Our responsibility, of course, is to use this day in the service of God's will and according to His commandments.
"Help me, Father, to learn from the past but not live in it. And, help me to plan for the future but not to worry about it. This is the day You have given me, Lord. Let me use it according to your master plan, and let me give thanks for Your blessings. Enable me to live each moment to the fullest, totally involved in Your will. Amen" (My Daily Journal with God by Mary Carlisle Beasley)
From Ann Voskamp: I open a Bible and His plans, startling, lie there barefaced. It's hard to believe it, when I read it, and I have to come back to it many times, feel long across those words, make sure they are real. But His love letter forever silences the doubts: "Before the world began, God planned this wisdom for our glory." (1 Corinthians 2:7 NCV)
Thankfulness should never end:
*I met the challenge and read through the Bible in one year.
*A new year has been given to me to grow in faith and become more Chirst-like.
*We celebrated Mom's birthday with cupcakes and talking. She was having a good day.
*My precious Aunt Marilyn Kae and faithful Uncle Spud made her day even more special.
Earline
The one hundred eighteenth psalm reminds us that today, like every other day, is a cause for celebration. God gives us this day; He fills it to the brim with possibilities, and He challenges us to use it to His purposes. The day is presented to us fresh and clean at midnight, free of charge, but we must beware: Today is a non-renewable resource---once it's gone, it's gone forever. Our responsibility, of course, is to use this day in the service of God's will and according to His commandments.
"Help me, Father, to learn from the past but not live in it. And, help me to plan for the future but not to worry about it. This is the day You have given me, Lord. Let me use it according to your master plan, and let me give thanks for Your blessings. Enable me to live each moment to the fullest, totally involved in Your will. Amen" (My Daily Journal with God by Mary Carlisle Beasley)
From Ann Voskamp: I open a Bible and His plans, startling, lie there barefaced. It's hard to believe it, when I read it, and I have to come back to it many times, feel long across those words, make sure they are real. But His love letter forever silences the doubts: "Before the world began, God planned this wisdom for our glory." (1 Corinthians 2:7 NCV)
Thankfulness should never end:
*I met the challenge and read through the Bible in one year.
*A new year has been given to me to grow in faith and become more Chirst-like.
*We celebrated Mom's birthday with cupcakes and talking. She was having a good day.
*My precious Aunt Marilyn Kae and faithful Uncle Spud made her day even more special.
Earline
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Christmas
221. Nativity scenes of all media, paper, ceramic, wooden, metal, lighted shapes, or sculpted in one piece.
222. Christmas carols on the radio, in stores, at church, on the corner
223. CDs of Christmas music to play again and again
224. Shopping for needy children to make their Christmas and life a little sweeter
225. Baking (and eating) cookies and candy
226. Sharing Christmas goodies with friends or strangers
227. Receiving and sending cards of bleslsing and the Good News
228. A better understanding of what Mary, the teenager, went through on the first Christmas
229. Decorated trees, sparkling lights
230. Evergreens, as wreaths, swags, crosses or centerpieces and red bows
231. The brilliant star followed by many to find the the "light of the world", that today is a guiding light for all the who believe in Jesus
We're ready for Christmas, not when we have all the gifts but when we are ready for Christ - when we're ready to give all of ourselves to Christ.
Christmas Blessings to you all. Earline
222. Christmas carols on the radio, in stores, at church, on the corner
223. CDs of Christmas music to play again and again
224. Shopping for needy children to make their Christmas and life a little sweeter
225. Baking (and eating) cookies and candy
226. Sharing Christmas goodies with friends or strangers
227. Receiving and sending cards of bleslsing and the Good News
228. A better understanding of what Mary, the teenager, went through on the first Christmas
229. Decorated trees, sparkling lights
230. Evergreens, as wreaths, swags, crosses or centerpieces and red bows
231. The brilliant star followed by many to find the the "light of the world", that today is a guiding light for all the who believe in Jesus
We're ready for Christmas, not when we have all the gifts but when we are ready for Christ - when we're ready to give all of ourselves to Christ.
Christmas Blessings to you all. Earline
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