Happy Valentine's Day

Do You Really??

I have been reading through Micah for my devotional times and I am always really excited to read this book because it is so full of awesome stuff. One verse in particular has really touched me over the last few years, so much that I put it up in my living room as a daily reminder. Micah is going through and listing all of the things that God doesn't care about such as thousands of rams and ten thousand rivers of oil when he comes to what God really wants in chapter six verse eight.

"He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?"

I have read this verse thousands of times, and yet the other day when I read it I thought, "Well I think I have this down…" and I heard God say in that small quiet voice inside of my heart, "Do you really?" Well, anytime God asks me a question I have learned to take Him seriously. So I went over each thing. Am I a just person? I try my best to be. I think about it for a few minutes and decide that, yes, I am a just person. I… do justly, as the verse says. Onto the next one.

Do I love mercy? Well of course I love mercy! In my head I tell God how thankful I am for His mercy. Then that same small quiet voice says, "Mercy towards you, or mercy in general?" I start to back track, what does He mean, mercy in general? Oh, God's mercy in general towards the people of the earth. Ok I got it. Do I love mercy towards people in general? What about the people who have done hurtful things to me or my family? Uh oh. I realize that I don't love mercy in general (this is an ironic moment for me because I recently finished reading through Jonah, and boy was I glad I didn't have his stinky attitude… yikes).

Let me be more specific about what God was showing me, starting back at the "do justly" part of the verse. This verse says for us to do justly, and to love mercy, not the other way around. We aren't called to be merciful and to love justice, and there is a reason for that. When someone does something wrong to me, what does my flesh desire? Justice! I cry out for justice! I want God to deal with them on such a harsh level that they won't ever think about hurting anyone ever again. But is that what God requires of me? No. He requires ME to do justly, and not only should I avoid seeking justice when bad things happen to me, but I am called to love mercy. This means that when God chooses to give mercy to that person that just seriously wronged me, I have to love it. I'm sure you can guess that by the time I have this realization I am well on my way to the third thing God requires (to walk humbly) with a big piece of humble pie sitting in front of me (this English idiom means that I am about to be seriously humbled because of my own arrogance).

I thought about God's question again, "Do you really?" Do I really love mercy? The sad answer is, no. Not yet. It's something I need to work on. When God gives someone mercy who doesn't deserve it (which is what mercy is, actually, not getting the negative consequences I deserve) then I need to rejoice over it, not be bummed that the person who hurt my feelings didn't get what I thought was coming to them. I shouldn't be irritated at God for not serving out the amount of justice I want to see served. God is merciful to me (so merciful!) and I should be glad when He shows mercy to others in the same way. I am so glad when He doesn't slam me in the way I deserve. I am a sinner, and I deserve death! But God gives me eternal life instead. He is not only gracious to me, he is also merciful.

Let me end with this little gem from Jack Hibbs:

Mercy is like me saying, "You deserve a spanking for that, but you aren't going to get one." And then grace comes along and says, "Hey do you want to go get some ice cream?"

I just love that illustration.

Let's pray!

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank You for Your grace and mercy. Help us to love mercy for others as much as we love it for ourselves. Please conform us more and more to Your image each day. We love You so much! Thank You that You first loved us!

Amen

Even A Microwave...

Tomorrow we will be flying/taking an Orangways bus to Hungary :D We are flying into Vienna, Austria (because it was a lot cheaper that way) and then taking a bus to Budapest, where a wonderful friend with a mini van will be picking us up and driving us two hours to Vajta... a tiny village in a rural setting. Even though Vajta is small, it is FULL of personality (or personalities, rather). But, that is for another post entirely.

Today I want to talk about something that happened two weeks ago. Before we left for furlough our microwave died. Like, not just normal stopped working, but caught on fire kind of died. So we knew we were going to need to replace it when we got back from California. We put it off as long as possible, but since we hosted several families at our place for Thanksgiving, I knew we were going to need one to reheat food that people brought, because the turkeys would be taking up the oven (we made two).

We headed down to Media Markt (no that is not a typo, that is how it is spelled) to look and see what they had. My inclination is always to get the cheapest item possible that doesn't look like a clunker. Being a missionary only makes me more aware of the fact that our money is God's money, because it comes from donations that other Christians make for us to be able to live here. In fact, sometimes people donate money to us for specific things, and we feel obligated to use that money for those reasons, like when we got our stroller, someone donated money specifically for us to get a nice stroller since we didn't have a car. But back to the microwave. So we are perusing around the store in the microwave area. Katienne is trying to light something on fire in a (luckily) fake fireplace that only looks like fire, and Travis and I are trying to decide which one we should get... the base model that probably won't fit an entire casserole dish in it... one step above the base model that was a tiny bit bigger inside... or two steps above the base model with a "grilling" option. The price difference between the base model and the two grilling model was about 20 euros (27 dollars).

Travis told me to pick. I could tell he really liked the grilling model and was thinking about heating up pizza without having to turn on the oven, but I just couldn't justify spending the extra 27 dollars in my head. I was standing there thinking about it, and I just couldn't choose. Then it occurred to me that I ought to pray about it, since we pretty much pray about everything. I told Kati we were going to pray and she took my hand and I said, "Lord, please help us to choose the right microwave. You know that we want to be good stewards over what you have given us." Immediately when I stopped, I looked over at Travis, who was still investigating the differences between the three prospects and heard in my head, "That is the one." Travis was standing in front of the grill one. And my thought was, "Are you sure, God?" God is always sure... lol.

I went over to Travis and told him, "Well I prayed about it, and God told me that we should get that one," pointing to the black one he was looking at. He looked at me and asked, "Are you sure?" Ha ha ha, God has such a great sense of humor.

So we looked for the same one in a box underneath and there weren't any. We asked the sales person if there were any left and she went to look in the back. When she came back she said that the floor model was the only one left, sorry. I asked her if we could buy the floor model and she answered that it didn't have a box... so I asked if they would take some money off since it was the floor model. She called her boss and said they could give us the same price as the base model!! God knew the whole time.

All this to say, listen to God when He speaks... and that God does care about the little things, like the fact that we need a microwave for Thanksgiving, which turned out wonderful by the way.
God bless you!!
Kristin

Nervous and Excited

The flat is a mess. There are clothes everywhere as we not only unpack, but transition into a new season, weather wise. But we are home, in Greece. It feels good. To be honest it was a lot more difficult to leave this time. It was such a blessing to stay with my dad and brother and see first hand how God has completely transformed their lives for His glory. Travis said the same thing. Luckily for me, I got all my crying out before we left, and when no one but Timo was around. I have to say, that little smile sure is good for cheering me up. He is such a blessing.

Then once we got back, we were all hit with different types of spiritual warfare. For the girls they have been having really bad nightmares every night (the first night Ksena had three of them!). Travis and I have been hit with other things, such as feeling worthless and out of place. But God is so good, because that quickly disappeared once our phone started ringing with joyous welcome backs from our Greek brothers and sisters.

Our Greek is definitely rusty, self study will start next week along with all the ministry stuff we are committed to for now. Please pray for the Mommy group my friend started. Apparently it has doubled in size and the number of kids may be too many for Travis to deal with alone. 

Also, Ksena is starting school tomorrow. We spent all day working on, "May I please go to the toilet?" in Greek. She is excited and nervous, and that is the exact same way I feel. It will be good for her, and a nice change for me during the day as I start homeschooling Kati-bati, but I don't know how she will deal with being in a room full of kids that speak a language she doesn't know yet. Please keep her in your prayers. She wants to makes friends so badly, and I know this is a good opportunity for her.

My big girl :)

Ksena is already my little evangelist. When we were in the States we went to a park with some friends so we could catch up with them while the children played. As we were leaving Ksena came up to me and said, "I told the other kids that we should all share because sharing is caring. Then I told them about Jesus." When I asked her what exactly she told them regarding Jesus she said, "I told them Jesus loves them and died on the cross for them, and that He likes sharing." I wanted to break down and cry out of pure joy, but Ksena didn't seem to realize that there was anything extraordinary about what she had just said. Ksena isn't perfect. She rolls her eyes and gets an attitude with mommy like many five year old girls do, but she sure does love Jesus. I pray her heart stays that way in the coming years.

Well, I hear Timo rustling in his crib. Goodnight everyone :) with love from Greece.

Blindfolded

The life of faith says, “Lord, You have said it, it appears to be irrational, but I’m going to step out boldly, trusting in Your Word."-Oswald Chambers

Things are a bit crazy right now. But I feel like I just have to close my eyes, take Jesus by the hand, and let Him lead me where He wants me to go. 

And in case you are interested in watching, here is a link for my interview with Cheryl Brodersen. She is such an awesome lady.

Well Timo is awake from his nap, talk to you in a few days from Greece!