God's Amazingness...

Recently, I've had some AMAZING times with God!! It all started back in August of last year. Even though at the time I didn't even know it!! In fact, if you would have told me that something amazing would have come out of a miscarriage I would have thought you were crazy! However, God is bigger than any situation we find ourselves in. He promises us in Romans 8:28 "We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose (HCSB)". So, here's the begriming of the story:

In August of last year, we experienced a miscarriage of our third child. Yes, I say third because we had a miscarriage before we got pregnant with Zeke. Here, most of the doctors are trained in France, so they all speak French when they are in the office. Even though they know Bambara they choose not to use it. We don't speak French, so we've always had to rely on other colleagues to go to the doctor with us to translate. Praise God, Zeke's doctor speaks excellent English! When we were pregnant with Zeke, Diane always went to our appointments with us. Since that time, she and her husband have relocated to another part of the world. With this baby, we immediately went to our team mate and supervisor, Shirley. She went with us to our first appointment to find out how far along we were and all that fun stuff. However, shortly after that appointment she had to be flown to South Africa for medical reasons. When we started having problems, I called another colleague, LaNette. Praise God for LaNette and her husband, Marvin. They immediately stepped up to the plate and were there for us the entire day of the whole ordeal. At one point before my D&C LaNette and I were alone in a hospital room waiting for the procedure. She and I had been chatting and she shared with me how she did her quiet time. Honestly, I don't even remember why we were talking about quiet times or how the subject got brought up. When she shared with me how she did it, I thought, "WOW! What a great way to spend time with God! I need to give that a try!!" However, life happened. We got busy, got bogged down in the valley God was walking us through. Frankly, I was tired. Tired of sickness plaguing our household. Tired of praying and feeling like God wasn't answering. Just tired! The last thing I wanted to do was to have a quiet time. Sure, I'd have a quiet time here and there. But honestly, that was out of guilt. Not because I truly wanted to spend time with God. Then, God in His graciousness allowed for us to go home for 2 months. It wasn't until we were at home that I first tried out this new way to spend time with God. Oh boy was I in for a treat!! My time with God went from dull to vibrant! Something I actually looked forward too! God spoke to me and encouraged me in ways I never dreamed!! Then one day, God, in His true form of graciousness, allowed me to get a glimpse of the bigger picture. He reminded me of that day. The day we spent in the hospital with Marvin and LaNette. The day we lost our baby. He reminded me of the conversation I had had with LaNette. The one we talked about her quiet time. He showed me how, if I wouldn't have had the miscarriage, I probably would have never known how LaNette spent time with God. I would have missed out on all these AMAZING moments that God and I had been having. I quickly decided, the pain of that day was worth the trade off of learning to walk closer to God.

So, fast forward a month or so. We're back in Mali. We've been back a little over 2 weeks now. How is the new quiet time working out here in Mali? It's working beautifully!! Just the other day, I was pouring my heart out to God. Confessing that I had been lazy in my witness here. I had been making excuse after excuse. Confessing that I was afraid. That I didn't know how to go about any of what I need to be doing. Just pouring my heart out to God. Then, God in His amazingness led me to these three scriptures:

Deuteronomy 31:6: "Be strong and courageous; don't be terrified or afraid of them. For it is the LORD your God who goes with you; He will not leave you or forsake you."

II Corinthians:4:6-7: "For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness" —He has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God's glory in the face of Jesus Christ. ⁷ Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us."

II Corinthians 12:9a: "But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness."

I just love how God knows right where we are. He knows our struggles and weaknesses. Despite how many times we fail Him, He still loves us. I love the way His word is like water to my dry and thirsty soul. The refreshing that it brings.

In case your wondering how I spend time with God, here's the way I do it... I will say, it's kinda evolved a little. The basic way is that I sit down with my journal and Bible. I then take out my journal and journal whatever I want to say to God that day. Some days, I write 4 pages. Some days, not even a half a page. Then, I grab my Bible and go to the book that God has lead me to read, which is currently Hebrews. I then read until God shows me a scripture. I then, write that scripture down and journal what it is God is saying to me through that scripture. Recently, I have added a devotional book called "Jesus Calling" by Sarah Young. It is through that book that God led me to the scripture references above.

I can't say thank you enough to those of you reading this and praying for us. Your prayers are what are keeping us sane most days. Hope to blog soon with a more detailed update and pictures of the cutest kid in the world! Until next time...

Back in Mali

Well, we arrived in Mali Wednesday night after about 24 or 25 hours of traveling. God was so good to us on our return trip. Arnett and I both realized Tuesday before taking off that we were headed back to where God wants us to be. The reason we say that is, when we booked our tickets back in November they routed us through Detroit on the way back to Mali, instead of through Atlanta like we had done on the way to the States. At the time I didn't think anything of it, just that it was kinda odd. We have always gone through Atlanta and didn't really know why we wouldn't be going through there again. Now, we know, it was God. The day before we leave a huge snowstorm hit the southwest United Sates. Atlanta flights were being canceled like crazy!! When we got to the airport, I asked the guy how he was doing and he said, "We've been busy!" Then he looked at my ticket and said, "Good thing you aren't going to Atlanta!" Of course, the creator of our universe knew the weather long before we did and had it all worked out!! We left for Detroit 25 minutes late but made it without any incident. Zeke did well on the first flight and we got several comments as to how well he did! We then boarded the next plane for Paris. A 7 hour flight we weren't looking forward to! However, once again, the Lord showered us with His blessing and we had a great flight. Zeke slept 6 of the 7 hours!! Praise the Lord!! We then had 4 or 5 hours in Paris. We then boarded the plane for Mali, a 5 1/2 hour flight. Zeke slept 2 1/2 to 3 hours of that flight!! We also were able to switch seat with someone and have a whole row of 4 seats to ourselves!! Another, go God moment!! We arrived and got through customs without any issues. Then we arranged for a porter to help us with all 7 of our bags! Well, the first one came out really quick. I quickly thought, "Yes, they'll all be here!!" However, we waited and waited for the next bag to arrive. I thought, "Oh Lord, please let the bags come!" Well, we waited some more and were eventually told, "No more, it is finished." "What? Finished? I only have 2 bags out of 7!!" We chalked it up to Africa welcoming us home. Arnett and Zeke headed outside to meet the girls who were picking us up, while I stood in line with several other passengers who didn't get their bags either. Praise God, he helped me do all this in Bambara after being out of the language for 2 months!! One Praise out of 5 bags missing, the one bag that we had put some frozen bacon and deer sausage into made it the first night!! Praise the Lord for no spoiled meat!! We honestly thought our bags wouldn't been seen for several days. However, once again, God showered us with another blessing in that they arrived the next night!! We picked them up yesterday and today I finally finished putting everything away!!

So, what's next for us? Well, we take a little bit of time trying to get our bodies back on Mali time. Jet lag is really doing a number on us this time around, so we've been trying to get lots of rest. Zeke is still on America time, not going to bed until 1:00am!! At least he's sleeping until 10:00 or so!! Soon, we'll be headed back to D-village to resume meeting with the believer's out there. We want to thank all of you who prayed for our return trip home. As you can see, God heard and answered those prayers!!

Praises:

1. God revealed to us that we are where He wants us!!
2. Safe and uneventful flights!!
3. Zeke, who is such a trooper and did so well on the return trip!!
4. Our bags made it to us in a very timely manner!!
5. We've been able to have a few days of rest!!

Here are some ways you can be praying for us:

1. Pray that we'll get over jet lag and have the energy we need to do the work God has called us to do.
2. Pray for our meetings in D-village. Pray that nothing would hinder us from going out weekly.
3. Pray for the men and women in D-village. Ask that God would draw them to Himself.
4. Pray that daily we would take them time to be with our Creator and draw closer to Him.

Until next time...

Time flies...

Wow!! Time sure does fly when you're having fun!! It's so hard to believe our time in the states is rapidly coming to an end. In fact, we head back to Mali on Tuesday. It seems like we just got here yesterday. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time in the states. We had an amazing Christmas. Zeke enjoyed opening up the many presents he received. Here are a few of him Christmas morning:

Zeke helping pass out presents

Zeke getting the hang of opening presents.

Trying out his new rocking horse.

Zeke loves to eat ice, even when it's freezing outside!

So, the weeks after Christmas we spent with family and friends. We also spent the time doing what we enjoyed most. For Arnett, that meant many mornings and evenings in the tree stand or weekends in the deer woods. For me, it was shopping and spending time with family and friends. This past Saturday, we had a big cookout to tell our family and friends goodbye. Here are a few shots of the day:

Arnett, Gommer (Arnett's grandma), Kiah (Arnett's dad), and Zeke.

Arnett, Papa, Zeke, me, and Mema

Grandma, Papa, me, Zeke, and Arnett

Zeke, Arnett, and I

So, like I said, on Tuesday we'll head back to Mali. We have mixed feelings about it. I am excited, Arnett's not really excited about our return. We know that this is the path God has for us and we are trusting Him to lead the way. Please pray for us as we return. Pray that God will give us the grace, strength, and the joy we need to do His will for our lives. Until next time...