Through the Seasons

I’m going to have to start a “Praise Journal”.  There are just too many things happening in our favor to keep up with.  I began noticing the blessings being poured onto us when we started this journey and they’ve gotten more numerous as time has gone on.  I’ll make a list:

Our house sold in 10 days for more than we were asking for – and our realtor became a partner.

We bought an RV from another missionary and lived close to where all of our training took place.

We passed all of our training and made a lot of new friends in the process.

Our church’s missions house became available so we moved into it.  The benefits are that it’s close to all of our partners and the churches we visit, bigger than the RV, very nice, and rent-free.

The RV sold for what we were asking for it to the first person who looked at it before we even began trying to sell it.

I mailed my passport off for renewal March 15th and within a month I had already received my new one!

We are beginning to gain advocates who are finding speaking opportunities for us and are also talking to people on their own who they believe would be interested in partnering with us.

We’ve met a lot of new people and built a lot of relationships.

Our prayer partners are many and strong.

Our support level is at 58% and steadily increasing. 

That’s a pretty short list actually and that’s just the big stuff!  It seems we’re constantly being blown away by God!  I wish I could tell of all the things He’s done but, as the Psalmist said, ”they would be too many to declare”.

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What is the deal with fear? 

Some people love the feeling (and go see movies to generate it) and some hate the feeling (and do whatever they can to avoid it).  But why is this?  Maybe it’s the belief each has about fear. 

What does it really help?  As far as I can tell, it was designed to help react to situations, not prepare for them.  Fearing something will happen won’t prevent it from happening.  It just robs life in the meantime.  Maybe FDR was right, the “only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. 

So I guess real fear is good and was given to us for a reason.  It takes over and propells us to handle the situation we find ourselves in.  But the majority of fear we feel throughout our lives is unreasonable.  That false fear comes when there’s nothing happening in reality, only in our minds. 

In the past I’ve dealt with some re-occuring fears and found that if I step back and look for ‘clear’ and ‘present’ danger I can dispell the feelings my body is going through. 

I do still experience false fears though and I’m not always good at stepping back in that moment.  For instance, after the VT shootings (which I watched way too much of) I got all “spooked” and really had to concentrate to shake that fearful sensation. 

Nothing that has ever happened to me has lived up to what I’ve feared could happen.  How much wasted energy is that? 

Too much.

After the famous quote, ”The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” FDR goes on to say, “Nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”  Banishing this will stop our retreat and cause us to advance!

‘Fear not’ appears 366 times in the Bible.  I’ve heard that the alternative to having false fear is having faith.  And that makes sense.  Am I trusting Him to be with me and protect me or am I relying on myself?  

“He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’  So we may boldly say:  ‘The LORD is my helper; I will not fear.  What can man do to me?’”  ~Hebrews 13:5b-6

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We’re over halfway in our support now but there are a few things that make me wonder if it’s actually higher. 

First of all, if you’re planning to partner with us and just haven’t yet, you can simply let us know or you can send the response form from our brochure or prayer card in to the address on the form.  This can be used as a pledge to support us beginning sometime in the future or it can be sent in with a contribution beginning your support right away.  Either is perfectly fine with us.  If you don’t have a prayer card, we will gladly send one to you.  We’ve heard of many people asking others how to go about partnering with us.  If that’s your situation, please use the contact form on our website (www.jonathananddana.com) and we’ll get back to you with all the info.

Secondly, we get quite a few contributions but don’t hear from administration if they are one-time gifts or part of ongoing support.  Until we know which it is, we can’t update our support percentage accurately.  Our support percentage tells our personnel administrator when we can proceed through the process.  We are currently monitoring it to see when we can begin the Visa application process.  In order to make it to the August 8th orientation we’ll need to begin that process before the end of this month.

I know this seems like a rushed timeline.  It really isn’t.  God is in control and He knows when we’ll leave for the field.  I just want to make sure that we’re aware of your intentions as far as partnership is concerned.  If you sent in contributions with a response card, we probably received that back after it was processed.  If you didn’t, it would help us a lot if we knew how to categorize those gifts.

And lastly, if you plan to support us through prayer, please send in the response card indicating that so we can make sure that you’re not only receiving the newsletters but also periodic prayer requests and updates.  We’d love to know you’re praying for us and be able to thank you.

To all of our partners - prayer and financial, one-time and ongoing – and to our friends, advocates, and encouragers – thank you, thank you, thank you.  We just can’t express how grateful we are and how much your support means to us.

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As I watched a press conference yesterday about the Virginia Tech Massacre I couldn’t prevent the tears from coming.  I don’t know anyone there and I’ve never been there myself.  It still seems so close somehow.  The campus itself is only a few hours away and I do know someone who graduated from there so there’s a very slight connection, almost nonexistent really. 

Why do a lot of us get wrapped up in tragedies like this and actually feel grief ourselves?  It’s like a big, unwelcome reality check.  I don’t want to know the world is like this.  I want to think we’re safe and secure.  But, of course, we’re not and these things just can’t always be prevented. 

As I moved through my day I felt pain in my chest and didn’t dare speak of the events for fear I’d burst into tears.  The sight of men holding each other crying.  The story of the man who sacrificed himself to allow his students the chance to escape.  Hearing people talk of the last time they saw their loved-ones.  Reading the profiles of these college students and thinking of the potential that was cut short. 

The pain is real somehow although it doesn’t actually affect me personally.  Still it does in some way.  I feel for the people who saw that crime scene either while it was happening or afterward.  I can’t imagine trying to shake those images away.  And I think if I feel grief in my heart I can’t imagine the pain those directly affected feel.  They’ve got to be in so much shock even now. 

I pray for each person involved and ask God to redeem and transform this tragedy as only He can.  He is praiseworthy everyday, no matter the circumstances.  I pray everyone there experiences Him in a way they never have before.

My heart truly goes out to them all…

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In all things it is better to hope than to despair. 

~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Our prayers are with those involved in and close to the tragedy at Virginia Tech.  May God comfort and strengthen them.

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As I’ve said on this blog many times before, I’m a planner.  And whether I’ve admitted it or not, I like to be in control.  Even if I’m not really in control.  It’s feeling in control that I’m after.  I make a plan and I stick to it.  But this causes problems sometimes because no one else in the world apparently knows my plans or cares too much about making sure I get to stick to them. 

So an idea hit me today – and to give credit where credit is due – this idea could not have come from my own brain – it was definitely God-given.  I just don’t think this way.

What if I planned to give up control.  And then stuck to that instead.  I’m not sure if this would work or not but what if I got up each day and said, “Lord, I’ve made a lot of plans today but whatever You have for me I’ll accept.”  Basically that’s the equivalent of “Your will, Lord, not mine, be done.” 

So I’ve planned to get to an appointment on time but in stepping back I realize I’m not really able to control that – not completely.  If something happens to make me late, so be it.  I’ve planned to accomplish 3 things off my ‘to-do’ list today but then a friend calls needing to talk. 

Life happens.  It interrupts.  What is it John Lennon said?  “Life is what happens when we’re busy making other plans.”  Making plans and holding onto them for dear life.

Flexibility.  Vulnerability.  Humility.

Trust. 

That’s what it all comes down to.  Do I trust God to clean up my screw-ups?  Do I trust Him to take care of the big and small things in my life?  Do I trust Him to know best when He brings an interruption into my life that I hadn’t prepared for? 

I pray learning this lesson drives me further into His arms and just reminds me that no, I can’t handle everything on my own thank you very much and no, in fact, I don’t have everything figured out… and that’s okay.

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I’m really having a hard time eating right these days. 

The solution?

It’s not joining a gym, signing up for a diet program, or buying the latest book (which will inevitably claim it’s not really a diet… yeah right).  The diet industry reminds me of Las Vegas.  I walk through the casinos, see people gambling, and think, “where do you think the money came from to build these big, nice casinos?”  Duh.

If I look back on my recent habits I can see where I’m going wrong.  In general anyway.

In the past I’ve used a really cool website and I thought I’d share it with you too:  www.fitday.com. 

The site is absolutely free.  You set up your own account where you record each day what you eat and the exercise you do.  The cool thing is that it already has a database of food to choose from.  It also allows you to create your own items.  For example, you can look up “banana” on their database but if you want to record your bowl of Kashi cereal, you can just add that as a customized food and put in the nutritional information from the box.  The totals of different elements (calories, fiber, etc.) are calculated as well as the carb to protein to fat ratio for the day.  There are also goals you can set and have the system track them for you.  It’s awesome!

I figure recording what I eat each day will help me to pinpoint the areas I need to change. 

I also bought the new O magazine with her fit tips.  Isn’t Oprah inspiring?  I figure, if she can take the weight off and keep it off – by simply eating right and exercising – so can I. 

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Well, this is just unbelievable. 

Last week, Jonathan and I finally cleaned all of our stuff out of the RV.  A few days later we got an email from a couple who saw our little “ad” on the website and wanted to come look at it.  So Jonathan spent most of yesterday cleaning the RV, inside and out.  They came by today AND BOUGHT IT – for the price we were asking for it too! 

We’re just blown away at how much God is blessing us and working out all these details.  One thing after another…  He is just so good to us!

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Amazing things happen every day even when we’re completely unaware.

Jonathan and I have been trying to see our friends and partners for dinner and/or lunch as much as we can.  I noticed I had ONE open day on my April calendar so when someone would ask us to get together with them I would always suggest that day.  Every single time they would decline saying that was the only day they had something going on.

Weird.

The last time it happened I just laughed and said, “God, you must have something planned for us that day.”  And in true worker bee fashion I figured maybe He wanted me to spend that day cleaning house.  But to my delight, that wasn’t it at all.

A couple days ago one of our partners called and asked us to come to dinner that ONE night we had available.  Well, how sweet of them to invite us and we did have that time sitting open so we called to agree.  That’s when they informed us that they’d invited another couple over who has been wanting to spend time with us.

Whoa.

And, in true God-sized amazing fashion, that’s not all.

That same couple invited us to lunch this Sunday.  They’ve reserved a room at a restaurant and invited a lot of people to come.  They told us to be ready to give out a lot of information and answer a lot of questions.  These are the type of events we WORK to create and this one has been placed in our laps by a gracious God and caring people.

God never ceases to amaze me.  I know He’s faithful so that part doesn’t exactly surprise me but the way He chooses to work always catches me off guard.  It’s never how I would have done it and it’s never what I could have accomplished.  That’s why He’s God and we’re not. 

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Jonathan and I have friends who we met in ICC training at JAARS last year.  They lived on center just like we did and we got to spend some time with them.  I think they were one of the first ones who introduced us to the idea of liberty versus legalism.  They’re a fun couple… serving in France.  I know.  Tough life.   

So I found out tonight that they’re leaving in May.  Next month May.  A few weeks away May.  I can’t believe it!  I mean I knew they were leaving but it’s like I didn’t think they really were. 

I even got teary over it.  Just the realization of the fact that they’re about to hit the mission field.  They’ve reached the first big goal.  They’re taking that last big leap into this whole thing. 

It makes me think of where Jonathan and I are.  We’re so focused on what we’re doing now and celebrating each increase in support that I wonder how we’ll feel when we purchase our plane tickets.  It’ll happen faster than we’re expecting, I’m sure.  It’s exciting but at the same time unfamiliar territory – well – and that’s pretty exciting too actually.

Congratulations Neil and Anita!  Check them out at:  http://www.moreefamily.org/blog/.

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