Joyous anticipation!

Hello my friends!!
I cannot even describe the way it feels to be on the verge of this great adventure! The Lord has filled me with such joy and awe as He continues to bring together all of the details of this trip and ministry. I wanted to say a giant THANK YOU! to all of the people who came out for the Hike for Hope last Sunday. It was a great success; a wonderful time of prayer and fellowship, a beautiful afternoon with not even a drop of rain (a huge answer to prayer!), and we raised over a thousand dollars! Praise God for His awesome Providence and the blessing and honor of watching Him provide in big and exciting ways and getting to be a part!

I know that many individuals have been asking how they can help specifically with the preparations for this new ministry, so I wanted to give an update of where I'm at, and how individuals can help out if they feel so led.

Financially, I have have raised about 5/6th of my goal, so I have about $1000 left to raise. If the Lord is calling you to participate financially, you can make out a check to Calvary Church and write in the note that it is for the Uganda mission. Checks can be sent to Calvary Church at 12700 Sheridan Blvd., Broomfield CO, 80020, or placed in the offering on Sunday morning. Remember that all contributions to this ministry need to come second to your regular tithe to your home church.

As far as supplies go, I do have a few items that I am still collecting but have very limited space. If you feel that you can help by purchasing supplies or items for me to bring, please send me an e-mail and I'll let you know more specifically how you can help. My address is 7heidijo@comcast.net.

In prayer, I would ask that everyone pray fervently for Serving His Children. This week is the first week that they are officially up and running! Today was the first day of the feeding ministry and as they begin all of the functions that the Lord has called them to right now, they need brothers and sisters on the front lines doing battle for them in prayer! Check out Renee Bach's blog at www.servinghischildreninuganda.blogspot.com to see pictures and hear about how God is revealing Himself through beans! I would also ask you to pray for this specific branch of Serving His Children, the bible school. Pray for me as I prepare lesson plans, that they would be Christ centered and God honoring. Pray for the hearts of the children, that they would have ears to hear, and that the Lord would make Himself so real to them! Pray that the Lord would continue to provide financially, that we would have no problem purchasing the rest of the supplies in Masese. Pray for safety in travel, and health for everyone serving. Most importantly, pray that God would be turning back hearts and transforming lives for His name and His glory because of His Son!

Thank you so very much for your continued prayers and support! I am so blessed and encouraged that the Lord has raised up so many individuals to be apart of His plan for Masese, Uganda! Please contact me with any questions!

The Beauty of Grace through Trials

A truth that has offered much strength and hope to me over the years is one that comes out of 2 Corinthians 12. The well known verse that I have held close to my heart through many struggles is verse 9: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." There is such great truth in these words; God's great and immeasurable grace is more than sufficient for us, and we can see God's power more clearly when we are weak and have to lean entirely on His strength. For a period of time I used to think of this passage as a message addressing my tendency towards feelings of fear and inadequacy, reminding me that God is big enough and that He displays His power through our weaknesses so it can be seen by others. It is indeed true that God desires to use us to show His power through our weaknesses, however it has not been until this last year that I have seen so clearly the beauty of this grace that He allows us to see His strength through the middle of our trials and areas of weakness! It had been a topic that I was a little fearful of because I struggled with my fear of experiencing trials and painful situations to show Christ's power to others. It was a wonder to me how Paul could truly say that he "delighted in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties." Those are not things that I generally delight in, and I think I know a few other comfort-seeking humans who feel the same way!
But as I have faced trials in my own life, and shared in the sufferings of loved ones, I've come to see grace so much clearer, and I've come to know Jesus is a more intimate and wonderful way! There is not one painful trial that I have encountered that I would erase from my past, because as I reflect on my own trials, I can see how each one revealed a different aspect of God's character to me, and always reminded me of my real need for a savior. The source of pain and suffering in this world is sin, not always our own, but because we as humans have separated ourselves from God through sin. I think that often we don't understand the depth of our need for a savior. We often feel that we appreciate God's grace because we sometimes say or think things that we shouldn't, but when we are confronted with our own real sin, even just the realization of the real possibility of sin in our lives, we get the wonderful blessing of experiencing the magnitude of God's grace in our lives! Its so beautiful to see how great the love and how sweet the grace of Jesus Christ truly is! That is why Paul, and now myself, delight in all the more hardships, and weaknesses! Paul ends the chapter saying, "for when I am weak, then I am strong." Paul grasped the magnitude of His need for Jesus, recognizing that when he was not trying to depend on his own strength, (which is prideful sin), He was all the more empowered by Christ and could see God more clearly and understand His character and grace so much more.
As I've been reflecting on lessons learned over the past year, I found this one to be confirmed over and over through many different situations and individuals in my life. As I prepare to follow the leading of Christ into the middle of Africa, I have been reminded by many individuals of the dangers and risks of this location. The evil one reminds me of my own inadequacies, and my sinful spirit begins to worry at times. But here, in the face of fear, and by the power of the Holy Spirit who has the wonderful grace to choose to lead my heart, I choose to say that I will "boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me....For when I am weak, then I am strong."