Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Day 1.5

Well, we made it.  And we're very tired, about to sleep the 2nd night.  Yesterday, as usual, I had my "mishaps" at the airport.....aka....our plane was late, then my luggage was left in Amsterdam, then because of all that, our car guy wasn't there to pick us up because he left!!! Then we he did come back, we got a parking ticket because we left the car while we waited to get our luggage!  Oh my. Yes, so I've committed my first crime in Europe and I wasn't even there for 24 hours! Oi.

The home we're staying in is beautiful!  It currently houses 4-5 girls (having trouble remembering) from the orphanage, but most are my age or older...funny.  The two missionaries & their daughter live here as well, and share the upstairs with their Romanian parents.  It's wonderful to be part of this family for a few days!  We celebrated their little daughter's first birthday today, and do you know what the grandpa gave her for a present?  A swingset.....made by hand!!!  He was chopping wood when we pulled in last night. It's beautiful.

We also got to walk into town to run some errands, and saw what the girls' do for work...which is make greeting cards to sell!  They're beautiful cards! (as you can see, I'm short on vocabulary....all i can say is that things are beautiful.)

Anyway, I made a few new friends today, and had fun hearing about all the girls & missionaries do here.  SO cool.  Okay, i need to sleep.  Goodnight!!

Sunday, March 20, 2011

As I head out

I'm remembering a verse given to me a few weeks ago, thinking about how God has drawn me towards orphaned, abandoned, rejected & displaced...here is a great verse from Isaiah 54:2-3, which says, "Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities."


As a family in Christ, let's open our tents, stretch the curtains wide, welcoming in all those who have no family, no inheritance, no future or hope of one.  Let's together see how we can become brothers and sisters to these beautiful children,....through our heavenly Father!


.....pray for our health, travel safety, wisdom & common sense! Argh. AND....pray that our knowledge of the foreign language will come back readily to our minds!  Thanks! --Tyler & Alissa

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Prayer journaling 2/4

I haven't been feeling great this week, and am all out of great writing....temporarily at least.  But here are some verses I'm praying through this week.  Feel free to comment your thoughts on these or other verses that you've been praying through also! :)


Ephesians 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.


Psalm 32:5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. 
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 ...give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Matthew 7:7-11 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Wednesday, March 02, 2011

Dressed in Striped Pajamas

Tonight I was sick....slightly, but feeling not quite myself just the same.  I knew I wanted to blog tonight, since much has been floating around my mind, but it wasn't until just this moment that I really knew what I wanted to say.


This month I'm going on a journey of prayer journaling....and before I began writing tonight, I wanted to "relax" and watch a movie. Well I chose the movie "Boy in Striped Pajama's".  If you've seen it, you know that it leaves you feeling very sad, sad for the world, for the boy, for the times when we just don't know any better.... and it makes me want to pray.


"Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge." (Psalm 62:8) If you know anything about the holocaust, you know that there were many, many people who cried out to God, seeking His help, protection, wisdom & mercy. God wants us to do this, to pour out our hearts to him when we are scared, ashamed, unsure & hurting.  He will protect us, though sometimes He protects our hearts & souls over our earthly bodies.


We know this is true, that God desires to hold us in his Hands, and that He will answer us and come to us because of what Christ testified by his mouth..."'Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.  So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.  Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”'

And yet, sometimes we have to walk through horrendous situations.  The people of the holocaust were thrust into something they had little to no control over, they were tortured, beaten, starved, mocked and killed for just daring to live as people that Christ created them to be.  Many of them lost hope, feeling abandoned....but still there were some, like Corrie Ten Boom who saw her situation in the prison camps, as a time that she could tell others about God & his mercy. She understood what is written about in 2 Corinthians 2:14 where it says "But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ's triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere."  She, being lead as a captive into a place shrouded by death, held to her faith and overcame the smell of flesh with the fragrance of everlasting life.  ..... A faith like that deserves pause. ..... A faith like that, is one to make you wonder about the God who calls a witness like her out...He is a mighty God, a faithful God, an everlasting God.

Finally, as we seek him, praise him, confess our fears and hopes to him, we will see...maybe not today, but one day we will see...what His glorious plans for our lives will be.  It is then and on our journey to that end, that we can joyfully sing with David through Psalms 30:11-12, "You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent. LORD my God, I will praise you forever." Amen.