A Firm Foundation

One of the stories in the workbook we use with our readers is from Luke 6 where Jesus talks about the foundation we build our lives on. Jesus says:

"Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When the flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete." – Luke 6:46-49

We’ve all heard this story many times throughout our lives but the message it gives is so important yet difficult to live out. Our foundation in life controls everything we think, say, and do. It determines our outlook on life and the way we treat other people. Sometimes we can hide behind a false foundation for much of our lives. As Christians we all say our foundation is in Jesus but do we always live like it is? When the “floods” of life come, however, we are forced to reveal our real foundation. We can no longer hide behind a facade and our real foundations are exposed. We discover we are like the man who built his house on the sand. Our house will be destroyed if our foundation is not in Jesus.

Being on a mission trip like this makes me ask where my foundation is. I have never been outside of the United States before so being in another culture for going on 5 weeks has been quite an adventure for me. I can no longer hide behind the comfort and security of life in America. The foundations I’ve always depended on aren’t there and I have to look for something or someone greater.

We’ve all had our share of stress and culture shock as we adapt to life in another culture. We’ve gone through disappointment when we don’t have as many readers as we’d like or when the readers we have cancel their appointments or drop out altogether. These things deepen the need for a firm foundation, one that isn’t shaken by the floods that come. I know my foundation should be in Jesus but the temptation arises to seek other foundations as well. I know I need Jesus but maybe He can’t handle it all. Maybe I need a backup plan. But God is teaching me during this trip that He is enough for me. I don’t need a foundation apart from Jesus. He can withstand the worst floods and the darkest nights. What other foundation can make the promise to never fail, to stand firm no matter what comes? No other foundation but Jesus Christ can do this.

We also read the story from Luke 11 with our readers where Jesus talks about persistence in prayer. Jesus says:

"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; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” - Luke 11:9-10

This passage is so encouraging to me because it assures me of just how firm a foundation in Jesus is. If we keep running to God, faithfully seeking to know Him, we will never be disappointed. Every other foundation will eventually crumble but not one founded in Jesus. As we surrender more and more of our lives to Jesus, we find the security of a firm foundation our hearts are longing for. This is the hope that we have and the hope we can offer to our readers. After reading with people for several weeks, it’s interesting to see where different people are on their spiritual walk; to see where their foundation is. I’ll share the stories of just a couple readers.

First is a guy named Slavik who has been one of my most faithful readers (he’s never missed a day of lessons!). He is a Christian, grew up in a Christian family, and his father is a preacher. As we talked I found that his knowledge of the Bible is excellent. He knows all the theologically correct answers and often gives me insights that I had not thought about before. Then we got to the lesson on foundations and he said that he wasn’t really sure where his foundation was. He knows it should be in Jesus but the older he gets the more doubts arise in his mind. We talked about the struggle to keep focused on God when so many things compete for our attention and devotion. But also, the assurance we have that we will find God if we keep seeking Him. God can use our doubts and struggles to purify our faith in Him; to strengthen our weak foundation. I believe Slavik is on the same journey I’m on (I guess that we’re all on as Christians…) to having a strong foundation in Jesus.

Second is a man named George who is perhaps our most passionate reader. He has a strong desire to learn English and have an American accent (we’ve tried to tell him this is not possible :) ). He would come to lessons for eight hours a day if he could. His goal is to get all the way through the workbook faster than anyone else! His interest began with a desire to learn English. He wasn’t interested in talking about spiritual things but would talk your ear off about anything else! Slowly, we’ve began to see some change in George (he’s read with all of us). He is Ukrainian Orthodox but does not have any level of commitment as a Christian. He’s very intelligent and is a professor in Electrical Engineering (like me!). As he reads God’s Word, I think he’s confronted with the inconsistency he sees in his life. He’s very hesitant to admit it but the seeds are being planted with each lesson we have. He recently told me that He prays to God in some of the very difficult parts of his life. He says he doesn’t like it when these times come because things are out of his control. He doesn’t know how to respond to God’s invitation of salvation because he understands the level of commitment required. He just isn’t willing yet to give that commitment. It hurts me to see people like George because they’re running from the one thing that can give their soul rest and comfort. They’re desperately trying every foundation the world has to offer but resisting the only one that really matters. Unfortunately, we can’t make the decision for George. It’s between him and Jesus. We just pray that God would work in his heart and bring His lost sheep home. Please continue to pray for our readers. Pray that they find Jesus as the firm foundation their hearts are seeking after.

Here they are!!!

Here are some pictures of the people we and you have been praying for the last year! Sorry these are so late!

A Gift? For Me?

So yesterday my brain was completely fried, and that made me feel tired! After the reading sessions were over for the day I decided to walk down to the river and spend some time with God! It's such a blessing to have a peaceful river in the middle of the city, and it's not far from the UBI at all! There were alot of people out walking that night because it had been raining all day! The weather was great because the rain had cooled things off quite a bit...I even needed a light jacket! I was enjoying people watching from everyone passing by; it's a fun hobby to have! It was starting to sprinkle a bit, and there was a huge black cloud coming over me! Then something completely unexpected happened! I saw two people out of the corner of my eye stop and point to the sky, and I looked up to see what they were pointing at! It was a beautiful, clear double rainbow! Wow-I was so excited to see this! After a hard day, God gave me a beautiful sign in the sky! I could not help but praise Him then and there! But I noticed something interesting that I have never noticed before! Normally you see the rainbow in a sunny sky after the rain, but this time I saw it right in the middle of a black cloud! Half of it was in the black cloud and half in sunny sky! I could see it much better in the black cloud, and it made me think about life! How neat is it that God let's us see those bright times in the middle of a dark cloud? Just look in His word at his promises and love, and you will see that He is truth! I also am learning more every day that I see God more in troubled times than I do in good times! That made me think of the sky because I could see the colors and beauty of the rainbow much better in the black cloud! He is such a wonderful God to serve! He gives us all good things to enjoy!!! Just something to think about!

Do you know?

I have a reader named Dennis, who is 19 and loves to draw and read History books! He is very talented and knows English well. He is studying right now to be an electrical engineer at his technical school here in Donetsk! He actually finished this week with his degree, and he has to defend his diploma tomorrow! We have had many good conversations since he has been coming to read with me! He told me the first meeting we had that he was a Christian, and we ask everyone what religion they are on an information sheet when they come to our lessons. When I hear that someone is a Christian, I make many assumptions I guess you could say. I assume that they know stories of the Bible, that they know why we celebrate certain religious holidays, and that they want to tell others about Jesus and what he has done for them! This is not the case with Dennis because these assumptions are just that...assumptions! We were talking about this holiday they celebrate here called Easter, maybe you have heard of it! Most of you hopefully know why you celebrate this holiday, but just in case you do not know why I will tell you! We celebrate Good Friday as the day that Jesus was crucified on the cross, and that Sunday we celebrate Easter as the day Jesus rose from the dead! Almost everyone celebrates Easter here, and they take food to their church to have the priest sprinkle holy water on it and the people. Dennis has celebrated this holiday for many years, but he just found out why the other day! We were talking about celebrating Easter, and he asked me if I knew why people celebrated it! I told him why it was celebrated, and he told me thank you for explaining it because he never knew and did not want to ask! I was shocked by this conversation! I was excited to study with him more, and get to know what else he believes and why he believes it! So today we were talking about the story in Luke when John is preparing the way for Jesus in the wilderness, and Jesus comes and is baptized! After we read the lesson, I asked him if he had ever heard this story( I always ask this question after every lesson I read with people)! He told me he had never heard of John or the story of Jesus being baptized-again...wow! I was super excited about the opportunity to get to talk to him because there alot of good things to talk about in this lesson for non-believers or those who do not know much about what they believe! So we started talking about what it meant for the people who were waiting for the Christ to come, and he agreed that it was a good thing because they would receive forgiveness for their sins and have hope for a better life! Then we talked about what the Good News was that John was talking about for the people! I asked him what was Good News to him and what John meant when he told the people the Good News! He said that the good news was Jesus coming to give people salvation, but he said that he has known about this since he was born so it was not really good news to talk about! I asked him that he knew about the Gospel when he was 3 years old, and he said he thought so because he said where else would he learn it from! I told him I didn't actually comprehend what the Good News was until I was 12, and he was surprised! I then shared with him how I was a bad person who did bad things before I knew Jesus personally and was baptized for the forgiveness of my sins, and he could not believe it and asked what some of these things were! While I was sharing, I could tell he was thinking about alot of things and making some decisions about the Gospel in his mind! It was exciting to see him thinking about things because after I shared I asked him what he thought about what I had told him! He told me he was thinking of things that he has been doing his whole life and whether or not they were good or bad things! We also talked about how cheating and lying is always bad, no matter if it is big or small, all sin is sin and is bad before God! Then we got into the topic where John talks about Jesus separating the good grain from the straw, and I asked him what he thought that meant! He said they were things- the good grain=good things people do and the straw= bad things people do! I told him I thought he was talking about people, and that the good grain=Christians and the straw= non-Christians! This really confused him because he didn't think anyone would be burned in a fire for doing bad things and not following God! I told him that's what the Gospel was for because it meant that Jesus could make the straw into good grain if they wanted to change! This is such exciting and good news because it means we do not have to die in our sins! He just looked at me bumfuzzled and still looked like he was thinking about it! I asked what he thought about all of that, and he said it was very interesting and he had never thought of it like that before! It was so neat to see God working on his heart right in front of me! It is the most awesome thing in the world to see God working in someone's life, and to share the Gospel with them! "The word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of the soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart" Hebrews 4:12! I hope you have a passion to share the Good News with people because it is a very powerful thing! You never know who will need it, even people who claim to be Christians may need to hear about it!

Who's that knocking on the door?

So the other night I was leaving the first floor of the building that we’re staying in. The first floor is the UBI (Ukrainian Bible Institute), which is where we hold our reading sessions and have service on Sunday mornings! It was laround11 at night here, and I was heading up to the second floor of the building, which is where we are staying too! I had to unlock and the lock back the door to the first floor, and it took me like 15 minutes to complete this simple task. While doing this, a man tried to help me with the door, and I told him that I did not understand Russian. He kept unlocking the door, and I was trying to tell him that I needed to lock the door. It was embarrassing because I didn’t know how to communicate, and I couldn’t get the door locked. Needless to say, I was pretty frustrated after trying to complete this simple task of locking a door. I thought I was in the clear because the second floor door is normally not locked because it is just a bunch of rooms with their own doors and locks. I get to the second floor, and what do you know….the door is locked! Sometimes God’s sense of humor is really funny! So I put all my stuff down, and get the key out to open the door and get to my room. Again, this should be fairly easy to unlock the door. Oh no, it takes me another 15 minutes to get the door open. The man who tried to help me on the first floor was still in the stairwell, just talking up a storm in Russian to his friends (probably making fun of me and wondering why this poor little girl can’t open doors)! I was so frustrated at this point that I was ready to rip the door off the hinges, and it sounded just like that’s what I was doing! I had no way of telling anyone I was in the stairwell without waking everyone on the floor up, and I didn’t wanna do that! I prayed to God that He would send some help to get into my room! I was already beginning to think that I would have to sleep in the stairwell at this point…I was desperate! I kept praying and asking God for help, and a few minutes later here comes my answer! One of the guys that lives on the second floor, who works with internet and construction at the UBI, started to open the door on the other side! I had no clue who was helping me until I opened the door, and I was so relieved that he was there! I was so thankful to God that He sent me someone to help, and even though he couldn’t speak great English, he understood that I was very appreciative! I couldn’t sleep for a while because it was a pretty stressful situation for me because I wanted to be in control and open the door on my own by my own power and strength! It wasn’t until I asked God for help and admitted I couldn’t do it on my own that He sent help! (I told the Bagdon, the guy who helped, the next day how thankful I was that God sent him to help, and I also found out that he was asleep when this happened-funny!) This is true in our lives as well; we need only ask, seek, or knock! God is waiting to help us if we will let him and want him to do it! We don’t need to let pride, selfishness, or confidence in ourselves get in the way! Just give it to God and ask for his help! Matthew 7:7-8

Leaning on the Lord!

Truly God is good, and all the time He is good! I think sometimes we look over the words over this phrase! God is the only one who is good(even Jesus said that), and from Him all good things come! At first when we got here we didn't have that many readers. It was easy to become disappointed because I wanted to have a full schedule right off the bat, but God's word reminded me of his faithfulness! I had people start praying for more readers, and we went out to the nearest McDonald's and university to recruit...and later that day we had more readers come in! I hate it when doubt enters my mind because I know that feeling is not from God! I was reading in my little book before bed that night, and it was talking about the promises and faithfulness of God! The verse for that day was Proverbs 3:5 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding." At the end of the page, it suggested this, "List why you believe God is trustworthy, focusing on his promises and past faithfulness. Reread the list anytime you need the courage to lean on him instead of on yourself." I did this, and it is an awesome thing to do! I challenge you to do the same because we all need refreshers on the awesome things of God, and his faithfulness is definitely a good one for the day and age we live in! Please keep praying for all God is doing through us here in Donetsk! I will try to update more often!

One Week!

Thank you all so much for your prayers! We are now one week away from leaving on the plane...exciting times! We are all prepared and ready to share Christ with everyone we come in contact with in Ukraine because we had our last training session this past Thursday! Ezekiel 33:33 comes to mind before we leave "So when it comes to pass-as surely as it will-then they will know that a prophet has been in their midst." Whatever happens while we are there, God's word is true, they will know that a man/woman of God has been among them! Praise God for His word and His promises; they are so good! Please continue to pray for us and the people we will meet while over there! Thank you!