Saturday, 1 January 2011
These past two months have blown by as it seems is usually the case. And in this time, a lot has happened.
At the beginning of 2010, I posted Peace and Fire. This was the theme that I believed God had for us during the year. This certainly fit how things went. In terms of fire, we saw the fire of many trials. We also saw the Refiner's fire working in our lives to mold us more into the image of Christ. Finally, we saw the fire of the Holy Spirit working in our ministry. In terms of peace, in the midst of many difficulties, we often had a peace that passed all understanding and that only God could give.
Since the last post, we have had another difficult situation. Areli's sister was diagnosed with leukemia during the month of November. We were able to get Areli to Mexico shortly after the diagnosis to be with her. This changed our original plans and I ended up going back to Michigan alone for a couple of weeks to work and visit my family and friends. After our longest separation since we have been married, I joined Areli in Mexico before Christmas.
Areli's sister Abigail has begun chemotherapy and has been in and out of the hospital. Thankfully, she was able to be home for Christmas although her experience was limited by condition.
Now that 2010 is history, we really have no excuse to not be thankful to God for all that he gave us during the year. Despite the many difficulties, God has been with us the whole time and that is what really matters. We have also come to realize that many people had a much more difficult year that we did. Many of them, without Christ, experiencing the fire without any of the peace or hope that only God can give. I don't think we would have made it through 2010 if we had not had presence of God with us.
We thank God for the ways that we have grown and matured this year.
We thank Him for the blessing of our beautiful daughter Esther Nina, although our time with her seemed far too short.
We are thankful for Areli's recovery from two surgeries and are thankful for the treatment her sister is receiving and God's perfect will for her life.
We are thankful for all of those who prayed for us (including Abigail) and helped us in our time of need and for the flexibility that we were given from our mission organization.
More than anything, we thank God for our salvation and the hope of eternity that we have. May we bring Him glory in 2011 as we continue onward in His strength.
These past two months have blown by as it seems is usually the case. And in this time, a lot has happened.
At the beginning of 2010, I posted Peace and Fire. This was the theme that I believed God had for us during the year. This certainly fit how things went. In terms of fire, we saw the fire of many trials. We also saw the Refiner's fire working in our lives to mold us more into the image of Christ. Finally, we saw the fire of the Holy Spirit working in our ministry. In terms of peace, in the midst of many difficulties, we often had a peace that passed all understanding and that only God could give.
Since the last post, we have had another difficult situation. Areli's sister was diagnosed with leukemia during the month of November. We were able to get Areli to Mexico shortly after the diagnosis to be with her. This changed our original plans and I ended up going back to Michigan alone for a couple of weeks to work and visit my family and friends. After our longest separation since we have been married, I joined Areli in Mexico before Christmas.
Areli's sister Abigail has begun chemotherapy and has been in and out of the hospital. Thankfully, she was able to be home for Christmas although her experience was limited by condition.
Now that 2010 is history, we really have no excuse to not be thankful to God for all that he gave us during the year. Despite the many difficulties, God has been with us the whole time and that is what really matters. We have also come to realize that many people had a much more difficult year that we did. Many of them, without Christ, experiencing the fire without any of the peace or hope that only God can give. I don't think we would have made it through 2010 if we had not had presence of God with us.
We thank God for the ways that we have grown and matured this year.
We thank Him for the blessing of our beautiful daughter Esther Nina, although our time with her seemed far too short.
We are thankful for Areli's recovery from two surgeries and are thankful for the treatment her sister is receiving and God's perfect will for her life.
We are thankful for all of those who prayed for us (including Abigail) and helped us in our time of need and for the flexibility that we were given from our mission organization.
More than anything, we thank God for our salvation and the hope of eternity that we have. May we bring Him glory in 2011 as we continue onward in His strength.