We are now entering the ninth year since we started doing our 'Christmas Angel' project here in Jordan, and ten and a half years since we started STEPS. We would like to ask for your prayers that the Lord will provide bountiful for our 'Christmas Angel' program this year, that He leads and guides us in our distributions, and helps us to find the most needy families to bring His Christmas Spirit of Love and Blessing too. Also for our volunteers for their health and availability during this time.
Last year despite the COVID restrictions, the Lord provided for us to reach 33 poor Christian and Jordanian families, in different areas of Jordan, making it a special time for each one. We were able to distribute in Rmaimeen, Ashrafieh, Nuzah and Alqosour, providing food packages, toys, gifts, and his special love and message for all. Thank you for you prayers and may your Christmas season bring forth much fruit for Him and may you all have a wonderful Christmas season. Love and prayers, Archie and Elisabeth and the STEPS team If you would like to know more about the STEPS program go to the Radical Giving https://radgiving.weebly.com/steps-jordan.html
0 Comments
By Lisa France
In 1995, Francis and I and our 13-year-old daughter Joy set off from Toulouse in the south of France in our red camping van. We were on our way to Moscow, and we had to drive to Marseilles in order to go to the Russian embassy to get our visas. We had our passports and invitations, which were required for this paperwork. We drove in the direction of Marseilles, and we were excited about our trip. In the evening, we parked at a service station not far from the city to spend the night. There was a German motorhome parked next to us. We had a good night’s sleep and in the morning we wanted to air out the van. We opened the back doors, where our luggage was, and set our camping table and chairs in front of it. At that moment, we saw two motorbikes coming toward us. Each motorbike carried two men wearing helmets. They went to the German motorhome. We imagined they could be their friends. Then we heard screaming, and the men ran out of that motorhome in our direction. They started to grab Joy’s suitcase, which was in the back of the van, but she held on to it with all her might. Then they took Francis’ litnessing bag, which had all our papers in it and even 1,500 French Francs hidden in his identity card. The men got on their bikes and sped off. Needless to say, we were in disarray! The police came and we went to their office to make a report. As we left, the Lord told Francis that since there was nothing of value to the bikers in the bag, they might just throw it away. So we drove back to the spot of the theft, and drove slowly along the edge of the highway searching for the stolen item. Very soon, lo and behold, we spotted the bag! And within it was our literature, papers, and even the hidden money! Praise the Lord! We gathered our belongings, drove to the embassy and arrived just as it was closing, and were able to get our visas! We hit the road for Bratislava, where we left the van. From there, we took the train to Moscow to reunite with my two older children, whom I hadn’t seen for years. Thank You, Jesus! What an adventure! Thank the Lord for happy memories! Thank God for this new year where we can celebrate Jesus Christ’s birthday with the precious children and vulnerable families in Medellin, Colombia. After the hard pandemic we are blessed to be able to be together again.
We want to ask for your faithful prayers for our Christmas event for this year. We are so happy to continue another year from 2013. The Lord has been so good to us! Thank You Jesus. We are starting as previous years our CHRISTMAS CAMPAIGN. If you want to give a little joy to our kids, please consider to support us. One by one and little by little we can do so much! Thanks for your prayers, love and kindness! With love and gratitude Sneider P.S. If you would like to donate you can send gifts to PayPal: [email protected] Unless you have personally faced a catastrophic event, it can be difficult to grasp the intensity of these experiences and how small and powerless man becomes in the face of them. Witnessing such events firsthand can be a terrifying experience, because for many of the people directly involved, other than through a God-given miracle, there is little chance of escape.
Along with the accounts of the devastation caused by such events also come many tremendous accounts of supernatural protection, guidance, and the hand of God shielding His children in miraculous ways. During such times of dire events, many experience an immediate need to cry out to God or Jesus, because they come to the realization that there is nothing that they themselves can do. As a result, many who have experienced God’s intervention to protect them in the midst of such desperate situations have found their lives changed in a moment. With the fires that had been raging in Australia many found themselves trapped in situations where, but for the grace of God, they would not have survived. Throughout the parts of Australia where these fires raged for months, there are a scattering of towns and small cities surrounded by hundreds or thousands of square miles of forest. Many of the trees are various types of eucalyptus, or what they call gum trees. Their sap is so flammable that in a fire a tree can literally explode like a bomb, sending flaming shards of wood for some distance and spreading the fire rapidly. They burn so hot that such fires can sweep through large areas at high speeds, leaving little more than ashes in their wake. Yet, in spite of such terrifying power, God is still with His children, keeping them in the hollow of His hands. Nothing can stand against the limitless power of our loving God to save and protect. This is an account of one such situation that a man found himself in. The town where he was located had been cut off from escape by land as the fires came toward them from three directions. The people of this town found themselves trapped by fire on three sides, and on the other side lay the ocean. They faced near inevitable death from the massive walls of fire approaching. The rescue teams were trying to reach many such places by water, but they were overwhelmed by the magnitude of the situation. Here is this man’s firsthand account, told in the midst of the inferno. * * * Well, conditions are a hell of a lot better than they were. It doesn’t look like midnight like it was just before. There’s actually some light coming through the smoke. There’s obviously the danger of spot fires, and the fires are running up in a northerly direction back towards the Prince’s Highway. I know that much. But before, it was... It was... Mate, you just don’t want to go through something like this. It was terrifying! And I’m pretty... I’m a bit emotional still but I’m grateful that our animals are alive and that our guests that were with us are safe. We’ve stayed together. And, yeah, it was horrendous! I want to give God the glory because, mate, I have a good friend, ex-firie [firefighter], well, former head of the fire department here in Mallacoota, Graham Clarke. He’s been giving me the heads-up. He’s in Canberra, but is totally surrounded by fire where he was, and he was good enough to ring me and he said, “David, it’s at the airport.” So, I knew where the fire was. The airport in Mallacoota is five or seven minutes away in the car. I knew it was hitting town because the sirens started up. You could actually hear it roaring towards town. You could actually hear it. I had been told that by Graham, the fire chief. He told me, “You’ll hear it, David. You’ll hear the sound.” We heard gas cylinders exploding, which means it’s people’s homes being destroyed. At that point, I started praying. I was an atheist, but I was praying to God, praying to Jesus, “Turn the wind!” You wouldn’t believe it, but I’m going to tell you the honest-to-God truth. It pushed this thing back against itself. Literally, we felt the wind come from off the beach; it shouldn’t have, but it did. It was unbelievable. It stopped after five minutes, and then probably 20 minutes after that, the breeze was blowing up to a gale and then the sky went red. We thought it was a fire front about to run over the top of us, but it was, I believe, God’s intervention, absolutely, through prayer, because the redness was the sun coming through the smoke, not the fire about to destroy, you know, obliterate all of us down here. Because there’s nothing [the firefighters] could have done if that had happened. It doesn’t matter how many fire trucks you have. Basically, there’s a rock wall [at the evacuation point on the beach]. So, it’s the only thing to protect you from the radiant heat. They wanted us to get into the water against that wall. It’s got oysters and stuff that can cut you, not the greatest thing to do, but it will save you from radiant heat, it’s a barrier. So, we were ready to jump into the water. And everyone was all along the edge, ready to go, when that sky went red. It looked like what we’d been looking at when we saw the fire coming, but it was God stopping it! Yeah, we’re just grateful to be alive. * * * The husband of the woman who sent this account to me managed to find this man’s phone number and called him to let him know that they were praying for him. He didn’t have much time to talk because he was still hard at work helping in the rescue operations. He explained that a wall of flames 60 feet high was coming at him and the other people who’d fled to the beach. He started praying quietly but then started praying bolder and bolder, until he was shouting out his prayer. That’s when an east wind began and blew the fire away. People around him could hear him praying, and he didn’t care. The bolder he got, the stronger came the answer. “Come boldly before the throne of grace.” He’s been on BBC World Service, Jerusalem Times, all over the world. * * * David often quoted, “It takes an impossible situation for God to do a miracle.” God is able to work in answer to our prayers beyond anything we can do. What’s so wonderful is that even when we actually get to personally experience His miracles or hear about them, those physical manifestations are often dwarfed by the spiritual victories that take place, as in the case of this man who was an atheist before this experience. Something even greater than the physical events happened to him, something life-changing that will last forever. Through his brush with death, he discovered the One who could transform his life for eternity. What greater miracle could you ask for than that?! I believe it was due to many people, not only in Australia but around the world, who were praying for those miracles! “Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.”—Psalm 46:2–3 “And Jesus looking upon them saith, ‘With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.’”—Mark 10:27 “You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.”—Psalm 32:7 From Kalyani Lama, Chennai, India
We'd like to share this wonderful news that we will be celebrating Christmas (doubly more) this year. The Lord showed us to keep it grand, as we celebrate His birthday with the poor and downtrodden, and oppressed this year. Boy oh boy! How much struggle we all went through, especially the needy! Not only are we going to give them new sarees, clothes, and food but also going to share with them the Happy News of Jesus' life on Earth and upcoming events in Tamil as I found a whole treasure chest full of translated inspirational material. They will get food for their tummies, hearts and souls. We also have two new institutions on our list of orphanages and old folks homes. Since it’s double celebration, we need more funds to bring a Joyous Christmas to the young and old. We have much to do before Christmas and we are budgeting around 4000 Euros as our needed funds to see it through, this project. Please participate with us, by praying for us and our project and by contributing whatever the Lord lays on your hearts. Little, a little more, big, or bigger contributions from you are welcome because it is much if God is in it. We love you and we pray for you as you reach out to your part of the world to make a huge difference on a daily basis. With love, admiration, hugs and prayers, Kalyani Lama P.S. If you would like to donate please contact Kalyani for information on how to do that at email: [email protected] As you may know, Thanksgiving is a holiday celebrated in the United States and Canada, with its origins in the thanksgiving celebration of the Christian “Pilgrim” families that came to the US in 1620 to escape religious persecution in Europe.
The “First Thanksgiving” was in 1621. Abraham Lincoln made it a national holiday in 1863. Here is what he wrote in his own words: “to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and union.” Even if the country where you live doesn’t have a Thanksgiving type of holiday, it’s a good idea to set aside a special day just to celebrate God for all that He’s done in your life. To be thankful, knowing that no matter what, God is with you, He’s leading you, and with Him you are not only going to make it, but have a great testimony on the other side of the challenge. As Christians, expressing gratitude toward God from our hearts reveals that we fully understand God’s love toward us. Every time we think of Jesus, it is natural for our hearts to express gratitude. Psalm 100:4 says that we are to “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise; be thankful to Him and bless His name!” Colossians 3:15 says, “Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body, and be thankful.” “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1Thess.5:16-18) “Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever!” (Psalm 136:1) I also want to thank and praise God for you and your family and our special friendship and partnership. I pray that my writings have been a blessing and a help to you to stay positive and to give thanks in all things. Many Blessings in Him and Happy Thanksgiving! Coach Dana Author unknown
If there ever was a holiday built around the kitchen, it is Thanksgiving. And if there ever was a cultural quality in need of widespread revival, it is a “thankful heart.” Somewhere along the road to rugged individualism, many of us outgrew gratefulness. So, in the spirit of Thanksgiving recipes, I have listed five ingredients that are 100% organic and will help grow a healthy thankful heart. What are the five ingredients? 1) Reflection: An honest parade of the past Our Western world isn’t very good at reflection. We’re too busy enjoying the present or strategizing for the future or getting things done. The ability to stop, think deeply, and drink in the days behind us is not a natural muscle set for most of us. Everything is about efficiency, productivity, and winning. Thanksgiving, however, requires reflection. Look back and thank God for the things He has done for you—the people He has put in your life, the experiences He has given you, the heights you saw and the depths you learned from. You don’t have to get handcuffed to nostalgia, but looking back can be such a powerful spice for the heart. 2) Humility: Get my photo off center stage I’m not talking about a “humble brag,” as in the old, “I can’t believe I made CEO at 27. I was just trying to do my job as well as I could.” I’m talking about real humility, humility like Tim Keller defines it (referencing [Rick Warren]) in his phenomenal (and short) book The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness: “Humility isn’t thinking less of yourself. It’s thinking of your self less.” I’m honestly not sure how it works, but it does. Listen to your kids laugh, watch your direct reports come up with a new strategy on their own, facilitate the praise of a peer, and without even trying, you find yourself becoming more thankful. Thankful for what God is doing for someone else. Thankful that you even get to ride along with Him a bit. Thankful that He lets you watch. 3) Appreciation: Especially for the small stuff Here’s a practice to try for the rest of November. At the end of the day, as you lie in bed about to go to sleep, review your day. Take three minutes and mentally work through your day. Every time you remember something good, give thanks for it. Every time you remember a failure, face it and move on. The practice of saying “Thank you” for small things makes you realize how many seemingly small blessings actually play a huge role in the presence of joy in your life. We often price or size ourselves out of appreciation. In other words, if the gifts don’t keep growing and the value doesn’t keep increasing, we are not immediately appreciative. 4) Sifting: Strain out the poison Have you ever put the wrong ingredient in a recipe? A pinch of the wrong thing can totally ruin the entire cake. Or, have you ever pulled out the bread, about to make a sandwich and you notice a green spot of mold staring at you? Certain things creep into our thinking or even our behaving that dramatically poison the thankful heart. 5) Contentment: Focus on what I have, not what I don’t I’ve been an entrepreneur for three decades now, so I know from firsthand experience the craving for something new, something else, something more. It’s not bad to look to improve things, but chronic dissatisfaction kills thanksgiving. We spend so much time focusing on what we don’t have (disposable income, fun co-workers, a collaborative work environment, a peaceful home, etc.) that we never just sit grateful with what we do have. Thanksgiving is “just” a day, but it is a day that pushes us to God. The opposite is what G. K. Chesterton, paraphrasing an earlier British poet, described when he wrote, “The worst moment for an atheist is when he is really thankful and has no one to thank.” If you’ll let it, thanksgiving has the potential to change your life and connect you to God as never before. Quotes on Thanksgiving part 4
“Oh that men would praise the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare His works with rejoicing.”—Psalm 107:21–221
The sacrifice of thanksgiving is mentioned several times in the Old Testament. It is first mentioned in Leviticus 7:11–15. These verses seem to indicate that the sacrifice of thanksgiving is actually a peace offering that is motivated by thanksgiving. This type of offering included an animal sacrifice as well as various sorts of cereal or bread offerings. There are several features that characterize this sacrifice of thanksgiving. The first is that, like all peace offerings, it was a voluntary offering. It was not prescribed or required by God. It was offered by the worshiper on those occasions when he was motivated to express thanksgiving to God. The sacrifice was willingly presented to the Lord with a heart of joy and gratitude. In addition, the sacrifice of thanksgiving, again like all peace offerings, was shared among the Lord, the priest, and the worshiper. This contrasted with other types of offerings, which were either entirely consumed (except for the skin) on the altar as an offering to the Lord or partly burned on the altar and partly consumed by the priest. … Through this sacrifice, then, the worshipers celebrated together before God the blessings enjoyed through a relationship with God characterized by peace and wholeness. A sense of communion with and nearness to God resulted from the presentation of a gift to God, a portion of which God then graciously shared with the worshiper. This sense of generosity and communion was expanded as the worshiper in turn shared his portion of the offering with family and friends. While the Old Testament system of animal sacrifice is now obsolete for the Christian due to the sacrificial death of Jesus, there are some principles here that continue to speak to us today. Though thankful hearts honor God and benefit us, God does not coerce or demand sacrifices of thanksgiving. Expressions of thanksgiving that flow freely from the depths of the heart are profound and meaningful for all concerned. And so God encourages and provides a vehicle for communicating and demonstrating the intensity of our gratitude. In addition, it is appropriate and advantageous for us to express our thankfulness in such a way that it spills over to others. Certainly gratitude should be felt and expressed to God, who is the ultimate source of all beneficence and blessing in our lives. But maybe it shouldn’t stop there. Maybe the kindness and generosity of God should be an impetus to get us to express to others the same kindness and generosity that we have experienced.—Joy Mosbarger |
AuthorThe goal of the blog is to provide interesting, motivational, soul feeding material. All to help remind us that God loves us all and wants a personal relationship with each of us and will take care of us in times of trouble. I aspire to be a force for good by providing you with positive input. I encourage you to share the blog with others. Archives
August 2023
Categories
All
|