Last week friends in the adoption community whose dossiers
were submitted within days of ours received word they were registered. No news
out of the SDA for us. Monday came, no news. Then Tuesday, still nothing. But
TODAY...today we not only learned we were registered but we have a travel
date!!!! I am over the top excited!! God willing, in 3 weeks I will be headed
to Ukraine to
find our boy(s)!
While I have been waiting, I have dove back into His Word
and pressing into Jesus, as I always should, though honestly I have let the
world distract me from my intimate relationship. I am so thankful I am back to
feeding the spirit within me. I also
read a book about Gladys Aylward (an incredible missionary) and have another
downloaded on iBook to begin. I love being inspired and reminded of God's
faithfulness! I can honestly say that I have peace and for today, the fear has
left me. I am packing my tool box of spiritual Truth to bring with me when I
travel. Should God bring me to Ukraine,
I must be equipped to share the Gospel and to comfort those He places before
me. This is not just a mission to adopt children but the whole journey will be
a mission that I must be prepared for. I am excited to be used for His glory!
I am waiting for confirmation on ticket fares but last I
heard it looked like we will need roughly $2,800 for the 2 initial round trip
flights; unfortunately this is a little bit more than I had previously
calculated. I have not punched the numbers back in to my spreadsheet but I
believe we need roughly another $3,500 to be fully funded for TRIP 1.
I am going to post Paypal links to our t-shirt fundraiser
from our previous adoption (we still have plenty left), I hope you will
consider making a purchase. Of course our PayPal link for donations is also
posted on the right sidebar should you feel led to help us with this part of
the journey. I hope to have our flights booked by this time tomorrow, so I am
stepping out in faith for the remainder of the funds. Please pray with us that
God will provide in His perfect timing!
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Ever wonder what this crazy faith in Jesus is all about or
just need a beautiful reminder? I have organized the following scriptures as a
bit of a spiritual strengthening project that I would like to share with each
of you.
The lord God placed the man
in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. But
the lord God warned him, “You
may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the
garden— except the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit,
you are sure to die.”
(Genesis 2:15-17 NLT)
She saw that the tree was
beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she
wanted the wisdom it would
give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it.
Then she gave some to her
husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too.
(Genesis 3:6 NLT)
When Adam sinned, sin entered
the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death
spread to everyone, for
everyone sinned. (Romans 5:12
NLT)
“You must not have any other
god but me. “You must not make for yourself an idol
of any kind, or an image of
anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the
sea. “You must not misuse the
name of the lord your God. The lord will not let
you go unpunished if you
misuse his name. “Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it
holy, as the lord your God
has commanded you. “Honor your father and mother, as
the lord your God commanded
you. Then you will live a long, full life in the
land the lord your God is
giving you. “You must not murder. “You must not commit
adultery. “You must not
steal. “You must not testify falsely against your
neighbor. “You must not covet
your neighbor’s wife. You must not covet your
neighbor’s house or land,
male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else
that belongs to your
neighbor. (Deuteronomy 5:7, 8, 11, 12, 16-21 NLT)
Anyone who hates another
brother or sister is really a murderer at heart. And
you know that murderers don’t
have eternal life within them. (1 John 3:15 NLT)
“You have heard the
commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’ But I
say, anyone who even looks at
a woman with lust has already committed adultery
with her in his heart.
(Matthew 5:27,
28 NLT)
For from within, out of a
person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality,
theft, murder, adultery,
greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy,
slander, pride, and
foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they
are what defile you.” (Mark
7:21-23 NLT)
God’s law was given so that
all people could see how sinful they were. But as
people sinned more and more,
God’s wonderful grace became more abundant. (Romans
5:20 NLT)
for all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God, (Romans 3:23
NASB)
“For this is how God loved
the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that
everyone who believes in him
will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his
Son into the world not to
judge the world, but to save the world through him.
(John 3:16, 17 NLT)
Some of the governor’s
soldiers took Jesus into their headquarters and called
out the entire regiment. They
stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. They
wove thorn branches into a
crown and put it on his head, and they placed a reed
stick in his right hand as a
scepter. Then they knelt before him in mockery and
taunted, “Hail! King of the
Jews!” And they spit on him and grabbed the stick
and struck him on the head
with it. When they were finally tired of mocking him,
they took off the robe and
put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him
away to be crucified.
(Matthew 27:27-31 NLT)
Then the soldiers nailed him
to the cross. They divided his clothes and threw
dice to decide who would get
each piece. It was nine o’clock in
the morning when
they crucified him. (Mark 15:24, 25 NLT)
Yes, Adam’s one sin brings
condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of
righteousness brings a right
relationship with God and new life for everyone.
(Romans 5:18 NLT)
We are made right with God by
placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is
true for everyone who
believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned;
we all fall short of God’s
glorious standard. Yet God freely and graciously
declares that we are
righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed
us from the penalty for our
sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for
sin. People are made right
with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his
life, shedding his blood.
This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he
held back and did not punish
those who sinned in times past, for he was looking
ahead and including them in
what he would do in this present time. God did this
to demonstrate his
righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he
declares sinners to be right
in his sight when they believe in Jesus. (Romans
3:22-26 NLT)
Because one person disobeyed
God, many became sinners. But because one other
person obeyed God, many will
be made righteous. (Romans 5:19
NLT)
"He who believes in Him
is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged
already, because he has not
believed in the name of the only begotten Son of
God. (John 3:18 NASB)
So just as sin ruled over all
people and brought them to death, now God’s
wonderful grace rules
instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting
in eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:21
NLT)
Therefore, since we have been
made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace
with God because of what
Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our
faith, Christ has brought us
into this place of undeserved privilege where we
now stand, and we confidently
and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.
(Romans 5:1, 2 NLT)
Can we boast, then, that we
have done anything to be accepted by God? No,
because our acquittal is not
based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. So
we are made right with God
through faith and not by obeying the law. (Romans
3:27, 28 NLT)
Sin is no longer your master,
for you no longer live under the requirements of
the law. Instead, you live
under the freedom of God’s grace. (Romans 6:14 NLT)
Jesus answered and said to
him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born
again he cannot see the kingdom
of God." (John 3:3 NASB)
“There is no judgment against
anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does
not believe in him has
already been judged for not believing in God’s one and
only Son. And the judgment is
based on this fact: God’s light came into the
world, but people loved the
darkness more than the light, for their actions were
evil. All who do evil hate
the light and refuse to go near it for fear their
sins will be exposed. But
those who do what is right come to the light so others
can see that they are doing
what God wants. ” (John 3:18-21 NLT)
But God shows his anger from
heaven against all sinful, wicked people who
suppress the truth by their
wickedness. They know the truth about God because he
has made it obvious to them.
For ever since the world was created, people have
seen the earth and sky.
Through everything God made, they can clearly see his
invisible qualities—his eternal
power and divine nature. So they have no excuse
for not knowing God. (Romans
1:18-20 NLT)
For I am not ashamed of the
gospel, because it is the power of God that brings
salvation to everyone who
believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For
in the gospel the
righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by
faith from first to last,
just as it is written: “The righteous will live by
faith.” (Romans 1:16, 17 NIV)
God sent him to buy freedom
for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could
adopt us as his very own
children. (Galatians 4:5 NLT)
Even before he made the
world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy
and without fault in his
eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own
family by bringing us to
himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to
do, and it gave him great
pleasure. (Ephesians 1:4, 5 NLT)
And since we are his
children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ
we are heirs of God’s glory.
But if we are to share his glory, we must also
share his suffering. (Romans 8:17 NLT)
I pray that from his
glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with
inner strength through his
Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts
as you trust in him. Your
roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you
strong. And may you have the
power to understand, as all God’s people should,
how wide, how long, how high,
and how deep his love is. May you experience the
love of Christ, though it is
too great to understand fully. Then you will be
made complete with all the
fullness of life and power that comes from God.
(Ephesians 3:16-19 NLT)
And anyone who believes in
God’s Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn’t obey
the Son will never experience
eternal life but remains under God’s angry
judgment.” (John 3:36 NLT)
No power in the sky above or
in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation
will ever be able to separate
us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ
Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:39 NLT)
For I was hungry and you gave
me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I
was a stranger and you
welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick
and you visited me, I was in
prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will
answer him, saying, ‘Lord,
when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty
and give you drink? And when
did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked
and clothe you? And when did
we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And
the King will answer them,
‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the
least of these my brothers,
you did it to me.’ (Matthew 25:35-40 ESV)
"Go therefore and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all
that I have commanded you.
And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the
age.” (Matthew 28:19, 20 ESV)
