Eluvia

Dave and Eluvia in Guatamala this summer.

There she is worshipping the Lord.

Let me introduce to you Eluvia.  She’s about 12 years old and lives just down the street from our friend, Pastor Neri.  We met her last year during our first trip to Esquintla, Guatamala when I asked her if she needed to be walked home.  It was 10 at night after a time of worship and preaching in the neighborhood la cancha (basketball court).  Neri’s wife walked her home to find that the lights were off and the door locked with everyone in bed.  She lives in a 2 room cement house with her grandma and I’m not sure who else.  A lot of the information we have received from her has been here and there.  Also, much because of our lack of Spanish, we lose a lot in conversation.  Her spirit is sweet and she loves to worship the Lord with her hands held out and tears running down her face.  Many times she has expressed her longing for a mother.

The reason I share these things with you is to put a face and a story to all the hurting, hungry and abused children in the world.  Please pray for the children in the world that are captured in sex slavery in Costa Rica and brain washed to fight in armies and kill other children in Africa and are working in sweat shops in China. Pray that God will comfort them and bring them into salvation.

God bless you today and ask God how He wants you to help the imprisoned, homeless and hungry today.

Love,

Crystal

 

Gianna Jessen-an abortion survivor

Nikki and I with our Etibles Boquet from our sweet husbands!!

I was running errands last Friday and came across a Focus on the Family broadcast that I ended up listening to when I got home online.  The broadcast is with Gianna Jessen who is an abortions survivor.  Her mother, at the age of 17, aborted her at 7 1/2 months with a saline injection which is meant to burn a baby from the inside out.  Through a miracle of God she survived only with the gift of cerebral palsy, as she calls it.  Below are the links to the interview with her on focus on the family as well as a link to an interview with her and a nurse who used to work at Christ Hospital outside of Chicago.  This woman finally went public when she found out that the staff was performing abortions and taking the babies to what they called the “soiled room”.  There they left babies to dies among used seringes and dirty bedsheets.  A little warning to some, the second link is political, but great information that everyone should hear if you want to be educated on what’s really happening in our country.

Gianna’s Interview on Focus on the Family- http://listen.family.org/daily/A000000687.cfm

Gianna’s Interview with Jill Stanek, the nurse from Christ Hospital- http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000008470.cfm

This page tells about Gianna and you can click on the bottom to hear the interview.

And here’s her website- http://www.giannajessen.com/

This woman is amazing and her faith in the Lord is real.  Please pray with me for her life and her ministry.

Love,

Crystal

A Long Time Ago, In A Garden Far, Far Away

Yeah!!!!! Carving pumpkins with Jon, Lindsey, Nikki and Ryan! I love Fall!!!!

 Our Bible study is taking four weeks to discuss and read through The Shack, the very controversial book that is being read by millions across our country.  In short, I’ve chosen to read it, digesting the meat and picking out the bones (which I’ve already come across).  Some stuff that Young writes in there is whack and way off and other stuff he says is so refreshingly right on.

Last night I read a couple of chapters and up until now, for me, it’s been good but not a big page turner.  However, chapter 9 I found quite intriguing.  Let me write out an excerpt from the book.  It will be much more beneficial for everyone than me trying to explain it. P.S. Sarayu plays the part of the Holy Spirit and Mack is the main character, a 50-something year old man who’s 5 year old daughter (Missy) was kidnapped, raped and murdered.

     “I can see now,” confessed Mack, “that I spend most of my time and energy trying to acquire what I have determined to be good, whether it’s financial security of health or retirement or whatever. And I spend a huge amount of energy and worrying fearing what I’ve determined to be evil” Mack sighed deeply.

     “Such truth in that,” said Sarayu gently. “Remember this. It allows you to play God in your independence.  That’s why a part of you prefers not to see me.  And you don’t need me at all to create your list of good and evil. But you do need me if you have any desire to stop such an insane lust for independence.”

     “So ther is a way to fix it?” asked Mack.

     “You must give up your right to decide what is good and evil on your own terms.  That is a hard pill to swallow; choosing to only live in me.  To do that you must know me enough to trust me and learn to rest in my inherent goodness.”

      Sarayu turned toward Mack; at least that was his impression. “Mackenzie, evil is a word to describe the absence of Good, just as we use darkness to describe the absence of Light or death to describe the absence of Life.  Both evil and darkness can only be understood in relation to Light and Good; they do not have any actual existence. I am Light and I am Good.  I am Love and there is no darkness in me.  Light and Good actually exist.  So, removing yourself from me will plunge yourself into darkness.  Declaring independence will result in evil because apart from me, you can only draw upon yourself. That is death because you have separated yourself from me: Life.”

     “Wow,” Mack exclaimed, sitting back for a moment. “That really helps.  But, I can also see that giving up my independent right is not going to be an easy process. It could mean that…”

     Sarayu interrupted his sentence again. “…that in one instance, the good may be the presence of cancer or the loss of income or even a life.”

     “Yeah, but tell that to the person with cancer or the father who’s daughter is dead,” Mack postured, a little more sarcastically than he intended.

     “Oh, Mackenzie,” reassured Sarayu. “Don’t you think we have them all in mind as well?  Each of them was the center of another story that is untold.”

     “But,” Mack could feel his control getting away as he drove his shovel in hard, “didn’t Missy have a right to be protected?”

     “No, Mack. A child is protected because she is loved, not because she has a right to be protected.”

     That stopped him.  Somehow, what Sarayu had just been saying seemed to turn the whole world upside down, and he was struggling to find some footing. Surely there were some rights he could legitimately hold on to.

Hope that gives you something challenging to think about today as it has for me.  I’ve read this three times now and it is still good to me.  I also want to include a couple of links, one to hear Mark Driscoll’s opinion (which I haven’t heard yet, but I know he doesn’t support it).  He is a pastor in Seattle, Washington of Mars Hill Church and Dave and I have gained a lot from his Biblical based teaching. And the other link is to The Shack’s website which I found interesting because it told a little about the author’s life, which may help to see where the story comes from and why it is written the way it is.

Mark Driscoll’s video

 

The Shack

In closing, if you chose to read The Shack, put on your truth glasses and don’t just believe anything you read, or that is told to you in the matter.  Measure everything to scripture and ask the Holy Spirit to give you discerning wisdom.

Love you guys,

Crystal

 

Fireproof

http://www.fireproofthemovie.com/

Dave had the day off yesterday because of Yom Kippur.  So Wednesday night we went to see Fireproof.  I feel like there were so many things I wanted to write about it that night and now, Friday morning, it’s all left me. But here’s the point……go see it!!!  It was amazing and the acting was quite a few steps up from Facing the Giants and the humor was greatly entertaining.  If you haven’t heard about the movie, it was put out by a church in Georgia that has put out two movies before.  I’ll save the rest of the explations for the website.  The link is above.  However, I do recommend that you let others know about it, especially that may have jankity (a very accurate description about how many people think of marriage) views of marriage and what it really is.  Fireproof is rich in truth and touches on the topics of pornography and how it kills from the inside out, respect towards all family members, and what marriage really takes and the only One who makes the covenant life giving.  In short, it edified David and I and we long for you to all see it.  Maybe God will give me something later to write about concerning what He did in my own heart through it. Until then…

Have a joyful weekend,

Crystal

How refreshing is the Lord

 

Our little bathroom’s testimony

A couple of weeks ago in the student bible study that Dave and I lead at his school on Fridays I asked the kids to write out their testimony.  And trying to be a lead-by-example leader, I wrote mine out as well.  Not to mention, it was a very good exercise for me to do too.  What I realized was that I do have a testimony of how God brought me from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, like Col. 1:13 says, but God also gives me daily testimonies.  You know, the stories of what he’s done and does in our lives every day and the ways that He’s faithful and provides for us all the time.

So my testimony this morning is that God took me out of my restlessness yesterday and blessed me with time this morning to pray and worship with my friend Anna, and Bible study last night and time to process things last night with Dave.  Once again He’s changed my heart and that’s why I’m a Christian and why I love God.  He always loves me first.  And as Anna prayed this morning, He’s always delighting in me, even when I’m not delightful. God gives me stories to tell all the time about His goodness, the problem is I don’t tell them.  Thank you God for reminding to tell of Your goodness today.

God please help us to tell our stories of your goodness and bring glory to your name everyday.  

Love,

Crystal

So there is more to life than photos

 

Our BEFORE picture of our little bathroom

Well I’ve spent most of my day thinking about and acting on my thoughts about wedding photos.  I’ve played around with the ones we like best, wished we would have paid our photographer to Photoshop them, and even tried myself to mess around in Photoshop, which only resulted in a lot of frustration and nothing to show for it. So what about those things God spoke to my heart yesterday? How easy do I get pulled away by things in our life that seem so important.  Which I have to admit, I have put wedding photos very high on my priority list throughout the last two months.

 

But…thank God for God.  He has put my restless and regretful heart at ease.  You know that peace that surpasses all understanding. And the peace that Jesus talked about in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” Ahhhhh! I needed His word and to remind myself of the bigger picture and that there’s more to life than weddings and the photos that follow.  So now a little girl talk and a walk in the fresh air will top my day off just perfectly.

Don’t get sidetracked with what’s not important and that drains you.  Remember God’s sovereignty and His reality.

With much love,

Crystal

Learning form the Lord

 

Dinner with Juan and Missua.

    God’s doing a lot in my heart this morning as I reflect on conversations from last night and study the Word this morning.  As many of you know, Dave and I have been working with an organization that has a passion for those in the sex slavery industry.  Through a school project last year and my personal interest I have studied a little bit about this topic.  During my studies I learned about these places in Mexico that they “break in” the women before shipping them off to the States to be sold.  Well, last night our friends from NYC visited, one who is from Japan and the other from Mexico.  While going through our honeymoon pictures, I asked our friend, Juan if he had heard of these places.  He said he had and that his nanny had been captured on one of her days off and is now a prostitute.  He mentioned that the people think it was her choice, but he said he doesn’t believe that.  I also read that in my studies; people make it look like this is what the women have chosen on their own.  I thank God for this conversation last night because it awakened my passion for these women which has been asleep for sometime.

     On somewhat of a different note, God also revealed to me something this morning that He has, I think, been doing slowly over time.  And it came when I was studying my memory verse, Romans 12:1, which says, “Therefore, I urge you dear brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices holy and pleasing to God, this is your spiritual act of worship.”  This week I’ve been reading the passages around my memory verses so I continued onto verse 2 which said, “And do not be conformed to the world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”  The word conformed was bolded which means in my Bible….Word Wealth!!!  So I read about conformed and it said, “to the outer fashion or outward appearance, accommodating oneself to a model or pattern. Suschematizo occurs elsewhere in th NT only in 1 Peter 1:14, where it describes those conforming themselves to wordly lusts. Even apparent or superficial conformity to the present world system or any accommodation to its way would be fatal to the Christian life.”

    Wow!!  Something else you might know about me is my interest in fashion and my pursuit of a degree in the industry from FIT in NYC.  Well, I’ve known for a while that God has placed me at FIT for more than a successful career or achieving to become “great” in the fashion world or even “be a light in a dark place”.  How can I really be a light when I still have lusts in my life that sniff the light out in my own life.  I’m not saying that people aren’t called to certain industries to be lights, however, in my situation I was only fooling myself.  And after reading the Word this morning God reminded me again that fashion is not important (ouch!!) and that He does not have in mind for me to pursue trying to be a part of that world.  God has more than me “going along with an industry full of idolatry and trying to be a light.”  It’s impossible!!  I guess my whole point is that, as always, it’s a matter of the heart.  Praise God that He is changing mine as I feed in the Word.  And that He’s calling me into a greater destiny than the one I had planned for myself.

     That’s all for now.  Time to finish up the laundry.  Thanks for listening and if I may encourage you in anything it would be to read the Word.  And when you do, God will feed you and breath life into you.

Peace be in you hearts today.

Love,

Crystal