God is Good! All the Time!
This November, we are up to renew our contract with the school. There were several concerns that plagued us with a continued contract to work at PACA. All of these concerns were very legitimate and pragmatic in reality, but at the same time concerns sometimes can cloud judgement and cause our focus to move off of God for a time. This summarizes the last couple weeks for us as we've struggled to make our decision.
Jesus said in Matthew 6:25-34:
"Therefore I tell you; do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all of these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
My word to describe my actions the last several weeks was worry. I was ignoring this verse and focusing on all of the things that were realistic concerns. As we sorted through these concerns, I was reading in Judges and came to the story of Gideon and the story of how he hesitated in his obedience to God. After several times of questioning the Lord and laying out his fleece, Gideon does follow through.
This story was my heart. I was asking the Lord to give me a sign to clearly show us the direction we should go. We are not to test God, but as I read about Gideon's experience was he testing God? He obviously lacked faith, and God recognized this. God chose Gideon to carry out his will. God does not become angry with Gideon, nor does he tell him he is lacking faith. Instead God encourages Gideon before he charges against his enemy. Although Gideon's example was not ideal, I found encouragement as I asked the Lord for direction to clearly lead us as we make this decision.
The first step in letting go and letting God work in your life is trusting in Him and being in a right relationship with God. Wherever your faith is at right now, we pray you are encouraged to continue to step forward to Him in trusting all areas of your life over to Him.
Jesus said in Matthew 6:25-34:
"Therefore I tell you; do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all of these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
My word to describe my actions the last several weeks was worry. I was ignoring this verse and focusing on all of the things that were realistic concerns. As we sorted through these concerns, I was reading in Judges and came to the story of Gideon and the story of how he hesitated in his obedience to God. After several times of questioning the Lord and laying out his fleece, Gideon does follow through.
This story was my heart. I was asking the Lord to give me a sign to clearly show us the direction we should go. We are not to test God, but as I read about Gideon's experience was he testing God? He obviously lacked faith, and God recognized this. God chose Gideon to carry out his will. God does not become angry with Gideon, nor does he tell him he is lacking faith. Instead God encourages Gideon before he charges against his enemy. Although Gideon's example was not ideal, I found encouragement as I asked the Lord for direction to clearly lead us as we make this decision.
The first step in letting go and letting God work in your life is trusting in Him and being in a right relationship with God. Wherever your faith is at right now, we pray you are encouraged to continue to step forward to Him in trusting all areas of your life over to Him.
posted by Mommy Riley at 8:25 PM
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I love this one of Eliana gazing at the presents. I think I especially like her hair in pigtails! 
Notice the red dirt. A very common sight here in Brazil. 
Another place to visit is the Botanical Gardens. It is very close to the Sao Paulo Zoo and there are giant clumps of Bamboo in the reserve there.
Sometimes we see animals walking in the neighborhood. Just the other day there was a group of three horses eating from the garbages outside our house.
Each week this scene greets me as I visit the local fiera to purchase our family's vegetables and fruits for the week. I have not been bold enough to purchase the meat that is out at these markets yet. 
During the summer months, the rains come almost every day around 3-4 pm. Usually the rain is a quick downpour that cools off the city and hopefully washes away the pollution and dirt. Sometimes people are caught in parts of the city and have flash floods. This results in abadoning cars and braving the rising waters. One missionary family with our mission had to do this resulting in a totaled car.
