All My Days Ordained

—A reminder, Church, that we are held in the hands of Abba and He alone knows the day, the hour and the moment we will join Him in paradise. But don’t you know that we enter into paradise the moment we follow Jesus as Savior and Lord? As you walk about and interact with the world around you, seek out and act upon the foundation of wisdom established in Christ Jesus, and do not do what they do. We are to love one another and demonstrate the HOPE and LIFE we find in Jesus Christ with everyone placed in our path. To live in fear is to live in sin. Stand up against injustice, and do not fear. The LORD, Yahweh, is with you. Lift up your eyes and be LIGHT shining in the darkness and a voice calling out in the wilderness, for Abba has ordained all the days of your life even before you took your first breath. This should be our prayer of faith, lifted up daily in the Holy Spirit: “Come, Lord Jesus. Come.”

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand— when I awake, I am still with you.”

~Psalms‬ ‭139:13-18‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Here with us...

The last time we updated you, Matthew wrote about God’s unconditional love for us. Since then, we continue to daily learn more about God’s love and the responsibilities of being a “House Parent”, “Tutor,” “Tio/Tia” or “Papa/Mama”. We continue to learn how this love and these responsibilities go way beyond just the physical; they go into the spiritual and they get very real. We deal with a very real battle daily for these boys’ souls.


No matter the length of time God might have us here, these boys will always hold a place in our hearts. We have already been here for 3 months the 10th February. During these past months, we have dealt with a lot of attitudes. We know that these come from very heartbroken, wounded hearts and souls. These boys have been through so much change and each change has affected them profoundly. We have seen many days recently of obedience, hope, love, laughter and fun. They seem to now be adjusting quite well.

Finding Refuge...

I don’t know about you, but determining where to begin can often be most difficult. We would love to teleport you all down here to walk alongside us, see what we see, hear what we hear and participate in the blessing of raising so many children in need of fatherly and motherly love, discipline and affection. The days have flown by so quickly, and I have found it difficult to stop long enough to let you all know how things are going. Today is our first day off in two weeks, so I’m taking a few moments to catch you up.


                    

A few words to describe our first few weeks as house parents: lots of patience, lots of love, hard work, late nights, early mornings, bedtime stories, more bedtime stories, breaking up arguments, teenage drama, heartfelt discussions, tears, laughter, more tears, lots of hugs, difficult conversations, family formation, great food, fellowship…

Picking Up Pebbles...

God created mankind in his own image, but when sin was introduced at the fall of mankind, all things changed and we lost our ability to remember as God remembers. God knows our minds are full of daily distractions and it is all too easy to forget the miraculous things he has done in our lives.


In Joshua chapter four, God had just demonstrated an awesome miracle of power before his children, drying up the waters of the Jordan just as he had done with Moses and the Red Sea. God had given land and authority to Joshua and to the Israelites; he had conquered nations to demonstrate his power and love for his children; seemingly impossible tasks from a human perspective, but God overcame those tasks.

Finding Joy

Every Thursday is my late day to work. It is the one week day I get to wake up with my family, make them breakfast and enjoy watching them eat it up alongside me. While getting ready for work this afternoon, God reignited my joy… we can choose joy when God offers it to us, but it is easy to let is slip right by without acknowledging its existence. Joy overlooks the obstacles all around us and finds true rest, peace and happiness in the arms of the Father. Today I held tightly to joy, and I am thankful that I did. As I have reflected on His joy, God also placed an image of faith in my mind. As Hebrews 11 states, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” This tells us what faith is, but the image brought to mind was Noah building an ark in obedience to God. The natural odds were up against Noah and his family. However, out of what Noah received from God and his obedience to the Father, they took action and put step to their faith. As people of faith, we do not simply find assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen, but we are to take action and put step to our faith. If we choose to stand still, we are no better than the unbeliever who longs for everything to work out, but refuses to take action. I find joy in knowing that God will bless our steps and carry us along the way. Not a single step out of obedience to God will be taken in vain. We could not take these steps without your prayer support. We find joy in knowing you are there. May joy find you and yours as you take action in faith! Taking the first step is the most difficult, but it will be truly blessed. We love you all!

My Father’s Love

From my very earliest memories, I don’t recall a time when I ever felt unloved or unappreciated by my father. I would be dishonest to say my father was perfect, but I can say my father was and is one of the best of fathers that God has ever created. It’s odd to think about really; I’m sure there are things he wishes he had done differently, but if my children ever say of me what I think about my father, what an honor that would be! Despite any forgotten shortcomings, I am proud and honored to call him my father. His name is David Carmichael, and it’s because of his legacy I am the father I am today.