My heart is breaking...

My heart is breaking for them!

For those that haven't been paying attention to the world news lately, the Philippines are having major flooding, especially in Manila, where I spent the summer. Praise God that the orphanage itself was on high ground and was not flooded, however, many of the staff lost everything, the guys' apartment was flooded and they lost alot as well, and so many more lost everything. People that I spent the summer right alongside have lost everything...people that I love! We actually came pretty close to losing one the guys, but thankfully God was gracious and allowed everyone to get back to GH safely! Many people are staying at GH right now because they simply have no where else to go. In Malabon.. they have nothing; they had nothing really when I was there this summer, now they have even less. People are panic buying, the grocery store lines are over an hour wait and the shelves are empty, people are buying any food they can, meaning no food for the poor; meaning no food for Malabon and other places like it.

This has only confirmed in my heart even more that God is currently calling me to the Philippines. And with that, I shall make my newest announcement...plans have changed; when I return to Manila in Dec. I will no longer be returning after only 3 weeks, but instead will be staying for an extended amount of time. Right now, I'm looking at possibly returning around August 2010. I have been praying about this for some time now, and have felt God leading me to this for even longer. After much prayer God has confirmed this is where He wants me.

The latest flooding didn't seal my decision, my decision was already made, but God has reconfirmed through this and the burden that this has been on heart that this is where my calling is at the moment. Oh, how I long to be there, to be enduring this with them. However, I must finish this semester of schooling before I can leave, so for now I will wait patiently and continue to move foward in confidance that this is where God is leading and that He will never leave nor forsake me as I go. He is in control of all things, to Him be the Glory forever and ever.

Romans 15:13

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope ~ Romans 15:13

I'm so excited about all the LORD is doing! I cannot go yet into details, but will as soon as I am able to! I just wanted to pass on my excitement and enthusiasm over what God is doing!

The Dawn of a New Day!!

This past week has been absolutely wonderful!!! I want to take a little while to share what all has been going on since my last post and this past week especially:

• First off, as you can read from my previous posts it's been very hard for me being back in the US after spending my summer in an orphanage in the Philippines. I know without a doubt that I am called to full-time international missions and God has continued to reconfirm that since I have been back. However, I also know that for now I have to be here and complete my degree. Not only is this a personal feat that I must conquere it is also key in my future ministry. Well this week started with good days and has been full of 'good' days. Since I've been back, I haven't really had any 'GOOD' days, days where I was happy...untill this week! This week the Lord has really blessed me with deeper joy and happiness.

• Secondly, I'm not sure of anything, but I do know that at this time the Lord has definately laid the Philippines on my heart. Is He calling me here to do missions full-time? I don't know the answer to where exactly God is calling me, but I definately wouldn't be surprised if God did lead me to the Philippines for full-time ministry in a few years; as He has clearly put them on my heart for the current season of my life.

• Thirdly - for a while now I've been praying about going back to the Philippines...for the holidays. I started thinking/praying about it after being in the Philippines for only a few weeks, when I knew I would be going back again. At that point, on one of my days off, I went ahead and told my parents what I was thinking about, to give them some heads-up. Since being back, I was ready to get my tickets, but at the my father's wishes, we waited to book any flights, hoping prices might go down. In the waiting time, I started to doubt whether I was going with God's blessing or if I was just doing what I wanted. So I started praying more and this past weekend, it was clear as day as if God was telling me to go. But God... that's alot of money to spend on plane tickets...and I mean I don't even have a job right now. (I had to quit my job to go the Philippines back in June) And that's when I heard it, " Don't worry about it." And my response to this, naturally, was, "WHAT?? Don't worry about the money?? Are you serious God?" and there it was again, "Don't worry about it." "SIGH... ooookaayy.. if You say don't worry about it.. I guess I'm not gonna worry about it." And that was it, I went home and told my parents, "So, I'm definately going to the Philippines, God told me so and when I asked Him about the money, he told me not to worry about it, so I'm going." Well Monday came and I headed to the bank to see how much I had in my savings and checking account. When I got home I looked at the ATM receipts and added it up... sure enough there was enough to cover the roundtrip tickets! Barely enough.. but enough! My dad made mention that it didn't give me much cushion and I replied that I knew that, but it was still enough! God told me not to worry about it, and I was set on not worrying about it! At that point Dad reminded me that I still had my last check from UPS that I recieved a week or so after being home that I still hadn't remembered to take to the bank... there was an extra almost couple hundred dollars! And then he said, "You also got a check for $10 while you were gone too. But it's not much, just $10." Well, "I'm going to use and be grateful for every little bit, even $10!" I replied enthusiatically! However there was a problem... we couldn't find the $10 check. Tuesday night Mom was going through some papers looking for it and brought me an envelope, saying it was something that I had gotten while I was gone. It was still sealed and it was from an organization associated with my time at UPS, and I figured it'd just be some generic letter saying sorry you quit your job...goodbye. Imagine my surprise when I took out a couple pages and started reading the letter and read the words, "Congratulations!".... What in the WORLD is this???? Well this letter told me that I had completed enough education to get an academic milestone bonus. No WAY! I knew what these words meant...and suddenly I remembered that there was a second page... a page I was holding behind this letter. Slowly I moved the letter out of the way and sure enough.... there was a check.... for $350!!! I could not believe it!!!! From what I remember my mouth fell open for about 30 seconds as I processed this before I started hooting and hollering, letting everyone in the house know something was happening in the living room. haha! It was all I could do to thank God! I hadn't expected this at all... and once we started looking at it we noticed something... the check expired in a little over a week! WOW!!! I had heard of people receiving checks randomly in the mail, helping them out with stuff they had prayed for, and the possibility had already crossed my mind.. but No.. that's not going to happen to ME... and here I was holding this totally unexpected check! And that's when I heard it again "I told you, 'Don't worry about it'" I remembered the words and was overwhelmed! How unworthy I am to be loved by such a Mighty Sovereign and Loving Heavenly Father! With that, we knew what our next step was to be and this morning I booked my airplane tickets. I will be leaving out of Louisville on December 16, will have three weeks with my filipino family, and will be coming back on January 5, and starting my spring semester January 6. I would appreciate any and all prayers as I prepare for this next journey that I am oh so looking foward to!