A Lesson of Trust.

Sometimes challenges reacquire over and over and over again, until you finally stand still and realize, there is a lesson to be learned.

Now I am by no means saying God is cruel, and brings problems in our lives to "teach us a lesson" on how to "get it right". But when these challenges arise, we can see that there is a lesson to be learned! God does work through the bad things or rough things to show us there is good that will come out of this. 

Our most recent reaquiring challenge is financially. (By the way, this is by no means meant to be a manipulative way of saying send us money!!) When I say recent, I mean from the very moment we said, "I do." Interesting huh?

I have seen the way the enemy has tried to disunify Ted and I right away in marriage and I'm honestly not surprised. They actually say one of the most common reasons for divorce is financial.... You'd think the enemy would be a little trickier, but really he's not at all. Pretty predictable. 

Ted & I were talking the other day about situations we are in right now financially, and realized this very thing. We have been challenged in this area since we've bee married. We've come to realize we need this! We are called to this kind of living, as missionaries and we should stand on what God has asked of us, and trust him! If God has called you He will provide and give us his grace to get through things.

So the lesson we are learning, and yes we are just now opening our eyes to see, we need to trust Him. Not a trust which comes and goes, but one that never fails because he never fails. 

If we could trust God and be faithful, then we will go so far! (I'm not just talking to myself here, this could apply really in anything!) 

T R U S T Him for He is worthy of our trust. He longs for us to fully rely upon Him.

Not by our strength! (thank goodness huh?)

I'm actually going to post another blog up top right now. So you're getting a lot of info today!

Love, Jami Joann

Photo: a cup of reflection tea. Taken by us last year on a weekend camping trip.

Home Sweet... Help!

Hey Friends and Family!

We are in need of your prayer again. I'll try to make this short, simple, and sweet!

Ted and I are renting a one bedroom apartment as of right now. Our lease is up August 1st which is exciting for us, because it is too high in price a month plus we really want to live with YWAMers or a family. So we have been weighing our options, praying and trying to decide which place would be best between two choices we have. 

The most reasonable place for us is with a group of YWAM staff in a home (which is what we prayed God would give us). We would get the entire basement to ourselves and it would be around $100 - $200 cheaper than where we are now. A blessing!

We would move in the home now, but we have a dilemma...

 The two guys who were going to rent our place until the lease was up, well, it's no longer looking like this will be happening. All up in the air as of right now. So we would be stuck this summer paying two rents, and actually being on outreach in Thailand and not living in either of the places. 

My prayer request is this... please pray, not for more support, but for people who want to rent our apartment until the lease is through. 

Thank you SO much for your prayers. Your prayer support is what helps us in urgent, sometimes overwhelming times like these. 

Love you guys!

Jami & Ted

Defeated.

Ever since the moment in which we prayed and decided to join the Timothy Team, we have felt the attack of the enemy. 

Ted and I have felt the enemy working against our lives, honestly stronger than ever. Pushing from every side, trying to touch us, to harm us. In relationship with others, in working as missionaries, in our marriage, in our finances, in our normal daily activities and responsibilities.

During worship I was feeling the oppression more than ever, the presence of the enemy which made me literally shiver. All I could do was whisper the name of our sweet Saviour Jesus, and that in that moment I realized something so very profound, something I have heard many times before.

The enemy has been defeated. 

It hit me all of a sudden, the presence of the enemy is nothing in comparison to the presence of our God. Nothing in comparison! He reminded me again, of what he revealed to me a few weeks before. "I never leave you, or forsake you." He's never stepped away from Ted and I, He's been here all along.

The interesting thing is this: the enemy never actually touched us. God never let us fall down and not stand back up, He never let the enemy touch even a hair on us.

When I realized that we had been recognizing the presence of the enemy more than we had of our God, that was the moment in which I felt peace. Ultimate peace. 

I heard this story once before, which rocked my perspective on this subject. A man went to bed one night and as he lay there he could feel the presence of someone or something in the room with him, so he turned to see who it was. He say the enemy standing next to his bed, and stated, "Oh it's just you." and rolled over and went to bed.

We don't need to fear the enemy, we need to recognize he is honestly powerless in our lives if we are in Christ. Even death couldn't hold Christ down. amen!

What a mighty God we serve!!

 

Timothy Team.

Alright, well I did have every good intention in writing an updated blog on our newest change of plans, and obviously it has been a while since I've done just that! "It's the thought that counts" right? No, probably not! :) I'm so sorry!

You don't need to watch suspense movies, just read our blog!

(We are NOT pregnant, although we both would love a baby. Im so sorry if your hopes were up for that! )

What I was referring to is this...about a month ago now, we were asked by the directors of the base, if we would consider joining a leadership team called "Timothy Team". We both had a feeling this was coming, considering the fact that we'd been on staff two years and maintained a good integrity in leadership which are criteria for joining. We also both thought we knew, that we would be saying no to this opportunity. Why? Because it was a 2 year commitment and we were only planning on staying another year here in Denver.

So Peter Warren asked us to pray about it and gave us 5 days until we needed to let him know. So we were like, "we already know, but we'll pray anyhow". So we did just that, and sure enough God changed up our plans of "hitting the road" next year to joining Timothy Team. We were praying all the way up to the moment in which Peter asked us for an update.

We both really had a lot of confirmation through our prayers and the prayers of others. So we decided to stay another year on staff. Which means until March of 2010 we will have a commitment here in Denver. 

What is Timothy Team? Well, it is an opportunity for staff, selected by the leadership of the base, to get together and discuss YWAM Denver, potential possibilities and changes, a time of growing together and individually, and a time to ask Peter and Linda questions about the base, why it runs a certain way, etc. The part about the Timothy Team which we love is growing in our leadership skills, having more authority to speak up about certain things, and the opportunities that may come our way with leadership here in Denver. 

We wondered and in some ways are still wondering why God would ask us to stay another year, when our heart is to live overseas and to travel. He is slowly opening our eyes to see exactly why He has us here. He's been challenging us to be a good example to new staff and students, and to raise our standards and integrity to a higher level.

Also, one amazing thing is Peter Warren knows our heart to go "out" and he gave his blessing and said when these two years are up he would love to send us out with a blessing. It was nice to hear!

One verse we got while praying was in Habakuk 2:2-4 which read:

Then the Lord answered me and said:

"Write the vision and make it plain on tablets. That he who reads it may run with it, for the vision is yet for an appointed time but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Behold the proud His soul is not upright in Him but the just shall live by his faith."

It was an interesting verse to come upon, because at the time in which we recieved it, sitting in our little apartment just the two of us, we read it and were like "no...surely not" you know? 

We read it again later and shared it with others and realized what God was speaking. We actually do not have our vision planned out, we do not actually know exactly where God wants us to be or travel to and from. We feel like God is telling us to stay, really just one more year than we planned, and in that year he will show us and guide us with our vision and dreams. He will not let it tarries. It is yet for an appointed time. We also know God is going to challenge us in many ways, he already has. In our integrity and what we know he has placed in our hearts.

The temptation, is being comfortable with where we are. It's a fear and temptation we face, sometimes daily. I think the reason why it's hard for us, it because we are called overseas to raise awareness of the injustices of the world. So for us, this setting here can sometimes be difficult.

For others, it may be their calling or the lifestyle which suits them best. We love how diverse and unique each individual is! God has placed people all over the world, and sometimes the more overseas- minded people forget that America is also apart of the mission field. 

Interesting thought huh? I actually have a friend right now that is working in the states at refugee camps. I was so ignorant that I didn't even realize they had camps here in the states. I couldn't believe just how naive I really was. Then Ted shared with me about how there are many Afghan families here in Denver, in fact there are 4,000 in Denver alone!

Alright I just saw the time and I need to head out. We love you all very much! 

Jami Joann 

In Dreams Awake.

If you were to ask us, "Where do you see yourself in 10 years?", we would probably answer with something like "experiencing another culture; people, food, lifestyle, raising awareness, and with our own children too!".

Pretty vague,huh?

I've spend many hours wondering about our future, and where we would be, what we would be doing and accomplishing, what kind of people we've lived with, what types of food we would try, how many children we would have, what languages we could speak, what kinds of cultures we would have experienced, etc. The more I think about this, the more excited I get.

Ted and I are what you would call, a different "breed" I guess. We both have a heart to head overseas. And we both have a heart for people of all shapes, sizes, colours, backgrounds. Sometimes, even for me this seems a bit too vague.

One thing I have realized lately is this, yes Ted and I are what would be called "visionaries",people who have many different visions, dreams, goals, and ideas, but don't necessarily remember the practical side of things. The finances, the time and energy, the conditions... When we sit and begin to think of these things, well, this is were we become a bit overwhelmed.

Sometimes when I think of these things, I feel as though it puts our dreams, visions, and goals in a box. And we are the "outside the box" people.

We sometimes beat ourselves up about this, not because we regret who we are, but because we have so many dreams, and ideas, that we don't actually pick one up, and begin to strategically plan and invest in it. (I hope that I am making sense).

God reminded me that we are in Him, therefore we have His heart for people. We have His heart for the used, neglected, poor, hungry, abused, etc. We have His heart for the Nations. When I think of this, I cannot help but realize His heart is not at all vague, but relational to the core. He wants to see ALL come into His Kingdom, and know Him. Experience His unconditional love, His loving mercy, and His unfailing grace. Ultimate Freedom in Him!

This excited Ted and I. God is our Source, our Foundation which never wavers, our Hope which we can bring into the world, our Beauty everlasting, our purpose, our reason to live and love others.

I read this quote once, (C.S. Lewis) one which is now up on our wall of our living room. A daily reminder and truth. It read:

"Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake."

I find a discontent when I am living outside of this dream. The dream that God has placed in our hearts. Do you know what I mean? This Holy discontent?

God recently spoke to Ted and I about a decision. A very difficult one at that. (This blog is already a novel, so I will share this with you in our next blog!)

Love, Jami Joann

Life Rollercoasters.

Have you ever ridden a rollercoaster? One which has many loops, sharp turns, and many ups and downs?

I think that would best describe our emotions and life as of right now. This may sound like a harsh reality, yes but it's really not. I can assurre you, our rollercoaster in staying in place and on the track. Weird metaphore,I know, but it describes us perfectly right now. (Plus we both LOVE rollercoasters)!

The past two weeks have been the busiest weeks in quite a while. Being pulled in almost every direction, the good & the bad.

You may remember me sharing about a youth retreat Ted and I would be running this past weekend. If not, well, we were asked to be the "youth part" for a church retreat. We ended up having 14 youth, ages 13-18, Junior High and Senior High. Only three of the 14 were guys, so the majority were young girls.

It was incredibly rough to be honest. Both Ted and I left the weekend feeling compeltely drained and unsuccesful. Our teachings were alright, only the students could care less about anything, but freetime. I was a teen once (not even that long ago) and I too remember those moments. Plus each of them were influenced by peers, which usually leads them down the wrong path. God did teach us personally, which I guess was the plus of that weekend.

Also, as you know, the new students arrived last week. It's been an intense two weeks, learning the students names, and getting to know our small groups. Plus, the "thailand outreach" was so up in the air, due to ticket prices, that every other day until Monday, we were totally unsure of what would happen. In fact, we were almost sure we wouldn't be going to Thailand...unless that is...God performed miracle tickets...and guess what? HE DID!

We are officially going to Thailand, on a tight budget yes, but a budget none the less! Our outreach team, as of right now, we are a team of 14 including Ted and I! Amen, huh!? Thank you for your prayers!

Another thing, which is way less priority...we were given a Macbook laptop as a gift at Christmas, which was such a blessing. Well, it has been giving us trouble, and just Tuesday (the day that ted was going to do a presentation of thailand for the school) our computer crashed. Completely crashed.

I took our mac into an Apple store yesterday, and they told me that our computer was "the most corrupt mac" they've seen. I didn't know what that meant until the guy then said that they wouldn't be able to recover any of our files, because it looked like someone went in and changed all of our english files to gibberish. Ted and I are really shocked. As of this moment right now, we are shipping our computer to the apple headquarters and then waiting until they send us a new computer (for free). Which is nice, but our documents and photos are ALL lost.

Please pray for us, because this is really hard. We did have a back up hard drive but not a lot was on it. Which means our thailand, wedding, ted's afghanistan photos...all gone. However they did say that we could send it in to another place and pay $700-$800. Which will not happen.

I was just telling someone, that I am not really freaked out about all of this, I know God will work it out.Even if it means, we just get our computer backed, all cleaned and fixed, but lose the documents. In the long run, it's really not that big of a deal.

There is ALOT MORE that I will share in the coming blog! It's a bit about our future, and the sudden change God has placed in our "plans". HAHA, our plans, funny how we sometimes think we know!

Love,
Jami Joann

New Faces.

Yesterday about 60 new students arrived from around the country and a lot from around the world. It is such a blast putting faces to the names which we've seen on paper for the past weeks or even months. 

Last night we had what is called a "Welcome Night", where all of the students and staff gather to have worship, fellowship and snacks. It's a good chance to get to know the students and where they are from, as well as what school they are in Denver for. 

Right now, Ted and I are really busy. We've barley any time to take for ourselves, but that is what the beginning of schools are usually like. I actually have three hours of today off, which has been refreshing. If you think of us, please pray for us! We don't want to get burnt out in anyway!

This is our season of relationships. With God, with each other, and with people in general, so we want to make sure that this is one main priority. 

Well I can't type long. Thank You for your prayers!

We love you!

Jami Joann