Thank you for giving to the Lord!

Christmas always looks different for us every year, with family in different parts of the world, and country,  it is hard to stick to traditions each year, but one we always do Christmas morning is remember our Saviours birth and His sacrifice for us. The kids always take great joy in baking and decorating a cake for Jesus each year, and in singing Happy Birthday to Him!

3 weeks and 3 days to go!! the kids are off to their grandparents through Thursday, so David and I are hoping to utilize this time to get a lot done, and have some time together to pray and seek the Lord for our upcoming trip, if you could be praying health over our family, sickness is crouching at our door and seeking to overtake us, so praying for some good rest and restoration in the Lord.

Packing and Taxes/year end bookeeping are high priority this week (guess which one is preferred!) - sorting through all the generous donations from so many of you.  Thank you too if you have given support this month, we do not receive our next statement till 7 January, so if we haven't thanked you personally we are very grateful.

We still have a few last minute needs:

1.  Our main thing is the rest of our support, to help cover our living expenses and our travel and medical insurance which is proving to be a lot more costly but necessary than we first anticipated for 5 of us. We trust the Lord to bring this in as needed, but if you would like a year end tax deduction for 2011, please be sure to get it mailed in or done online by 31 December.  Otherwise our account is open to receive donations anytime, even while we are gone, if you would like to wait till the New Year.
http://www.shepsstaff.org/gray.aspx

2.  We do still need about $400 aside from our personal support, for a ministry project we are trying to fulfill

3.  Crochet hooks - we have need for some more, had a few more people over there express an interest, so would like to go prepared, Need at least 10 crochet hooks size K (6.5mm) and about 5 Size N (9mm) and also if you have any unused yarn, we could do with a few more of those.


4. A few 3T girls outfits

5. 2x8pack AAA baterries; 1x8pack AA Batteries

Also quite a few people had been asking about getting with us before we leave and praying us off, we will be getting prayed off and church (date tbd)  and we are planning on doing something on the Sunday before we leave the 15th of Jan, will post details when we have them.

Much love in the Lord and God's richest blessing for a prosperous New Year in His realm.
David, Jackie, Daniel, Timothy and Abigail

COUNTING THE COST

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,

That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come, Thou Dayspring from on high,
And cheer us by Thy drawing nigh;

Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death's dark shadows put to flight.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!

Its hard not to read that without singing the song through and in doing that truly allowing it to penetrate your very being and marvel at what Jesus truly did in coming to this earth, not as a Wealthy, Tyrannical King overthrowing Roman Rule as the Jews hoped he would, but still a King none the less, but born to a young girl, a baby born in humble circumstances, the Saviour come to save the world, not from Roman rule, but from the sin that kept them from truly knowing God.... 

More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, Phillipians 3:8

Paul so eloquently counted the cost, and counted the only worthy thing in this life knowing His Saviour Jesus, and he was willing to suffer again and again and again…he suffered the loss of prestige, social status, material things, physical comfort, he was willing to be beaten, jailed, shipwrecked … yet through it all he still stood for what he knew to be the only worthy thing in this life – to know Jesus, knowing that that was the only thing that counted for the eternal, that this world and all its trappings were worthless rubbish – fit to be thrown on the garbage dump.

Am we willing to go to those measures for the sake of my Lord? the bible clearly tells us in this world we will have trouble – but Jesus will give us His peace.  Its been a very emotional and trying week for our family, and when I stop and take stock of the ‘perscution’ we have faced, which seems pitiful and nothing in light of whatJesus or even Paul endured on this earth.  Trials however are still trials and have to be endured, which for us lately has meant being misunderstood, being mocked for our faith, ridiculed for the choices we are making for our family, but we are so thankful to those who have supported us, who have lifted up our hands when we could not, we are eternally thankful to all our wonderful friends who have made this journey possible for us.

According to 2 Corinthians 4 our afflictions are momentary and light, are they hard to endure – absolutely, I am sure Jesus felt immense physical pain when He was whipped and beaten and nailed to the cross (and He had to power to stop it) but if you read on you see that those afflications produce for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond comparison!! How momentary and light are my afflications as an American living in a comfortable materialistic society compared to how Jesus chose to live on this earth and what He did for me.

Jesus asked His own father, the God of Creation to take this cup from Him, Paul asked three times for his 'thorn' to be taken from Him, we have a huge trial we have endured our whole 15 years together, but sometimes, the very thing that we ask the Lord to take from us, is the very thing He uses for good and to accomplish His purposes, momentary and light afflications vs eternal glory...

 
So as we come close to leaving on our trip, the enemy is throwing his darts fast and furiously, and we ask that you would lift our family up in prayer, so we can keep our eyes focused on what is truly of value in this life.  Obedience seems to come with a price in this modern world we live in,  standing up for what is right will cause you to be misunderstood, but take heart dear friends cause Jesus has overcome the world, He was probably the most misunderstood person to ever walk this earth, and He was perfect, sinless, unlike myself a sinner however I am by grace, how much more should I glory in the path He has set before us, so we may ultimately bring Him the glory in His good and perfect time.

Almost 8 years ago, David and I had a choice set before us, to be obedient and move to Chattanooga, that choice made in obedience to Christ and His will for our lives, has brought us to the place we are today, it has been a long hard road, trials have come and continue to come, and we have had to make some hard and sometimes seemingly unwise choices according to the ways of this world,  but oh the joy we have in knowing that if God is for us who can be against us.

So we ask this Christmas week that you consider the cost, are you willing to pay the price to be a true follower of Christ, to obediently walk in His ways, regardless of what it may cost you, yet knowing that nothing other than truly knowing the one who came to save us – Jesus – can compare.

Emmanuel – God is with us! How we wait till the son of God once again shall appear...

If you have considered making a donation towards our trip, we are close but still needing to fulfill a portion of our anticipated support and ministry costs, and if you would like to make it as a tax dedcutible donation before year end, it can be made online at http://www.shepsstaff.org/gray.aspx  before 31 December, thank you so much...

 Merry Christmas

According to His riches and glory

We haven't even left and we are just so in awe of the Lords provision. It so grieves my heart when people who never truly have taken the time to get to know our God and have never truly experienced His grace and His goodness, spend their life trying to disprove something that can only be proven by truly taking time to learn it experientially.

When you see the hand of the Lord move and watch something like our upcoming trip come together and watch every little detail and every little need, even down to specific books or little glow sticks be provided for, or something that truly is a want just to bless a family just because it would truly just show them God's abundant pleasure He takes in giving them good things, you can only marvel at how sweet it is just to take Him at His word and just to rest upon His promises.

No amount of thanks can ever justify how grateful David and I are to all who are making this trip possible, so many have and continue to give, there are still needs to be met, finances to come in, but if God is for us who can be against us! Our God shall supply all our needs according to His riches and glory in Christ Jesus!

6 Weeks!

The bricks have fallen down, But we will rebuild with smooth stones; The sycamores have been cut down, But we will replace them with cedars Isaiah 9:10

As our time draws near to leave, we are once again encouraged by the Lord in knowing we are not on this journey alone, in knowing that it is not just our journey with the Lord, but like Moses in battle in Exodus 17, we have a great multitude of witness and encouragers to lift up our hands when we grow weary.  The battle is not ours but the Lords!  Those of you who have come alongside us and supported us in every aspect of being able to go, we humbly thank you for your sacrificial giving of your time, prayer and resources.

Six weeks today we will be on African soil! it is quite surreal to imagine it, and some days we just wake up thinking, what are we doing!! is this really happening, then the Lord gently leads us to verses like:

Isaiah 9:2b-4 Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them. You shall multiply the nation, You shall increase their gladness; They will be glad in Your presence As with the gladness of harvest, As men rejoice when they divide the spoil. For You shall break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders, The rod of their oppressor, as at the battle of Midian.

...and we are once again encouraged knowing we are not on this journey alone, but that the Lord will uphold us with His righteous right hand, as we go onward into battle.

The end of the year is coming up and Christmas is almost upon us, and we know many needs abound this time of year, we have been so blessed with much to go on this journey, but we still need to fulfill the rest of our support need to cover the rest of our expenses while away. If you have prayerfully considered a financial gift towards our trip, we would greatly appreciate anything you are able to give. All donations are tax deductible for 2011 if given before the end of December.

http://shepsstaff.org/gray.aspx

We also would like to thank all of those who have given so generously towards a lot of the supplies we have needed for our trip, our basement looks like an explosion of loveliness!! It is so exciting packing and anticipating the sweet people we will be spending time with and being able to bless them with all your generosity!

We love you all, and ask for your continuing prayer for our family as we go out, that the Lord will fulfill the rest of our financial need as He sees fit, that we will have all our preparations done in a timely manner, that our family will be shown favor and travelling mercies as we go about our journey for the months we are gone. And for our time with Autumn next week, as we have an early Christmas with her, that the Lord will give her a supernatural peace and understanding about what we are doing, and that our time with her will be peaceful and fruitful in the Lords realm.

Much love in the Lord

David, Jackie, Daniel, Timothy and Abigail

P.S. we have also posted an updated list on our blog of the few items we still need, if you are able to help with any of them (it the previous post to this www.graylifematters.blogspot.com)

ITEMS AND FINANCIAL SUPPORT STILL NEEDED

What a huge blessing to be able to take things off this list! we thank you all so much for helping us gather all our needed supplies, we are still in need of a few more small things, and we are still trying to cover a portion of a ministry project and the rest of our personal support needed, which is cruical at this point to allow us to fulfill what we feel the Lord is calling us to do, ALMOST there!! so exciting, we are eternally thankful to everyones obedience in coming alongside the Lords work and allowing us to go, and share your gifts and talents with the wonderful people we are going to serve...

Supplies still needed:

*$150 x 3 donations to be able to fulfill a ministry project

* Balloons and punch balls and a plastic pump

* K and bigger size crochet hooks

* 2 x 10 inch Battery operated with AC adapter fans (this can be ordered online and shipped free to Walmart, if they don't have it in stock in store)
 http://www.walmart.com/ip/O2Cool-10-Battery-Operated-Fan-with-AC-Adapter/15522388?findingMethod=rr

*Any books, cds, dvds you no longer want - we are looking for some specific things and can use your old books to trade in at McKays to look for what we need

*Any financial support you are able to give towards the rest of our monthly support
We still need to cover two weeks living expenses, our Medical Evacuation Insurance, half the cost of the kids typhoid shots, and our visa costs, if you would even consider giving a monthly amount starting this month, this would help us considerably

Many thanks
David and Jackie