The Very Hungry Caterpillar

I just found out that today is The Very Hungry Caterpillar Day! I had no idea that there was such a day! But anyway, this is very cool because I already had these pictures on the line-up for a cute post. :) Jkaile discovered The Very Hungry Caterpillar a few weeks ago and loved it. This is his favorite page.

He always points out that the "patapita" has an "owie".

Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire

I recently picked up a copy of Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire somewhere and I'm about halfway through it now. I'm taking it slow, letting it soak in (I usually blaze through books, but there are some books that need to be savored slowly). This is an amazing story and has been very thought-provoking and challenging to me in several areas...neat how God brings things into our lives to bless, encourage, and move us to change.

If you aren't familiar with this book, it's written by Jim Cymbala, the pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle in New York City and is basically the story of how this church has grown over several decades to be the church it is today (or rather, in 1997 when this book was written; I think he's written at least two more books with similar titles since). Pastor Cymbala also shares his thoughts on current ministry trends and other subjects relating to ministry in the church. His experiences with the inner-city in Brooklyn resonate with me because I think it's quite similar to overseas or cross-cultural missionary work.

Early in the book, Jim Cymbala shared that during his first few months at the Brooklyn Tabernacle he was literally depressed by the ministry challenges and didn't necessarily want to even be the pastor there. One Sunday night as he was preaching, he broke down and embarrassingly couldn't even continue preaching. Instead, he called for the few people that were attending the service to come pray with him at the altar. He said that as they began to call upon the Lord, the Spirit of God came down on them and began stirring their hearts. So much so that one of the ushers even confessed to having stolen money out of the offering plate! Pastor Cymbala says it was their first spiritual breakthrough.

He continues..."That evening, when I was at my lowest, confounded by obstacles, bewildered by the darkness that surrounded us, unable even to continue preaching, I discovered an astonishing truth: God is attracted to weakness. He can't resist those who humbly and honestly admit how desperately they need him. Our weakness, in fact, makes room for his power.

In a parallel vein, people are not put off by honesty, either. I didn't have to keep up a ministerial front. I could just preach God's Word as best I knew and then call the congregation to prayer and worship. The Lord would take over from there.

How I treasure those early humblings. Those experiences showed me that I didn't need to play the preacher. Jesus called fishermen, not graduates of rabbinical schools. The main requirement was to be natural and sincere. His disciples had to depend totally upon the Lord and his power. In the same way, I had to stop trying to act ministerial--whatever that was. God could only use Jim Cymbala the way he is. What a breakthrough that was for me as I learned to trust in God to use my natural personality. God has always despised sham and pretense, especially in the pulpit. The minute I started trying to effect a posture or pose, God's Spirit would be grieved.

What I could do, however, was to get even more serious about studying. I began building a biblical library and giving many hours during the week to digging into God's Word. But another John Wesley or G. Campbell Morgan I would never be--that was obvious. I had to find my own style and stay open and dependent on God."

Good reminders for both Miguel and I as we continue to wonder what is our place in ministry, exactly? Our primary ministry is in the process of changing and we're not sure what the future holds. We've already discovered many weaknesses and we have moments of wondering how God can use us when we are so prone to failure in many areas of our lives! Good reminder for us to humbly and honestly admit how desperately we need Him. How desperately I need Him!

Later, Jim says he received a promise from God of blessing for the church if he and his wife would lead the people to consistently pray and call upon the Lord. As they have actively pursued calling on the name of the Lord as a church, God has fulfilled this promise (although he does emphasize that the 'success' of a church doesn't depend on "attendance, buildings and cash", but on whether "that church is proclaiming his (God's) Word to people he loves under the anointing and power of the Holy Spirit to produce results that only he can bring about.").

Jim quotes Charles Haddon Spurgeon in saying,

"The condition of the church may be very accurately
gauged by its prayer meetings.
So is the prayer meeting a grace-ometer,
and from it we may judge of the amount of
divine working among a people.
If God be near a church, it must pray.
And if he be not there, one of the first tokens
of his absence will be a slothfulness in prayer."

Jim notes that after Jesus drove the money-changers out of the temple, Jesus seemed to be saying that "The atmosphere of my Father's house is to be prayer. The aroma around my Father must be that of people opening their hearts in worship and supplication. This is not just a place to make a buck. This is a house for calling on the Lord."


The book continues..."The feature that is supposed to distinguish Christian churches, Christian people, and Christian gatherings is the aroma of prayer. It doesn't matter what your tradition or my tradition is. The house is not ours anyway; it is the Father's.

Does the Bible ever say anywhere from Genesis to Revelation, "My house shall be called a house of preaching?"

Does it ever say, "My house shall be called a house of music?"

Of course not.

The Bible does say, "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations." Preaching, music, the reading of the Word--these things are fine; I believe in and practice all of them. But they must never override prayer as the defining mark of God's dwelling. The honest truth is that I have seen God do more in people's lives during ten minutes of real prayer than in ten of my sermons."

I like a book that challenges me in my own spiritual walk with God. I like a book that challenges me to think about how I am living out God's truths...the passages in the book about prayer, especially, have been convicting because I don't think that I can truly say that I am a Woman of Prayer. Oh, I talk to God a lot, here and there, throughout the day or night. But I can't say that I spend a significant part of my day in prayer, or that I am faithful to pray for this or that request for long periods of time, or that I pray with passion and power. In fact, I think that most times, my underlying thought is that of 'what much difference can this one woman's prayer make?'. I know that I have a tendency to underestimate the power of my prayers...

For example, this last week we had to address some issues with both Micah and JD...and it ocurred to me that although I am not praying faithfully for my kids every day. On Sunday, Miguel's brother Ivan called from Venezuela in a very drunken state and I realized that I haven't prayed faithfully for my dear brother-in-law who struggles with addictions and alcoholism.

I long for God to use me. I long for Him to manifest His power in my life. I long to truly believe His promises and truly live out my life as if I DO believe. I think that I, too, could use a fresh wind and a fresh fire.

Sickies in the House...

After a really fun time at our mission school's Fall Festival this last Friday night (of which we have NO pictures because I forgot the camera!), Gracia woke up Saturday morning vomiting, achy, and running a pretty high fever. This is her third day of sickness, and now Miguel and Micah have it as well. At first I thought that it might be tonsilitis since Gracia is susceptible to that, but now that others are having the same symptoms, it has become obvious that it's a virus. Besides, I found out this morning that Gracia's teacher has been sick over the weekend as well. Miguel and I are both tired from being 'on call' round the clock...we tried different sleeping arrangements, but between caring for Gracia, now Micah, and then a night-time dirty diaper from Jkaile in the wee hours this morning, we just aren't getting a whole lot of rest.

I'm glad that we had no pressing appointments this weekend except for substituting for a Children's Church class yesterday (which Miguel was able to do solo), rare for us! This is partly due to the fact that today is a huge Mexican holiday, el 20 de noviembre (celebrated on the closest Monday), and all schools and many businesses are closed. All is quiet in our normally noisy neighborhood (school behind our property, industrial plots in front and beside our house).

I checked out two books from the school library on Friday and I'm so glad I did! A couple of new Gilbert Morris books for me (nice, light reading compared to some of the reading I've been into lately), and The Hobbit to read out loud to Micah. We've enjoyed it so much that we're very nearly done with the entire book already! At this point, Bilbo and the dwarves are trapped inside the Lonely Mountain, wondering how to conquer the dragon and retrieve their treasure...I only just recently watched The Fellowship of the Ring with Micah, so he's enjoyed hearing Bilbo's story and how he came to find the ring. Now the rest of the movies will make a bit more sense to him. I think The Hobbit was always my favorite book of the whole series anyway...

I will leave you with this really cute video of Jkaile (please ignore messy face and shirt and Gracia sticking her glass in the way!)...he recently learned how to wiggle his eyebrows. And since I finally cut his hair, we can actually SEE his eyebrows! We also figured out that his "funny face" is really a wink! Such a cutie! (by the way, "Gugi" is Jkaile's sibling-given nickname!)

Now Pictures from MY Birthday!

My birthday was on Tuesday, October 6th...turned 37 this year! We had a small, family party and then my friends Chris and Rachel came over for a few minutes, so that was fun! It was a great day, really, with lots of birthday greetings coming in all day long...Miguel still owes me a grilled steak, though, and I'm holding him to it! :D

My friend Carrie baked and decorated the cake and

also made me this really cute bag! I plan to

use it for my Bible studies...

Yes, very funny, Miguel!

The kids bought me some chocolate...yum!

My gifts from Miguel...love the choice of wrapping paper!

First book...House by Ted Dekker.

Love Micah's face!

Second book...Skin by Ted Dekker.

Great choices in books, Miguel!

Karen Kingsbury-Life-Changing Fiction

Thanks to Erika upstairs, I have been enjoying reading Karen Kingsbury's Baxter Family Drama book series. I highly recommend these books...not only are they good stories, but there is so much godly wisdom there as well! Last year, I made a commitment to only read books that would encourage me in my spiritual walk because I realized that some of the books I was reading, while not necessarily "bad", were either bringing me down emotionally (didn't need that!!!!) or distracting me from focusing attention on my walk with God. I am very thankful for authors like Karen Kingsbury, who write such good stories that bless and encourage.

I just finished the last book in the Firstborn Series of the Baxter Family Drama and I was kind of sad to finish it! Another great book, but it makes you wish that the series wouldn't end...anyway, at one point in the book, one of the Baxter's sons received a letter from his father that had been written by his mother (now deceased) listing out Ten Secrets to a Happy Marriage. I'm going to print it out and put it on my fridge or something...wonderful reminders of how I can love Miguel! So here are these words of wisdom:

Ten Secrets to a Happy Marriage

1. God has you here to serve one another. Love acted out is serving.
2. Women need respect and nurturing. Love your wife so she knows you'd lay your life down for her. Continue to date her and admire her. Share a hobby--find something you can do to have fun together.
3. Laugh often.
4. Be patient. Love crumbles quickly under the weight of unmet expectations.
5. Spend more time trying to fix yourself than your spouse.
6. Keep short accounts. The Bible says, "Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry." Make it a habit to forgive.
7. Determine up front that divorce is not an option.
8. Learn about the love languages. Not all people show love or receive it the same way. You want a back rub and your spouse wants a clean kitchen. The love languages are fairly simple: acts of service, time, physical touch, gifts, and words of affirmation. Learn them. Love is better received when it's in the language that person speaks.
9. Words of affirmation are a love language for all men.
10. Men are born to be leaders. He cannot lead unless she gives him the confidence to do so. If you love your husband, build him up. Confident men to not seek love outside the home.

(from Forever, Baxter Family Drama-Firstborn Series #5 by Karen Kingsbury pp. 238-240)