Ukraine: The Heart of Man Wages War

Many are watching the news today and are seeing bloody, horrific images coming out of Ukraine. Many of my family and friends are asking today, "What in the world is going on in Ukraine?" In a nation so far removed from our every day life in the USA, it is hard to understand what the protesters are fighting for, and why it affects us as Christians.

The protesters in Ukraine are asking for the current President, Viktor Yanukovych to step down, and to hold new elections. Yanukovych tipped his deplorable ratings when he refused to to enter Ukraine into an agreement with the European Union. It was immediately following this that Ukrainians took to the street, in peaceful (for the most part) protests. They wanted a leader who would listen to the people, who was not corrupt or under the hand of Russia's command, who served the nation and the Ukrainian people. I think most Americans can relate to that, as our Congress and President currently have dismal approval ratings. We can certainly understand the protester's point of view for leadership with quality character.

Yet, the more and more I follow politics [those that know me well, know that I am a political junkie] the better I understand God's heart about politics. His heart is to turn the heart of men back to him. It's really that simple. We get the rulers our hearts have embraced. While that may sound discouraging, it to me IS encouraging! Because God also provides a way out - by seeking Him, His Kingdom, His heart, His love, the nations of the world will change; because God starts with the individual. Through the individual, nations are changed.

"If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave, and require of necessity My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

The hearts of men wage war against the things of God.
If you look at the history of Ukraine and the former Soviet Union, it is utterly obvious that when men removed everything about God, every evil thing was allowed to thrive. Ukrainians turned their hearts towards communism in 1922 because they wanted to HOPE in something. They were utterly worn out after the economical collapse caused during WWI and the Russian Civil War (1918-1921) that left them bitter towards the ruling family and provisional government. The communist faction that rose to power during this time promised to end Russia's involvement in WWI [which it did], provide collective farms to feed the nation and improve the quality of life in Russia and its regions. Sounds too good to be true, right? Well so did that infomercial that so brought in millions of dollars last year - the fact is people want to HOPE in something!

Can we really put our hope in men? A man's heart is fickle. [So is a women's, ask her husband how many times she changes her mind.] The soul of man wages war on the things of God, because he is filled with a sin nature. Yet he is drawn to the things of God - things that represent God's character. Ukrainians are drawn to these same character traits and are fighting for a leader who stands for justice, righteousness, is not corrupt and who is a servant leader. I think most citizens of the world would like a leader with these character traits. So Ukrainians have FAITH and HOPE that their voice will be heard above the atrocities, the brutality and the force shown from their leadership.

What does the Bible teach us? That FAITH, HOPE and LOVE remain. "And so faith, hope, love abide [faith—conviction and belief respecting man’s relation to God and divine things; hope—joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation; love—true affection for God and man, growing out of God’s love for and in us], these three; but the greatest of these is love." I Corinthians 13:13
Men can have faith and hope in a cause, but if they have not love, the greatest of these, their cause will flounder.

Ukraine's struggle is NOT unique. Let us take a lesson from Judah. 

Ukraine has a long tradition of religious history,  including a visit from the Apostle Andrew and the entire region being baptized and becoming Christians in 900AD. The history of this nation is thick with the people's love and devotion to God. Yet over time, through generations, the history of this nation was disregarded. The stories of Olga and Vladimir, of Apostle Andrew and others ceased to be shared; and the Christian heritage of this nation was forgotten. 

The sin in the hearts of men flourished, the Tsar ruled with authoritarian power; and then was overthrown for the the Soviet Union.While the hearts of men were hard, they suffered greatly as a nation. The effects of their decision to turn away from God are still felt throughout the nation of Ukraine today - the corruption, greed, fear, and oppression are what the protesters are fighting against on the streets now.

It reminds me of the Kingdom of Judah. This kingdom had seen several generations of leaders who served and loved the Lord. The kingdom had thrived and was prosperous. Then, King Ahaz, whose heart waged against the things of God, lost all that the two previous generations had gained, and the Kingdom of Judah lost its sovereignty, becoming a puppet nation to the Assyrians. It was dark times in the land of Judah. The Assyrians demanded the majority of the crops that Judah produced, all of its gold and most of its resources. King Ahaz worshiped false gods, and children were being sacrificed as burnt offerings to this false god in order to appease the wrath that Judah was feeling. The people forgot all the things the true God had done for them in previous generations and embraced King Ahaz's false god. The people of Judah had turned their back on God. Every evil thing came out of the heart of man and evil attacked them on every front.

Yet, there was a boy. His grandfather, Jotham, was King of Judah and was a godly man. He instructed his grandson, Hezekiah, about God's character.  He made sure that Hezekiah knew the history of Judah and the heritage of its people - the favor of God upon them and all He had done for them. 

When Hezekiah was nine years old, his grandfather passed away and his father assumed the throne. Shortly thereafter, Hezekiah's older brother was offered as a burnt sacrifice to his father's false god. The sacrifice of his sibling turned his heart to stone against his father. In just a short 16 years, his father, King Ahaz, had lost all that Judah possessed and became enslaved to the warring Assyrians.Yet, the evil king would not rule long. 

At the age of 25, Hezekiah became king over Judah. THIS IS WHERE EVERYTHING CHANGED. 

Hezekiah's heart did not wage war against the things of God. Instead, he sought out the very character of God and all of God's wisdom for the benefit of his kingdom and people. Immediately, the false god and place of sacrifice was destroyed. The burnt offering of children ceased. The house of God was restored and the priests put back to offering prayers and petitions to the true God. Hezekiah put his house in order first; and then the Kingdom was restored. 2 Chronicles 7:14 tell us this truth about the character of God and his restorative nature.

One thing that struck me as I was re-reading 2 Kings was how Hezekiah dealt with his enemies. Ukrainians have many enemies in their own government and police forces - they are seeing first hand the brutality and oppression set against them. Yet they can learn a great lesson from Hezekiah and how he handled the Assyrians. He asked GOD to deal with the problem [2 Kings 19:14] of his enemy. He understood God's restorative nature (2 Chronicles 7:14) and what he was to do as a follower of Christ. So after hearing the news of an impending attack, he went to church and petitioned God. He didn't seek out the leader of the army first, or the consult with his generals about what to do next. He went to the only one who could save Judah - GOD. 

As a result, the God of Israel slaughtered 185,000 enemy soldiers in one night.

If Ukraine wants to see change in their nation from the top down, it starts from their knees. The Church must hit their knees in prayer and fasting and ask God to deal with their enemies.

God's character is restorative. He loves the Ukrainian people on both sides of the fight. As brothers and sisters in Christ, we must stand with the Church in Ukraine and pray and fast along side of them. Petition God to deal with their enemies [both in flesh and in the spiritual realm] and deliver this nation to a leader who seeks after the heart of the one true God.

"All the ends of the world shall remember & turn to The Lord, & all the families of the nations shall worship before You."  Psalm 22:27

Disturb Us Lord

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
with the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wilder seas
Where storms will show Your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.

We ask you to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push back the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

This we ask in the name of our Captain,
Who is Jesus Christ.

-- Sir Francis Drake

Stove-top Baking: Brownies!

I know, you all think this is probably just a missions blog, but it's our "life" blog too. So you have to suffer through my random cooking experiments, squatty-potty stories and comments on parenthood. 

Now that you've been forewarned, we can continue!

Did you know you can bake on your stove-top? No? 
Yeah, neither did I. I read a blog about it, so I figured I would try it. I was craving chocolate and I just happened to have one of those terribly bad for you but taste so delicious boxes of brownies in the pantry.

It was all very simple. Get a pot with a lid big enough to put a cake pan in. I had to try three pots to get the cake pan to fit. Preheat the pot (no lid or anything on it) for 5 mins on HIGH while you are mixing up the batter. The "oven" pot may start to smoke during this, so turn the heat down just slightly until the major burning goes away. If there is any oil or residue on the "oven" pot it will burn off and be a bit smelly.

Fill the cake pan with your batter. 

Next place some sort of spacer between the "oven" pan and the cake pan. This could be flat rocks, or some other spacer object. I pulled out the pot holder from my pressure cooker and placed it in the middle of my stove-top "oven" pot. 

 

Next place your cake pan on the spacer...VERY CAREFULLY! I ended up using tongues because the pot is very hot and the space wasn't big enough for my fingers. Cover with a lid.

 

The blog I read was rather vague about the heat setting, other than to turn it way down. So I turned it down to simmer level (about a 2 on my stove). After 30 minutes it was cooked on the outside but the middle was rather soggy. Definitely not brownies. Alas, I'm not one to throw in the towel in the kitchen,  I turned the heat up to about med-low (4 on my stove) and put the timer on for another 7 minutes. About 6 minutes in, I heard sizzling sounds and I thought maybe the batter had somehow boiled over. I was happily surprised to find that it was just condensation forming on the lid dripping onto the "oven". My brownies, however, were cooked through! 

The brownies easily popped out of the pan. It didn't have quite the same taste as oven baked, but I didn't care...it was CHOCOLATE after all! 

 Here it is - a stove-top baked brownie! I enjoyed this baby while watching Call the Midwife Christmas Special that I missed a few weeks back. Not a bad way to spend the evening! 

PS I apologize for my terrible food photography. My iPhone photography skills leave a lot to be desired. But trust me, I'll be using this method in the summer when it's hotter than hades in my house! Enjoy!

This is me...waiting...

This is me...waiting for my Amazon package to arrive. Nothing spiritual, nothing exciting. Today was spent working from home, recovering from a nasty sinus infection that laid me out yesterday, and patting myself on the back for having all my "dump" crock-pot meals to choose from when I didn't feel like cooking. 

Back to my waiting: What's in this package that I'm so excited about? Well, it's probably not as exciting for anyone but me. It's my brand new up/down travel converter with adapter set - and usb ports. It's uber lite weight, and has USB ports. My old up/down works fine. It's just heavy, and has no usb ports. Can you tell I'm excited about the usb ports? I know, I'm weird. 

What other goodies will arrive? Well, this pay period we used some funds to get a few items for traveling and living overseas. These include some Exofficio clothing items (quick-dry), jewelry travel case, and a book by Rolland Baker "There's Always Enough: The Miraculous Move of God in Mozambique".  

So now I'm waiting. It should arrive on Friday (except for the book, that will be another TWO weeks...but when I only paid $3 for it...). 

P.S. I should mention that I LOVE online shopping. My kids don't have meltdowns in the store, I can wear my jammies and not brush my teeth or put on any make up and NO ONE cares!! It's a mom's paradise. The end.

The Orphan Spirit in the Church

As I spent the last hour reading blogs, looking at pictures and reading more about Iris Global Harvest School of Missions, it struck me how much of their teaching is on the identity of a believer. They focus instead on being sons and daughters of God, walking in his authority as his children.

Then I read this blog...and a Harvest School Alumni hit the nail on the head in the paraphrase below, I'm camping on this for right now.  

We are not orphans but His beloved children. Stop living like an orphan –  stop coming to Him with that begging attitude, to stop striving or stop being in that pleasing performance but instead to live knowing that He is your daddy.

Whoa! Do I NEED a paradigm shift in my Spirit. Part of what Jesus said was that we would do the same works as He and even greater. That basically God would manifest Heaven on Earth, showing His glory to the nations of the world.

Are we limiting this manifestation of God's glory because we aren't acting like sons and daughters of the King of Kings? Yes! We are acting like orphans. If you see someone limping around in the grocery store using her cart to help her stand up straight [I'm using this example from two weeks ago, because I felt Holy Spirit tell me to ask her if I could pray for her and I DIDN'T do it; God help me be bold as your daughter], do you simply pray under your breath and ask God to "Please heal her Lord...if it be thy will." SHAME ON YOU, SHAME ON ME! If we are sons and daughters of the Most High King, we would know our place. Sickness is NOT from God. We would have gone to her in a very gentle manner and ask her if we could pray for her and then in a very fierce manner taken authority as sons and daughters and brought Heaven down to Earth right there in the supermarket aisle.

I share this not to condemn you or me, but to WAKE US UP! Oh how much I have to learn!
God is merciful, He is teaching me to walk as a daughter of the King, to walk in boldness and know my place as His child.

I think of the testimony shared by evangelist Jim Rogers, about how on an airplane ride back from Africa he prayed for a lady next to him that had a hurt shoulder. He didn't want to, he was tired, but Holy Spirit kept nudging him along. After that, the lady told the stewardess that her shoulder was healed. The stewardess asked Jim if he would pray for her knee that was tweaked. He did. God healed it, instantly. Then the stewardess came over the PA system and announced that if anyone had any kind of sickness or injury to come up to the front because there was a man there that was praying for people and they would be healed. Jim literally experienced God's glory, bringing Heaven down to 35,000 feet in a transatlantic airplane.

When you hear this testimony, what emotion does it elicit? For me, it's one of encouragement. See the same Holy Spirit that nudged Jim into obedience on the airplane lives in each of us. We hear this and we want the same thing, it's an unction that we feel. Yes, Holy Spirit, move in me like that too. Yet, the difference between most of the Church and Jim is simply this: Jim does not operate in the mindset of an orphan spirit. He operates in the mindset of the son of the King of Kings. If Holy Spirit is nudging him, God is telling him: "Jim, let's bring Heaven down to Earth today. Son, pay attention, I want to show you my glory."

I'm ready to see His glory. Bring Heaven down to Earth God!

New Things

This past weekend I had the honor of speaking to the youth at our church. It was one of those things where the youth pastor leans over on the Sunday before and says, "God wants you to speak to the youth next Sunday."...errrr....uhhhh.....ok? 

It's been a long time since I've been around teenagers. I forgot how FUN they are! I spent most of my teenage years deeply involved in youth ministry and even into the first couple years living in Ukraine. Now that I had kids and had "grown up" I haven't spent much time with teenagers. I NEED to spend more time with them. They are so fun. 

God has really been stretching me on teaching and mobilizing young people for missions. It is our mandate as believers to GO PREACH THE GOSPEL UNTO ALL NATIONS. That's what we are supposed to do as Christians, no ifs, ands or buts about it! We are ALL supposed to GO, not just write checks and feel good about our small donations. It's in the Bible, read it. Matthew 28 will tell you all about our mandate as believers to go to the ends of the earth and preach the Gospel. I know, sometimes TRUTH is scary and it hurts, but read it and then go get your passport! 

On Sunday evening, our church showed the Heidi Baker film, "Compelled By Love". It is a MUST see for all Christians. I had watched the premier a couple weeks earlier at home, sobbed through it, and felt a strong impression that we were supposed to go to Mozambique to do the Harvest School of Missions for three months. Eric wasn't too sure....UNTIL he watched the film. Now the question is WHEN? And HOW? It will take about $25k to get our family over there. That means a LOT of changes. Likely next summer, for three months. 

Please keep us in your prayers as we seek God's will and direction for this new season. It's all a little overwhelming, to say the least. We are confident in His provision, His wisdom, His direction and His timing for our family. 

After Harvest School? Ukraine....when? We don't know yet. He is preparing the way.

2013: A Year In Review

After spending the afternoon updating all of the non-profit [I sit on the board of Ukraine Orphan Outreach] communication/website/social media sites, I decided I should jump over here and update our blog.

So what happened in 2013 that we'd like to highlight? In 365 days, there was a lot of things that happened, decisions made, friendships formed, chapters closed and new beginnings. So here's our top 12:

January: We spent a couple weeks visiting our family in Missiouri and Kansas. We got to spend a few days with Eric's brother who was in town from South Africa. Audrey celebrated her 4th birthday!

February: I hit my year-one anniversary with Ukraine Orphan Outreach. It had been a fun year of planning and it was gearing up for a very busy year of events.

March: I got an iPhone. [I still do not like it...I'm an android fan for life after giving it a try.] We took the kids to Disney on Ice where Jace was rocking in his stadium chair and flipped forward smacking heads with the girl in front of him. Poor kids were both banged up and I felt terrible for both of them. Fun times. UOO started it's massive push for ticket sales for our 1st Annual Benefit Gala. We, as a family, started our search for a missions agency. My dad turned 60...on vacation in Mexico....without me...still a little jilted he didn't pack me in his suitcase. [First world problems.]

April: Eric applied for a new position and passed two interviews at a new company, which he wasn't selected for, a downer for sure, but it's a position that you have to apply a couple times before they actually select you. He hit is 5 year vested date with the Sheriff's office which was pretty significant. I did my first "speaking" thing for Ukraine Orphan Outreach at the Town of Lyons, introduced ourselves and was the official representative - it was scary, I won't lie. Public speaking is daunting to me. Thankfully they were all very nice and asked good questions. My mom turned ...no comment...you never reveal a woman's true age.

May: For the first time ever, Audrey was "that child" at the store - totally screaming melt down, that resulted in us loosing our place in the checkout line to go deal with her behavior in the family bathroom. Thankful for the older lady who told me I was doing a good job by sticking with my guns to pull out of the line. We started doing Jillian Micheal's 30 Day Shred program....it works, but I hated her every minute of the workouts. We really started dreaming big dreams of being back in Ukraine - interviewed with a few agencies and had some meetings, all taking steps to get us back to the land where our hearts reside. Ukraine Orphan Outreach hosted our very first annual benefit gala. It was a massive success and we raised over $10k towards a transition home. What an exciting day that was! Also my long-lost cousin and his girlfriend and daughter came for a visit. He proposed at my parent's house and we all got to be a part of the beautiful moment!


June: This was a crazy travel month for us. We went to two weddings in June - our nephew's and Eric's highschool friend's [which ironically got rained out - pouring on all the guests, it was very crazy but the bride just went with it]. We spent loads of times with the family, a day on the Black River soaking in the sun [and turning myself into a lobster], and celebrated my 29+1 birthday with my hubby at a Cardinal's game in St. Louis. It was a great month of fun and traveling! Also started wedding planning for my cousin and his fiance.

July: Annalise turned 1 year old this month!! I can't believe it! My baby is no longer a baby any more. She officially loves her Hungarian Papa Sandor's chocolate cake - devoured it in record time at her birthday celebration with family! Ukraine Orphan Outreach sent a missions team to the Donets'k region of eastern Ukraine to work on repairing our boy's transition home; they also spent one week at a summer camp for orphans/troubled youth. My great uncle passed away this month, uncle Marvin was a unique and humorous man. We spent much of this month helping my parents clean, pack and re-arrange their home to put on the market in August or September - they are wanting to move to a lower elevation.Crazy time of wedding planning, getting everything pulled together for my cousin and his fiance who live out of state but were having a Colorado wedding.

August: The wedding day arrived! It was such a beautiful family weekend full of restoration [my cousin and his sister hadn't spoken in 7 years, and he wasn't very close to his mom at the moment either]. It really was amazing how God restored relationships that had been dormant for so long. The wedding was wonderful, beautiful and full of joy at the union of two people. What a day! Colorado also had one of the hottest months on record and the first few days of school were actually canceled [we Colorado people don't need no stinkn air conditioners!]. Audrey started Pre-K at Resurrection Fellowship School. We also lost one of our beloved church elders to cancer - he has been around since my childhood, and it's been a strange adjustment not to have him with us. My sister turned 39+1 this month...yep, she's ancient like nearly 10 years older than me ancient. I'm a spring chicken. Ha!

September: Happy birthday Eric! Hubby celebrated his 32nd birthday on the 21st. One of my bestie's came for a visit from Oregon for a week, which is always a highlight because we play a massive amount of board games while she's in town - lots of smack talking and making memories! I discovered the "Lizzie Bennett Diaries" on YouTube...late night marathons. Colorado was hit with a 1000 Year Flood. It was a really crazy week of being surrounded by water, all the canyons up to my parents house had the roads destroyed and the National Guard had our town on lockdown. WILD! We had our friends stay with us for a night that had been evacuated from their neighborhood. It was an intense time, lots of loss for our beautiful state. I'm still processing the memories as I now drive the reconstructed roads to my parent's home and see all the damage that the flooding did. Colorado Strong!

October: We were in full planning mode at Ukraine Orphan Outreach for the Old Russian Shoemaker tour group coming from Ukraine for a month. Last minute venue bookings and schedule planning - lots and lots of hours put in this month! Eric's parents came for a visit, and we enjoyed the family time with them. I also became addicted to the "Call of the Midwife" series...makes me want to take up a new profession.

November: Happy birthday to Jace who turned 3 years old on the 8th of this month! My sweet boy is growing up so fast. It's like all of a sudden he speaks in full sentences and we can actually understand them! November brought the Old Russian Shoemaker group to Colorado on Nov. 26th! My sister-in-law's family hosted all 13 of them along with our family and a few other guests for Thanksgiving. It was a loud and fun time watching the seven orphans from Ukraine celebrate their first American Thanksgiving!

December: The first three weeks of December were spent on tour with the Old Russian Shoemaker group. Ukraine Orphan Outreach in partnership with CBN's Orphan's Promise - Kiev office brought seven orphans and 8 cast/crew/staff members from Ukraine (and one from Virginia Beach, VA) for a month's tour performing the Christmas musical. We completely fell in love with the staff/crew who will be life-long friends, and the kids were just wonderful. Their hugs made my day! We also confirmed that UOO will be making a trip to Ukraine in May 2014 [I'm  GOING!!!] to visit the orphans, visit CBN in Kiev, and visit our boy's transition home in Kramators'k. What a wild adventure we had with the group! We celebrated Christmas with our family, along with Eric's brother who came and spent a week with us.

We are looking forward with great anticipation of where 2014 will take our family. At this time, our best guess is to Ukraine, hopefully by the end of 2014! Thanks for sharing the year with us!