I am sorry that I have not posted in the last week since I have arrived in the Philippines.
I have a lot to write about and plan to put a new post onto the new blog address later today.
I received $1,000 check in the mail a couple days ago, from some friends that I still do not know very well. It was amazing! The night before I received it, I had been praying that God would send $1,000 little did I know God had known the request of my heart BEFORE I had asked and had already answered!
Oh, How I love Jesus, my Saviour, my Redeemer...
Then two days later, I received $200 in the mail!
I know that God has been continually showing me that this is the path that He has called me to.
It is a short update but I plan to be posting again soon.
7 weeks and a couple days I will be flying to Davao, Philippines!
I spoke to my church Spokane Dream Center, today about my mission in Davao, Philippines.
It was an awesome experience and I was so thankful to Pastor David and Alice for their effort in making my mission possible.
After I spoke they anointed me with oil and prayed a Sending Forth Prayer over me with the congregation.
I thank God for such an awesome "family" and for the opportunity to be able to share my mission with them.
Also tonight my grandma called and told me that they wanted to purchase one of my needed medical supplies, a fetal heart rate doppler! I had just been praying about the funding for it.... Oh bless the name of Yeshua!
I have been doing women's bible study for quite a few weeks now. It has been really blessed and there has been a lot of wonderful things happening within our group.
There is one woman named Susan that began attending. (I have her permission to post this)
As we began to talk, I realized that she was in a marriage that was literally falling apart. I felt the Holy Spirit direct me to tell her that she needed to FORGIVE, that she needed to be sensitive to her husband's feelings, even if he wasn't considering her feelings.
I felt a great urgency that it was imminent she changed. She would ignore him when he was around, would do things she knew he did not like, and began to leave the housework undone.
He on the same, would do things to make her upset.
As we kept talking about forgiveness, she all of the sudden said, "Yes, I can forgive, I am going home and changing my attitude towards my husband and children." I was so happy and excited to hear her change of heart. Then she left.
I called her mid-week and she sounded like she was doing really good. She said, "Julianne, you changed my marriage. It has been an awesome week. God has been so amazing. I came home and made sure the house was picked up. When my husband got home, I told him that I wanted to talk to him. (they hadn't talked for weeks) He said that he did not want to talk that night and went to bed.
The next morning she again tried to talk to him, and he said yes he would talk to her. She began to tell him she was sorry and many other things. He forgave her. The next day, he told her that on work Tuesday (the day she came to bible study) he had told everyone that he was leaving her and that she did not love him any more. She was shocked, she had never realized that their marriage was that close to breaking. Yet, God had and had sent an imminent word to change quickly to her. She had obeyed and now their marriage is saved! PRAISE GOD!
They are still working on many things but their hearts are re-united in love with each other. They both are coming back to the Lord after turning away and are planning on getting baptized together. They still have a lot to work on, but God is greatly blessing them as they begin this new journey of love with each other and God.
Please keep them in your prayers.
NO MARRIAGE IS TOO FAR GONE THAT IT CAN'T BE CHANGED..... If you are willing to give of yourself without expecting something back, and you serve God than your marriage can be changed and you will never imagine that you once hated living together. God is the healer of broken marriages and families and he can heal yours, if you are willing to take the steps to do it.
I was so blessed to hear this wonderful testimony.
I was thinking of what Jesus really went through on that dreadful, dark day of history. If we can only imagine the terrible pain he went through because we haughtily sinned. Imagine being beaten till you could barely move, being mocked and spit on. It was disgusting and humiliating.
Having a crown of poky thorns thrust into your forehead and feeling your warm blood begin to trickle down your face as throbbing rhythms of pain beat in your head.
While knowing at any moment you could call down legions of angels and be saved from this gruesome torture. Jesus stayed submitted to his Father's will during that hour.
It makes me guilty when I think of how quickly we step out of our Father's will for us and seek our own pleasures. We disobey God when it is easy to serve him! How much more if we went through what his Son did for us? Would we stay submitted?
I cannot even fathom having nails hammered into the palms of my hands and into my feet! That pain passes all understanding. It is not able to be fathomed by our human brains. Then being raised up to have your body weight hang on those nails that were in your hands and feet.
Jesus felt forsaken by God when he cried out Eloi Eloi lama sabachthani which is My God, My God why has thou forsaken me! Even Jesus felt forsaken during this darkest hour of history. Had God forsaken him, NO.
While he was in absolute agony of mind, body, and spirit, he prayed "Father forgive them for they know not what they do."
Forgiveness! Forgiveness! Do you have bitterness or hard feelings towards someone that may has done you wrong? Forgiveness, Forgiveness, my friend. Look at what Jesus went through for you! YOU have wronged the Son of Man, you have wronged God. No-one has wronged you the way you have wronged God, the maker of heaven and earth, the maker of you.
Yet, "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes on him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16
It wasn't the nails that held him to the cross. It was LOVE that held him to the cross. Love for the drunkard, love for the murderer, love for the prostitute, love for YOU! It was all for love that you might have eternal life and live in the glory of God forever. The decision is yours, where you will spend eternity is your decision and only yours. Heaven or Hell?
Hmm... what should I write that will catch the reader's attention, and keep them coming back for more?
This has been my thoughts the last couple of days.... I hope you enjoy my newest post!
I will share a little about my past couple days. My grandpa from Seattle came and is staying for a week. He is very supportive of my mission and has worked in the Philippines planting churches for the last 8-10 years.
I have been praying that God would give me an opportunity to speak to a church congregation about my mission work and maybe get some financial support through them. Amazingly, my grandpa know a Pastor of a church that is here in Spokane, working with those wanting to be free from life-altering addictions. Many have come to Christ through their program.
He wanted to stop by and say hello since he was here. So I drove him down to the office and the Pastor and his wife was there. They were very happy to see my grandpa. Through the course of time, we got to talking about my mission-work in Davao.
I still had no thought of what God had in mind! They then asked me if I could come and speak to their congregation about my mission and wanted to take an offering for my work! God is so good. I believe I will be speaking in May or June. Another praise report! =)
I have been very busy preparing for my move around the world! I would appreciate all of your prayers as I have a air-plane ticket in the amount of $747 due by April 20th. But, God is faithful and he is well able to provide.
One more praise is that someone donated another $100 to my mission today.... and I finally got my first book of 600 something pages read for my book report! YAY
I hope my post finds all of you well. I want to leave you with this word:
Psalms 34:17, 18, 19, 21, 22
The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.
The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous , but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate righteousness shall be desolate. The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate!
Praise God! Glory be to his name forever and ever!
I am so blessed to serve a God that cares for us to the smallest details. I was just talking about how I would like to go to the dentist, before I leave to the Philippines. But with all of the other expenses, and no insurance this seemed impossible.
My dad owns a landscaping/lawn maintenance company, and last week I was out doing some sales. I walked into a dentist office and asked if we could give them a bid for this years lawn maintenance. The women at the front desk took my info and said that she would get back to me in a couple of days.
She did call me back about 5 days later, saying that the Dr. wanted to know if we could do lawn care this year as a straight across trade for dental work! Amazing, amazing!!!
It was only God that put on the heart of this dentist to ask us of we would do the lawn for dental work!
We serve an awesome God! He knows our every desire and is so willing to pour out his blessings on those that serve him! Can I get an Amen? Praise God!
