Wait and then Work
Posted By: Chris | Oct 27, 2011 | CommentI am finally updating after several months of silence! I cannot believe it was March the last time I updated. Where does the time go? Since March we have been traveling many miles to different churches around North Texas. If they are too far or if Chris is traveling out of state he mainly goes alone. With the kids in school and sports I am usually here with them and keeping things as normal as we can. We celebrated Melia turning 7 in June and Kennedy turning 14 (so hard to believe) in July. Karson turned 12 on the 6th of October! We also celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary on June 25th. Kennedy swam this summer (a little) and competed in some meets here in TX. She placed very well and we are super proud of her. She is now swimming with a team here in Frisco for the fall/early winter and she is working very hard in the pool 4 times each week and swims about 10 miles total in those 4 sessions. Melia has lost a few teeth since our last update and our puppy has grown and is getting a little calmer with each passing month it seems (fingers crossed). School is back in session and the kids have started this school year much easier than the last. We are thankful for that! We had a very hot, fun and busy summer, we are thankful for some cooler temperatures and looking forward to the fall season!
Now, the reason for the title of this blog update… it is life changing for most I would think. Even if we spend time reading God’s word, doing our devotions daily and praying are we really waiting before we work? Are we waiting on Him? This is just one area that Chris and I are diligently working on. For our personal lives, for our family and for the ministry that God wants us to do….”abiding” – the key element to Living Dead to self! Interesting how God just weaves everything together in our lives so perfectly. When Live Dead was introduced, “abiding” was and is the main theme. In scriptures that we read throughout the week we read things like “be still”, “wait on the Lord” and are constantly reminded of how difficult that can be in the world that we live in. However, if we do not do the waiting, what will we have to offer anyone else? Chris and I were able to get away for a little rest and relaxation but not without some “work” involved….. We “waited before we worked” each day. Not typical work but marriage, family and ministry work. We were blessed abundantly to be able to go to The Cottage on Coronado Island for a week together, just the two of us. Not sure you caught that….we went away ALONE for ONE WHOLE WEEK!!! It was like nothing we have ever done for our marriage (and our family) before. We were able to have sessions each day with a couple that does counseling and I would say teaching as well. They shared with us things that will forever change us personally, our marriage, our family dynamics and our ministry too. It was a wonderful week and these are the verses that we ended our week with- Isaiah 30:15-18. Please do take a few minutes to read it and let it soak in, neither of us had really read it quite the way it is spoken….it is such a great reminder to us again to wait and then work every single day! Are we running from here to there doing “stuff” and checking things off of our to do lists? Or, are we allowing the Lord to be gracious to us and show us compassion so that we can be blessed by Him and used to reach out, help and bless others? I realize this looks different for everyone, we are all individuals and we cannot be squeezed into the way that someone else does it. And when we (moms) have little ones at home some days all we can do is just say a one sentence prayer….He sees, He knows our hearts and right where each of us are. There is also a book that the couple we spent time with at The Cottage gave us as a gift. It is not your typical devotion book and I keep wanting to just read ahead because it is so good. It is called “Jesus Calling” by Sarah Young so if you are looking for a great devotional book or if your not J you can pick it up at the book store or even online for your kindle or ipad. I just wanted to take a few minutes to share this because it has been life changing for me personally and I believe that Chris would say the same.
We are so overwhelmed at how God has provided for us and taken care of us. We are so thankful for more new partners that believe in us and believe in what God is doing and going to do in Kenya. And isn’t it wonderful to know that God knows all of this in advance and orchestrates every single detail!
So, as I close I will fill you in on what the rest of 2011 looks like for us. The rest of October we will continue to travel to churches in N. TX, Chris will be visiting and speaking at Southwestern AG University and taking a trip to a church in El Paso. In November Chris and I will be making a trip to Idaho to speak in a couple of churches there again. We will also be taking a trip to TN to visit family and a couple of churches as well. We will continue having services up until a couple of weeks before we leave for Kenya towards the end of the year. We will be packing, sorting, selling cars and probably getting rid of more “stuff” and organizing. Hopefully purchasing a container (soon), shopping for household things that we need and eventually in December we will pack the container and have it sent to Houston where it will be sent to Kenya. We’ve decided that once our container is packed and our suitcases are ready for our trip back, we will spend Christmas in TN with our families. We will return to Dallas to fly out. During all of this we just ask that you continue to pray for us, pray for our kids as we begin transition again. We are all super excited to return to Kenya, but that also means saying “see ya later” to many loved ones all over again. Please continue to pray for Pastor Vincent, Dinah and Ruth (who is not a baby anymore). They can always use your continued prayers for them, the church and the school. Also for all of the S people that are still in desperate need of water, food and Jesus. You can also pray for Live Dead (live-dead.org) and the team that we are getting together to join us in Kenya and for everyone involved with Live Dead stateside and in East Africa.
If you took the time to read this long blog – THANK YOU! Thank you for loving us, encouraging us and praying for us. We appreciate each one of you so much! Without Him, we can do nothing!! Let’s Wait and then Work…….
Brandi~
