Making more space for Jesus

Our new living room.

This picture was taken one day when we went for a walk at the lake nearby (Flathead Lake).

The dining room.

These guys were munching breakfast under the

tree in our new front yard the morning we moved in.

We've been preparing for Easter by participating in Lent. Not in any typical or traditional way, mind you, but just in that we have chosen to "make more space for Jesus" in our lives each day. We meet each Wednesday evening at our house with a small group of participants who have intentionally decided to "lay something down" and "take something up" during the 40 days leading up to Easter.

For me, I decided to lay down watching Law and Order (the original--my favorite TV show), and take up memorizing John 15. In this way I'm making a purposeful choice to make more space for Jesus (and His word) in my day. It's been challenging at times. Sometimes, at the end of the workday all I want to do is kick back and relax with an hour of Law and Order. But then I remember the commitment I have made to the Lord, that during this time I will hide His word in my heart instead of watching another murderer being brought to justice.

It's been an awesome time for me. Seems like since I started doing this, all sorts of roadblocks have sprung up to keep me from meditating and memorizing God's word--things that fill up any free time I may have thought I would get (for me it takes alot of time and repetition to memorize a portion of scripture). But along with the challenges have come unexpected blessings and divine opportunities and appointments that God has arranged for me, things I believe are coming my way simply because I've purposed to "make more space for Jesus." He is giving me new eyes, to see what He is doing and how He wants me to partner with Him in those things. For example, I was asked to host a series of radio programs specifically designed for pastor's wives (especially those who serve in rural churches). To me that is absolutely a "God-thing." You who know me well know that even though I enjoy Christian radio programming, I have never been involved with it in even the slightest way.

Another divine opportunity that came knocking at our door happened yesterday when we were asked to take in a girl who is in the middle of enormous emotional/mental crisis and has had to return to the base (from Africa). She is in need of much prayer and one-on-one ministry, and I am amazed at how God has brought it all about for us to be a part of what He is doing to heal this girl. Please pray for her! She needs the healing touch of Jesus so badly.

Arthur was asked to portray a "father" in a music video a couple weeks ago. One of the young men (in the music department) saw in Arthur what he wanted as he prepared this particular music DVD. I wasn't there when they taped it, so I'm excited to see it when it comes out. It was just another unexpected opportunity to bless and to serve (Art had never met the little boy who played the part of the young son, but now the two of them have a grandfather/grandson relationship). It's cool to see how God connects people!

Oh yeah, I don't want to forget to talk about our new house. We now live in house #23. We have no landline here, but we can be reached on our cell phones, or on Skype (alf0310). We'll be house-sitting here until December, Lord willing. We've had a huge amount of activity going on in our lives these days so it's taking a bit to get re- situated and settled in, but I know I'm going to like it. It's a very cozy, family-friendly home so it feels very good. It seems to be the house on base where everyone wants to "hang-out," so we've had quite a bit of that happening already. Crazy, hey!

In the need of PRAYER, again

Here I am, asking for prayer again. I don't know what's up, but I now have an extremely stiff and painful neck. There are a lot of colds and flu going around so maybe that's it. My hip, back and leg are still giving me pain, as well, so I ask for your continued prayer support. If, as you pray, God gives you a word for me, whether it be a word of knowledge, or wisdom, instruction or whatever, please know that I will receive it with a grateful heart.



I am enjoying the presence of the Holy Spirit as I spend time reading God's word, meditating on it, and asking Him how I can more fully "live out" the faith-walk. The other day God spoke to me about "worship." I was noticing how so many people (yes, even Christians) worship Oprah and Dr. Phil. The question came to me: "How do we know when we are worshipping someone/something?" As I pondered this question, I believe God showed me 3 things:

• We worship when we give them our time - our daily schedule is planned around their show (can't bear of miss an episode, we look forward all day to their appearing).


• We worship by how we honor them with our mouths - we speak highly of their deeds and attributes (praise them to our friends - this week I heard a fellow Christian say: "We need to be more like Oprah."), we respect them and hold them in the highest regard.


• We worship by the attention we give them with our eyes and ears - we faithfully watch their show, we focus upon them, we rush to do our personal chores/housework, etc. during advertisements so we won't miss a single word they say.

We need to get our eyes off these false/worldly saviours and turn our eyes, once again, to the true Saviour, the only Saviour. We need to look to God, to worship and honor the True and Living God (Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace).

Awakened by the sound of hoof prints

I was awakened in the middle of the night by thundering hoof prints that sounded as if they were circling the house. It was 3 a.m. It sounded like a bunch of galloping horses, right outside our bedroom. I knew right away what it was, at least I' m pretty sure--a herd of deer. I'm guessing it's the same bunch that have been meandering in front of our house the past week or two. I thought about getting up to watch them, but realized I would not be able to see anything in the dark. So I just lay there, listening to the group circle the house then take off. I checked for tracks this morning and sure enough, there they were. The snow is about a foot deep because of the recent storms. Several sets of fresh hoof prints on 3 sides of the house. Wish I had gotten up to have a look. Maybe it wasn't deer after all, maybe they were buffalo. After all, this is Montana, right. Ha ha!

Thank you so much for praying for my back, hip and leg this past week. The Lord has answered; the pain has subsided greatly. I still have to take baby steps when I walk outside; full strides get things to hurting right away. I'm sure I resemble a penguin as I'm walking down the sidewalk. It's not very flattering, but it works. I was relieved of my "housekeeping" duties for 4 days, and that helped alot. Please keep us in your prayers. And please let us know how we can pray for you.

Yesterday we had the privilege of speaking and fellowshipping at a church called Swan Chapel. It was about a 45 minute drive from where we live. It took a little longer to get there than would normally be the case, I'm sure, because the the blizzard we had to drive through to get there. The people were incredibly warm and hospitable. If we lived closer, I'd love to be a part of that church gathering on a regular basis. Don't you just love God's people!!! I sure do.

Another Wintery Outburst

As I said in my previous post, just when I thought spring was close enough to touch, winter returned to clobber us with another blast of cold and snow. This is the view from our back door.

While the snow falls, I am busy reapplying to have my passport renewed. This is the second attempt in a month. The Canadian authorities were not pleased with my recent renewal request, I guess, so I am having to do it all over again. I want to get this in the mail today. Hopefully, they will be satisfied with the paperwork this time.

Please pray for me. A few days ago I slipped on an icy patch and wrenched my back somehow. Ever since, I've had terrible pain in my left hip and down that leg. No change of position seems to help, or relieve the pain in any way. I went to the chiropractor a couple days ago, and the freedom from pain lasted exactly 1 hour. Besides being painful, it's frustrating. I had to ask to be excused from my housekeeping duties in Dorm #3 the past few days. That makes me feel bad, because I know someone else will have to do the work for me.

This past week Arthur and I had the opportunity to present "our vision" for ministry to the others on our Local Church Equipping and Rural Shepherds Network team. Our Vision is rooted in a call to provide nurture and facilitate networking for pastors, pastor's wives and churches in rural areas of the Pacific Northwest, Western Canada and Southeast Asia. I'm trying to figure out if there is a way I can post (or provide a link to) our vision. Even though Arthur and I share the same vision, we each have aspects of the vision that vary somewhat because of the unique giftings God has given to us. These are reflected in the individual pieces of our vision.

The video you see below was taken on our camera at the recent "International Night" that the base celebrated. It's a Thai girl we've come to know, performing a Thai dance. Enjoy!!!