Unto the Least of These....

It has been a number of weeks since I have posted.  There has been a lot happening and it seems hard to know where to start.  My Dad had to be hospitalized and in helping to take care of him, I missed the candidate training week in Jacksonville, FL.  This was, as you can imagine, very disappointing but I still have a "peace that passes understanding" and feel so sure of God's control of the situation I was not discouraged.  I know everything that is meant to be will be in His time!  I am going to visit Baptist Missions to Forgotten Peoples (BMFP) the end of this month to meet with their administrative board.  I must still attend their candidate training (next June '13) but this meeting, if I am approved, will allow me to begin my parternship with them and start raising funds and hopefully part-time deputation. 

God continues to work in my heart and prove his calling in my life.  Despite falling madly in love with my new granddaughter and despite my Dad's poor health, I know this is where God is leading and I continue to grow in my anticipation to go.  The most recent exciting development is making contact with Bro. Hal Nichols of True Faith Missions out of Fairfax, SC.  I have been earnestly praying for a contact or an indication of what ministry I might specifically serve with.  I believe, through this ministry, God may have opened a door!  They are planning a trip to Liberia in April of 2013 and I am prayerfully optomistic that I may accompany them on what will be my survey trip.  Bro. Nichols is actively raising funds to build a currently non-staffed Children's Rescue Village in an area with no running water, no electricity and very meager supplies.  Bro. Nichols travels extensively throughout Africa and has several active calls for help, including one from Uganda!  I am excited to see how God might lead!  I know from our communications that the heart of Bro. Nichols and his ministry is very much in line with how God has burdened me. 

I have several specific prayer requests:

1)  Housing - my move has been delayed; however, my lease is up August 31st.  Please pray for affordable housing for me and the right living situation for my parents who also have difficult choices to make right now.
2)  Finances - pray that the financial matters I need to settle will be resolved quickly and that I might have a fruitful beginning to my support-raising efforts!
3)  Missions Board - pray for a God's leading as I meet with the BMFP missions board.  That our visit might prove whether or not He would have us partner in missions.
4)  Survey Trip - pray for wisdom as I seek to partner with like-minded Christians and identify the ministry that God has in place for me. 

I continue to be encouraged by God's word and have been meditating on this thought:

James 1:27
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this:  to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep onself unstained from the world. 

Matthew 25 reminds us that Jesus will separate the sheep from the goats in the final judgement.  The sheep on his right, the goats on his left.  Those that are his sheep, he welcomes into the kingdom.  His praise to them is that "For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I ws a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me."  The righteous ask him, when did we do all these things for you? Jesus replies "Truly, I say to you, as you did it unto one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me."  To the goats, who prophesied in His name and did many wondrous works in His name, he will say, "Depart from me, I NEVER KNEW YOU."  My fear is that there are many "good" Christians who are in for a horrific discovery!

God help me to practice a religion that is pure and undefiled before your eyes!  That is why I have changed the title of my blog from "God grant me wings" to "Unto the least to these".   And this does not apply only to the children and women of Africa but to those who are within my daily reach and ministry right here as I wait on the Lord and the revelation of his plan to me!

Thanks for all your prayers and God Bless!