Prayer and Praise

PRAISE REPORTS:

• God has been providing financially in unusual ways and just in time. We are able to continue with the printing process for our  next book, "Married and How to Stay that Way". (Look for an update about this at www.treeoflifeukraine.blog.com Please continue to pray for everything surrounding this book. I believe it will be very helpful here in Ukraine.

As always, more important than the finances, is the way that God uses it to strengthen our faith. I can see my staff growing so  much in their faith when we pray for things and God answers. So,I hope all of you know that all those that pray for us are every bit as dear as those who are able to give. Thank you so much! :)

• Praise God for a great time in Rzhshchiv (finally I got the proper transliterated spelling of this very difficult name!). Christmas was great (look for an update on that at www.caranews.blog.com ) and the days after were restful.                                           

While there I literally woke up in the middle of the night with the following very clear, very succint message from God in my head: "You know that I love you and you don't doubt that. But you do doubt my acceptance of you. Unlike with others, with Me you don't have to keep working to try and be 'good enough'. In my love is acceptance."

You might think I'm crazy saying this. I didn't hear a voice, but it was clearly God. There was more that made it even more precious to me, too. This is not something new for me, and maybe not for you, either. But I needed to be reminded. And it blessed me that God is able to reach us however He needs.

PRAYER REQUESTS:

Right now I seem to have more requests than answers, so I really appreciate you all praying with me and my little team at Tree of Life. But, thank the Lord, I do have great peace that all things will be answered in time. :)

• My dear friend's mother has cancer.

Anya, (who lives in Zaparozha, as opposed to the MANY other Anyas I know!)one of my weekly "pray/fast" partners - is in a really hard spot. It is almost certain that her mother will die soon.

Her mother is a new Christian, but has peace and is ready to meet Jesus. Anya's father and brother are not, and their relationships were already strained before her mother's illness. Anya has just graduated from University and was beginning to think about work or further study in another town or possibly another country. Of course now everything is on hold.

Please pray for her. She is an amazingly wonderful gal who loves Jesus and is gifted, smart and very dear to me. Please pray for peace for Anya, salvation for her family, and comfort for them all.

• My friend has been diagnosed with possible MS.

My friend is a foreign student and a former Muslim who is a fairly new Christian and has already been brought in for questioning about his "new religion" by authorities from his embassy so I  won't say his name here. God knows. :)

He has received conflicting reports regarding a health problem. Doctors have told him everything from a possible tumor to MS. I am going to try to get him to see a Dr. that I know who is very competent. As we seek an accurate diagnosis, please pray that that God would simply heal whatever it is, through either natural  or supernatural means.

• Please continue to pray for the new office. We will go look at it again on the 2nd and make an offer to lower the rent.

This will be the first "fleece" to see if God is in this. We are  asking for a reduction of almost 1/3, so this will really be God if the landlord is agreeable. After that we will see how God directs further. (See more info about this below in the previous prayer request posting).

• I will be going to Budapest on the 4th to pick up the van.

I will have to get one final document done and then wait there in Hungary for a few days before I can drive back with people coming from Kyiv. That's a long story, but basically, I didn't think it was safe for me to drive back alone and the only people that can make the trip with me can't be in Hungary until after the 9th.

There are a LOT of prayer needs for this trip, so here they are:

1. safety for me riding on the train to Hungary by myself
2. paperwork will go smoothly
3. van run well and safety while I drive in Budapest
4. weather to be good for driving
5. traveling mercies for those coming to meet me and their business in Hungary (getting new Ukrainian visas)
6. well, while we're asking for everything - why not that somehow God would find a way to use this trip to His glory, too!
7. the rest of the funds to pay this van off sooner rather than later

I am so glad that God says "you have not, because you ask not". So I'm asking of Him! Thank you for joining with me. :)

Sorry for the long absence...have just been so busy...but then I guess if I'm going to write anywhere, it should be here first, right? Ok, so put that down as my first prayer request! (Later - first praise reports).

PRAISE REPORTS

• The Bible study in Rzhivsh went great! It is really a small town, not a village (it has two "institutes", like technical schools, etc.). Nonetheless I was so surprised to see so many show up for a Bible study on a cold, icy night. The leaders said that there were about 10 (as I remember) of the regular gals who were in Kyiv for their university exams but that there were about equal that number that came for the first time! As I understood, some were not believers.

I taught from my favorite section of the book of Luke, the section about Zechariah and Elisabeth. Without retelling the whole thing - the point was to see yourself from God's perspective and not man's and be focused on God not our circumstances. Our circumstances can change in a minute (or 7 days as in creation, or 3 days as in the resurrection, etc.) but God remains the same yesterday, today and forever.

I was so surprised when after the study one of the missionaries said that she thinks that maybe that whole message was just for her! I hope that didn't mean it didn't touch anyone else! ha! :) But I was glad to know that God used it to minister to someone.

My translator / dear friend Katya was AWESOME, as always, and was there really to co-minister, not just translate. We had great prayer on the mini-bus on the drive there, and then once there Katya was able to talk to, encourage and pray with a couple girls after the study. She is a real servant and loves God.

• We have so many praise reports daily, it is hard for me to sometimes know what to say first. But in regards to specific prayer requests that have been posted here, there's nothing at this time. I WILL keep you better posted, though. Thanks for the patience! :)

PRAYER REQUESTS

• We have a lot of expenses right now. Please pray that God would provide "more than we can think or ask". I know He always does, but I also know that He says that sometimes we "have not because we ask not". So join us in asking God to open the windows of heaven and pour out blessings from wherever it may come. THANKS!
• We have the opportunity to rent an office so Tree of Life Publishing could move out of my home. This would be a huge blessing to all involved and really help Tree of Life to keep growing. We are very cramped right now in the small room in my apartment and there is a fantastic opportunity right down the street from me.

Also, personally it is really hard to have an active "hospitality ministry" (meaning LOTS OF HOUSEGUESTS) and at the same time have regular employees coming to the same location everyday to work. We have two full-time employees that come everyday. Then there are staff meetings, when our designer that works at home joins us. Then there is the bookkeeper that comes twice a month...then meetings with translators, editors, printers...etc. etc. You get the idea.

My life and my home are both a little full and both of us need some breathing room.  Please pray  the landlord would be willing to lower the rent, and that God would provide the finances to commit to the extra rent money each month. For the One who created the earth with His breath, this shouldn't be a problem! :)

• I still need to go to Hungary to get our van and finish the paperwork. Please pray that this would all get finished soon, and specifically that I would within the next day or so here from the guy I need to meet there to do all this, so that I can plan.
• After Christmas (which I am spending with friends back in Rzhivsh) I am going to stay there and housesit for them. I know no one there and am really planning for sometime to rest, read, pray, fast and write. Please pray that this time would be guarded and I could really have time to hear from God from His Word to my heart. :)