But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.” 2 Thess. 3:3
Praises:
We have our computer back and it works and we have a new modem as well.
We all have good health.
God is amazing and continues to work in ways we can’t think or imagine.
Prayer Requests:
God’s continued wisdom for each new day
For our van to be repaired and fully paid for by the company responsible for the accident.
Salvation this month for our teachers- key people for it to spread on campus and continued unity and good health for our family and our team.
The verse I listed above has been shown true over and over again, especially in the last month. You would not believe how many things were wrong all at the same time here in our home. I won’t bore you with the details but it was bad. I had called our teammate, Julie one evening in the midst of it all and said, “enough already”. If this is the enemy it has to stop now! About 10 minutes after I got off the phone with her I am sitting in our home and I hear a loud crash. Davis was gone with our neighbors and they were late but should be getting back at any moment. So instantly I thought, oh no, Davis! I took off out the front door and up our little street and as I got to the top of our soi I saw what had caused the noise. A guy had wrecked on his motorcycle and was lying face down on the ground and wasn’t moving. Me and my neighbor (from the US) went out in the street. I checked on him and he was breathing so she and I began to pray over him. We also realized with the way traffic is he was going to get hit if we didn’t get traffic going around him. So she and I stood in the street, praying like crazy for this guy while motioning traffic around him. This is a really scary thing for him because of how crazy people drive. By this point David had come out and he knelt by the guy and kept a hand on him and prayed while we continued. His breathing seem to slow and we continued praying for his life to be spared. His head had blood dripping off of it so we weren’t sure how bad his injuries were and he was still not moving. Use see, in a moment like this in a place like this where people don’t know Jesus, you know this guy most likely doesn’t know Jesus. It was like we were battling out there for his very life so that he could know Jesus before dying. It’s like you are staring hell in the face and you don’t want it taking him. This is when the reality of where we are and how serious this battle is really comes to light. The ambulance finally came and we moved out of the way. I began then to pray down our little soi and on in our home and rising up against Satan and what he is trying to do here. Yes he wanted that man to die without knowing Jesus. As my pastor use to say, “Satan would put a water hose down a drowning man’s throat.” But for some reason the reality hit more that night than it had before. I started taking back ground at that moment. David and I prayed and cleansed our home, committed our street to the Lord and His work and much more. We went at it and what do you know, things really seemed to turn around even within the next day.
I hope through these details you can really get a sense of how desperate these people are for Jesus and they don’t even know it. Last night I went out prayerwalking with some ladies in the areas where the prostitution happens so much. It broke our hearts as we saw face after face of young women that looked so used and stolen from (their identity, self-worth, etc.). There was not a smile on any of their faces and even as they went through the motions of trying to attract men to them, you could see that look on their face of that voice screaming out inside of them saying “I don’t want to go home. I just want to be safe and protected and truly loved!” Oh, if they only knew the love of Christ. As the one girl stood there before the men with tears in her eyes you think, “how could the men even ask them to do these things.” But they can because the enemy is their father, their ruler (John 8:44 and Eph. 2:1-3) and they do as he does. It is reality but reality is also that our God is bigger than all this and I trust Him. He will bring salvation to these people and these girls will be freed and lives restored. As God says, “He will restore the years the locust has eaten.”
Also had a great conversation with Aajan Joe, one of our teachers the week before Christmas. It was the first really good conversation David and I had had with him about Jesus. It was long with many questions and us sharing much about Jesus. It ended with him having tears in his eyes saying, “do you really think I could go to heaven one day even with all that I have done in my life?” It made me excited he asked but also broke my heart that he feels so worthless about himself and is so deceived about salvation. We did uncover the main reason he hasn’t considered becoming Christians. The moms in the homes are basically in control of the kids because Dad’s don’t do anything with them. So his mom has told him that he is Buddhist and he will be BUddhist until the day he dies. The pressure is that he has to be Buddhist and make merit so she can have a better chance when she dies. So there is much pressure put on the kids in a family, no matter what age they are. Please pray for his salvation but also for the hold of his mom on him to be broken and even for her to see the truth of who Jesus is and want Him. Thank you all for battling with us for the lives of the people of Thailand! God hears our prayers and He will answer.