we have been back for well over a month now. it has already had its tough moments, but the chiseling is welcome. we are content to be chiseled by the Father. we want to resemble His Son so badly. we have talked a lot about learning more and more to depend less on ourselves and whole lot on His grace, His Word and His Spirit. we are so blessed to have a Father Who loves us enough to discipline and nurture and redeem.
well last week, as many of you know, we lived through our first earthquake. i (kim) was home with a sick grace, while david was at school with the rest of our kiddos. about 5 minutes before school was to let out, we all felt a small short bubble pop under our feet and then a small wave and then it was 1-2 minutes of continuous wave-like movement. it was disarming. for just a bit, grace and i looked at each other like one of us was doing something to cause this weird sensation. then, our pembantu (precious, precious lady) grabbed grace and motioned and said something in indonesian (i had no clue whatsoever as to what she was saying, but her face said it all) and she had us all huddled under our doorframe. and here is the funny thing, i began to pray fervently, because i truly had no idea what was about to happen. i was standing there praying my heart out and about half way into it, i realized i was praying in spanish. my grace looked at me like i had lost my mind. ibu was praying in indonesian, i was praying in spanish and grace was silently praying in whatever of her many languages she chose. oh what beauty there is in the family of the Father, where we can all pray in many languages all heard as one by our Maker. so, anyway, the other kids came home with stories galore. abi though could not stand to be alone and asked 1,000,000 questions about earthquakes. she would cry off and on and talk about the fear she had to go back to school the next day. we prayed with her and over her during the night, and she got up the next morning and went to school and had a great day. no tears, but remained cautious. we praise the Father for her having such a wonderful teacher who cared enough to take some class time to talk and pray through the events of the day before.
this weekend, we will have a famine. we are having a 30 hour famine at our school to raise awareness about the abject poverty in this world we live in. pray with us, that the youth leadership team will use the wisdom of the Father to help the youth see that we are to love and serve others because of the overflow of love from the Father in us. and that we do NOTHING in our own names or our own power but all, every little thing in the name, power and love of the Father. oh that we could teach them to learn the lesson that seems to belay me time after time after time; that being we have to stay in an abiding relationship with Him and that through that abiding we grow and grow in our love for Him and through that love, we learn to glorify Him over all things. pray that this message gets across as we talk about His command to love our neighbors, and to care for the poor, the orphans and the widows.
we have been growing so much already this year. and as mentioned above it has not been with out its growing pains. pray for all of us that we daily surrender to Him EVERYTHING that is keeping us from Him. Pray that we read the Word for all it is worth.
we are so very grateful for you all. you are the most encouraging friends and supporters. we are blessed to have you all. praise the Father with us that we are staying consistent in our support. we are right at 95 - 100% of our support. this is such a testimony to your faithfulness to His work here in what the Father has called us to do. your prayers are absolutely crucial to the work here. please do not cease to pray for each of us. we are praying for you as well. let us know if there is anything you would like us to pray about specifically.
praises:
all is well after the earthquake
our health is returning gradually. better each day.
wonderful homeschooling experience for mom and jeff
a great study of learning how to fight for joy....gotta love John Piper.
prayers:
grace and kim are still recovering from a tough bout with the flu
grace missed a week of school and is battling a lot of make-up work
emma is struggling through the possibility of even more friends leaving the school
pray for our school that it will be a reflection of the Father
pray for the 30 hour famine
pray colossians 1:9-14 for us.
thanks so very much
serving Him together
the durhams
david, kim, grace, emma and jeff
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