Dependent on Him!

On Saturday I drove (Yes!) to the Crisis Nursery, a work of Ministry of Hope: http://www.ministryofhope.org/

The Crisis Nursery takes in babies who are at the point of death. Each baby has a unique story - some are HIV positive, some are orphaned, and all of them are starving for attention. Some will stay until they are adopted; others will stay until their parents can afford to take care of them.

Volunteers are welcome anytime to love the babies, play with them, feed them, pray over them. . .
My heart is still weeping. When I arrived to the nursery, there were eighteen babies waiting to be held, all in the same room! One of the fulltime workers handed me Teresa, a 3-week old. She is very new to the nursery. Her mom just passed away, and she will be at the nursery until her daddy can afford to take care of her. She was so helpless! Her eyes were so full of fear. There was no sound from her crying, but big tear drops trickled out of her little eyes, and rolled all the way down her tiny face. I gave her a bottle, which she drank up very fast. Then I hugged her tightly, and she fell asleep on me!

These little babies are so helpless and dependent.
And that's just how we are.

Dependent on our heavenly Father for everything.
Grace? Most definitely.
Love? Positively.
His promises? Yes and amen!
His forgiveness, His mercy, His faithfulness, His compassion. . . His Son, our Savior.
Salvation.

Pray for these babes! Pray for the plight they are in. And while doing so, remember the plight you were in! Remember God's mercy and His love in which 'he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ. . .' (Ephesians 1:4-6)
We're not to be babes in our thinking (I Corinthians 14:20), but we are to depend on Him as a baby would! Flee to Him, cry to Him, pour out your heart to Him, seek Him for your needs. . .depend on Him. He cares for and loves His own!

Mom, what would you say if I stepped off the airplane with, oh, a few little Malawians?

To Him Be Glory Forever!

Psalm 104:31
May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works. . .

We were made by Him and for Him!

For His purposes, for His glory! It really doesn't get any better than that because He is our joy! We are His workmanship - may He rejoice in what He has created!
And He will, because we are new creations in Christ. The King will desire our beauty because He sees the righteousness of Jesus! He will rejoice in us, too.

This is such a glorious thing to remember all the time.
Some things get boring if you think about them too long. . . But, not this! May this be a life-long, heart-felt prayer: that the glory of the LORD will endure forever and that He would rejoice in His works!

So, that's what I've been thinking about a lot. . . Glorifying Him in all I do! (And rejoicing in the fact that He is rejoicing in me!) Everyone at ABC wears lots of hats - there are a lot of different things to glorify Him in! I've been kept pretty busy here - and I love it! On week day mornings there are staff devotions at 6:45 a.m., which the staff takes turns leading. Then I lead the 8th graders in their devotions, teach math and manage study halls for most of the morning, recess duty on Mondays, and after-school math tutoring in the afternoons. There are also afternoon activities beginning next week. I am one of the beginning swimming instructors for the little children. Bible studies and get-togethers at my house with the middle school girls will start up soon. . . and I just found out I might be needed as a pianist for the college's choir!

The funniest part to me is all the speaking I've been doing! My public speaking professor from college would not stop laughing if she knew all this was going on because I used to get so nervous before my speeches! Between all the lectures, devotions, testimonies, etc., I've probably said more words in this last week than I have my entire life. =) And it's not even scary anymore! So be prepared if I don't stop talking when I return. . . I'm getting really good at filling in extra time!

I'm so grateful for this opportunity that God has given me to glorify Him.
Remember, we were made by Him and for Him!
May His glory endure forever -- may He be glorified through you, through me, through all His works, "For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen." Romans 11:36

Morning By Morning New Mercies I See. . .

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23


Exactly one week ago from today I arrived in Lilongwe, Malawi after a safe 40-hour-long journey! And now, exactly today began my new teaching experience as the middle school math teacher at ABC Christian Academy for the 2009-2010 school year.

Something that I've been pondering a lot today is just how merciful God really is. Because of His mercy I have eternity to spend with Jesus, spared from the fires of hell! And in Christ, I have countless spiritual blessings and an amazing inheritance (Ephesians 1). Therefore, any other mercy that comes to me in this life is a mercy on top of the greatest mercy ever bestowed! So even if God didn't shower me with mercies as I travel, mercies as I teach, mercies of providing for me a God-honoring family, food, clothing, and shelter, etc., He would still be more merciful than I could ever fathom. It really is unbelievable, unfathomable mercy. . . like mercy to the power of infinity! ;)

But sometimes I find myself so ungrateful, or unaware, even, of all of the extra little blessings and mercies around me.
Ultimate evidence: Today my alarm clock goes off at 5 a.m. I jump out of bed, and race to the light switch so I can see. I flick the switch and nothing happens. Flick it again, and still nothing. "Oh great", I think. . . "Of all days -- the first day of school -- for power to go out." And what's convicting? I can't believe I'm more concerned with the electricity than thanking Him for the greatest mercy already given to me: namely, the gift of His Son. . . And while relishing in that, I could have thanked Him for those extra mercies like electricity, the bed that I jumped out of, the working legs that jumped out of the bed, the law of gravity which ensured me landing on the floor. . . the floor itself, my brain which allowed me to think of what to do. . . I could keep going but you'd never finish this blog posting. Seriously.

Another day full of those extra kind of mercies in addition to all that we already have in Christ. . . 7 - 8am: Greet new students and parents -- gracious, friendly people! They love checking out the new middle school building, so I meet several meandering through my classroom!
8-8:15: My classroom is declared homeroom for the seventeen 8th graders. I get to pray with them and help them start their school day! I love the 8th graders. Well-behaved? Yes. Hyper? Definitely. Fun? Absolutely.
8:15-9: 7th, 8th, and 9th graders come into my classroom in separate 10 to 15 minute rotations. First, introductions! I really want to get to know the students. A good place to start would be learning names. I have them write their names on the whiteboard and stand underneath so I can get pictures of faces with names! The thirteen 7th graders are shy as this is their first year in middle school. 9th graders are all tall boys! But, they're OK with that and remain respectful.
9-10: Final school assembly in the gym. . . and then dismissal.

First day of school is already over.
Short day and teeming with extra mercies.
I love the kids already.


May we thank God first and foremost for the Cross and for all the spiritual blessings that we have through Jesus!

And while doing so, may we remember to thank Him for all those extra mercies, too; like, electricity and well-behaved children.

Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!

More from Piper's Let the Nations Be Glad. . .

"The beauty and power of praise that will come to the Lord from the diversity of the nations are greater than the beauty and power that would come to Him if the chorus of the redeemed were culturally uniform. The reason for this can be seen in the analogy of a choir. More depth of beauty is felt from a choir that sings in parts than from a choir that only sings in unison. Unity in diversity is more beautiful and more powerful than the unity of uniformity. This carries over to the untold differences that exist between the peoples of the world. When their diversity unites in worship to God, the beauty of their praise will echo the depth and greatness of God's beauty far more exceedingly than if the redeemed were from only one or just a few different people groups."

Worshiping in another language always reminds me of this. . . and makes me excited!

This morning I visited one of the churches off the compound that has both a service in English, and then an hour later one in Chichewa.
The English service was very small - maybe fifteen Malawians and a few missionaries from the U.S., U.K., and New Zealand. We sang familiar songs: "Lord, I Lift Your Name On High", "Shout to the Lord", "Isn't He?", and then there was a short message on Exodus 14:14- "The LORD will fight for you, and you only have to be silent."
I'll be honest with you - I probably understood about half of it, because I'm still picking up the ear for the English here. . .but it is coming, just like driving stick on the other side of the road! :)
After the service I enjoyed meeting new people and watching the children who had set up mats outside and gathered around their Sunday school teachers. They were clapping and singing praise songs in Chichewa - it was precious! Little hearts that love the Lord melt my heart.
When it was time for the Chichewa service I started walking into the building and heard beautiful singing in Chichewa echoing through the church - so many gorgeous harmonies! And I thought about Piper's quote. English worship and Chichewa worship are only 2 of the choir parts.
May all His people, His full choir, blend together beautifully to echo the depths of His beauty this day. . . . and forevermore!

Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
Psalm 67:3

"You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."

During the last couple of days we teachers from ABC Christian Academy have been spending a lot of time in our classrooms, eagerly preparing for the first day of school this coming Monday! Today, bulletin boards were hung in my classroom. I so enjoyed decorating the room for the kids!

I hung math formulas, symbols, and definitions. . .
But, Deuternomy 6:6-9 kept coming to mind:
And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

This encouraged me to write out and hang lots of Bible verses on the walls of my classroom as well, lest the children forget the LORD while we learn about math! And the more I thought about it, I figured it wasn't a bad strategy for good behavior since 'the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.' (Hebrews 4:12)

I was thinking. . . I would love to find Bible wallpaper such that a whole book of the Bible could fit, spread out, onto one wall! Imagine that! I'll take the book of Psalms for my bedroom!
Until I get that figured out, construction paper and markers suffice for the classroom . . . :)

By God's grace, everything is ready to roll. . .and I can't wait to see what God will do for His glory this school year!

In the fear of the LORD one has strong confidence...
Proverbs 14:26

"...and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation..."

"God is pursuing with omnipotent passion a worldwide purpose of gathering joyful worshipers for Himself from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. He has an inexhaustible enthusiasm for the supremacy of His name among the nations." -John Piper, from Let the Nations Be Glad


My classroom is on the second level of the new middle school building!
Right now the room is full of empty desks, but on Monday, Lord willing, they will be occupied by my math students from 12 different nations: Malawi, Philippines, Cameroon, United Kingdom, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, United States, Korea, Nigeria, Netherlands, New Zealand, and Canada!
Right now I only have names to pray for - I can't wait to meet and build relationships with the children that God will bring to my classroom this school year!



Revelation 5:9 - And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation...."

Praise the LORD!!!!

From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the LORD is to be praised!
Psalm 113:3




Since the sun rises and sets at different times all around the world, there will be someone who is awake to praise Him all the time!
African sunsets are gorgeous. . . I love to go right outside my house at 5:15 p.m. to

be a spectator of the heavens declaring His glory!


Note: Photos can't capture the beauty of it all. Neither can we grasp how glorious He is!! Some things are just beyond cameras. . .and us. :)

My First Full Day in Malawi

Tuesday, August 18th

Just before sunrise:
I am awakened by the droning of a call to morning prayer drifting from the speakers outside the nearest mosque. God's heart is breaking. There is so much spiritual and physical poverty. I don't think there is a better reminder for me than right now to pray for the lost.

Pity the nations, O our God!
Constrain the earth to come;
Send Thy victorious Word abroad,
And bring the strangers home.

8:30 a.m. Pick up the keys to my classroom from the Administration Office. Meet with the curriculum coordinator to go over a few things. My roles (starting the 24th): 7th, 8th, 9th grade math teacher, manage study hall periods, after-school tutor, mentor for the middle school girls (leading lots of Bible studies, coffee dates, frequent get-togethers at my place -- this is actually a part of my job description, and I love it!!)

9:00 a.m. Group devotions on 1 Corinthians 10:31: So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
Amen!

9:30 a.m. Orientation for new faculty! We learn about the history of ABC, our internet connection, and important health issues. Time to make a trip to the clinic to pick up my malaria meds.

1:00 p.m. Lunch break -- raided Whitney's leftovers since I haven't gotten to the grocery store yet! First I have to learn how to drive stick.

2:30 p.m. New faculty has been asked to participate in a scavenger hunt at the market. We learn about Malawi currency (kwacha) and how to barter. It's culturally inappropriate to take pictures of the Malawi people without asking first. Sadly, a lot of people don't want their pictures taken.




the local meat market

women selling food at the market

basket vendors

5:00 p.m. Dinner at the Chinchens!

12:30 a.m. Time for bed! Psalm 127:2 It is vain that you rise up early, and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.

Math, Missions, Malawi, and the Sovereignty and Mercy of God

To you, to you who come to God in prayer, the sovereignty always goes like this:"I will have mercy on that sinner, though [she] does not deserve it, though in [her] there is no merit; yet because I can do as I will with My own, I will bless [her], I will make [her] My child, and I will accept [her]. [She] will be Mine in the day when I make up My jewels." (Spurgeon)

God is merciful! And since He is merciful, I can be glad that He is in control of all things. I can rest in His sovereignty because of His mercy -- for in His mercy He rescued me by seeking me out. He bought me with the precious, priceless blood of Jesus. In His mercy He revealed to me and has proven again and again His wisdom and love and faithfulness and goodness. Knowing that He is indeed all of these things perfectly, I would want no other to be in control of everything.

How convicting it is, then, when I find that I'm not wholeheartedly trusting the One who is so worthy of all my trust! Through the last several months God has really challenged me in this area. Do I just believe in God? Or, do I actually believe Him when He tells me "Katie, I am working out all things for your good and for My glory"?

For the last several years there has been a burden in my heart to "declare God's glory among the nations." Since January I began to actively pursue different mission opportunities. By February I had applied for an internship with MTW to work with street children in Acapulco, Mexico. By March I was told that the ministry in Acapulco was undergoing a lot of transition and for this, my application would be sent to Peru. I waited and waited to learn that the mission in Peru didn't need an intern at that time. My application was then sent to Honduras. I actually flew out to Honduras in May to learn more about the mission there, but decided that there would be a better fit for me somewhere else, in God's timing.

I was getting so discouraged! I wanted to serve God in missions, but I felt that every opportunity for ministry had been closed. Instead of trusting God, I limited Him to the opportunities that had already fallen through. In May I graduated from SDSU with a B.A. in Mathematics. Once again, I questioned how God could ever use math on the mission field.

By the end of July I thought I should be applying for jobs here since it looked like I would be staying in San Diego. I love children, and thought I would enjoy tutoring math. Maybe I could do some sort of "math tutor evangelism." I hopped on Craigslist and searched "math" under "jobs." The first thing I came across was a job opportunity at a Christian academy in Malawi through African Bible Colleges. The academy was seeking a middle school math teacher for 7th, 8th, and 9th grades for the 2009-10 school year! After inquiring, I was encouraged to apply. I then found out that the people I had been in contact with are in the same denomination as I am (PCA), the curriculum that the school uses is the same math curriculum that I used from K-12, and the statewide recruiter lives just minutes away from me!

Things began moving at lightning speed. I watched in awe as God paved the way for me to serve Him in Malawi. And, I began to see how much trust I had lacked during these last few months especially. Every detail had been sovereignly orchestrated in ways greater than I could ever have imagined. In spite of my plans and my questioning and my lack of trust, He has provided me with an opportunity to declare His glory in Malawi.

My heart aches as I'm convicted of my own disbelief in a mighty God, but at the same time it is overflowing with joy in a merciful God who loves me and counts me righteous not on the basis of anything I have done but on the merits of Another Who never sinned-- Jesus, my Savior.

Lord willing I will depart from San Diego on August 15th to arrive in Lilongwe, Malawi on the 17th.

Please join me in praising Him for this opportunity He has provided! Plead with me that His glory would be made known to the Malawians and that the message of the gospel would penetrate many hearts! Pray that I would be able to build relationships with my students and their families that would lead to many discipling and witnessing opportunities for His glory.

"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen."

Ephesians 3:20