In the Beginning....

In the beginning God made man and woman, and he made them in his love, to be like him and to be his companion, to do work on the earth according to His will. To love each other and have compassion on one another, to be a servants one to another and to worship Him together.

Psa 33:1  Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him.
Psa 33:2  Praise the LORD with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre.
Psa 33:3  Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.
Psa 33:4  For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does.
Psa 33:5  The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.

I am seeing more and more that with God the beginning and the end are really the same thing, God is both, and in a human way of thinking I think there is only beginning. Everyday is a beginning, a start to worshipping Him. our time on this earth may have an end but we no longer live for this earth do we, we live for the glory of God in heaven, and that glory will never end. for an eternity we will worship, no end only beginning. There is no greater joy than to serve one another faithfully and in so doing we serve God himself. 

I have heard it said numerous times that there is a fresh start coming for Casa de Paz, a turning of the leaf, a new beginning. Well I hope for that to always be the case, not knowing what God will do tomorrow, only walking by faith in him and not by sight, lest we see ahead and make our own plans for tomorrow. 

For months we anticipated a team coming from the states, a team that would be at Casa de Paz for only an afternoon after being worn out from a long journey of going from place to place to serve God, worn out they arrived here to do one last service for the needy in Peru. It started off with a lost bag and an unsuccessful hunt for it. But God was not done yet with them, God started stirring hearts as Only God can. There is talk of an adoption happening for two of our teen girls, there is talk of a beautiful soft hearted talented woman coming for long term work, there is talk of a couple coming to visit for a week, and after that possibly long term. And thats only the things I know about, who knows what else is brewing. Time and again I heard it said how Casa de Paz was the highlight of the trip, I look up to God in awe, how do you do it Lord? I did not see it coming. Our God is an awesome God, He reigns in heaven and earth with wisdom power and love, our God is an awesome God. If there is one thing I can tell you about God stirring your heart, Don't ignore it or push it off, God nudges gently and guides with an unthreatening voice, the choice to either accept or not is all yours. Let me tell you its a lot easier to just suppress the feeling to do something "crazy" and just keep living your routine life. I think so many people miss out when they let the enemy convince them to wait and see if God confirms the calling. Don't get me wrong you need to wait on God, but when he speaks you gotta do your part, and if you understood him wrong, you can bet that he will honor your act of obedience the best that you knew how. and he will bless you for it.

I don't think much about the negative things going on all around, every so often I hear of someone who got murdered, or a bus got held up and robbed, or the guy who took the suitcase, or the guy who jumped our wall to stake out the compound. And I just thought about why I don't think about it. Because Good Always wins, and believe you me there is plenty of good present, when you watch a movie you always think about the good guy, you cheer him on in your head and you hope he will save the day, and so it should be in life, Jesus is the good guy and we already know how it ends, so lets watch how battles are concurred, focus on the good guy, this guy is not a mere actor, hes the real thing so praise him worship him, cheer him on, his victory is your victory. 

Yesterday is history; so learn from what happened and move on, tomorrow is a mystery; it is not here yet so don't try to live in it. Today is the present; a gift from God in your life, if you deal with this gift like a good steward and don't let it go to waste, tomorrows gift might be just a bit bigger. Bless you dear brothers and sisters, I love you in the name of our lord Jesus Christ.

Sunday

It's been a rather quiet Sunday at Casa de Paz. The power went out early this morning and was out for most of the day and came back on late afternoon. Here in Pacasmayo this is just a normal part of life. It happens often, and the people are prepared for it; every house keeps a supply of emergency water, flashlights or candles, and the few people around here fortunate enough to own a stove have ones that run on propane. Light, heat, and water and we're set! ThankYou Lord!

 It was a much quieter church service this morning without the loud music playing during worship, instead only beautiful singing voices were heard. I almost prefer it that way :) A few of our girls were feeling extra beautiful today, wearing their brand new Sunday dresses that were brought down from Canada with John and Cyndy. The girls were so excited, two of them came knocking on our door 7 o'clock this morning (2 hrs before church starts) already with the dress on and hair done, wondering if Karlita might have an extra pair of shoes they could borrow to wear with the dress. I am thankful for kind donations like this. Little things like wearing a new dress on Sunday mean so much to these girls.


Right after church, Jake and Avis headed off to Trujillo airport to meet Marti Pieper, the writer of Avis' new book. We're excited to have Marti stay with us at Casa de Paz for a week while she and Avis will be working on the book. 

For me and the kids it was a fun afternoon of playing ball, racing, and hide and seek. Not as much volley ball these days with so much fewer older kids. So many have left and gone back with relatives. We are down to only 30 children now, mostly little ones. Really praying for the few older ones that are still here, and so happy that a few more have been declared abandoned just recently, meaning they are up for adoption!  With one adoption currently in the process, and one of our girls being sponsored, we are Praising God and praying for more!  My heart goes out to the older ones. Their chances of adoption are less, yet they are the ones who want it most.  One of the 15 yr old girls asked me if I could find adoptive parents for her when we go to Canada.  I can't promise her that - as much as I want that for her with all my heart - but I can pray. I don't know what God's plan is for this young lady, or for any of the other kids, but I do know it's a good plan.
His plans for our lives are so much better than our plans for our lives, and if we only let Him show us we will see. This is something I am learning more each day as God proves Himself faithful over and over, through every trial He brings us through. Let go and let God.  Let Him do what He does best, because He knows best. Everything is better when we learn to trust God and let Him be fully in control. He is faithful. He is good. And I am thankful!