Former Turkey

I've been reading this fantastic book by Anne Graham Lotz called Just Give Me Jesus.  It seems like every time I read it the Holy Spirit gives me insight into God or my relationship with him.  This book has been a lot of confirmation for me about what God has been teaching me over the past year.  In a nut shell since 2012 things just keep falling apart in one way or another in my life.  By the world's standards its been the worst year of my life.  However, God has used all the trials to finally get me to the place where I have a deep relationship with him.  So despite what I "should" feel about 2012 I consider it to be the best year I've ever had because the benefits are so great.

So back to Lotz's book...in the chapter about the blind man Jesus heals she confirmed God's use of  trials to draw us into a deeper relationship with him.  Lotz emphasizes that how we face trials is important.  We can look at our difficulties like turkeys or like eagles.  When a storm comes turkeys hide under the closest structure and put their head under their wings.  That has pretty much been my approach, "If I pretend like this isn't happening and wait it out then it will go away!"

In all honesty this is a working approach to life's tough stuff but as a believer there are no benefits to facing a storm like a turkey.  The other option is to anticipate that the storm is coming, because really when is life EVER perfectly calm.  I've discovered life is really just one storm after another.  If I'm prepared in my relationship with God to face whatever is on the horizon in the Lord's strength then I get to take an entirely different perspective.  Lotz uses the example of an eagle who leaves the security of it's nest to ride the air currents of the approaching storm, knowing the wind will carry it higher in the sky than it could soar on its own.

I know this is a way over used example but somewhere between having to quit my job because of adrenal fatigue last year and the heartbreak of infertility this year with all the junk in between God has taught me how to soar.  It's hard to describe because I know the peace the I have is from God.  Suddenly the things that I have been missing in my relationship with God have been filled in as I have been forced to lean into the Lord for my daily sanity.  I am so different now then I was last year!  I have so much more on my plate now then I did then and yet by the grace of God I'm not freaking out or succumbing to the stress.  God is faithful and I am so grateful for everything that has brought me to this place.  I can't even begin to imagine the heights and the depths to come in my life but I know God will use them and that I no longer need to hide like a turkey!  

Highlights From The Philippines

 

Thank you all so very very much for your support for the trip to the Philippines.  The Lord worked in incredible ways while we were there!  So much happened while we were there that I could fill at least 10 more blog posts and go on forever.  However, I will stick to the highlights for now and share some of my favorite moments.

• The photo above was probably my favorite of the entire trip. The little boy in the picture is one of the orphans at Beacon of Hope named Luis.  On day two we bonded over the conversation taken in this photo.  We just started talking and Luis told me all about Jesus and how much he loves us and how he lives in an estate in the clouds.  Clearly Luis has retained a lot from church!  And then Luis asked me in all seriousness, "If I'm really good this week, Can Jesus come back on Friday?"  My heart just melted!  What a precious child. This was the first of many talks we had almost every day - granted the others were about Spider Man, Power Rangers, and his brothers at BOH but this first one is a memory I will cherish forever.  

• We got to help Les and Cynthia with many projects around the orphanage.  We painted and decorated the kids rooms with verses from the Bible.  The guys redid all the broken window screens so they can open the windows without bugs getting in.  The ladies went through and organized the kid's school room as all their resources were jumbled together and inaccessible.  We spent tons of time with the kids, loving on them.  We got to know the care givers and were able to encourage them and show them new things to do with the kids.  Everything at BOH was incredible!  

• Out in the community we did a VBS at a local evangelical church.  It was the first one ever done in the area and the kids were packed in!  We had over 120 the first day!  I taught songs I learned at Mountain Top Youth Camp as a kid.  The children loved them, especially "He Made The Stars To Shine."

• The pastor at the church connected us to a local school and we were able to feed the entire school of 500 kids for $125!  Then we were also blessed beyond measure to be able to go to each classroom and share the Gospel message.  The kids were so excited about the food and so attentive to what we said about Jesus.  When we left the children all followed us!  I was surrounded by 20 kids deep on every side.  

• We were also invited in another neighborhood school, this one with 1,000 kids!  We were able to do a mini VBS with the kindergarteners and then the principal of the school walked us around to each classroom so we could share with all the kids about the love of Christ!  The principal was shocked to hear that we would not be allowed to do this in our own country.  He said, "I though the US had freedom of religion!"  Hmmm....

All in all it was a most incredible trip and the Lord gave us the opportunity to share the Gospel with about 1,500 people!  Something I could never have foreseen.  God answered all our prayers for this trip!  I have never been more grateful for my Child Evangelism Fellowship training in my life.  It's amazing how some principals stay with you and how the Lord brings them to mind when they are needed.  Praise the Lord for all he has done!  I thank Him for using you to make my part in this trip possible.  Thanks again to all of you for your support both in prayer and with your finances. 

Well I'm off to the Philippines this afternoon.  Last night I just realized that our team will be in transit for 24 hours to get to the orphanage!!!  That's 2 hours to the LAX Airport, 3 hours for check in with international flight, 17 hours in the air with a layover in Guam, and then a 2 hour drive to the orphanage.  So please pray for our travel that we'll all be able to get some real rest and that our bodies will adjust to the 15 hour time difference!  Once we arrive here is our tenative schedule!

We arrive in Manila around 6 am Sunday morning, Feb. 10.

• Monday, Feb. 11 – visit local school to provide healthy lunch to (about 250) impoverished children. We will also give them a colorful gospel booklet and a pencil to keep
• Tuesday, Feb 12 - Introduce Preschool Bible curriculum we are bringing to teacher / caregivers, along with Preschool Bibles for all the BoH kids
• Wednesday– Friday, Feb. 13 – 15: Afternoon Bible Club (VBS) at local church for 50+ kids, including a meal
• Friday - movie night with BoH kids
• Sunday, Feb. 17 – attend local church and share briefly about our connection with Les & Cynthia and about outreaches

Sometime during second week - We will be

• Painting learning room, kids’ rooms, and adding colored walls and wall graphics
• Visit Manila and Cynthia’s school

Other possible opportunities we are pursuing – outreach to local barrio or an additional visit to local school.  And of course, there will be lots of playing with the kiddos at the orphanage and brainstorming with Les and Cynthia to assess how we can help them to both broaden and strengthen their support team.

If you want to see what we're up to our church will be updating a blog while we're gone, maybe daily!  The link is http://kingsfieldboh.tumblr.com/

Last all your prayers are going to be vital for this trip!  Below is a full list of things you can pray about!

Thank you all so much for you partnership and support for this trip!  I love you and can not wait to share what wonderful things God has done in the Philippines and in our team when I get back.

Prayer Points

For the Philippines and the local Community near the orphanage:

• That the light of God’s mercy, truth, and love would prevail over darkness in the Philippines
• That each family whose child receives a gospel booklet, would be powerfully and eternally affected by the good news of Jesus Christ. That they will receive His mercy and new life and commit their way to Him.

For Beacon of Hope:

• That God will send His heavenly host to guard and protect Les, Cynthia and the children as they seek to offer a place of refuge and love to needy children.
• That partnership with Kingsfield will be strengthened and they will feel renewed encouragement to pursue God’s purposes
• God’s provision and favor as they take steps to become an official adoption agency – able to facilitate finding loving, Christian homes for children
• That each of the Beacon of Hope children will be assured of God’s love for them and to be set apart to live for His glory
• That the caregivers would be women of faith and virtue, in harmony with Les and Cynthia’s leadership

For our Outreach Team:

• That God’s heart for lost and needy people will transform us
•  Unity in love and purpose
• Grace to bear with the discomforts of travel, foreign culture, and 2 weeks of close quarters with each other and a lot of children
• Protection from illness and injury
• Lasting fruitfulness in all our service to the orphanage and the community

Brother Lawrence

Today I want to share with you a quiet time gem I was introduced to many years ago by my husband David.  It is a very tiny book called "The Practice of the Presence of God" and it consists of journals and letters from a monk named Brother Lawrence who lived in the 1600's.  I just started rereading it and in this season of life it is having a completely new impact on my relationship with God. Now I know it may seem that a monk who lived 400 years ago would have nothing in common with our lives now but that is the beauty of Christianity.  We have a great deal in common with all believers regardless of when or where they live!  When you are reading the version of this book with updated language (i.e. removal of thees & thous) this could just as easily be written today by anyone desiring to draw near to God and be in His prescence continually.  It is basically one man's inner thoughts on how to stay always in God's prescence and the blessings that it can bring.  It is very encouraging because Brother Lawrence was just an average guy like the rest of us who never intended for his words to be published so it is very candid. It is such a short book that last time I read it in a matter of days.  This time I'm reading it right after our small group has finised the Experiencing God study by Henry Blackaby and I think by doing Blackaby's study first Brother Lawrence's book has taken on a much deeper meaning for me.  There is so much in this little book you can read a paragraph and meditate on how to incorporate it's truth into your walk with God all day!  Anyway I just wanted to share with you what a blesssing this tiny little book has been in my life and hopefully if you're in need of an encouraging book you can pick it up (Amazon has it for $6 here).

P.S. If you're visiting my page to find out more about Kingsfield Church's trip to Beacon of Hope Orphanage in the Philippines you can find out more information about the trip here.

Merry Christmas from Beacon of Hope

Well I'm headed to the Philippines on a mission trip to Beacon of Hope Orphanage in 42 days!  I'm so excited!  For those of you partnering with me on this trip I wanted to share the orphanage Christmas letter with you. 

If you would like to donate to this trip click here to get to my church's secure donation site.
On the donation site choose "Team memeber's travel expense" and put my name in the memo line. 

If you would like to give kid's shoes for the orphans click here for details. 

Merry Christmas!
From Beacon of Hope Family!

Kids’ comments about Christmas:

Luis said, “Mama, I am good, will Santa bring me gifts and strawberries?”
Jessie said, “Santa will give me a fire truck and a monster truck.”
Paula said, “It is Jesus’ birthday and Santa, too. Santa will bring you gifts if
you share yours toys with me!”
Christian said, “It is Santa Claus and Jesus’ birthday and I want lots of toys.”
Gabby said, “I want a nice dress.”

The children look forward to opening their gifts. Many thanks to Uncle
Junior, Auntie Pentine and family from Connecticut for sending two
boxes of goodies for the children; to Mary and Matt Descy, also from
Connecticut, for sharing their blessings with us; to Mama Rose’ friends
from Scripps Clinic, La Jolla, for sending clothes for the children, our
friends and families who tirelessly support the ministry since its
inception. Thanks to our sister, Leila, for raising funds for kid’s
education; many thanks to Kingsfield Church and Second Chance
Thrift Store for continued support and prayers.

The gift of love, sharing, happiness, friendship and good health; may
the blessings of Christmas bring you Peace and Joy throughout the
New Year!

With Love In JESUS’ Name,
Les and Cynthia McKinzie, BOH children and staff

Merry Christmas Everyone!

A very Merry Christmas was had by all this year!  Roxy most definitely enjoyed it so I thought I'd share pictures of her highlights!  David and I spent the first half of this Christmas season with the Kartzinels at Donna and Jerry's house.  We had the whole crew there including John's fiance Hannah.  We spent a lot of quality time together catching up and enjoying each other's company around the Christmas tree.  We kicked off our family time together with watching The Hobbit which I must say was fabulous! The day before Christmas was also a blast as we went to the local gun range to fire off hand guns!  I've never fired a handgun before so it was very adventurous.  It wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be either!  Over the week there was also lots of X-Box playing  with Halo and Call of Duty.  Christmas Eve we open all the family gifts and on Christmas morning Santa shows up with some very full stockings.  My favorite Christmas day activities are tied between decorating ginger bread houses together and the family game of nerf wars! The next few evenings we enjoyed watching some of the new DVD's the family got with Men In Black 3, Dark Knight Rises, and The Amazing Spiderman.  David and I agreed it was a fantastic Christmas and a delightful time with family!

Now I'm off to North Carolina for the second half of Christmas with my family there!  I can't wait to see everyone and catch up on how life is going.  I also get to meet Maggie, my cousin Drew's baby for the first time and I know that will be a big high light!  I hope you and yours have also had a wonderful Christmas season!  Love you all lots!

Shoes for 30 Little Feet!

What are 30 little active feet at Beacon of Hope Orphanage always needing?

SHOES!!!

One way you can help out the kids at the orphanage I will be visiting in February is by donating shoes.  What kinds of shoes does Beacon of Hope need?  I'm glad you asked! We need kids shoes sizes 9-1.  Shoes can be new or used as long at they're in good shape.  The Philippines is in the tropics so flip flops, crocs, tennis shoes and other active closed toed shoes are perfect!  Due to location and kids activities we do not need dress shoes or cold weather shoes. 

Getting the shoes to me is where this gets fun depending on your location!

• Orange County Locals: You can drop them off at Kingsfield Church or contact me and I'll happily pick them up from you.
• Durham, NC and surrounding areas: You can give them to my parents or grandparents and we will arrange for their shipment to CA.  Also I will be visiting from Dec 29th-Jan 16th if your shoes are ready to go contact me and we'll arrange a pick up or drop off point!
• Other Locations: You can send them in the mail to my church with a note inside that it is for the Philippines trip.  Kingsfield Church 27111 Aliso Creek Rd Ste. 100 Aliso Viejo, CA 92656

Please make all donations by February 1st so I can prepare them for the trip to the their new little owners. Thanks in advance for all your help!

If you would like to make any monetary donations to help cover my trip costs you can do so securely online here.  On the donation site choose "Team member travel expenses" and put my name in the memo line.