Yoga or Jesus

Ice is a common enemy of mine and it often waits for me to walk on it as I travel to my teacher's house for Bulgarian lessons. Most of the winter I have given ice its due victory and have taken the car to my lessons but today I walked.

Walking to the metro station I noticed a man standing next the steps with tears in his eyes. In his hands he held x-rays containing several pictures of a head. I stopped and asked him if he was okay and he said no. I asked him why and he began to tell me about his illness. When moments like these occur I know God has set up these special meetings because it is rare to find a complete stranger and dive into personally deep conversations. He told me his name was Lybchominev and began to pour out his heart regarding the sickness in his head and how it is affecting all of his body and ability to work. I am assuming it is cancer but since I do not know the word for cancer I can only convey in the blog what I did understand from our conversation. He told me of his problems financially due to his illness but that he had hope because of what he read on the internet. He showed me a picture on his phone of an Indian god who gives healing through yoga. He had research so much about it on the computer and he believes through yoga he will find healing. When he gave me an opportunity to speak I told him that I didn't know everything yoga promises to give a person but that I know everything my Savior promises. I told him that Jesus is the only way to God and this is written in the Bible. He said that he believed through buddah and other gods we can find our way to the same God. We talked about how in the Bible it is written that even though this idea sounded good it is not true because Jesus Himself says that ONLY He is the way to God. I asked Lybchominev if I could pray for his health in only the name of Jesus and he allowed me to. When I finished he told me "I looked at you and you were like an angel! You had light all around you!" I told him that I was no angel but that I am a child of God and that he did not let me walk past him today because God wanted me to tell him just how much He loved him. Lybchominev started crying and said "thank you for being my angel and I know He loves me." I invited him to church on Sunday and he said he would try to come someday. Please pray for Lybchominev (Лубчоминев)and for his salvation as he struggles with beliefs in yoga and for his health. Pray that he will come to church and that there he will find Bulgarian Christians who can better communicate the love of Christ to him. I am in tears because I so much want to share my heart without the barrier of my lack of language inability. Oh how it breaks my heart to see a need and not have the ability to quote scriptures in that moment. Please pray for my language to constantly increase drastically each day. Praise God that he can use an obedient heart in spite of a broken tongue that is unable to speak all that it desires.

The Big MISadventure!

It started out as an exciting Monday. Bethany and I were excited to be picking up the Roma women that evening for a women's party at a local church. This would be the first time we have had the opportunity to just hang out as women without children. We were excited to have the sweet moments to deepen our relationships. They say that trials can test the depth of a relationship but we weren't quite expecting the plate of misadventure that our evening had planned for us!
I picked up Bethany and we drove to the top of a hill to wait for the women. When we viewed the women walking towards our meeting place we left our spot to meet them there. Unfortunately our meeting spot is an exit ramp and I feared the cars driving past us would hit the car or one of our women. I drove the car into the snow to avoid the danger of the road and you guessed it, one of my tires went to deep. The car wouldn't budge. Bethany took the driver's seat and we tried pushing the car out of the snow. Finally a man came and asked us if we wanted his help. We had complete faith that this confident man could help us until he almost ran us all over! Praise God the car was stuck or we would have been under it. Then he did the unthinkable and drove the car forward into the deep snow. Now three tires were in deep! Two other men stopped and things went further downhill and I mean that literally! =) Finally we gave up and started walking. We decided we would take two taxis to the party since we wouldn't all fit in one. Unfortunately taxis are hard to find at 6:00 in the evening. We managed to flag down one taxi and I told him I didn't have any money and needed to go to the ATM right down the road. He took me to the ATM and it was broken. He kicked me out and left but we saw three other taxis but unfortunately they also turned us down. We walked to another ATM and while waiting for the money, it broke and shut down. We walked to a third spot and finally I got some money but now we had no taxi. Long story short, we finally end up with two taxis and my taxi driver would not give me my receipt until I gave him my phone number. He is convinced that I am going to give him a place to live in Texas and that he will live with my relatives until he finds a job. I guess I need to tell my parents that a random taxi driver is moving in! =D Needless to say other crazy events continued to occur but at the end of the day we made it to the party, Cameron and a super hero colleague pulled the car out of the snow and everyone is now home safe and sound! I am so grateful that our women were treated so kindly and loved on at the party. I was worried that after an evening spent working so hard to get to the women's party that they may meet the often snide glances and fake hellos but praise be to God they were shown love and acceptance. They were so excited to have attended and if God's love and the fellowship of His believers encouraged them tonight then I would gladly do it again, just not tomorrow! =D

Big thanks tonight to my partner and friend Beth who laughed at all this ridiculousness with me and encouraged me to push back the tears when things felt too heavy. Thanks for taking the load and sharing the burdens by giving me truth, love and encouragement in times of deep snow.

Big thanks to my sweet husband who is so gentle and encouraging. And to Jeff who gave up his evening to help pull the car out of the snow! You guys deserve a huge Milka chocolate bar and hug.

A gate called Beautiful

Acts 3
"A man who was lame from birth was carried and placed every day at the temple gate called Beautiful so that he could beg from those entering through the gate on their way to the temple."

He sits outside the gate called Beautiful, invisable but hoping to be seen,

He sits and begs and waits for help as the religious pass by this man unclean.

From the womb he has been lame and without hope he daily survives,

And he sits by the gate called 'Beautiful' watching the religeous pass him by.

The religious are so busy as the walk pass him on their way to worship God and confirm their dignified place,

The begger contiues to sit at the gate called 'Beautiful' waiting for the day someone shows him grace.

Like this begger's story in Acts chapter three,

Every day people sit at a gate called 'Beautiful' and look for the hope that is found in you and me.

The world passes them by as they sit at the gate praying to be seen,

The world sees their dirt, their mistakes and contiues to walk past the lame and unclean.

But Jesus speaks and says "You are created with a purpose, open your eyes and see-"

"Sitting by a gate called 'Beautiful' won't bring you beauty because it is only found in Me."

Jesus continues "I lift up your face with my hands and silver and gold I do not give"

"My sweet child sitting at the gate 'YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL and MY life I gave so that you can live."

Every day someone is sitting by a gate called 'Beautiful' waiting to be seen,

Will you stop and tell them about life in Christ or continue to walk past the begger and unclean? -Jennifer Phillips

"..At the name of Jesus the beggar's feet and ankles became strong and he jumped up, stood and started to walk. He entered the temple complex walking, leaping and praising God. All the people saw him and they recognized that he was the one who used to sit and beg at the Beautiful Gate of the temple."

My prayer is that God will continue to use us to stop walking past the invisable and that we will see the insivable people of this world leaping as they enter the Beautiful gates of heaven with praise and the world will be amazed that the hand of God overlooks no one and by the blood of Christ EVERY ONE is beautiful. God knows how to treat His bride and his children don't sit by a gate but get to walk through it leaping and shouting the praise of His great name!

When it melts...

As you know Europe has really been hit with a harsh winter and new numbers are reported daily of lives lost to freezing tempatures or like in Bulgaria the dams that recently broke and claimed lives with flood waters. My prayer for our country is that the temperatures will heat gradually and not quickly. With so much snow we could see problems with flooding should the snow melt quicker than the rivers and streams can handle.
The group we work with live right by a small river run off from the mountain. Living by this water gives them supply for drinking, cooking and bathing but I have a concern that living so close can be very dangerous for them should the snow melt quickly and overflow streams and rivers. Above, the pictures taken before the snowfall show us crossing the area I am talking about and a glance at their homes right next to it. Please pray for our country, the homeless who are losing their lives to the temperatures throughout Europe and for the temperatures to be gradual as they increase in heat. No flash floods!

A big smile, a weak heart

We have a little friend who goes by the name of DiDi in our Roma community who needs your prayer. He was born with a heart condition and had surgery as an infant but still needs at least a total of 3 more. Unfortunately he needs to be 100% healthy before he can receive the next surgery and he has struggled to stay healthy. DiDi is 3 years old and wears a huge smile on his face but his heart is weak. You can see him in the above picture sitting in my lap in during our Bible study and also with his mother in the other picture. (pictures used above were given permission to by used on this website by the mother of Didi in order to generate prayer support for his health needs)

On Sunday, the leader of the Roma group informed us that Didi has been unable to breathe well and had grown significantly more ill and asked if Beth and I could drive his mother and him to the hospital. When we arrived to pick them up, we noticed the shade of blue on his face and our hearts were heavy with concern. At the hospital the doctor said that she believed 100% without an x-ray that he had pneumonia and needed to be hospitalized however he would need a hospital that had a cardiology department. Unfortunately they could not help him and referred him to a different hospital. The problem is that Didi's mother had previously sought help from this particular hospital and stated that the hospital they referred us to had threaten to call social services and take away her son if they returned because she lived in a tent and not a home. I can say that I would prefer to see them living in a house somewhere too but that's not the case and since we are in their homes each week I can vouch that their homes are clean and warm on the inside. She lives differently than I do but we love our children just the same and I understood her fear of possibly losing him. We talked over different options and she decided to visit an urgent care center in a different area of town. The doctor there did not X-rays and very quickly diagnosed him with a sore throat and prescribed some medicines. I asked three or four times if his lungs were okay and every time I was told there was no problem with his lungs but only that his throat was swollen and was the cause for the breathing trouble and wet cough. Our heart is heavy tonight for Didi because we don't want an incorrect diagnosis to cause him further complications but also relieved that if it is only a throat infection then we should see our friend with a smile back on his face and healthy. Please pray for our little warrior Didi and for is heart to stay strong until his next surgery. Pray that the sweet hand of our Lord lay across his chest and help him breath tonight and that he would regain his health, especially in these unbelievably cold times across Europe.

Praise God for those who helped us collect some blankets for this sweet group of brothers and sisters in Christ. Praise God that we found three snow suits for three of our smallest kids in the community at a very cheap second hand store. Praise God for the honor we have to call the people of this group our friends and work beside them each week as they learn of the unending love of their Savior. Praise God for placing friends like Justin and Beth in our life to help with every daily task needed in this ministry. Our God is faithful and our God is good!