Refuge Ranch

At the Refuge Ranch in Linden, Alberta with our dear new friends Rick & Carol Plett and Company! What an awesome night!

We got to meet up with the Josties en route through Ontario! God just so directed that our paths crossed on the highway! :) It was really great visiting for a little while- We love you guys!

 Gabe and Tai in Plevna :)

 I LOVE sweet sunsets with sweet couples next to them :)

dear friends in Plevna: The Lemkes and the Bartletts- we love you each and really hope to see you again soon! :)

Marmora,ON

Some of the awesome group God blessed us with while in Marmora, ON! Some we got to stay with, others came to the concert, and all of us were so blessed by what God did in each heart… it's actually amazing what He did that night.

This was so cool! We were heading out of town, and as we stopped at a stop sign, we saw this group of little girls running toward us down the street! It was the Dejong family we had met the night before! :) We jumped out, got a TON of hugs :) had a super fun few moments, grabbed a picture and headed on our way. :D   I LOVE God connections! :) 

A view into God's heart

Do you know that this picture, as poor a quality as it may be) is actually a view into God's Own heart?
This is a lush, green field filled with little yellow paintbrushes, and as I looked at it, I was just so caught up with joy and gladness! I wanted to dance around the field for joy because this... this little piece of creation came bubbling out of God's Heart. Just think of it! When He created the heavens and the earth, these brilliant little flowers just came springing out from the overflow of His pure Heart. :)

So I began to think of the kinds of things that would happen if we started just hanging out with the Lord. That might sound like a casual way to put it, but I'm talking about just being with Him, just spending lots of time learning what He likes and what He thinks about, and the depth of His pure heart. Who knows what might happen when we spend lots more time with Him? These kinds of things might just begin springing out of OUR hearts too!! :) In the midst of this oppressively dark world, when we start seeking God, He's going to start creating a purity in our own hearts and causing joy to come welling up within us, also.
So, just a few thoughts, and I hope it blesses someone and simply inspires us to spend wayyy more time with our amazing Creator.
God bless you!!
In Christ's joyful service, Miriam

WOW we have a lot of catching up to do….

You know, one would think it'd be pretty easy to just do a quick update any time.. but I have learned to out manoeuvre those silly assumptions of mine to go for the more impractical route. :) 

I have been thinking of you all a lot though and very much wanting to write for you and post pictures, so now I can get a chance to at least tell you this and you can know you weren't forgotten or left out! 

I'll try to do a bit of a re-cap on the goings on of the last…  uh oh… well, the last…. 2 months…. =) and try not to be TOO long winded. :) 

So here I go *deep breath*  ……..*………………………… *well*… well okay, never mind. I can't do it. I simply CAN'T avoid being long winded, so I'll just do a post dedicated to Grand Manan, NB and THEN… go on to tell of the next 2 months after that. After all, how many times do we get to go to an island even smaller than PEI??

(population 2,460) 

~The Adventures of Grand Manan~

April 14-15, 2012

WAIT!!!

 Don't get ahead of the story! There were adventures even BEFORE the Grand Manan adventure! :)

On land we discovered a deserted isle! ….

in which Gabe goes discovering..

it appears upon first inspection, to be merely a little peninsula, not a deserted isle after all… but upon further inspection, and a few pairs of wet feet, we discovered that it indeed becomes an isle quite separated from land in only minutes! 

Fortunately, we did not know this and blithely carried on.

here we cross, unwittingly, the dry sand to the isle.

Gabe discovers a rope! how convenient, AND adventuresome!

after following a little trail that wended its way amidst the most amazingly fragrant, moss-draped conifers, we finally came upon the last outcropping of rocks 

and so stood he on that point

quickly we were alerted to the approaching of our ship, so we went back, and here discovered that the lovely causeway we had crossed over on, what formerly had been dry sand, now had been overtaken by the ocean waters which were rising at an incredibly rapid speed. (inches every wasted moment) WOW we DID feel adventurous!! 

Anticipation

we set off! 

At the high school we set up to do a concert, and Seth tries his hand at a tuba…

ZOWIE I think he's a natural…

While looking up things in my journal, I found the entry I wrote for that weekend, so I think I'll write down an excerpt..

Journal entry:

"… Saturday we had a concert at their school and we found out that a group of ladies had started meeting together to pray twice a week for revival on the island and had been meeting for the last 7 years! They had been inspired by the same revival that inspired us 7 years ago (while we were still working in Massachusetts) - that which took place in the Hebrides (pronounced Heb-er-dees)   of Scotland! So God let us go there… and get to help pray alongside them for at least a little bit that He would pour out His Spirit on the Island. Oh what a blessing! He SO blessed the night, and all of the older generation who left just were so thankful.. some were even misty eyed and broken up by what God did in their hearts. :)  The dear janitor who was working, Jacqueline, probably touched my heart the most. She had shown up so overwhelmed, weighed down and stressed by her day and week, and when she came in.. she immediately felt the peace of God flood her. She said she felt so much real joy in her heart!  We had such sweet fellowship with Pastor Kirk and his wife Jo, Pastor Jasper and Debbie, and a few other very dear people. :) 

Then saturday night began the intense battle, that's only now ending. (Here we caught the severe stomach flu that apparently went around the East Coast.) Tai was up all night losing her dinner, I was up all night feeling yucky, Gabe was up because he was praying for Tai, and Joel was up feeling the same as me. Then morning came and Tai and I couldn't leave the motel for being so sick, she couldn't come for the concert service. Then Joel and I started er, having to call uncle ralph over and over,(before and during the concert) and had chills and couldn't stand… then the concert started…. somehow by God's grace we were there! Standing! But… we couldn't do the dance… Joel really must have been worse off than me, but he kept on praising God so whole-heartedly and really gaining victory. We knew we had to just stand and pray (which at that moment was exceedingly hard to do) and that God would do the rest. Hallelujah!…"

"God is our Refuge and Strength, a very present Help in trouble(!)" ~Psalm 46:1

"But as for me, I will hope continually,and will praise Thee yet more and more(!) My mouth shall tell of Thy righteousness, and of Thy salvation all day long(!)" ~Psalm 71:14-15

This is one of our Grand Manan representatives!  (Jacqueline, who I was telling you about! :) 

                   

AND even though I totally forgot to take a picture when I saw them there, I HAVE to post a pic of the family I met last summer on PEI who were from Grand Manan and said they'd make it if ever we did a concert there! :) And they DID!

So this is for you guys! Love you! :)

We spent one more night there to try to re-coup and got to see a last sunset. :) Praise God for what He's doing there- keep praying for the whole Island to meet Jesus!

God bless you all and be encouraged to keep pressing on in your pursuit of righteousness!

Please pray for us as we set out tomorrow morning for a July tour in New England!

In Christ, Miriam

"And after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives."

Isn't that so sweet? Never once have I thought of Jesus... singing. I don't know why it has never occurred to me before! Of course! Jesus would have sung continually. :)

He would have sung all during His growing up--at various times while working alongside His father, as He walked along the streets, out on sailing vessels, then in His ministry years He must have sang while walking through fields and at night when His disciples were with Him around a fire... or perhaps while they fell asleep... maybe their minds would be racing as they wondered about what they'd left behind and if those things were being taken care of. After all, they were normal people who had answered God's call on their lives and had left behind everything they knew to follow Jesus. Perhaps they were thinking of what new lifestyle they were entering and what might happen in the future.
 They were scorned a lot by the very teachers and spiritual leaders they had grown up under, they were questioned by those who they used to hang out with, and they were going by faith because many people around them misunderstood them and rejected them.

Then... out of the dimming light of the campfire, there came a welcome sound: that of an incredibly sweet, deep, reassuring voice that rose in a song of confidence in God. At the sound of this voice, all fears and doubts melted away and their minds were at perfect peace. A peace came over them that passed understanding and they knew in their hearts that this was indeed the path that God had called them to walk. Everything in their lives could change, but the voice of Jesus would remain in their hearts and assure and bolster them.

Now, can you imagine how it must have felt in the context that this verse is taken from? 

Can you imagine the moment? Here, 2,000 years ago, sit the twelve disciples with Jesus... 

They've just had the most bittersweet communion together, recounting the first Passover of the Jews (with Jesus Himself telling the story!)  and then listening as He tells them that as of that moment He was sealing a whole new covenant between God and man that would give all people then and now freedom to come to God through Him... becoming Himself the Passover Lamb that would truly take away the sins of the people before God. Then as He tells them of the need... of Him being put to death.. in order to truly be the Sacrifice for our sins...

The disciples are taken aback by all that's just happened.. and their minds are full of all the things Jesus has just spoken to them..and they're trying desperately to take it all in and understand the full meaning.. their hearts are being overcome with grief as they realize that their beloved Teacher and best Friend Who they've just spent the last 3 years in continual fellowship with...  is going to die. They can't grasp the fact that He will rise again.. their hearts are in turmoil and it's all to much to take in!

And then there comes the sweetest sound again.. that of Jesus' deep, loving and reassuring voice, rising in a song of glory to God and complete confidence and trust in His good plans- and this time they join in together, and as they sing all fears and doubts melt away and a peace that passes understanding enters their hearts. Though everything in their lives will change and be thrown into turmoil, Jesus, Who KNEW what was about to happen, started singing...even as He faced His ultimate trial.  


May you be much encouraged as you press on in following Jesus! Just as the disciples 2,000 years ago, let us also follow our Lord- even as there will be trials continually. Let us sing also to God in complete faith and trust in His good plans!  Jesus is calling His people to follow Him so let us "press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward high calling of God in Christ Jesus." 
God bless you each and I'm praying for you! Jesus sacrificed His life for us- can we do anything less for Him Who we love so much? :)


~Your sister in Christ, Miriam


Reference: Matthew 26:30, Philippians 3:14