The Flock Under His Care…..

Come, let us bow down in worship,

Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;

For he is our God

And we are the people of his pasture,

The flock under his care.

                                                                       Psalm 95:6,7

Earlier in this Psalm we are called to praise the great God who made the expanses of the heaven and earth and still holds them in his hands.  It’s amazing that this same God is the One who created us and continues to hold us and care for us, too.  We are clinging to this truth these days as John and I transition with our kids to a year of living in the US.  So many unknowns and changes for all of us, but especially our girls going off to college, and Joel hitting public school in 10^th grade!  We are totally out of control, but God has us all in his hands, caring for us, his sheep.  This gives us hope.

Joel

Rebecca

Julia

It is also SO reassuring as we leave many beloved friends here in Kenya for the year.  They have many needs.  Some may not be here when we return.   But our gracious God is caring for them.

Joyce & her family

Like Joyce and her children… many needs health-wise and heart-wise.  We visited her today, and she genuinely wants to follow Jesus and be a good mom, but when life seems too hard, she reverts to pre-Christ habits.  We thank God that Jesus died to destroy the work of the devil, and we claim victory in her life, by His blood.  She and her family are under His care.

Betty, Peris & Linda

Like Betty and her family….  She came to Christ in 2006 and has had complete victory since then over her alcohol problems.   PTL!  During our last year of Home Ministry Assignment (2008-2009) her cow was brutally killed with occult connections.  Just in the last months God has helped her pray for deliverance from the evil influence on her life left over from pre-Christ days, and she is experiencing more peace and victory than ever.  

Philip & Anna

Like Philip and Anna, who are very weak physically, especially Philip.  He has had ups and downs in the Lord over the past four years, but is very much walking with Him now, as is Anna.  We put their fragile lives in God’s hands as we say good-bye to them for now, and maybe for this life… with assurance that we will see them in heaven one day.

Tabitha Bible study leaders

And the Tabitha Ministry Bible study Leaders – each has her own story, and her own set of personal needs at this time.  But each one is committed to following Christ and to leading others in the study of His Word.  We are so thankful they are all under HIS CARE!

July 2013 Prayer Requests

Thank you so much for your support and prayers as we continue to serve the Lord. Please continue to pray with us these requests in the coming months.

1.  Pray for Peris who will lead the Tabitha Ministry during the next year.  Pray for a close walk with Jesus, and for discernment and patience in leadership issues.

2.  Pray that the 800 Bibles we need to distribute to women who have earned them will arrive soon!  And that each woman who receives one will read it every day and be nurtured in her walk with the Lord.

3.  Pray for the people mentioned in the blog post, that each will grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord.

4.  Pray for our family in the transitions ahead, that we will rest deeply in the fact that we are the flock under His care. 

"The words of the LORD are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times" Psalm 12:6

The core of Tabitha Ministries is found in the 178 village bible studies meeting each week to learn about the precious Word of God. After studying Psalm 146 in January, we started February off by continuing to seek out the beautiful truths in the Gospel of John.

Many women in the Koiyet and Manyata studies have memorized and recited 17 verses with the hope of receiving their own Bible: this past Sunday was full of joyful celebration as we dedicated 95 bibles to these women.

I had the opportunity to speak on Psalm 146 for the Sunday morning service. The four boxes by the podium contain the Bibles dedicated.

It was a full service! Many families sat outside to be involved in the celebration.

Before handing out the Bibles, the study leaders performed a drama based off of our January Psalm. Praise God, who sets the prisoner free and lifts up those who are bowed down!

Imagine getting your own Bible in your own language for the first time. What a joy!

To show their appreciation, each woman who received a Kipsigis Bible offered squash, eggs, carrots, millet, and others as a gift.

A New Year--A New Psalm

 

It is a time to celebrate how God has sustained us, lifted us up, fed  us, freed us and watched over us in 2012, and to also look forward to His care through the year ahead.

To help us begin the year with praise and prayer, our Tabitha Bible studies dive into a Psalm each January. Many of these women relate to and lean on the precious words of God’s protection and providence.

This month Psalm 146 is our focus:

                                Praise the Lord!
                                Praise the Lord, O my soul!
                                I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my
                                God as long as I live.

Do not trust in princes, in mortal men who cannot save.

                        When their spirit departs, they return to the ground.

On that very day, their plans come to nothing.

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,

Whose hope is in the Lord his God,

The Maker of heaven  and earth,

The sea , and everything in them -

The Lord, who remains faithful forever.

He upholds the cause of the oppressed,
and gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets prisoners free,  Lord gives sight to the blind,

The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,
the Lord loves the righteous.

The Lord watches over the alien, and sustains the fatherless and the widow

But he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

 

The Lord reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations.

Praise the Lord!

 

He gives food to the hungry Josphine a diabetic and a widow, received a gift cow in 2012, and it is helping her and her family get the nutrition they need.

He sets the  prisoner free…  Philip and Anna are reunited after a year of separation when Philip was drinking and far from the Lord.  Anna had to live separately from him to avoid danger, all the while keeping her husband in prayer. He is free in Jesus now, and they are living in peace.

He sustains the fatherless  The Lord took Joyce home to heaven in December, and all five children are being cared for by God’s family in chldrens’ homes and in the neighborhood.

…and the widow….  Janet testifies of God’s support this year, as a widow and HIV positive.

These are just a few of the testimonies Tabitha has been able to witness, hear, and be apart of this year. Praise be to the Creator of the universe, who cares for the poor and needy.  His promises are true!

There are times when all of us as leaders of Bible studies, and moms, have been bowed down this past year, and God has lifted us up.  Pray for these center leaders and me as we trust the Lord in our own lives in the year ahead, and point others to Him as well.

Like many women, children and families in Tenwek, may you and I be able to whole-heartedly lean on the promises of the Lord, who remains faithful forever.

Like Psalm 146, let us begin and end our years with Praise to God!

 

 

 

New 2013 Prayer Requests

Thank you so much for your support and prayers as we continue to serve the Lord. Please continue to pray with us these requests in the coming months.

1. Pray that Psalm 146 will become part of the regular worship of hundreds of churches this year.  The ladies will put the Psalm to music with the goal of teaching it to their local churches.

2.  We are so excited to have our niece Abby Joy living and working with us until April.  God is opening up many opportunities for her to reach out, using her  gifts of art and discipleship.  She is studying the Bible each week with Betty, a young woman who is a family friend of ours, with a troubled past.  She has recently decided to follow Jesus.  Pray for Abby and Betty as they seek the Lord together.

3. Thank God for over 300 needy families we were able to help in December with fertilizer and sorghum to plant. (Sorghum is resistant to the fungus that plagued last year’s crops.)  Pray for God’s blessing so each field will provide food for these families in the months to come.

4.  I am meeting with Abby, Peris and Selly to teach them how to write a Bible study.  They are  eager learners!  Pray that we will be able to write studies in John now for the year I will be in the US on Home Assignment (starting in July).  Definitely a God-sized request!!!