The value of a friend

Those who are suffering need a friend not a solution. The hardest kind of pain isn't according to the circumstances you are going through, but it's when you are going through those circumstances with an unbelievable feeling that you are suffering alone. 


This came out of one of the most productive talks I've had in awhile. Last night on the way home from Noom's village, Noom and I somehow started talking about the first couple of years that we lived in Ubon. It was a very hard and a very lonely 2 years. For Noom it was hard because the ministry of being a father to 2-4 teenage boys was demanding, and for me it was hard because in my struggles of being a mother to 2-4 teenage boys (and being the only farang and the only girl in the house) I felt alone. But I will never regret what we did because God was leading us and holding our hands through it all, and He taught us a WHOLE lot (as you can see, we are still learning from it today!). 

In our ministries we come across people who are suffering from a variety of things: health issues, broken hearts, dead-end jobs, grief and more. Looking back on the things we struggled with in the first couple of years in Ubon, I realised it was the feeling that I was alone that caused the most pain and wouldn't allow me to sort through the struggles that I had with mothering these guys. If I had someone to walk beside me (I'm not saying Noom didn't, because probably only a woman could understand a woman's struggles!) then maybe my struggles wouldn't have seemed so big. 

I asked God why it had to be so hard, why all the sacrifices we had made sometimes seemed to end up being thrown back in our faces, and apart from encouraging me that there WAS fruit which came out of what we did, He also turned me to the circumstances that my friends are facing today - friends in the Bethany Home ministry, friends in my team, old friends of Noom, and friends in Noom's ministry. How can we be a friend to them? How can we stand beside them in their struggles? All too often we rush to try and solve a problem, but we don't realise that that person doesn't need a problem solver, they don't even need a teacher. They just need a friend. They just need someone to stand beside them, to hold their hand, to understand where they are coming from, to listen to them without judging them.

Being a friend to someone can save their life. Please pray that we will be friends to those we are reaching out to, not a "rescuer" that does more damage than good - because only God can be both their Friend and their Rescuer, and all that we should be doing apart from being their friend is to help point them to the only One who can rescue them. 

We've had a very busy week since our last blog! Noom was at the village for 5 days harvesting rice - I got to harvest for a couple of those days but had to juggle it with meetings, travel, and a sinus infection! But we are both really thankful for the opportunity to harvest rice this year, as the last 4 years in Isaan we just haven't been available during the rice harvesting season to have a part in this special time and allow God to teach us while we work alongside Noom's family. We were also very blessed to have close family friends and their team in Ubon in that time.

After the rice harvesting, Eliyah started reacting to the weather change and has been wheezing again - the second time since announcing in our newsletter that he was asthma-free! It's been a tough time but a good reminder to me that family is the first ministry - how ironic since our whole ministry is based on reaching families! However, God is teaching us that not all ministry can be put aside and we need to have a balance which means sometimes making sacrifices for the bigger picture of God's work here. Noom has been quite busy with the rice harvesting, soccer ministry and recording songs for a new project of a friend of ours, but God has been strengthening him, encouraging me, watching over Eliyah, and giving us precious family times in between.

So this is what we've been going through in the last week or so. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us and continually supporting us as we live life learning!

It's harvest season!

Jesus said in Luke 10:2 that the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. We've been able to see the truth of this verse in both literal and spiritual terms here in Isaan. This month is the harvesting season where all the rice fields are harvested, and Noom has been able to help his family harvest rice in the last week. Unfortunately I couldn't go because I've been sick, but we plan to go back to the village next week for another few days to help with more harvesting. This year is especially hard because the harvest really is plentiful, but only 3 people (Noom's stepdad, mother, and half brother) have been working in their field, and they've been working out in the hot sun every day for a week with little progress.

This last year was declared "The time of harvest" (spiritually) for Thailand, and many times I have wondered why we haven't seen much spiritual fruit. But only just now have I realised that "the time of harvest" doesn't mean receiving, at least not immediately. The time of harvest means you get up and work 10 times harder than before, in order to bring that harvest IN. Only when the harvest is in can you really see the fruit. "The time of harvest" just means that the fields are ready, but it's only when we go out into those fields and WORK HARD alongside others that we will see the fruits of the harvest. 

Therefore, this last year and the next year may not be a time of harvest where we are sitting back watching peoples lives being changed and coming to know the love of God. However, it has been and will continue to be a time of harvest where we will go OUT into the fields and work even harder than before, believing and trusting that the fields are ready and that there will be fruit. Please pray for us, and as Jesus said in the second half of Luke 10:2, please pray that more workers will be sent out into the field!

Scarves and shawls for sale!

One of my goals in Bethany Home is to encourage young and/or single mothers to find a suitable job that will help support themselves and their families. The young soon-to-be mother who I posted about in the last blog has just started to make and sell scarves and shawls to help support herself until she gives birth. This has been a great job for her as her high-risk pregnancy doesn't allow her to work or even walk around too much, she has no-one else to support her and is living on nothing, and it gives her something to focus on doing during the day.  It costs quite a lot for the wool to make these items and they take around 1-2 days to finish, so they are not cheap for Thais but for those here in Thailand who need a scarf for the coming winter or those in other countries who want to help out, please see the pictures below and contact us for more information!

Scarves (available in a variety of colours) are 450 baht ($AU 16.00) each
























Shawls (available in a variety of colours) are 500 baht ($AU 18.00) each