My New Years Resolution - took me 23 days to start!

I'm not someone to believe in New Year's resolutions, mainly because the 1st January is just another day. It's never too early or too late to make a change in your life. That said, 1st January is, like any other day, a perfect day to ask God "what do you have in store for me, and is there something you want to speak to me in order to prepare me for this?"

This year my team was encouraged to pray and ask God for a word or verse for the year, so I did. The word I got was to be still. The verse I got was to give thanks. Funnily, these two things are the things that I struggle with the most! So I made my New Year's resolution: Be still in thankfulness. Today, as I came back from our team meeting, and since I have some time alone while Eliyah sleeps (Noom is away for a few days in a neighbouring country), I decided that yeah - maybe I should start doing what I said I would. I wasn't feeling extremely thankful, but WOW, once I began writing things down I realised I have the WORLD to be thankful for! In other words…I couldn't stop writing things I'm thankful for.

Here's a selection, although I think most of them are more like confessions from your everyday missionary!!…

Thank you for giving. Thank you for this season. Thank you that you are good and this never changes no matter how I'm feeling. Thank you that the love I search for can be found in you. Thank you for busy work and teams. Thank you for family and friends. Thank you that although I feel like I have lost so much since leaving Australia, I've found it here, in you. Thank you for your grace and mercy. Thank you for being in control, even when I wish I was. Thank you for last-minute provisions, and your continued provision even at times when I can't see it. Thank you for being like the air, that although there are times when I feel you're not there, You are indeed there and it's You that's keeping me alive. Thank you that there is an oasis in every desert. Thank you for organisation that keeps me sane in busy times and restful times that leave me longing for those busy times to come back! Thank you for needing me to be a Mary and not a Martha. Thank you for the problems that rise up in our car, house, team and personal lives - because they remind me that I HAVE a car, house, team, and that I am sharing my life with others - and these were all answers to prayers. Thank you for your promises that never fail to show themselves as true as pure gold refined seven times over. Thank you for letting me be me. Thank you for the gifts of love and joy and faith. Thank you for your Son which has made possible all of these things that I am thankful for!

So that's my list for today. Those are my confessions for today! May God receive the glory and may we all learn together how we can be thankful for the things He is doing for us every moment of every day.

May we once again be like little children who get excited and thankful about something as small as the water moving with the wind.

Pray for Thailand

Here is a link to the latest news as of this morning regarding the shutdown in Bangkok. Please continue praying for Thailand and for God's will to be done. I am travelling to Bangkok tomorrow for a meeting, but will be avoiding the protest sites.

Inner Healing week and the upcoming weeks

Thank you all so much for your prayers over the last week as we participated in the inner healing program for all the YWAM Ubon staff. It was a very overwhelming but blessed time where we learnt a lot about ourselves, God's love and mercy, and our team members. God opened up and revealed many areas of our lives that we needed healing in which we are open to share face-to-face (or typing-to-typing, haha!) with friends who are interested in knowing more. These next few weeks as we prepare to go on furlough we'll be processing more and focusing on starting new habits which will hopefully put God first in EVERY area in our lives!

There are a few pics posted on our Facebook page from the last week.

Please keep us in your prayers for the rest of this month as we do many things in preparation for furlough. I, Karis, will be travelling to Bangkok (in the same time frame as it is said to be shutting down due to protests) for 1 day to meet with someone who is interested in helping out Bethany Home while we're away on furlough. I will also be sorting out work for our new mother and helping her to get settled in to her work before we leave. Noom will be travelling to Sisaket for a couple of days to finish recording the songs that he's been doing for a friend's project to create Bible songs in the Isaan language. He will also be travelling to a neighbourhood country for a few days at the end of the month to bring supplies to poor schoolchildren. Along with this, we both have meetings in the next week to make preparations for the work this year.

Thankfully, most of the time only one of us is busy at a time and the other is free to look after our boy.

Please pray for protection for our family in the next few weeks and praise God for His blessings and continued provision in everything we're taking a part in!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all our family and friends out there! We were so busy around Christmas Day that we didn't even write a blog, but we hope that you all had a blessed Christmas and remember that Jesus is the reason for the season! We could celebrate Christmas and giving all year round :-)

We are sensing that this year is holding lots of heavenly kisses for us as we have received words like "Be Still in Thankfulness" and "Come Back to Basics" and "First Love (Jesus)". Please pray for us as we figure out what these mean, and make sure that you also seek God for a special word or encouragement for this year. At the same time, a new year is just another regular day, so it's never too early or too late for a fresh start!

Please also pray for us next week as we participate in a week of inner healing with our YWAM team. We are praying for God to touch us and our team deep within and heal any emotional scars that we have from our pasts or the first few years in missions so that we can continue to be as effective as possible! The inner healing week starts on 6th Jan.

Thank you and may God bless you all as you settle in to 2014,
Noom, Karis and Eliyah