2012 - Already a full year!

So it is January 8th 2012. The morning of the 8th day and I already feel like God has done a lot in 2012.
What has He done? He is speaking to me to do a few things.
One...write more. He has given me momentary thoughts that have really challenged my thinking or encouraged me and told me to write them down. I have had a couple of deep conversations with some people too about His Love and His Word. God really wants us to fully use the Helper that He sent to us. Yes! The Holy Spirit. He sent Holy Spirit to be a helper, counselor, encourager. The Greek word paraclete..was originally used. (look it up:) Holy Spirit is an active member of our Christian lives but only as active as we allow.
I had a friend already challenge me to write a blog or devotional...so here goes Darren! Not sure how to do this my friend...but here goes!
If you're reading this and you need a word of encouragement...here it is! God is alive and well and working for your best! Not what we want but what we need! What is best for us!
Having a hard time believing that? Its called trust and faith. It is looking at God's character and believing that He does not have favorites. That He loves us each equally! This has always been a bit hard for me to believe but I am choosing to believe it. A little over a year ago, God challenged me to really believe that He loves me and has a purpose for my life or to just stop! It was a harsh moment. But God doesn't want us to believe it only part of the time! He wants us to believe Him all of the time! To get up each morning believing that He has a plan and a purpose for us that day! To be ALL in!!
Is this hard? Yep!! Some days at least, those days when we are doing things we are tired of...painting trim, fixing a toilet (again), taking paint off of cabinet doors that we just put on but it didn't dry correctly, trying to get rid of bugs! Yep, those days are kind of hard to see that we have a purpose for the King of Kings! But then He allows us to pray for someone or challenges our thinking! Then we get a little glimpse of how much He cares about us!

So choose to believe Him or not!! Stop being half way in! Finish what He started in us when we were born! A purpose!! That what we have and what we are!
YOU HAVE A PURPOSE!! Step up and start living with purpose!

Long Overdue Update

Walker Family adventures have continued quite nicely here.

Ned is continuing to work in the accounting office here at YWAM Orlando. He enjoys it although it can be somewhat stressful at times. Finances is definitely an area that can bring stress regardless of your life situation. Sadly, money is such a deciding factor when the deciding factor should really be what God has told us to do.
Ned is also over transportation this quarter. He helped during the summer quarter while some other staff members were out of town. He enjoys the challenge of trying to arrange transportation for staff although sometimes it is a bit much with limited vehicles and drivers. Oh, and the office and main property being about 35 miles apart is quite a challenge too!

I am learning all kinds of interesting things!! My task for the past few quarters has been to get the former staff/student housing by the airport ready to rent. We have had numerous students come through on a quarterly basis for years so there are many things that need fixed up and painted. This week I had the privilege of re-doing the PVC flange in the floor that holds the toilet in place! Yep, that was fun! I now work on air conditioners, dishwashers, dryers and plumbing! Not to mention baseboard, trim, closet doors and painting! Plus showing the same house over and over to potential renters. You could pray for the right people to rent these homes!

Samantha is serving at the local church here through the youth group. She plays guitar in the worship band on Wednesday evenings and teaches guitar on Sunday afternoons to the junior high starting youth band. She is enjoying it a lot and it is really challenging for her. She also sings some for worship and got to lead last night as the worship leader was out of town. It is neat to see how she is dealing with challenges of teaching students on different levels and how she deals with each of them.

Hannah was privileged to go the Ukraine this summer! She did a 5 week trip with our Youth Department here. They did training for dances and dramas here in Orlando and then went to Kiev, Ukraine. She has some really funny stories about her time there. Her favorite was getting to paint at the only facility in the country for people suffering with autism. She also was able to see for herself that God used her prayers not just the family's or the group's! Our children have to develop their own faith and letting go and allowing this is often hard!

Jesse just turned 11!!! That is hard to believe! He is quite the worker and loves to be on lawn crew with the staff here! He enjoys mowing but I think his favorite is getting to wear the back pack blower:) It seems as big as he is sometimes! He is definitely growing into a young man and loves the Lord. He and I play Ultimate Frisbee each Sunday afternoon and it is neat for him to interact with such older guys and play hard with them.

Well, that's what is happening now! We are still working on getting to the Dominican Republic full time but know that God has us here for this season! It is His Timing that is best to fulfill His Purposes not our own Plans! This is tough at times but He does know best!

Please keep us in your prayers. Especially for finances. Also for wisdom for the future!

Thanks for taking the time to read this! Blessings all, Debbie

Love and a Choice

Today I am overwhelmed with the thought that Easter is about love and choice.

God loved us so much that He chose to send His Son to earth to live and die for us!
Jesus loved us so much that He chose to endure the cross for us!

Now it is our time to choose! Following Christ is the best choice that I ever made! We are choosing to live our lives for the One who gave His life for us! Its a matter of love and choice. We choose who we love! We have chosen Jesus!

Our prayer today is that you will also choose! Choose to love the One who loves you more than anything in the world!

Thank you for choosing to be a support to our family so that we can choose to live for Christ!!