Consistent yet Original

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the countless ways that God, in creation, expresses His simultaneously faithful consistency and creative originality. 

In Isaiah 43 (as in many other passages) God reminds His children of His faithful, dependable love for them and goodness toward them with statements like,

 “Fear not, for I have redeemed you,”

“I will be with you,”

 “I am your Savior,”

“I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you,”

“you are precious in my eyes,”

“I love you.” 

And then He makes this statement:

“Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?  I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” – Isaiah 43:19

In the creation of music, one of the most captivating and emotive phenomena in human experience, God speaks to us about His consistent character yet continual originality.  Music, a sequence of notes performed in rhythm, must always maintain an established tempo and musical key, yet within that tempo and key the notes may be spaced and sequenced in any variety of ways to create a unique and original piece.  Unless a composition includes both a consistent and unchanging beat as well as a creative and varied arrangement of notes, the result is mere noise.  When the constancy and originality are harmoniously paired together, however, the product can, as Plato put it, “give soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.”

Visual art reflects a similar dynamic.  Our eyes are drawn to shades of paint on a canvas because of the simultaneous order and variance present when a harmonious palette of colors (harmonious because of their precise spacing from one another on the visible spectrum) is arranged in a completely new and original way before us. 

He is good.  

He is loving. 

He brings beauty out of chaos. 

We can count on it. 

Yet He is always expressing these attributes in new and creative ways.

He is faithful and unchanging, yet His scope of expression is as infinite as the frequencies within a musical key.  As boundless as the potential arrangements of color from a palette.

I’m so excited to see what God will do next!

- Laura

Applauding God in Quarantine

I just want to publicly applaud my Father’s amazing goodness to me.  I have seen so many ways in which He prepared and called me to this time in the states right now—even though it wasn’t part of my agenda.

At the beginning of 2020 I spent some time seeking the Lord regarding the new year and felt Him leading me to search my heart for the desires He was putting there.  Instead of making resolutions about what I wanted to accomplish, He led me to express and pray about desires He had laid on my heart.

Prayer

One of these desires was that God would grow my prayer life.  He had already given me a greater appreciation for the importance of prayer, and grown my desire to participate in kingdom advancing prayer, put I wanted to go deeper and learn to listen and respond to God’s communication to me.  He started answering that prayer immediately through a wonderful book on prayer, “Hearing God in Conversation,” by Samuel C. Williamson.  Additionally, he began to draw my attention to the ways He was speaking to me through circumstances and unexpected moments in my life.   

By the end of February I was so encouraged by my victories in this area that I had a growing desire to convey it or share it somehow with others.  God impressed on me the incredible impact that is made on a place when God’s people earnestly seek Him and proclaim His Lordship.  I began to pray that God would raise up prayer warriors.  I was burdened not only for prayer to grow in Cusco, but also within the US church.  I had a deep longing to do something to help the US church grow in passion for the Lord through passionate prayer.  I prayed toward this end, but I wasn’t sure what else I could do from Cusco and given my busy schedule of responsibilities there.

Since I’ve been back in the US my burden for the church here continues to grow and the Lord is slowly giving me opportunity after opportunity to speak about this burden with different people and groups. As I run in the mornings and pray earnestly for the homes and churches in this area, God has impressed on me the truth that an earnest prayer warrior will undoubtedly make a difference in the place where he prays.  Oh, may I not go unnoticed by the enemy in Birmingham!  For the previous year God had me praying earnestly for Cusco, and while I continue to do that from afar, He has now moved me to join the spiritual battle in a new place.  And, I trust, He is raising up other prayer warriors in Cusco through the strict quarantine that now relegates God’s people to their homes there. 

Intentionality as a Mother

Another desire I expressed to God at the beginning of the year was to become more intentional about building positive character traits in my children.  I found myself so busy in Cusco that my interactions with my children were rarely premeditated.  This is another area in which I have so much room for growth, but I’m thankful for the way in which quarantine in the US has slowed me down enough to see little bits of growth there. 

Vision for Christian Education in Cusco

For a couple years now God has been pressing this need on my heart and the hearts of others on our team and so we’ve formed a school board and have been praying and laying plans for a Christian school.  At the beginning of February I suddenly began to feel uneasy about some aspects of our plans and timeline, however, and so I began to pray and consult others, and sincerely ask the Lord for guidance.  This is an area I’m not ready to expound a lot on just yet on this platform, but God has masterfully been directing my heart and the hearts of others as well regarding all this.  We don’t have it all figured out yet, but as in so many areas of life, God is using Covid-19 to provide direction and unity—and I stand in awe, because it’s just perfect. 

Curriculum Development

Related to the school initiative, I asked God at the beginning of the year to provide time for me to work on curriculum development for a future school.  This was something I felt a need for, but just was not seeing when I’d ever have time to do it.  Enter Covid-19.  Our entire schedule and workload has been shuffled and changed and we’re still figuring out how to prioritize our time each week, but I’ve already been blessed to be able to help a Peruvian mother from afar with finding homeschool activities that align with Peruvian curriculum standards.  And, due to everyone in the country suddenly becoming homeschoolers, she’s beginning to help me think for how to help other families with this effort as well.  It looks different than I expected, but it’s perfect. 

Mobilize US Churches for Cusco

I spoke with God in January about my desire to really cast a vision to US churches for the work in Cusco.  I felt like God is doing and calling our team to so much, and I just wished I could convey the passion I feel for what He’s doing there to others in the US.  It’s always so hard to do that while you’re overseas, but I was excited about the opportunity to travel briefly to the US in March and share about the work in Cusco.  Now, finding ourselves stuck in the US for the time being, it’s been exciting to be able to speak with many different churches and groups about the work of the gospel in Cusco.  Many churches are desiring to help care for the church in other parts of the world who are affected greatly by the pandemic in one way or another.  Others are seeking to find creative ways to engage their congregations in global missions due to having to postpone summer missions trips.  It’s so exciting to see some of the ways God is working through all that is going on--and what a joy to be part of it!

To Grow in Patience, Wonder, and Humility

These are some attributes that I asked God to grow in me at the beginning of 2020.  I have desired to be in a posture of watching, learning, and rejoicing in the things God is doing around me—not that I don’t want to participate in the work of the gospel, but I want to be patient enough to see what God is doing and calling me into on His timetable--to be caught up in the wonder of His goodness, and better understand my own humble existence so that I might serve in meekness and sincerity.  Still I have so much room for growth, but it has been so exciting to see God slow me down during this time, force me to watch, and then amaze me with His goodness.  Being stuck at home away from my home and normal routine has made every week feel like a surprise and each opportunity for growth and ministry has been so obviously from God and not of my own doing.  God is so good.

And there’s more, though I won't share it all now.  I’m so thankful and amazed at the way God is answering my prayers from earlier in the year.  He’s so intentional and perfect in everything He does!

Join us at Link!

Next month Derek and I will have the opportunity to speak at Link, a three-day event at Mission To the World’s Atlanta office designed to help people explore what it would look like to become a missionary—an event that Derek and I attended ourselves, eight years ago.


In 2012 we had been married for three years, were actively involved in our church, hoping to start a family soon, and passionate about global missions.  Since the beginning of our marriage, missionary service had been something we’d talked about, and it seemed like the time to start investigating further what God might have for us in that regard.  We knew what our own skill sets were, but we didn’t have a particular sense of where in the world God might be calling us or even what missionary agency we should connect with.  We weren’t sure what the process of becoming missionaries would look like aside from the understanding that we’d probably have to raise some funds.


We reached out to several different missionary agencies and learned everything that we could about the process, how the agencies operated, etc.  We attended a couple different informational events, and browsed a lot of different websites.  In many ways all of this was reminiscent of university shopping.  We were assigned recruiters and added to mailing lists.  It was all quite exciting but also a bit confusing.  Since we were members at a PCA church, it made sense to reach out to Mission To the World (MTW) among other agencies, and we soon found out about Link. 


When we attended Link it was the first time that we really began to be able to envision what our lives might look like serving overseas.  In addition to hearing from MTW’s leadership and members of the home-office support crew, we heard and interacted with actual, current MTW missionaries.  Men and women of different ages and stages (some closer to our age and others older) shared about their experience as missionaries in different parts of the world.  They shared about the needs on their fields, and then they took time to sit and eat with us, get to know us, and answer our questions. 


There were question and answer sessions where we and others like us were able to ask about the nitty-gritty details of missionary service and about MTW in particular.  Hearing the questions and concerns of others attending the event helped us to think through aspects of missionary service that we hadn’t thought about.  We also got to interact a little bit with some who were just beginning their journey with MTW, going through orientation to begin their support-raising journey.  Link often happens simultaneously with MTW’s new missionary orientation, making this type of interaction possible.


As a result of attending Link we were able to connect with a couple different missionary teams in different countries and also spent some face to face time with our recruiter who discussed other potential fields that could be a good fit for us.  We began having conversations over Skype with several different team leaders.  After 6 months or so we had received an invitation to visit a field and get to know the team and ministries in Cusco, Peru.  We sensed God continuing to propel us forward and so in the spring of 2013 we spent 10 days in the city that we now call home. 


Our missionary journey has had its ups and downs, as all journeys do, but looking back it’s so reaffirming to see how God has led us gently every step of the way.  The path to becoming missionaries was methodical and required gradually increasing steps of faith.  I can honestly say that the years since we took that first step have been some of the fullest and best of my life, and I’m so thankful to be caught up in God’s plan to bring His kingdom to Cusco, Peru.  I’m also quite excited about being able to come alongside others at Link and share some of this amazing journey with brothers and sisters in Christ who are seeking God’s path for them regarding missionary service!


“Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One who is leading.”  – Oswald Chambers

Find Out More About Link

A Prayer

I can't not pray and envision the spectacular coming kingdom when I hear this song...

I close my eyes and I can see
The world that's calling out to me
That I call my own
Through the clouds, beyond the war
Through where many have gone before
It’s my future home.

They can say, they can say it all sounds crazy
They can say, they can say I've lost my mind
I don't care, I don't care, so call me crazy
I can live in a world that You’ve designed

'Cause every night I lie in bed
The brightest colors fill my head
A million dreams are keeping me awake
I think of what the world will be
A vision of the one I see
A million prayers is all it's gonna take
A million prayers for the world You’re gonna make

There’s a house You have built
Every room inside is filled
With saints from long ago
Family, friends, now long gone,
Standing there to urge me on
On a rainy day

They can say, they can say it all sounds crazy
They can say, they can say I’ve lost my mind
I don't care, I don't care if they call me crazy
Runaway to a world that You design

Every night I lie in bed
The brightest colors fill my head
A million dreams are keeping me awake
I think of what the world will be
A vision of the one I see
A million prayers is all it's gonna take
A million prayers for the world You’re gonna make

However big, however small
Let me be part of it all
Share Your dreams with me
I may be right, I may be wrong
But say that you'll bring me along
To the world You see
To the world I close my eyes to see
I close my eyes to see

Every night I lie in bed
The brightest colors fill my head
A million dreams are keeping me awake
A million dreams, a million dreams

I think of what the world will be
A vision of the one I see
A million prayers is all it's gonna take
A million prayers for the world You’re gonna make

For the world You’re gonna make

A Passion for Cusco

On our last furlough we asked prayer partners to pray that the Lord would burden our hearts for Cusco and the people there.  We knew God wanted us serving here, but a love for the people wasn’t automatic.  We still need prayer for a deeper love, however I can say confidently that God has already begun to answer those prayers.

For the past year I have been doing weekly prayer runs around my neighborhood, and it has produced a passion and faith in me like nothing before.  When I spend these times out in the city with the Lord I sense Him drawing praise and proclamations of His kingship here from my heart and mind and I know deeply that I am part of something much bigger—something unseen and shockingly spectacular. 

During these prayer times with the Lord I can see (in my mind’s eye) heaven’s warriors of light joining me in my offensive against the powers of darkness.  I sense the King of the universe gradually claiming dominion over the city from His throne on high.  Like the Israelite's’ march around Jericho I claim this neighborhood for the Lord and His people.  I pray blessing on the homes, ministry sites, and preschool where my teammates and their children spend time.  I beg the Lord to cause His people in this neighborhood to rise up in prayer alongside me.  I pray that fear and discouragement would be cast out and that the children of the king would see the victory being handed to them through prayer. 

While I pray and worship I sense inhibition and fear melting away as boldness and thankfulness rise within me.  The Lord speaks to me at times about small ways He is calling me to participate in the advancement of the kingdom—areas of repentance needed in my life, things to pray for, text messages to send, conversations to have.  But mostly He confirms that this weekly prayer time for my city is His idea, His beautiful battle plan for involving me in the decent of His kingdom on Cusco. 

God has used these prayer runs to light in me a passion for His kingdom here.  I have been moved to dream big about what the Lord could do here.  I am learning to pray as though there were no barriers.  I’m rejoicing to see God reveal His reign little by little, proclaiming Himself king of this city.  I’m discovering faith in a whole new way.

Does your soul long for the kingdom of God to descend on your city?  Do your heart and flesh sing for joy over the glimpses of His kingdom taking root?  Do you believe that your prayers and proclamations of truth and praise cause the enemy to scatter from before you? 

I challenge you to take a prayer walk (or run) in your neighborhood.  Choose some praise music that causes you to fix your eyes not on what is seen but what is unseen, and then proclaim Christ’s Lordship over your neighborhood.  When you see people or animals along the street let it remind you of the unseen spiritual beings who are there as well, rejoicing with you in the advancement of the kingdom resulting from your prayers.  When the sun shines on your face let it remind you of the intense light of God’s favor that would overwhelm you, could you perceive it accurately.  When you pass a construction site let it draw your attention to the unobservable creation of spiritual strongholds fortifying God’s kingdom through the prayers of the saints.  And if it’s a cloudy day let it remind you of the veiled paradise that is just beyond your line of sight waiting to burst through and consume your world with glory. 

Ask God to give you a passion for the growth of His kingdom in your city, and then step up to the battle alongside the great crowd of witnesses who have gone before.  Throw off the fear that so easily entangles and run with perseverance.  Claim the victory that has already been won, and run with your eyes on the King.  Whether you perceive it immediately or not, believe that your neighborhood will never be the same.  Prayer changes things.  It’s a fact. 

Worship and intercession must go together, the one is impossible without the other. Intercession means that we rouse ourselves up to get the mind of Christ about the one for whom we pray. — Oswald Chambers


There is no way that Christians, in private capacity, can do so much to promote the work of God and advance the kingdom of Christ as by prayer.  - Jonathan Edwards

As well could you expect a plant to grow without air and water as to expect your heart to grow without prayer and faith….  I would rather teach one man to pray than ten men to preach.  – Charles Spurgeon

We cannot know what prayer is for until we know that life is war. – John Piper

Sometimes I like to think that praying without ceasing is having a hymn on your heart. I often like to start the day with a song and today it was … There’s within my heart a melody, Jesus whispers sweet and low … and I love singing because all throughout the day as I’m humming a hymn and letting the words course through my mind and memory, it’s a way of praying. It’s a way of praising God. It’s a way of worshipping Him in the Spirit. – Joni Eareckson Tada


[What is the essence of real Christianity?] It is to have our minds really exercised with delight about heavenly things, the things that are above, especially Christ himself as at the right hand of God." - John Owen

Burdened for Childen

Tonight I had the privilege of approaching the throne of God with two of my team sisters, and one of the things I love about doing that is how it knits our hearts together and aligns our hearts with the same burdens AND enables us to do something about those burdens together.  And there’s just nothing like praying in the kingdom of God with your brothers and sisters in Christ—knowing that He is there with us propelling our prayers and fueling our passion.

One of the themes of our prayers tonight was for children and young people around us who are struggling.  My heart breaks for those who experience such great oppression daily in their schools.  Institutions which should feed the soul and cultivate a passion for life, are places of such great anguish for many here.

Special needs children in Cusco often cannot afford to go to a school with any sort of services designed for them, so they end up in schools where they not only struggle to keep up academically but are taunted mercilessly by classmates.  Teenagers who love the Lord and seek to live for Him are ostracized by classmates who are literally having sex and taking drugs DURING CLASS. 

I long so much to be able to offer a better educational option for these families!  It really just can’t come soon enough.

- Laura

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When you see construction sights--think of Heaven!

Yesterday I was walking back from the mall listening to Celtic Woman’s song, “Someday” which really is a beautiful song in my opinion.  And I was thinking about how even the beautiful hopes expressed in this song fall short of what will really be one day. 

As I passed the large construction site beside the mall where huge cranes tower overhead, I thought about all of the many construction efforts underway here.  Cusco is developing so incredibly fast—all over the city are countless construction sites.  I probably walk past 10 different such sites every single day in and around my neighborhood.

And it made me think about the construction efforts going on in heaven right now.  What an incredible place our Savior must be preparing for us!  He spoke our entire universe into being in a mere week, and yet He’s been preparing the new heaven and new earth for at least 2000 years!

I’m enjoying studying all that the Bible says about heaven with the kids in my missionary kid Bible study and just this past week we were reading about the dimensions of the New Jerusalem—which is apparently just one of many cities which will exist on the new earth.  This new capitol city will not only be 14,000 miles wide and long—big enough to cover over half of the USA; but it will also be 14,000 miles high!  A quick google search told me that a rocket reaches outer space after covering a distance of only 62 miles.  It was fun imagining with the kids what a city with this height might entail (vertical roads perhaps?)

- Laura