Dear Family-

Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down with a post-abortion counselor and talk to her about the particular struggles that women and girls face after choosing an abortion. As you might expect, many of them anguish over the guilt that they feel for taking an innocent life. This often gives the enemy a perfect point of attack. As he convinces women that God is punishing them in their current circumstances, that there is no forgiveness for such a sin and that they deserve to be miserable and ashamed, he holds them captive in their pain and keeps their focus on themselves. Only when a person is willing to own their sins and look outside of themselves to find an all-sufficient savior in Jesus Christ can true forgiveness and healing begin.

I came away from that meeting thinking about how we too, often have our eyes on ourselves, our circumstances, our emotions, or our sin instead of on Jesus. Certainly we must “look at” our own sin in order to acknowledge it. The Holy Spirit often convicts us of sin through that feeling of “guilt”. The difference here between the operation of the Holy Spirit and the schemes of the enemy is that one causes us to run to Christ in repentance and the other causes us to run away from Him and hide. It is a sly trick. We can feel quite penitent and righteous while dwelling on the guilt that comes with sin. Maybe we even convince ourselves that a time of shame and guilt will somehow make up for the sin; as if our own self-centered suffering is enough to atone for our treacherous hearts. All along, what really keeps us from running to Christ to confess and repent is our pride. Why is it that we would rather wallow in shame and self-punishment than to simply bow before the King and accept a free gift? Pride. It rears its ugly head everywhere! As soon as we think we have mastered pride in some area, there it is again. I am appalled at my own pride that permeates my thoughts, actions and words.

So once again, it comes down to this: my hope lies only in the all-sufficiency of Jesus; his life, his death, his resurrection. And until that day when I will be glorified with him, I must daily confess my vain, self-centered pride, and set my eyes upon the One who is altogether lovely, holy, blameless and true.

Thank you for letting me share my thoughts. We appreciate your prayers, encouragement and support. God, as always, is showing himself to be faithful. He is using this time to draw us closer to himself and to strip our life of things that are not for our ultimate good. We are especially blessed by some of the new relationships that God has given us through the process of raising support. The knowledge that we have brothers and sisters nearby who love us, pray for us and encourage us to follow God’s plan for our life helps to strengthen us for the journey.

Please continue to pray for God’s provision for our financial support. So far, we have had only positive responses to our requests. We see this as a direct answer to your prayers and ours. You can also be praying specifically for churches to open their doors to us and for opportunities to meet with church leadership to share about the ministry in Belize and our need for support. On a more personal note, we are trying to sell our car and buy something that will be appropriate to take to Belize. Please pray for a buyer, for the Lord’s timing in the transaction and for a new (used) car that will meet our needs.

As always, please respond to us and let us know how we can be praying for you. We count it a privilege to be able to lift you up in prayer.

Thank you again for your prayers and support. You mean more to us than we can express!

Blessings in Christ-