Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Morning Musings!

Well here we are February 16, 2005 and the house has not yet sold. I just finished the morning musing and hit spell check and it erased the whole thing. So here I go again! God is testing my patience this morning with this technology that He has given us. Do we trust Him or the technology? Same theory goes for the house; do I trust Him or the real estate market? If I believe that God is Sovereign and in control of all things then I must trust in Him for all things!

This morning I was reading in Ezekiel and God spoke to me with a small portion in chapter 36 verse 32. "It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord GOD; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways" OUCH! I am ashamed and confounded for my ways... who am I in the grand scheme of things? God is concerned with His name, He is Holy and Just and Perfect, we are not. So when God chooses to act, He will do it for His own Glory. For who are we? This brings me to the Psalm I read for the morning, Psalm 144:3-4, "O LORD, what is man that you regard him, or the son of man that you think of him? Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow". Our life is a breath, and only what we do here on this earth for Christ will last for eternity. How many days can you add to your life by worrying about things? So my lesson today for myself is this: If the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, and God will act for the glory of his own Name and not mine, and my life is only a breath a passing shadow; then what I am going to do today? I am going to seek to Glorify God by obeying His commands (to love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength, and my neighbour as myself) and stop worrying about when the house is going to be sold and when we are going to head to Africa to fulfill His calling in our lives. I am also going to pray, and I would ask those of you who love the Lord to pray with us. For I am reminded in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

So please pray along with us that God's name would be Glorified in all that He has done and all that He is about to do on our behalf. We are amazed at how He has worked so far! He is so Good! Pray for wisdom and discernment as we seek to live out God's will for us here on this earth.

I am also including a link to another missionary blog! I thought some of you may be interested in increasing your missionary portfolio and so I am including this link (Sheri is a fellow MK[missionary kid] of NCEM[Northern Canada Evangelical Mission]) http://cottrillcompass.com/blog.html for your enjoyment.

If you are not called to be a GO-er, then you are called to be a SEND-er, whether that is by your prayers or your giving, God will reveal that to you in His time.

Hope you have enjoyed my morning musings. May God bless you as you do His will today!
Love,
Charlene

Saturday, February 12, 2005

Prayer Requests!

Yesterday our visas came in the mail. I was surprised as I had asked them to hold off until I called and let them know it was time, but they sent them anyway. I guess God has other plans and we will know what they are soon, as we have 60 days to be in-country from the time the visas were issued. The house has not sold yet, we have had many people through and no offers yet. Pete is also looking for a crew cab diesel 4x4 pickup that we can ship to Angola. He is also still working full-time which is good for him and our family.

Well, we have someone coming to look through the house soon, so here is our list of prayer requests if you would like to pray along with us. We look forward to how God is going to move next, and we desire that His name be magnified and glorified in all of this.

PRAYER REQUESTS:
The sale of the house
The truck (crew cab diesel 4x4)
Peace of mind, faith and trust in God alone to work out the details
Wisdom and discernment in what to pack and ship to Angola

I read Psalms 141 this morning and this portion was especially encouraging to me.
Psalms 141: 1-5
O LORD, I call upon you; hasten to me!
Give ear to my voice when I call to you!
Let my prayer be counted as incense before you,
and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!
Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth;
keep watch over the door of my lips!
Do not let my heart incline to any evil,
to busy myself with wicked deeds
in company with men who work iniquity,
and let me not eat of their delicacies!
Let a righteous man strike me-- it is a kindness
let him rebuke me--it is oil for my head;
let my head not refuse it.
Yet my prayer is continually against their evil deeds.

May the Lord richly bless you today, and may you seek His guidance in all you do!
God Bless,
Charlene for the gang!

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

What have we been up to?

I was just writing out what we have been up to lately for the kids teacher. I thought I might as well give an update on here in case you might be interested in what a family of 6 does while in limbo... Waiting for a house to sell (with our hearts and minds already in Angola).

So here is goes:
We have been invited out to dinner numerous times...
Jan. 07 @ the Gill's for an awesome East Indian dinner
Jan. 08 @ the Johnson's for superb beef dip dinner
Jan. 12 @ the Funk's for an exceptional ham and farmer sausage dinner
Jan. 18 @ the Campbell's for a fabulous Pizza dinner
Jan. 21 @ the Sirianni's for a great lazagna dinner
Jan. 22 @ the Lowen's for a excellent chicken and rice dinner
Jan. 23 @ the Berthelot's for a wonderful corn chowder lunch
Jan. 23 @ the Boughton's for dessert in the evening (just Pete and I)
Jan. 25 @ the Jean's for an outstanding pasta dinner
Jan. 31 @ Robbies Downtown Restaurant for a fund raiser that friends gave us tickets for (thank you!!)
YOU'RE RIGHT WE'RE ALL GETTIN' FAT!!! We call it bulkin' up for Africa! We are going to have to be careful!!!

We had at least 15 showings of our house in the month of January...
Many crazy moments of cleaning up the house and getting it ready for people to come through.

Purchased our last round of immunizations (Cholera & Typhoid) at a whoppin' $710.00! Praise the Lord that's it!

Did a few photo sittings.

Tried to concentrate on getting some school work done (failed miserably... just too many distractions).

Got caught up on dental appointments at our favourite dentist, Dr. Daniele... we're going to miss him.

Pete and I took a trip to Hope and New Westminster on Friday 28/Saturday 29 while the kids had a Youth Sleepover at the church (thanks Jason for picking up and dropping off the kids). We had a great trip, especially the visiting with friends. We were thrilled to meet Mark and Lisa's care group in Hope and to visit for the evening and sharing in their passion for missions. It was refreshing. Had a great visit with Marlene Eaton and the kids also (Pete even babysat while Marlene and I went out for lunch). Enjoyed listening to some GREAT biographies by John Piper on John Calvin and Adoniram Judson... very powerful.

We are also down to one car that seats 5 which of course is a problem when we need to get places, thankfully Lesley from our church lives close and has graciously helped us out on NUMEROUS occasions! We are very thankful for her!

Actually there are many people we are thankful for. We have been so blessed with so many friends, and we thank God for all of you and pray His blessing on your lives! Well, I have to run, we are having friends over here for supper tonight. Oh and the girls have gone to spend a couple of weeks with Gramma and Grampa Knightly in Cranbrook (they took the bus at midnight and arrived this morning at 10:50 their time, a 9 1/2 hour ride) hopefully they will get lots of school work done while they are there... I am sure they will comment if they read this!!!

Keep in touch everyone!!!
Love,
The Knightly's