He Has Given Us Eternity

Just wanted to share this beautiful expression of hope from Salem. It makes me think of 1 Peter 3:15, “always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you.” May you be comforted as well.

 

He Has Given Us Eternity


What is life without love’s desire?
A smoldering, dying fire.
A faded shadow of one’s self.
Dreams left collecting dust on the shelf.

He has given us eternity.

To wake another morning,
Looking to see the sun rising,
And think, “‘Tis only one more day.”
No man was made to live that way.

He has given us eternity.

We’re made to dance, and given hope.
We don’t hang by a fraying rope.
We are steadfast in our belief,
That we live under His mercy.

He has given us eternity.

So, jump into the raging seas.
You may drown in uncertainties,
But He stands on the shore.
Go, run to your true Father, for,

He has given us eternity.

–Salem Spicka

Letting God Reveal What’s Real

My daughter, Salem, was writing a letter to a friend and I was so struck personally by the story and the parallel to all our lives, I thought I would share it.

“I was reading The Edge Chronicles: Midnight over Sanctaphrax in school, and one of the characters so reminded me of you. She’s the ship’s stone pilot, and she always wears this hood so you can’t see anything of her face. Nobody knows who she really is or what she is capable of.  One day, she gets hurt, and the captain has to take off her hood and her coat to heal her. Under that hood and concealment, she’s actually really beautiful.

That reminded me of you because you hid what you were made to be and concealed what God had made you to be.

Underneath, there was someone so incredibly_________. Let Him fill in the blank.

The reason the character wore the hood was because she didn’t live up to what people wanted her to be, and she was ashamed of who she really was. She thought she wasn’t enough. She was wrong. Even though you don’t think you’ve pleased everyone and you think you’re not enough, you come in first place in His eyes. And He sees everything the way it is. He sees His most prized creation being unmasked to bring out the Him in you. He sees someone who’s gonna do great things. He sees someone who he’s gonna change and reveal new things to.

I think God loves His job. Getting to show you (and me) new things we could never have imagined. I’m glad that mask of shame got taken off.”

Thank You, Lord that You love Your job of revealing the Real You inside the Real us. Take off our hoods of shame and “not enough”. Fill in our blanks. We are all incredible in Your sight. Amen

You Helped Change the World

Sisters – Jana and her family have headed to the beach for some much needed family time after the Zimbabwe trip!  Pray for rest and refreshment for all of them. 

Jana has asked me to give you all a recap of  last night’s Zimbabwe Celebration event, welcoming four of the Women Getting Real team members back and sharing the harvest with the rest of  you who supported us stateside. The Zimbabwe trip would not have happened without you.

For myself, it was such a great reunion – so good to see the faces of the women and men who have been praying for us and encouraging us all the way to Zimbabwe and back.  As Jana shared last night, “One of the most powerful gifts to us as a team was your prayers.  It was tangible.  I could send a text calling to rally the saints and we could just feel the breath of God move among us, an ocean away.  When someone asks you to pray for a mission trip, never think that your prayers don’t matter.”

We as a Zim team want you to know that you were as much a part of this trip as we were, and we gave each person who came last night a note to remind them – and now you:

Because of God through you. . .

Our team:

  • Cried with 14 women at a Bible study
  • Challenged more than 600 students in 3 high school assemblies
  • Equipped 80+ women at a Women’s Retreat
  • Biblically trained 8 camp counselors
  • Encouraged the dreams and purity of 50+ middle school students
  • Played, prayed with, and blessed 75 children at the local orphanage
  • Washed the feet of 25 senior citizens
  • Loved on 40 + handicapped children
  • Shared testimonies with 20 women at the Women’s Tea
  • Prayed for healing at the hospital
  • Renewed and encouraged 4 ministry leaders
  • Worshiped in song and dance
  • Invested in many one on one relationships

Thank you for being part of this journey.

More God stories from Zim coming this week….

Zim Prayer: June 7 – June 11

Here’s what’s going on with the Zim team this week:

Monday, June 7

Sonoia Primary School

Tara speaks

“You are Special” skit

Fun songs

Chengatenai (Nursing Home)

Team sings and visits

Laura and Randy share testimonies

Good Shepherd Orphanage

Team share devotionals with the kids –

Alex and Spencer – younger boys 5-14

Randy and Tyler – older boys 15-20

Anna and Tara – girls 4-10

Jana, Beth, and Salem – girls 11-15

Lara and Laura – girls 16-23

Wednesday, June 9

Team leaves early for the Harare market

Thursday, June 10

Team flys out towards Knoxville, 12:30 PM (Zim time)

Friday, June 11

Team arrives home at 6:38 PM (Knox time)

Zim Prayer: May 31 – June 6

Okay, prayer warriors!  Here are the Zim highlights for this week.

Monday May 31 – Thursday, June 3

The team will be on a houseboat in Kariba.  This will be their down time for fun, seeing wild life, and also processing what the Lord has been doing.

Friday, June 4

Team returns to Chinhoyi Friday morning

Chinhoyi Youth Meeting (Friday night)

Jana speaks

Team does skit

Spencer and Lara share testimonies

Saturday, June 5

Good Shepherd Orphanage – time with kids, hand out letters, pictures taken

Tara and Anna – leading a craft

Salem and Beth – playing games with the younger kids

Sunday, June 6

Chinhoyi High School

Tyler speaking

Team does skit

Alex and Randy share testimonies

Lomgundi College

Team shares cardboard testimonies

Jana speaks

Zim Prayer: May 24 – May 30

Here are some of the highlights to be praying for the Zim team over this power-packed week:

Monday, May 24 – Eiffel Flats

Tyler will be speaking and Anna will be sharing her testimony

Tuesday, May 25 – Women’s Bible Study

Jana will be speaking

Laura and Beth will be sharing their testimonies

Wednesday, May 26 or Thursday May 27

Kadoma Boarding School for kids with disabilities (this will depend on whether the cholera outbreak is over)

Laura will be leading fun kid songs

Friday, May 28

Camp activities, Construction at Lasting Impressions

Saturday, May 29

The team travels to Karoi

Jana speaks at Women’s conference

Sunday, May 30

Dutch Reformed Church

John speaks

Team does a skit

Songs by Jana or Laura

Afternoon tea; Sue speaks

Ready, Set, Zim!

We had our first meeting for Zimbabwe last night and I am FIRED UP.

After hearing stories from others who had already gone and are going again, and after watching a video of the needs, I was undone. Because of AIDS, there are two groups of people: old people and and children – from infants to teens. So few parents, no leadership, no hugs, no training. Here is a country starving to death in more ways than one: spiritually, economically, socially, physically.

An old folks home where the patients don’t even have matching shoes.
Homes where grandfathers and uncles want 12, 13, 14 year old girls to prostitute so they can eat.

What do you do with that?

Salem is 12. I hear those stories and I look at her. I try to think of how bad life would have to get for me to be willing lay her in the arms of a stranger for money.  How could I get to the place of desperation that I would do that to my own flesh and blood?

Here is a place where babies are abandoned on the road. Some kind soul brings them to the hospital but once they get there, what next? There is no family to hold or soothe. The orphanages are full. There is no room in the inn.

What do you do with that?

Then there are pockets of whites who have been so hurt and betrayed by the government seizure of their land and livelihood, and they are so bound up by religious legalism that they are shut down, paranoid, lost.

What do you do with that?

You pour forth the name of Jesus like ointment.

What they need, what we need, is the supernatural.  It hit me last night as I was listening. Perhaps, we have been deceived. What do we bank on? When there is no government program to turn to, no store to buy from, no money to withdraw from the bank, we need something beyond our own control, something “altogether other.” These people far away, are like us.  We need the REALITY of God to interrupt the reality of our lives.  It is easy to watch videos of Haiti, and Zim, and other places of devastation and think, “What can I do?”  and I would say more than you can possibly imagine. Pour forth the name of Jesus. Pray that they would prosper spiritually, economically, socially, physically. Pray that the teams have all they need to go so they can speak hope, life and truth to a desperate people in desperate times.

What will you do with that?

Here is video clip if you would like see first hand what God is up to.  My Cry for Zimbabwe

Remember, if you want to be part of this work you can do so here.