1 DAY!!!!!

Wow! I can hardly believe that we leave early in the morning! Somebody pinch me! :-) We're pretty much done w/all of our packing. We were up late last night and Saturday night refining our packing. Thank God we had started packing weeks ago! We wouldn't have had any sleep this weekend otherwise.

In addition to getting packed, we had yet another incredible time at church yesterday. We went to church, struggling again with whether or not the rest of the monies needed would come in and wondering how God would provide and were reminded AGAIN of how small our faith is and how big God is. Our Pastor said that "worry is a declaration that we don't trust God." Ouch. It's funny but I don't have a problem believing that God can do miracles for other people, but when it comes to myself, it's a whole other story. He's certainly challenging me on that one this year! We've had miracle after miracle despite all of the heartaches. I believe that this past year for us was all about a deepening in our relationship w/Jesus. Our adoption of Jasmine is exciting for sure but not even as exciting as getting to know Jesus better and deepening our characters. Our journey to Jasmine has turned into a journey to Jesus and I can't wait to see how He continues our story with Him!

One of the many miracles that we've experienced since we have attended this church is how God has been speaking to us. Each week, we've gotten filled up, healed, encouraged, supported and lifted up. Yesterday was no exception and I wanted to share with you some of how God encouraged us (yet again). We had again just an incredible time in worship and I wanted to share a couple of the songs with you. One of them is "Let God Arise" by Chris Tomlin.

"Hear the holy roar of God resound
Watch the waters part before us now
Come and see what He has done for us
Tell the world of His great love

Our God is a God who saves
Our God is a God who saves

Let God arise
Let God arise
Our God reigns now and forever
He reigns now and forever

His enemies will run for sure
The church will stand, she will endure
He holds the keys of life, our Lord
Death has no sting, no final word"

We have seen Him part those waters for us, time and time again in 2009 and now in 2010. He has saved us in so many ways and so for us, this was such a great reminder of all that God has done on our behalf and WILL continue to do. He WILL NOT leave us hanging! Praise God!

"God Be Praised" by Desperation Band was another song that really encouraged us yesterday. My favorite part is "Out of ashes You, lifted us. To the table You came and filled our cups. Every heart and soul, All we are and more, Praise the Lord." In some ways, we're continually reminded of what we came from but how God has restored and filled what was taken away. We feel so incredibly thankful for His faithfulness in our lives in every way.

"Across the earth we see, worshippers believe.
Hear our song,
Praise to our God, praise to our God.

From dawn to dusk we'll be, lifting up our King.
Hear our song,
Praise to our God, praise to our God.

Bringing honor to Your majesty,
There's no other like the King of all Kings.

God be praised,
All the glory to Your awesome name,
All creation rising up to say we know,
Our God reigns.

Our broken lives were changed, when You broke the night with day.
Hear our song,
Praise to our God, praise to our God.

Bringing honor to Your majesty,
There's no other like the King of all Kings.

God be praised,
All the glory to Your awesome name,
All creation rising up to say we know,
Our God reigns.

God be praised,
All the glory to Your awesome name,
Though the earth will shake and battles rage we know,
Our God reigns.

Out of ashes You, lifted us.
To the table You came and filled our cups.
Every heart and soul,
All we are and more,
Praise the Lord.

God be praised,
All the glory to Your awesome name,
All creation rising up to say we know,
Our God reigns."

The other one I wanted to share is "Savior" by Desperation Band. I've shared this before but God has really used these lyrics to really heal our hearts after leaving our old church. He reminded us once again that He is all of these things to us and will continue to be.

"I have seen with my own eyes your faithfulness, oh, God.
I refuse to believe the lies that war against my soul.
You rescued me from all my fears, and loosed the chains of
wasted years.

You're my Savior, restorer, rebuilder, rewarder.
My refuge, redeemer, defender, my healer, Savior

Now my heart is overwhelmed by all sufficient grace.
For I have found my weaknesses become your perfect strength.
You rescued me from all my fears, and loosed the chains of
was - ted years.

You're my Savior, restorer, rebuilder, rewarder.
My refuge, redeemer, defender, my healer, Savior

Behold the One who holds me in His hands.
The God who comes and turns my mourning
into dance.

You're my Savior, restorer, rebuilder, rewarder.
My refuge, redeemer, defender, my healer, Savior"

Wow! How amazing is He, that He, the God of the universe, takes so much time and effort to come alongside of us and encourage us?! How humbling and amazing!

The last thing I wanted to share is that one of the things that our pastor encouraged us to do every day this week was to invite God to invade our lives and to expect miracles. I have to say that I can't wait to see what kinds of miracles God will do this week as we depart for China! Interesting timing, don't you think?! I'll leave you all with this scripture which I think will be our theme for our trip, Philippians 4:19 "And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." He will meet our financial needs, our emotional needs, our need for sleep and health, our spiritual needs and any other need I can't think of. Amen to that!

Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement! This continues to be an exciting adventure and we love that you are all a part of it with us. Talk to you soon!