T- minus 46 hours and counting!

Wow! I am so excited! In less than 48 hours our team will be on a plane, Uganda-Bound. Things have been very intense the last couple weeks as we've made final preparations for our trip. A tremendous outpouring of donated medical supplies and medications has come in...roughly an additional $200,000 worth of stuff. Talk about God showing Himself mighty on our behalf! Much thanks to Western Virginia EMS, Carilion Health Systems (yet again!), and the many other companies that have donated equipment, supplies, and medications. One company donated 9400 doses of an antibiotic that (not-surprisingly) is used to treat...you guessed it: Malaria! Since that is one of the major diseases that we'll be dealing with in Uganda, it was definitely a God-thing.

The other way that God has proved Himself mighty on our behalf has been in the area of finances. I have to praise God for the church family of which I am a part. Not only do we have an 80-90% Tither rate, but our people not only tithe...they give over and above the tithe. Actually, we just have a church full of people who love to be a blessing to others, to the Kingdom of God, and the work of the ministry. On behalf of the Mission Team I can echo Paul's prayer over the church of Philippi. They were the only church that regularly communicated with Paul in regards to giving and receiving. They understood the principles of partnership, and so do Valley Word folk! To use the Apostle Paul's words, "my God shall supply all your [those who have partnered with us in any capacity regarding this mission trip] needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." I pray that fruit would abound to YOUR account, because of your willingness to sow into this missions project.

I will be posting pictures and blog entries while we are in Uganda, so check out our Online Photo Albums and click on the album entitled, "Uganda or Bust..." Thanks to all who are supporting us with a prayer covering. We love and appreciate you all! Bye for now...

~ Sandi

That Faith Thing...

Wow! The day is quickly approaching that we've been awaiting for so long. In 41 days from the moment that I'm writing this post we'll be on an airliner somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean! God is SOOOO FAITHFUL and SOOOO AWESOME! We are all in varying stages of getting our immunizations, waiting for passports to be delivered, and RAISING the REST of our FINANCES.

It has always been amazing to me as I have watched God work throughout my life. We as Christians, especially those of us who label ourselves "Word of Faith" people, are such a funny group. Let me explain what I mean. We sense a call of God on our lives to do something. We determine to do it. Then we try to "figure out" how God is going to make it happen. We have our own ideas of when finances should come in and how finances should come in. (I know...for you English majors...dangling prepositions...) When it doesn't happen the way we think it should happen we start to get a little nervous...BUT, we're "WORD" people, so we can't say we're nervous :-D. We might even begin to doubt that we heard the Lord clearly when we felt the call to do something--in this case that something would be going on this mission trip.

But the funny thing about doing something by faith is that...well, it requires stepping out in faith! The writer of Hebrews says it like this in Hebrews 11:6, "But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him..." (AMP) Throughout the Bible we're given examples of people who stepped out in faith and accomplished great things. As we read Hebrews 11 in it's entirety we see what is commonly referred to as the Great Hall of Faith in our Word circle. Starting with Abel we are reminded of those great men and women of God who trusted God even when the circumstances didn't look favorable.

When the Lord gave Joshua the command to cross the Jordan river to "attack" Jericho the river was in its flood stage. Let's look at the story. It's in Joshua 3:

13When the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord of all the earth shall rest in the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan coming down from above shall be cut off and they shall stand in one heap.
14So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people,
15And when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were in the brink of the water--for the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest-- (AMP)

I want to point something out that most of you have already seen or been taught, but sometimes we need to be reminded. The Lord didn't promise that He'd part the Jordan BEFORE they stepped foot into it. In fact, He'd told Joshua, "When the soles of the feet of the priests...shall rest in the Jordan, the waters...shall be cut off..." They had to, by faith, step into a FLOOD-SWOLLEN river before they saw the promise of God manifest.

Sometimes when we step out in faith it may feel like we're stepping into flood waters. And sometimes it doesn't look like the waters are parting very quickly...But He is faithful who has promised! Hebrews 6:12 tells us that those who inherit the promises of God only do so "through faith and patience." Verse 11 says that we are to "shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end."

I have to admit, there have been times over the last several months that my faith has been stretched. It's had to go through a growth process...and one day I am believing that my Father will be able to look at me and say, "you of GREAT FAITH." But in the meantime, I'll endure the "growing pains" that sometimes accompany growth of any kind.

I want to encourage all of my readers, those who are part of our mission team and those who are working on "Faith Projects" of another kind. 2 Chronicles 16:9 tells us, "For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him." God wants to prove himself strong on your behalf!

Now don't get all nervous about the word perfect. It is translated from the Hebrew word shalem (Strong's #8003) which has several definitions. The one that I like is this: "complete (of keeping covenant relation)." Those of you who are Valley Word family know all about covenant relationship, because we are covenant people. What the writer of 2 Chronicles was saying is that the Lord wants to prove himself strong on the behalf of those who have and keep a covenant relationship with him. I know that includes me!

So, all you covenant people...BE ENCOURAGED! God isn't late, broke, or forgetful! "But let patience [Remember Hebrews 6:11?] have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." ~James 1:4 (Perfect here is the Greek word teleios (Strong's #5046), which means "wanting nothing necessary to completeness.") The prophets have declared 2007 to be The Year of the Open Door. Get ready to walk through it and inherit all of the covenant promises of God!

It may seem to some that I've rambled a bit, but I have to believe that I've written what the Holy Spirit was leading me to write. Grace and Peace to all (and to all a good night!)

~ Sandi

Uganda Child Sponsor Thank You

Well, Christmas "officially" ended just over four hours ago, but I pray that the Spirit of Christmas, which is the Spirit of Christ, will continue to be with us as the days go by. I wanted to give a quick (yeah, I know, "Hah! Hah! Sandi, you don't know what quick is in a Post...") "Thank You" to all of our Uganda Child Sponsors. As I've mentioned in previous posts, the various members of Valley Word Ministries have sponsored a total of 50 children from the orphanage in Kampala. What a testimony to the love of God flowing through our people!

I know from my own past experience as a child sponsor that while sponsorship is a very rewarding decision, as time goes on, it can have its challenges. I heard Joyce Meyer talking about partnership and child sponsorship one time. She made a statement to the effect that it's really easy to make a decision to partner or sponsor while you are in a service and you are looking at pictures of hungry children. It's one of those "feel good" moments. You know, it makes you "feel good" to be able to put your name on the dotted line to help that young boy or girl. But two or three months down the line, when the rent check is due, the car needs a new set of tires, and Christmas has rolled up on you, it's a lot harder to write that $25.00 check.

Statistically, missions giving is one of the first things to be dropped when budgets get a little tight...not only for individuals, but for church budgets too. The worst part is, that's the group that suffers so much when they do get dropped. How do you look at a child who's only been getting one meal a day anyway, and tell her that the person who'd promised to help feed her didn't send any money for food this month? How do you decide which child will eat and which child must go hungry? Those are tough choices...choices that I'm really glad I don't have to make.

But this post isn't about the people who haven't been able to fulfill their sponsorship pledges, this is about those who HAVE done so. Thanks to you, our administration was able to get the money to Uganda in time for them to use some of it so that the children could have something special for Christmas! While we are so accustomed to piles of prettily wrapped packages under the tree, Christmas for those children may simply mean a pair of shoes so they don't have to walk barefoot. Or maybe even a small toy...possibly the only toy they've ever had.

Thank you, Valley Word Family, for your willingness to stretch beyond yourselves yet again, to pour out the love of Christ on "the least of these." You know, in doing so, you are really ministering to Jesus. Remember, Jesus himself, in telling the parable of the sheep and the goats, said, "And the King will reply to them, Truly I tell you, in so far as you did it for one of the least [in the estimation of men] of these My brethren, you did it for Me." Matthew 25:40 AMP.

I'm excited about the opportunity to see all of those children when we travel to Uganda in February. To see the impact that YOU, the CHILD SPONSORS, have made on their lives through your generous sowing. We are expecting a great harvest in Uganda, and you have a huge part in that harvest. On behalf of our leadership, the leadership in Uganda, and the people of Uganda...THANK YOU!

Missions Blog Facelift ;D and Another Quick Update

MISSIONS BLOG GETS A FACELIFT

Well, as you can tell if you've ever been on the Missions Blog before, we've undergone a facelift! I'm constantly grateful to the companies that provide this Blog Site for us free of charge (Google and Blogspot.) They are constantly working on ways to improve and make more user-friendly a site that they provide at no charge. As much as I understand about computers and the Web, I'm always amazed at things like that! It's not like there are banner ads all over the place to make up for it...Praise God!

READ YOUR LABELS

If you want to read a post that is on a particular topic, you can look at the Labels section on the left sidebar. As you read a post, if you think that I should add another label to it, just post a comment and let me know! And if you are a VWM member who is involved in Missions of any kind...local, national, or international...and you'd like to be a part of the Blogging team, PLEASE let me know. We NEED you!

UGANDA MISSION TRIP PRAYER GROUP

Well, our Uganda trip is getting closer! I am so excited that I'm almost beside myself! [Hmmm...if I was beside myself, would there be two of me to work on the website? A clone? Just a thought...] Back to reality. We have another team meeting tomorrow after service, and we're going to begin a weekly prayer group for the Uganda Trip. The prayer group is open to anyone with a heart to pray for missions. We'll meet 15 minutes after the Sunday morning service and pray until we feel a release.

DEADLINE FOR AIRFARE APPROACHES

We are quickly approaching the deadline to turn in our airfare to British Airway. The check has to be mailed in this coming week. As always, God is proving himself faithful on our behalf! The money is coming in for the team, as we knew it would. That having been said, it's not all in yet, and we still need your help! If you've already sown, we say, "THANK YOU"!!! It would be great if we could just write a check to the airline company and "believe" that the money will come in before it hits the bank, but I think that would be a felony offense! Instead, it takes people just like you, my reader, to sow your finances into things like the Uganda Mission Trip. If you haven't already done so, I so strongly encourage you to make that commitment and do it. Even a seed of $1 or $2 adds up!

I have been re-visiting the subject of supporting my mission trip expenses with my co-workers this last week. And I asked them if they would consider giving a contribution of any size (even $1.00) towards my trip. One of my co-workers said that she might be able to give $5.00. I let her know that that was great. Well, the next day that I saw her, she handed me a check. Before I had a chance to look at it, she told me, "My husband and I talked about it, and we decided that there were some things that we could do without." When I had a chance to look at the check later, I realized it was written for $100.00!

My thoughts immediately shifted to the Apostle Paul as he wrote the letter to the church at Philippi. If you're home folk (Valley Word members) then I know that you're familiar with the story, but I'll summarize it for those who aren't familiar with it. You'll find the account [not story, but that's a topic I'll save for a different post] in Ephesians 4:10-19. If you'll remember, the church at Philippi had sent financial support to Paul on a number of different occasions. They were, in fact, as Paul said, the only church that "communicated with me concerning giving and receiving." (verse 15) The people in that curch had expanded their vision beyond their own four walls and supported and partnered with the Apostle Paul during his missionary journeying. That's when Paul prayed that familiar prayer over them that is so widely misused. "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." A missionary praying for his financial partners. And the partners have an equal share in the reward.

I know that, as the holiday quickly approaches, we all have a multitude of things that are calling for our finances. But I encourage all of you to ask the Holy Spirit if there is something, or something more, that He wants you to do in regards to missions, even if it isn't the Uganda trip. My co-workers words challenged me, "...we decided that there were some things that we could do without." I've made a couple returns to Wal-Mart already...the things I want I don't always really need! A Soulwinner's Crown will look much better on me than that pretty dress, anyway!

COMING SOON...KENYA ORPHANGE CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS

Tomorrow, December 10th, is the deadline for turning in the stockings for Kenya. Last year we sent backpacks with school supplies, but much of the expense went into shipping. This year our Children's ministry handed out small red stocking with the request that people would save their change and return the stockings full of money! The money is going to be wire transfered to the two orphanages in Kenya. They will be able to use 100% of what is collected instead of having to pay shipping costs. The goal is $5000.00. I'll update you as soon as all the stockings are collected!

Anyone who is not a Valley Word member, but would still like to contribute, may e-mail the church at contactus@valleywordministries.org for the Kenya project, or uganda@valleywordministries.org for the Uganda Missions Trip. Or, you may call the church office to get instructions on how to make your tax-deductible contribution!