If this be so...

"if this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, o king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up." Daniel 3:17,18

"but if not..." that is the heart I desperately long to have and the heart I believe God is growing in me. The heart that says, "whether you answer according to my heart's desire or not...I will praise You and only You Lord."

I could almost hear Satan saying to the Lord,"sure they love and praise you now, but what if you take away everything you've given? Will they praise and honor you then?" and the lord's reply,"go ahead and test my servant." ...or maybe it was simply God's protection from things which we may never realize...whatever the case I trust the good purposes of my faithful God. Our hearts have been tested and no doubt we have received God's protection as we have since the beginning.

I could never claim the faithfulness of Job, or the steadfastness of Daniel... but I am hopeful as I see God burning off the dross and drawing my heart ever deeper into His.

Well, I received my passport today and we have a flight booked for Wednesday. I am really thankful for all God has done, the seen and unseen...

I am so thankful for all my friends and family who have overwhelmed with their encouragement and prayers...thank you

I hope my next update will be from Cambodia :)

Do you know any other words besides "no"?

hmm...that's the question I felt like asking today...to EVERYONE I talked to!
Everytime I had to make a decision it hinged on another one, one in which I didn't have enough information to make. I spent 4 hours at the passport office and left with no passport, I called the airlines at least 20 times and was told the same thing EVERYWHERE..."no, no, no, no".
The only ones who were even friendly to me were the government office workers, though they still could do nothing to help. I also met some other fine people who were in the same predicament as I...the man sitting next to me was trying to go on a missions trip to Mexico... we had a nice time talking about the Lord which was one of the few bright spots of the day. I dont mean to complain... but it was a really long, hard day.

In the end I cancelled and refunded the tickets and cried for quite some time :/
We are still looking for tickets for sometime next week, but since I have no passport til Monday we may not be able to secure them before then...

This morning I kept thinking of Proverbs 3:5,6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, in all of your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight"...and then this afternoon I remembered in Isaiah "His ways are not our ways...". I do trust Him and I know He works all things to good, I have seen it too many times for me to recount.

I would ask you to pray for wisdom as to how to proceed... book a new flight next week? plan a trip later next year?

Please pray for renewed strength and for vision as to how these next to weeks should be spent.

Please pray for God to be glorified even in our shortcomings

Pray for our hearts to be encouraged as we are all sad that we can't be together right now.

Thank you friends

Expiration date?

No, my passport isn't expired...not for another 5 months and 21 days BUT...it must be at least 6 months before your passport expires for you to travel to certain countries...like, Cambodia.
We changed our flight to tomorrow night and I have an appt. for a new passport at 9:30am...please pray!

Be anxious for nothing...

27 hours and 32 minutes...

That's the amount of time left till we depart!

Now that the time has come, I can hardly believe it. There is such a great excitement for what God has done and will do in the coming weeks.

We would be so blessed if you would pray for us as we go, here's how...
*that God would be glorified in all things
*for a sensitivity to the leading of the Holy Spirit
*that we would stand on Christ our firm foundation
*that we would continually adorn the full armor of God according to Ephesians 6
*that we would be Christ's ambassadors, bringing the gospel in all that we say and do
*for our health
*for safe travels
*that hearts would be redeemed and restored to Christ

Thank you for praying, check in for updates on how you can pray here.
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas,
Jen

Flash Mob!

This weekend I was in a flash mob at universal city walk...It was sooooo fun!!!
Here's the link...just watch the first video you see :)

www.youtube.com/user/mobhitsla