Posted in Uganda by Natalie Montgomery on 7/2/2009
Post World Race I flew back to Africa to see my love. I met Allan the Australian, in Jinja, Uganda this May when he was
training men in the community to drill wells. He has an amazing
ministry and travels all over the world empowering men and women to
help themselves and their communities. Not only is he a 'water man' but
he carries an anointing from the Lord that is contagious. Please
support his ministry!!! livingwaterdevelopement
Also, notify me if you are interested in supporting orphanages. Emily, in the video, runs Care 4 Kids with three other daytime care takers. She lives at the orphanage with 65 children.
God is The Phenomenon. His all encompassing love and omnipresent existence are things that we will never fully understand but we can choose to see them if we want.
I have been back in the States for two weeks and in a whirlwind of culture shock and emotion I sometimes ask God, "Where are you?". And He always says to me, "I am here... what are you choosing to see?"
Last nights experience reminded me that The Phenomenon, being God himself, lives in us. As I have waited, looking for God to show up and do something, He is living and working in people all around me and for some reason I am choosing not to see it. As I witnessed God's glory, in the forrest last night, I also noticed the phenomenon that happens in us. I watched Linda (boyfriend's mom), as she stared, for the second time, into space in awe of this happening. I thought about the last two years of her life and what she might have felt when her husband died and how she has had to learn to live in a new way . All I could see was her happiness and delight in what God was showing her now. I saw the phenomenon of His supernatural healing and comfort having come through her and her not just surviving but thriving.
I also looked at Maggie who's husband, a mere 100 yards away, lay in bed dying from cancer. I listened as she described how the spectacle was confirmation of God. She talked about it with such certainty and shared of another similar spectacle she recalled. Never did I hear a tone of resentment but only signs of a strongly rooted faith, gratitude, and a love for her savior. I knew that the phenomenon was and is taking place inside her.
I want to be like these women. I want to walk through the world everyday with the feeling and reassurance I get when I see fireflies dance in the dark.
Let God be the Phenomenon in your life. Choose to see him in yourself and the people around you. And let explanations that you are looking for in the things you can't explain just fall away so you can experience The Phenomenon that is God.
phenomenon |fəˈnäməˌnän; -nən| noun ( pl. -na |-nə|)
1 a fact or situation that is observed to exist or happen, esp. one whose cause or explanation is in question 2. a remarkable person, thing, or event. 3. Philosophy the object of a person's perception; what the senses or the mind notice.
Have you ever felt that if your feet weren't touching the ground you might be in heaven?Have you ever been overcome with God's love so fully in one instance that you didn't want that moment to end?
Words can't express the feeling of The Phenomenon. Yesterday, my boyfriend's mother, Linda told me that she wanted to take me to see The Phenomenon, (not an official name, just a term). When I first heard ‘phenomenon', I thought of something foreign and maybe a little scary but this was neither. Many phenomena are such because they are something that we can't fully explain and in a world of logical thinkers and concrete evidence it's hard to accept the unknown. It's almost like faith- believing in a God that is The Redeemer when we don't always see and feel that redemptive love reflected by the world. Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we cannot see. Hebrews 11:1
So we set off after dark with Linda's friend, Maggie. Far beyond my imagination, low in the forest, was a miracle of lights that almost completely summed up God's goodness. After walking for roughly 5 minutes, we came to a flat part of the trail and the girls turned out their flashlights. IT WAS AN EXPLOSION OF GRACE AND MERCY! IT WAS A DISPLAY OF ALL THE WAYS GOD FEELS ABOUT ME. IT WAS A WONDERLAND OF CREATION AND SPECTACLE OF HIS WILL AND DESIGN. IT WAS A REMARKABLE GIFT AND I FELT LIKE IT WAS JUST FOR US. Hundreds, maybe even thousands, of fireflies danced in the dark. They replicated what I can imagine a galaxy of twinkling stars might look like up close. Their bodies softly flickered as they drifted about the trees and I was completely lost in the show.
Suddenly, the world stopped and I knew that The Phenomenon was actually God himself. He is mystery. He is what we can't explain but what we see in situations and people everyday, as we were made in his image. His truth is what changes the hearts of men and works transformational and physical miracles in people all over the world. I can't begin to understand His full power, authority, and love but I know what it feels like to walk in it. It feels like a thousand fireflies in the dark.
Dear F Squad,
Take my hand we are going to go where we can shine. And for all that we struggle and for all we pretend you know, you know it don't come down to nothing except love in the end. And ours a road that is strewn with goodbyes. And as it unfold, as it all unwind remember your soul is the one thing you can't compromise. -David Gray
This year is about goodbyes. It is about stepping out from the shadow and releasing the past for what it is, the past. It is about saying goodbye to an old self...It's time to take the dead flesh from our backs and walk away. It is about goodbye to someone tainted by satan's ploys and empty promises... saying goodbye to His deception and the lies that He makes us believe about who we are.
The Lord has given me these truths that I pray over the squad. He has replaced what is broken with what is true. This is who we are, the F squad...
We live by faith and not by sight.-2 Cor. 5:7
We now know that we are children of God and we have overcome the works of the devil because the one who is in us is greater than the one who is in the world.
-1 john 4:4
We know that we are judged by our actions and not by faith alone. - James 2:24
We have received an anointing from Him that will remain in us. -1 John 2:27
Our struggle is not against the flesh and blood, but against the rulers, and the powers, and against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12
We did not receive a spirit of slavery that leads to fear, but we have received a spirit of adoption as sons and daughter of the Most High King. -Romans 8:15
We know God works for the good of those that love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.- Romans 8:28
We have been qualified, by the Father, to share in the inheritance of the saints in the Kingdom of Light. Colossians 1:12
His Divine Power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 2 Peter 1:3
The same power that conquered the grave...lives in us!!! ref.-Hosea 13:14
If I recalled every truth you wouldn't be able to finish the blog. I love you guys and I am thankful for all of you. God has used all of you to change my life and my heart this year. Hold tight to what you know is true and let the truth live in you and speak for itself. Nothing will ever be the same. Glory to our amazing God. Amen.
Supporters...all of my support is in!!! You have been amazing!!! You financial support and prayer has gotten me through the amazing year. I can't thank you enough for helping make this year happen. It has been the longest yet shortest year and we only have a week left. We leave tonight to travel to Kiev, Ukraine, for final de-brief.
I will ask for your prayers in my squads return to the States. And for me specifically, for the book that we are publishing and the photography company that is in the making. I will have more information on both of these topics soon! Lord wiling our photography book will be published in the fall/winter and I hope to have a photography site up by the end of June.
I hope to see you all upon return to the States in mid June.
**Sorry for the lack of pictures, personal blogs, and video. I will try and post more after the hustle and bustle of de-brief
Please help Sara...If you are still looking to support a racer or a ministry please check out my teammate Sara.She needs a bit more funding to finish the Race, and I ask that you consider transferring your monthly or one-time donations to her. She is a beautiful woman of God, and I don't know what I would have done without her this year. She has been a blessing in my life, please be a blessing in hers.
Hi! I'm Sara, a Chicago native who has fallen more in love with Jesus and the nations over
the course of the past 11 months. Since leaving on the World Race in
July 2008, I have been preaching, teaching, praying and serving around
the globe. The amount of financial and prayer support I have received
up until this point has been incredible. However, with just two weeks
left on my adventure, I am still $2800 short of my total financial
goal. This is where, I hope, you come in.
Would you prayerfully consider joining my financial support team and helping complete my journey?
Please visit my blog http://saraellis.theworldrace.org/ to read more about my World Race experience or please click here to
join my support team. If you have any questions, feel free to get in
touch with me. Thank you for your prayers and I look forward to having
you as a member of my support team.
Posted in Ukraine by Natalie Montgomery on 5/13/2009
thank you Jess for writing an update>>>
Wrapping up my last few days of ministry is somewhat
surreal. I started this trip almost 11 months ago and to think that I
only have a mere few days left is hard to comprehend. I came into this
month exhausted and with the mentality that I just had to "get through"
it in order to finish. To my surprise, ministry this month has probably
been my most favorite out of ALL of them. Myself along with five other
girls are working alongside Forrest & Darcy Ferdon and their two
adopted Ukranian children. They are a missionary family from the states
who have been here for the last 3 years. I have to give them props for
choosing Lugansk out of all of the places in Ukraine, because it is a
HARD city to live in.
(The Ferdons kids)
Lugansk is the capital of mail order brides for Ukraine.
Everywhere you walk in the city, NO ONE smiles and getting yelled at
while walking down the streets is not uncommon. People drink beer and
liquor at all hours of the day and it is not odd to see men and women
walk to work in the morning with a bottle of brewsky in their hand. ALL
of the women dress to the nines, and if you are not in 3 inch heels,
tight pants, and perfect make up, then you are going to be out of
place. The people of Lugansk seem to be obsessed with image and booze.
If you want to talk about an unreached people group, Lugansk Ukraine
would be at the top of my list.
As much as I do not like the culture of the city, the
ministry here that the Ferdons have is extremely fruitful. They are
doing a lot of work at the MANY orphanages in the area and building
relationships with the orphans. Currently, we are also attending an
English school every day for about 6-8 hours and helping the students
and teachers. Most of the students are high school and university aged
and they are an absolute blast. We help with everything from grammar to
American history (NOT exactly my strongest subject!). The teachers
always allow students time to ask us questions about America,
politics(those convos can get REAL interesting), religion, and anything
else that they are interested about. Because of the freedom that we
have in these classes, we have each had opportunities to talk about
Jesus and preach the gospel. These conversations have not been forced,
but encouraged by the teachers and students. Outside of class, many of
us have interacted with the students to build relationships with them,
whether it be being invited to their home for a Shichliek(BBQ) or
inviting them over to hang out with us.
Every Friday night we have a "Coffee Night" at our flat and
invite all of the students to come over to speak English and watch
movies. This past Friday we had over 40 students crammed into our
apartment. The night consisted of teaching them how to make smores(over
a gas stove), listening to different people play the guitar or violin,
and getting to know each other. Many of the people here in Ukraine have
a skewed view of what a "Christian" is. They think that Christianity is
only for their grandparents or that you have to change who you are as a
person to be a Christian. It has been great to show them that we as
Christians are JUST like them. We are WRECKING their view of
Christianity and it is AWESOME.
(Me with some of the high school aged students at our coffee night)
(one of the students playing the guitar for us)
(showing them how to make smores...NOT exactly practicing fire safety!)
Seth Barnes wrote this blog a couple weeks ago...it was really what I needed so I thought I would share it. A lot of times we think we see the bigger picture when really God is the one who knows what is really going on.
Linford Detweiler, the male half of the
duo Over the Rhine, said that one of his life's ambitions is: "Don't
squander affliction." I like that. It presupposes that affliction is
some kind of gift. But then you have to ask - who wants a gift like
that?
Affliction is kind of a medieval word that makes me think of damp
dungeons. It's more than just pain, it's a kind of exquisite agony -
pain that didn't just happen, but got inflicted, maybe on purpose. The
King James talks about rising from a "bed of affliction" - somehow that
seems more noble than just being sick.
Jesus says that he prunes us so we'll bear more fruit.* Elsewhere
we're told that God disciplines those he loves - "for our good" is how
Hebrews puts it.** Another way of looking at it is to say that he is
trusting us with pain.
To trust is to take a kind of a risk; what is it that God risks when he gives us the gift of pain?
For one thing, we humans are forever missing the forest for the
trees. We're forever banging up against some electric fence that he put
around a dangerous cliff and then shaking our fists at him when we get
zapped. "Why does God hate me?" We cry out in our pain, totally missing
the point that it would have been much worse to go over the cliff. God
is setting himself up to be a jilted lover when he lets us suffer in
order to help us.
I remember when I was a young boy and I was caught playing with
gasoline, I was disciplined by being confined to my room for a long
time. It seemed horribly unfair. No one had explained to me either the
dangers of gasoline or the consequences for playing with it. Discipline
may have been beneficial, but with the blinders of youth on, it seemed
like all pain and no gain - wasted affliction.
Thomas Hobbes said, life is "poor, nasty, brutish, and short."
Things have gotten better since his day. People live twice as long now.
Yet, peel the surface back on the average life and you'll find plenty
of pain. Every one of us has got it in our lives, but we keep it locked
away out of sight, wasting away. Or, maybe worse, we invert it and
parade it around as a sign of our victimization - a mournful "somebody
done somebody wrong" song where that somebody is us.
Both miss God's point. He set up checks and balances in the
universe so that we're not at the center of it. When you get checked in
hockey, it hurts, and when God checks you, it can feel like you've been
hit with a hockey stick. But we need to consider that maybe, just
maybe, there's actually a redemptive reason behind it.
We can curse or we can mope, but we'd be better off asking him a
question as a kind of a prayer: "God, I know you say all things work
together for good - nothing is wasted in your economy. Can you show me
what you're doing here so I don't squander this gift of pain?"
His answer may surprise you.
*John 15
**Read and meditate on all of Hebrews 12 on this subject an I guarantee God will speak to you through it.
World Racers worked with Gypsy Agape ministries (www.gypsyagape.com) in Viile Tecii, Romania, in April 2009. Here's a glimpse of the life we experienced there.