Who Moves to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania?? WE DO!!!

here's an email we sent out in case you missed it and are interested in knowing what's gwanin' with our move to PA!
 

prayer for your 2014

Before getting into 2014 stuff, we would love to hear any cool stories of what God's done in your life in 2013!! We had our second child, Amayah, so that's probably the most exciting thing for us this year! Something I felt led to pray for (not just for us but for the body of Christ) is that there be no more delay in the fulfillment of His promises. There are some promises of God's for each of us that seem to be delayed. Sometimes it's God's plan (like when God gave the Israelites a longer route to the Promise Land to teach, train and prepare them - Ex.13:17) but sometimes it's not God's plan and His promises are delayed because of human error or spiritual opposition from the enemy. So we pray that the promises God has for you in this coming year would be fulfilled according to His will without delay or hindrances. And that if He does want you to wait, that He would show you and give you the grace and strategy in the time of waiting! But thank you in advance God for fulfilling any delayed promises!!

 

"I want to move to Pennsylvania NOW!!"

Our frustrated little Sethy said this when he was told he couldn't play with his Christmas present of train tracks until we moved into our new house in Pennsylvania and he was running low on patience. He shouted out what has been an ongoing frustration of ours for a year now since God told us last January that He's calling us there to help the YWAM base in Harrisburg, PA establish work in the inner-city in which they're based (they're focus is revival in IvyLeague universities - see http://www.ywamharrisburg.org.)

So speaking of delayed promises!! Turns out while we were focused on getting there, God was busy caring about our heart journey along the way. More on this journey can be found in the post below, but one of the things we were really set free from was looking to a physical home for worth, security or comfort. In moving from place to place for half the year, we were forced to learn look to Him for those things and the freedom this brought was amazing. He showed us how even Jesus Himself didn't know where He would live day to day and how being in the Father's will was enough for Him. He was content in the Father. Too much to comprehend, I know....trust me, we know! Oh and if you wanna check out more about the awesome YWAM base we're gonna join, check:

 

February 21st - indefinitely!!

So off we go, February 21st till whenever God says so! Our calling in Harrisburg is beyond the inner-city and we're excited to share more about that in the coming months.

 

Prayer, Protection, Provision

Lastly...and we really appreciate it if you've made it this far in the email...we would be so grateful if you could be praying for us for this move. It's bigger than we can handle on our own and the prayers of many have proven to be like a safety net for us. Prayers have more than once protected us from crazy stuff like accidents. I think we can all attest to that, so if you think of us in these next couple of months, give us a shoutout to God!! And of course a move like this is gonna cost some crazy moula so if you feel led to help in that way, let us know or if you feel web savvy enough, check this website that takes care of that for us: http://ywamcanada.org/donations.html

 

our children

lastly, we love watching our children grow ... and quicker than we can keep up with. Amayah has grown like a weed, the legal kind! She's got two cute bottom teeth and is learning how to crawl, she just adores her big brother and her eyes follow him more than anyone. Sethy is onto his ABC's and 123's, loves to play rough like a typical boy and is learning how to talk more and more each day. One of the things we love seeing grow in Seth is his gift of encouragement. He loves to flash a smile to strangers just to bring joy to them!

BAM! That's it!! Whew, that was a long-winded update but at least you won't hear from us for another few months! haha, anyway we would also love to hear from you on how your new year is going and what specific things we can be praying with you about.

Appreciate you more than you know!!!!

 

tami + the tribe

Our Journey to Harrisburg

OBEDIENCE

TRUST

PATIENCE

HUMILITY

DEPENDENCY

SACRIFICE

THANKFULNESS

COURAGE

PEACE

COMMITMENT

TRUE WORTH

HONOUR

These are just some of the things we grew in with the Lord this past year as we made the journey to Harrisburg.  I'm sure we're all constantly growing in these things but there are seasons in life where the growing is multiplied and increased to where we can feel the growing pains of it.  Like it was with the Israelites, it wasn't about getting to the destination of the Promise Land but it was about the journey along the way where God had a step by step plan of what He wanted to do in us before letting us go to our Promise Land…haha, comparing Harrisburg with the Promise Land is pretty funny but who knows, maybe in the end it'll prove to be our lil' promise land. 

Our friend (shoutout to Karalyn Kohan!!!) always reminded us that it wasn't about our timing but His, that there were certain things that needed to happen in our life before we went - that it was like the building of a house. If one step of the building of a house was missed, it throws everything off.  That we could easily just go down there and not wait on God but the same grace wouldn't be there - things wouldn't flow as easily.

So God gives us the call. We assume (void of asking God) we're gonna go after Amayah's born in May so we start making plans to move down.  Nothing opens up as far as housing so we're wondering what's going on. Then we have a dream where God basically says don't be in a rush to get down there, that there's lots He wants to do in our lives before we go. So we wait and in the meantime, struggle with various things and learn the following…if your waiting on God for something, we pray you'll find some sorta encouragement and wisdom in reading our story…

OBEDIENCE + FAITH

this is a powerful combination like prayer and worship. God once said to me that prayer and worship are like a bow and arrow - a powerful weapon.  From glory stories in the Bible to the glory stories of people's lives, they always boil down to simple faith and obedience.  Just hearing God's commands and going for it.  We grew in these areas because when doors weren't opening right away, we had to fight doubt and unbelief - the two forces fighting this generation.  Following in obedience despite having to wait, despite doubting whether we heard right or not…fighting to believe and all the way, God was faithful in reminding us we were right on track with Him. One of my favourite verses in the Bible that have to do with this is when God told Samuel to basically let Saul go because "I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and in my mind." 1 Samuel 2:35 and that faithful priest was David who I deeply admire. Walking in faith and obedience to what is on God's heart and mind, not our own.

PATIENCE & PERSEVERANCE

so much happened this year that grew patience and perseverance in us - especially with having a second child.  We felt the pressure (from ourselves and sometimes others) of not waiting on God and just going for it but doors would                           always shut and we were forced to persevere and keep believing God's word to wait and trust.  And we could sense how as we persevered, it was strengthening our faith and our dependency on God grew more and more (James 1:4NLT is a fine word).

HUMILITY

one is always humbled whenever going through a time of waiting cause your constantly reminded that it's not about us, not about what we can do to make things work but it's about God and what He can do.  So many times pride rises up trying to make us feel better but most times we fall flat on our face cause God gives grace to the humble and opposes the proud.                                            

DEPENDENCY

the world says to us, amongst many other things, "be mature, have it all together, look cool to others, figure things out for yourself!" People always asking, "what are you doing? when are you gonna go to PA??"  And we love 'em, we know they mean well but living in the kingdom is the opposite of the way of the world and we know we look foolish and weak to those who are intellectual and savvy because we choose not to pretend to know everything or have it altogether. A defining moment for me this year was when someone prayed, "your trying to be mature and look like you have it all together and your trying to figure things out for yourself but God is saying true spiritual maturity is the opposite.  It's clinging to Him like a child, leaning on His wisdom and understanding not your own. So stop trying to be mature and just be like a child." Whew. Literally took my breath away cause all the pressure I was feeling, the expectations of others, it all lifted in the freedom of knowing my Father just wanted me to chill, sit back and be like a child in His arms.  And one doesn't have to watch children for too long to get a picture of what the Father's talking about - minus the diapers of course. It's about having the maturity of a grandmother but with the heart of a child. 

SACRIFICE

when we choose to live a life dependent on God, it takes risk and sacrifice. This past year, we had to constantly lay down our own desires at the altar, sacrificing the comfort of our own home, sacrificing our "reputation," worrying about the risk of failure, the list goes on. 

THANKFULNESS

self-pity and discouragement came knocking and the only way we could fight them was through thankfulness and gratitude. This led to praise and worship, being able to still thank God in the midst of adversity. To be able to give God His due praise, knowing He's worthy of our praise despite earthly circumstances.  At the end of the day, we know what we're going through pales in comparison to what others are going through so we have to remember not to take life so seriously.

COURAGE

it's paralyzing how fearful we can be as humans - fearful of trusting, fearful of not having control, fearful of what people think about us, fearful of finances, fearful of taking chances, fearful of the weather, it's crazy how fearful we can be - whether we're christians or not!!! So especially when it comes to taking steps of faith, when God asks us to do crazy things, it makes our deepest fears rise up and gives Him the opportunity to help us overcome them.  Takes a while though to even realize we have specific fears. Sometimes that's the whole reason why God asks us to do crazy things cuz He sees the weeds of fear and control that need to be uprooted.

PEACE

anxiety and worry came knocking too and we had to fight to remain in God's peace and joy.  Philippians 4:6 became our strategy…fighting worrying thoughts, reminding ourselves of the truth and really praying through those anxious thoughts. 

COMMITMENT

staying committed to God and His desires despite every urge to give up and run. And with all the changes, our marriage was definitely tested and we had to fight to be committed to one another in love - forgiving quickly, learning how to communicate better, learning how to trust one another more, the list goes on. 

TRUE WORTH

we'll constantly be re-learning this one and finding our worth in God rather than a home or what our bank account says. God said to me when I was griping about finding a home…"do you want your children to grow up finding their worth, comfort and security in material things or in ME?" ouch. nuff said.

HONOUR

honour isn't learned or gained overnight, but I believe it's something that is best grown in trials.  It's easy to honour God and others when life's good but how do we honour others when we don't receive honour back? Many (even those of us in the body of Christ) are quick to honour and praise people based on physical attributes like money, title/position, social status, or heck, the clothes others wear!!  It's something God's opened our eyes to this year - to be able to notice those who are able to honour us even in our lowest moments, those who are able to still believe in us despite not having it all together.  For example, Simeon and Anna were able to honour Jesus when He was just a baby, when he hadn't performed a single miracle yet. It says in Isaiah there was nothing that should attract us to Him.  They saw with eyes of the Spirit, not with their earthly eyes that look for earthly reasons to honour someone.  We were challenged to learn how to honour others based on what God says about them, not what their physical means say.

That's all she wrote!!

- tami

Our Children Knowing the Big Guy

"Mommy, where's Jesus?" 

This is what Seth asked me a few days after Christmas when we were still talking to him about what Christmas means.  Seth has been able to see, touch and experience everyone else that we've talked to him about - except for Jesus. And when he asked this, it filled me with sadness and anger cause here's our little son, with such innocent curiosity, just wanting to know who and where this Jesus is that his parents talk about so much.  Ya! Where is this God we talk about? I kinda got upset with God like how come He hasn't shown Himself to Seth yet?? Why does my son have to wait in suspense when he truly eagerly wants to see Him? Whatever, I had to just let my emotions go.  So instead of trying to figure out a cool answer myself, I put the responsibility on God to answer for Himself! So I asked Holy Spirit what He wanted me to answer for Him. I said, "He's with us right now and one day, your gonna see Him face to face and it's gonna be awesome!!" I used the analogy of wind, how wind is there even if we can't see it. And I just kinda had to leave it at that and trust that in time, God is gonna show Himself to Seth...and it'll be awesome.  

All this reminded me of a dream where the basic point of it was that God wanted our children to know Him intimately and not because of what we've told them about Him but because they've experienced Him themselves.  He doesn't want them to know religion, He wants them to KNOW HIM through personal encounter and experience with Him.  Too many children (me included in this statistic) that grow up in Christian homes end up falling away cause they get tired of pretending to love a God they barely know. They get tired of trying to be obedient to impress and win God's love. Tired of hearing cool stories about God never getting to experience or see it for themselves. Tired of being forced to follow traditions yet never truly knowing the person behind the traditions. The list of religious activities and thinking is endless.  Point is, God is encouraging us to point our children to Him and leave the rest to Him.  So for anyone who cares to read on, here's some ways we're pointing our children to Him...

We've come to love bedtime routines with Seth cuz it's one of the rare moments of the day where he's at peace and willing to listen to what we've gotta say. So after a nice bath and a little chase in his bed, we tuck him in and he gets ready to have some fun. We read, we sing, love to go through ABC's and 123's. Most of all, we love to tell him stories. We made up this character named Solomon who's got a similar life to Seth and he's become quite an imaginary friend for Seth, but it's been amazing cause he knows Solomon's a bit older and really admires and looks up to him. 

Through these imaginative and creative stories, we're able to teach Seth Kingdom principles and share about who God is to us.  Like knowing that God is a God of justice and cares and fights for us. A simple story of when a kid stole Solomon's toy that he was playing with and how Solomon talked to his mom and dad about it and let them talk to the other kid to solve everything.  A lota nonsense happened to us this past year, a lot of little injustices that we knew were an attack from the enemy and when any injustice happens, there's such a temptation to handle it ourselves, fight for ourselves but as we've learned this past year, God is so much better at bringing justice and restoration to things than we ever could. Everyone's trying to grow up and we're just trying to grow down and have faith and dependency on God like children and that's what we wanna teach Seth, how to run to God when injustices or disappointment or failure come. Or a story of Solomon experiencing bullying and learning how to deal with it in a healthy way…Solomon did his best to forgive the bully and went as far as buying the bully an ice cream and how it changed the bully's heart - why would someone care about him after he's treated them like that? Or the first time Solomon experienced rejection and learning how to deal with it in a healthy way. We care about Seth learning how to care for his body, soul and spirit because God cares about his whole self. 

Then past all the Solomon stories, it's living it all out in front of Seth. We know kids are like sponges, constantly listening, watching and soaking up everything they can catch with their senses. So as much as we can, we wanna live out life with Jesus with all our brokenness and imperfections but also with all the glory and joy of it all. That he could see how life prospers with God, even through the ups and downs, how life is just so much better with Him.

Also, during our bedtime routine and pretty much all throughout the day, we are intentional at speaking our children's identity and destiny over them. A friend of ours once said, "Satan's greatest fear is that you would know who you are and become it." DANG!!! But it's so true, I done been through that!! From the beginning of time, Satan has made man question their identity and God's identity.  Some of mankind's deepest desires are to know who they are and know what they were created for.  Even before our children were conceived, God's been sharing with us who they'd be and He did this so that we can be praying for them to grow up living out the fullness of their identity and destiny He's given them….also so that we can be speaking it over them.

And growing up in an environment where the opposite was spoken over me, I totally understand the power of the words we speak. It was a lot of negativity, a lot of "why can't you be more like this person?" So how did I grow up? Becoming exactly who they spoke over me, I became rebellious, stubborn and hard-hearted.  I wonder how different I'd be if they'd spoken the truth of who I was meant to be instead of speaking just to my behaviour.  But meh, my parents didn't know any better and I don't blame them, I just know I wanna chart a new course for our children and future generations! So whenever we can, we wanna sow truth into our children and look forward to watching them grow up having a deep awareness of who they are.  And sure they'll question their identity, but we'll know the truth of who God says they are will be deeply planted in their hearts. And the truth always sets us free.

"Seth, you really care about things that are lost huh? Did you know that's cause God ultimately created you to care about the lost?" Who cares if he has a clue of what we're saying, his soul is soaking the truth up! Even when Seth is being adamantly disobedient, I fight to speak the opposite over him, "Seth, c'mon, you're better than this, you're amazing at listening to mommy!" You'd be surprised at how quick his little heart responds to words of affirmation so much so that most times he slows down and starts to listen and actually respond with obedience because his mommy is choosing to believe in who he really is instead of just reacting to his bad behaviour….a great book on stuff like this is "Loving Our Kids on Purpose" by Danny Silk.  Check it.  Live it.  

Ahhh, as usual, I've said too much and my fingers and back hurt…haha, gotta fight this old age!! Anyway, we're living and praying not just for ourselves but for the generations following us. That though the world will be even darker than it is now, God's light will shine even brighter through our children. That in the midst of darkness, our children will be the Daniels of their day…they will "do mighty exploits because they KNOW THEIR GOD." Daniel 11:32NKJV

- tami