listening and writing habits

So, I haven’t written a blog post in 4 months (!) and have also taken a 2 week break from other writing/editing/website work…so, I need to practice putting words on paper (or on a screen) before getting back to work…

These past several months have been full of growth, challenges, and blessings, and I am SO thankful for God’s mercies which are new every morning, and for His people who encourage me/us.

Some lessons seem to be life-long, and God keeps on bringing me back to grow even more in areas of my life that I thought had already been matured. And, as is always the case, He uses the people around me (like my littles!) and His Word to challenge and sanctify! I am so glad that it is GOD who promises to complete the work that HE began in me!

Lately, I have been so encouraged by making it a habit to listen to podcasts and imusic audio studies, and to also put on either worship music or preaching (usually with headphones/earbuds in just one ear, so I am still “present”). It is especially encouraging if I am struggling with either feeling irritable or needing some “downtime” (being an introvert in an extroverted life is hard sometimes). I have been learning so much with this new habit, and so have my littles – they have their Focus on the Family Radio Theatre and worship music that they also ask to listen to throughout the day, when they take breaks from homeschool, and Benjamin often asks to listen to my Bible studies with me.

Sometimes we have to look for encouragement (like with podcasts), and other times it is also offered by those around us – which has also been a theme lately. I am SO thankful for those that God has placed in our lives to do life with (near and far)! I am thankful for my Wednesday morning Bible study ladies, family in Christ both in the community and at church here, and I am so thankful right now for the El Salvador Missionary Fellowship. We were recently at the annual Gathering of missionaries here -where we were encouraged and where our children were SO blessed and encouraged! We also received gifts and other blessings during that weekend, and then with a visit from Canadian friends, who also brought gifts from home!

Then, Benjamin was given the amazing gift of a ticket to Canada, where he is enjoying a very special family time. He will be back on January 10^th, which is a long time for a 9.5 year old (and his siblings/family), but our life here and traveling has taught (is teaching) us to live one day at a times, to be content, and to live as foreigners in this world -and we are SO happy that he has this opportunity!

So, that is just a little update on me, now to get to some writing work for ministry and communications...

Reader’s Favourites

More of life in the village - began writing in the village, and will slowly finish this week

As I sit here to write, I am surrounded by small children –some nephews, a little orphaned girl, and a great-nephew, plus some of my own children coming and going. I came to the church building to write, because the internet reception is better, the heat is not as intense, and I thought I would be alone – if I could speak the language I might ask them to leave for a little while, but I think that choosing love, and bearing the noise of all the “emotokars” (cars made of pieces of wood –that don’t resemble cars, but with an imagination and some good sound effects, they become perfect cars!)…in the time that it took to write that, they realized that I wasn’t looking at pictures or doing anything interesting, so they took their cars outside –but left a baby behind to play on the dirt floor. Actually, the floor is not dirt, it is made of cow dung. Here is Benjamin’s description of the [making of the] cow-dung floor: “I watched one of my cousins make a cow-poop-floor. First, they coll...

Citizens of Heaven: reflections on how the lack of speaking and understanding a language make me a foreigner.

I have experienced life as a foreigner in varying degrees over the majority of my life, probably beginning on my first short term missions trip (to Uganda) 22 years ago (yes, 22 years…yikes!). I don’t recall feeling so much a foreigner on that trip, but I was changed, and became a distinct “foreigner” upon my return to Canada. I think it was then that I began to learn how to die to myself and began to desire to live out James 1:27 (in it’s entirety – I yearned to live out true religion by taking care of orphans and widows AND by remaining unpolluted by the secular world) *note: I am far from perfect, and simultaneously began a fight against sin, as once convicted of something, once one knows the good that they should do and they do not do it, they then sin… the struggle against the flesh is real, but with every victory, as sin is put to death and as I choose to live life in the Spirit, I am learning more and more how to live a life separate from the world. ...

Intentionality

As I finish up this school year with my littles, (and prepare to continue their lessons throughout the Summer, so that we are ready to begin the school year well), I am reflecting on this past school year, and the many travels and lessons that we have had together. We began the school year in El Salvador, finished our first term in Canada, completed our second term in Uganda, began our third term in Canada, and are finishing up back in El Salvador. We have learnt and grown in each subject and grade, and as a family, and individually. I especially enjoy the lessons learnt through experience, as we travel, and as we live in different cultures and contexts – but, as much as I love teachable moments, and life lessons, and I love teaching God’s Word and the practical lessons of growing in character, I am otherwise, not a very good teacher, and very easily fall behind –especially in recording our learning (which is required for being Distributed Learner’s through my home province)....

Book Trailer. Living in the Shadow of Death: From a Child of War to an A...

It has been 15 months since our first book launch (November 2017)! After being able to share the story with Samuel’s family - reading it to them in the village, as we sat under the stars, outside of our mud hut with grass-thatched roof - we have decided to edit the title and a few small details, and to print it again. The book is on Amazon and Kindle - and coming to iBooks and bookstores soon! Click here to see our Amazon Author Page

Passionate for Truth: If you are a born-again Christian, do you use the JW Bible or Book of Mormon? What if I told you that Jesus appeared to me with insight into re-translating the Bible? What If I added words to the Bible and made it available for Christians everywhere?

“I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.” Revelation 22:18-19 “And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you.” Deuteronomy 4:1-2 “Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.” Proverbs 30:5-6 In the Garden with Eve and in the dessert with Jesus, Satan used the Word of God too... ...

Walking the path marked out - by Charity Okurut (early 2000's)

No matter what the circumstances, no matter the happenings, know this: He holds you in the palm of His hands and He has wonderful plans for you. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future. Along the way, don’t look down so long that you don’t see the road ahead. Don't keep your head up so high that you don’t see the path, and so trip and fall. Don’t look back so long that you forget where you are going, nor keep your eyes fixed so far ahead that you forget where you came from, and what made you who you are today. Memorize the faces of those travelling alongside you. Identify those who need your help and recognize those who need to help you. And no matter what - never give up! ~ Charity Okurut nee Pilkey

The Father-heart of God: a Definition

Having grown up hearing and learning the meaning of the “Father-heart of God”, I have never thought to sit and write a definition, until now as we prepare for a time of staff training (or envisioning). And as I have recently been told that the term didn’t make grammatical sense to someone -I wondered if it was our (mine and Samuel’s) Canadian, British and Ugandan language background, and similar church and training background that gave as a unique understanding of a term that maybe doesn’t actually makes sense? But when I googled it, mostly American blogs and studies came up - so American English uses the term too …but what does the term mean ? That is what I want to write about here. I am sitting in a coffee shop, thinking about the Father-heart of God, with headphones on. I felt compelled to listen to “How Great Thou Art” as I write and wish I could sing at the top of my voice while sitting here… thinking of all that it has ever meant to me and what it means now, the great truth...

“Palm Sunday”. Thinking about Worship, “social distancing” & examining ourselves and our Gospel message

Psalm 139:23, 24 “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.” 2 Corinthians 13:5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test? Jesus was welcomed into Jerusalem by a crowd full of people singing and rejoicing over miracles. When Nicodemus came to Jesus and said that they (the Jewish leaders) knew that He must be from God because of the signs/miracles, Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3) The Jewish people had been waiting for the Messiah, and the entire Old Testament is full of messianic prophesies - on the road to Emmeaus, after His resurrection, Jesus went through the entire scripture to teach that it was all about Himself. The mes...

Did God REALLY say He created everything in 6-morning-to-evening (literal) days? Is it essential to Christian Ministry & Education that He did?

The Father’s Heart Foundation’s beliefs and core values (link at bottom) , as well as our vision for Christian education and discipleship, are founded not just on a general “Christian” belief system and moral code, but are grounded in a biblical worldview -a complete, biblical world view that begins with Genesis. I will add footnotes * for a few points, but for others, you may use your own research to check - also, as a note, most of my knowledge on this subject is from personal research over several years - hence the lack of footnotes ;) . In creating a culture - with a goal of creating a biblical and godly culture- we need a blueprint and a foundation... As is needed in creating anything from a lego structure to an apartment building, we all need a blue print, and we need to start with a solid foundation. We need an understanding of God’s Word for a solid biblical foundation. So, then, as Christians, we need to know “what is foundational”? What is “fundamental”? And...

A Call to Discern, Contend for & be Sanctified by Truth

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