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Griffioen Newsletter April 2008 |
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Have you ever been so thirsty that after drinking two glasses of water you still can’t stop, you just want to drink more and more. That’s how we feel. We are so hungry: to meet with our Maker, to hear His voice, to walk with Him, to be transformed by Him, and to see others around us transformed.
As we have been drinking more of our Savior's living water, Jesus has been showing us more what it means to take up our crosses and follow Him. We’ve come to understand that His call for us to take up our crosses is not a burdensome call, but rather, it is an amazing, indescribable call to a life of freedom in Christ. As we deny our old, sinful nature and realize that sin has no hold on us, we are able to step more into the fullness of the joy and freedom that Jesus died to give us.
In learning how to walk in this freedom more and more, we have been learning how to step into what we are made to do more and more. And what may that be? To PRAISE and GLORIFY the Savior of our souls with all our hearts. God has been showing us that whatever comes at us, whether good or bad, we are called to praise, glorify, and worship Jesus in that, because that is why He made us.
So we just want to praise and worship God for the things that He has done and allowed to happen these past couple months.
We praise God for an amazing team retreat. Praise God that He used that time to deepen our relationships with each other. Praise God for the way He is taking our team members’ visions and uniting them as one.
We praise God for Amber’s visa situation. Praise God that He is going to work it out. Last weekend, Amber went to Malaysia to extend her visa, expecting to have no problems. However, when she was applying for a new visa, the Thai Embassy told her that the tourist visa they gave her will be the LAST one they will issue her. So she either has to find a job and get a worker’s visa within the next 2-3 months or she has to go back to Canada. We praise God for another opportunity to trust Him. We know He’ll work everything out for His good. Please pray that God will give Amber wisdom and favor as she tries to find a job teaching English at a local school.
We praise God for the work He is doing in many of the people here. We praise God that every week there are people, somewhere here in Phuket, turning their lives to Jesus. The harvest is ripe. We praise God for His promise that if we ask Him for anything that is His will, He will do that for us. We praise God that He is going to complete the work He is starting in these new brothers’ and sisters’ lives.
We praise God for the way He is uniting the churches of Phuket. On Easter, for the first time EVER in Phuket, many different churches came together to walk as ONE down a main street while: raising banners about Jesus’ love, handing out tracts, praying, and picking up garbage. The walk ended off with a unified prayer time for Phuket and Thailand. It was so amazing to watch and be part of. We are so excited for what God is doing and is going to do in Phuket. It’s all for His glory. We love that!!
We also want to praise God for the way He is drawing kids to a little Bible club at our house on Sundays. We love how God is bringing out children who are so hungry to hear God’s truth. A couple weeks ago, while we were talking about the creation story, it was like a light went on in their heads. They had never thought about this before. We praise God that He loves children and that He longs to draw them to Himself.
We praise God for you. We thank God for blessing us so much with people like you who cover us in prayer. I know we have said this before, but we don’t know any other way to express how grateful we are for your prayers. THANK YOU.
Some more areas that we would appreciate prayer for are as follows. Pray that Christ’s love will continue to transform us and the people around us. Pray that God will give us His wisdom and boldness as we interact with these broken people. Pray that the contagious praise of Jesus will pour out of every part of our beings. Pray that we will give God the glory for everything.
May the Lord be gracious to you and bless you and make his face shine on you. (Psalm 67:1a)
Amanda and Amber Griffioen
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