I have fought today with the idea of being disappointed in man! Here is the thing with that, of course we are going to be disappointed in man, even a man with the best of intentions. The only place we will find no disappointment is with God. There is absolutely nothing disappointing about Him. Everything that is good comes from Him, His way is always the right way, He delights over us, He is crazy in love with us! He only wants the best for us, provides, protects, lifts up, directs... and so much more.
There is nothing disappointing in God!
My encouragement to the Church. Dear loved of God, LOVE and do it lavishly! Have your expectations rest only in God and just love.
In God alone!
Andrea
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Surreal
I feel a bit out of my body right now. It is late and I have been working hard all day, so I don't know if this will make tons of sense? But, here we go anyway...It is really hard to get rid of all of my stuff! Yes, I said it!!! I have accumulated things for 16 years, things I really like, things that were "so me", things that brought comfort or happy thoughts. Still just THINGS!
It has been difficult preparing for a Huge Sale of all of my belongings, when I actually still like everything I have. It is different when I have a garage sale and get rid of things I no longer want or need, this is not like that.
Here is the truth in the matter though, what I have to look forward to, over in Africa, is so much more valuable than all of my things combined. My precious children at the orphanage, infinitely better than my favorite red dishes!!! The people in Lesotho, so much more lovely than my china!!! Knowing that Jesus has called us there is even more comfortable than my Temper pedic mattress ( and this is very comfy)!
Galations 5:17 "For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish."
This pretty much explains it I am in a battle between my flesh and my Spirit! I am so thankful that the Lord has been so sweet to me and understanding. He has been by me, encouraging me while I put everything out to sell. He understands how I feel, He created my flesh and knows my connection to this world. It isn't a bad feeling, he created me with feelings. Yet, He is encouraging me to release my fleshly belongings for a much deeper relationship with Him in my Spirit. He is making my Spirit stronger and that is worth a lot. He takes me as I am and fully loves me, He never stops investing and working on me.
That is what He wants to do with us all. Take us as we are! Fully loved in whatever spot you may be in. You could be a mess, backslidden and broken... He LOVES you! It's that easy, isn't that awesome?
I'm thanking God that He knows me and loves me just the way I am, that He understands my sadness. I love that He encourages me in truth! I am praying for you all tonight that the Lord would meet you right where you are at and encourage you in truth too!
Thank you dear friends for your prayers! Blessings,
Andrea
It has been difficult preparing for a Huge Sale of all of my belongings, when I actually still like everything I have. It is different when I have a garage sale and get rid of things I no longer want or need, this is not like that.
Here is the truth in the matter though, what I have to look forward to, over in Africa, is so much more valuable than all of my things combined. My precious children at the orphanage, infinitely better than my favorite red dishes!!! The people in Lesotho, so much more lovely than my china!!! Knowing that Jesus has called us there is even more comfortable than my Temper pedic mattress ( and this is very comfy)!
Galations 5:17 "For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish."
This pretty much explains it I am in a battle between my flesh and my Spirit! I am so thankful that the Lord has been so sweet to me and understanding. He has been by me, encouraging me while I put everything out to sell. He understands how I feel, He created my flesh and knows my connection to this world. It isn't a bad feeling, he created me with feelings. Yet, He is encouraging me to release my fleshly belongings for a much deeper relationship with Him in my Spirit. He is making my Spirit stronger and that is worth a lot. He takes me as I am and fully loves me, He never stops investing and working on me.
That is what He wants to do with us all. Take us as we are! Fully loved in whatever spot you may be in. You could be a mess, backslidden and broken... He LOVES you! It's that easy, isn't that awesome?
I'm thanking God that He knows me and loves me just the way I am, that He understands my sadness. I love that He encourages me in truth! I am praying for you all tonight that the Lord would meet you right where you are at and encourage you in truth too!
Thank you dear friends for your prayers! Blessings,
Andrea
Friday, June 25, 2010
"Ask"
God gave me a verse at the beginning of this journey that simply said "You have not because you ask not"(Actually all of James 4 has been awesome for me personally)!
At that point I began asking God for things, not for just anything or the things I desire, but for the things He had put on my heart. I began asking for all sorts of things and guess what He provided bigger than I ever thought. He showed up, He worked things out, He was Lord, boss, giver, redeemer, Savior, Helper, protecter... and so much more.
We are in the season of raising support. I refuse to do some kind of show to raise money. God has made it clear He wants us to go and brought about all sorts of surprises for us. I believe He will also prick peoples hearts to give to us. We need $3000 a month!!! Plus other monies for our move and set up in Africa ie: cars, furniture.
It is my job to simply "Ask" and get the word out about our need. We are asking that you would prayerfully consider supporting us. Specifically a commitment of monthly donations for a year. It would be nice for us to know how much we have coming in monthly. We have a very easy donation sight set up. It is powered by egiving, 100% of the proceeds goes to us, they do not take a cut. You can set it all up online, it is safe, secure and you can print off a tax deductible paper at the end.
We are blessed to be the ones called to GO! We are blessed to know people that are called to SEND! I want to thank everyone in advance for your support no matter how big or small. Your support in prayer is crucial and if God calls you to pray for us that is just as valuable even more so.
Please consider donating to our family while we go and serve in South Africa!
Blessings,
Andrea
At that point I began asking God for things, not for just anything or the things I desire, but for the things He had put on my heart. I began asking for all sorts of things and guess what He provided bigger than I ever thought. He showed up, He worked things out, He was Lord, boss, giver, redeemer, Savior, Helper, protecter... and so much more.
We are in the season of raising support. I refuse to do some kind of show to raise money. God has made it clear He wants us to go and brought about all sorts of surprises for us. I believe He will also prick peoples hearts to give to us. We need $3000 a month!!! Plus other monies for our move and set up in Africa ie: cars, furniture.
It is my job to simply "Ask" and get the word out about our need. We are asking that you would prayerfully consider supporting us. Specifically a commitment of monthly donations for a year. It would be nice for us to know how much we have coming in monthly. We have a very easy donation sight set up. It is powered by egiving, 100% of the proceeds goes to us, they do not take a cut. You can set it all up online, it is safe, secure and you can print off a tax deductible paper at the end.
We are blessed to be the ones called to GO! We are blessed to know people that are called to SEND! I want to thank everyone in advance for your support no matter how big or small. Your support in prayer is crucial and if God calls you to pray for us that is just as valuable even more so.
Please consider donating to our family while we go and serve in South Africa!
Blessings,
Andrea
Thursday, June 24, 2010
The Sell everything in our house sale
If you are in the Franklin TN area you are welcome to come to our "open house" sell everything sale. It will be held Monday June 28th - Saturday July 3rd! M-F 1-7 and Sat 9-5
We have everything a house could want: Kitchen items, furniture (inside and outside), toys, clothes, decor, pictures, artwork, sheets, blankets, linens, towels... EVERYTHING!
We are going to be putting up pictures on Facebook later today. I will have to get a link on here when the pics are up.
Please come and buy our things this will help us get to Africa and also get some things once we get there!
Our Address:
3009 Smith Lane
Franklin, TN 37069
Directions:
From Franklin Road
left or right on S. Berrys Chapel Rd.
Right on Lynwood Drive into Lynwood Downs.
First left on Smith Lane.
First Left on Clubhouse Lane.
First house on Right
From Hillsboro Road
left or right on Berrys Chapel Rd
Stay right onto S.Berrys chapel Rd
first left on Lynwood Drive into Lynwood Downs
First left on Smith Lane.
First Left on Clubhouse Lane.
First house on Right
Monday, June 14, 2010
Hallelujah to the Lord Jesus Christ now and forever more!
A little backround to my story I'm going to tell. We feel that the Lord wants us to be in SA the beginning of Sept. We have been walking in faith in this direction, yet we knew that we needed our Visas to be done by a certain time or we would not be able to go by then. Now, as much as our hearts desire to be there as soon as possible we also knew that if the Lord did not want us to be there in Sep His will is the only will we want to follow.
I went to bed many a night praying for God's provision for the funds for our passports/visas and for the money toward our flights. We have been selling things and getting ready for a huge garage sale, but God keeps telling me that we WILL NOT make this happen that it is His to do. So, we rest in His truth and the Words He gives us.
The other night He woke me up and impressed on me that I needed to read 1Samuel 12:16 "Now then, stand still and see this great thing the LORD is about to do before your eyes!" The Lord continues to tell me to just Stand! Stand still, Stand!, Stand and hear the Lord, Stand and wait... all over Scripture He has told me that HE WILL DO THIS, we will just stand!
That brings us to "the story" for today...the "God story"! We went to church today and after church our dear, precious friends, that God has recently given us, blessed us more than we could have ever asked or hoped for. A little side not... I love the body of Christ. I love that God choses some to go and some to send, I LOVE the body of Christ. If I stumble with my words over this God story it is only because I am in AWE of His faithfulness, in utter, humble awe over the goodness of my God. Our dear friends that are quickly becoming like family to my heart told us that they would like to pay for our passports, visas and help to take care of our tickets to SA!!! Hallelujah to the Lord Jesus Christ Now and Forever more!!!
1 Samuel 12:16 "Now then, stand still and see this great thing the LORD is about to do before your eyes!"
As we walk down this unknown road we are on, we are not alone, God is there every step of the way and one thing I know is that I am not in control. It is awesome to literally watch God do this! He is working this all out. From the very beginning of our call to South Africa, He has worked out the who, the what and the where. He is providing through His children for His children because He loves us all so much. What a blessing to be a part of this! I am overwhelmed by God's goodness and cant quite figure out why He would want to use us, yet HE DOES!!! I am brought to tears over how real and how involved the Lord is in all of our lives, I am quite in love with my Savior.
If you don't know Him, you gotta get you some Jesus!!! Your life will never, ever be the same, and that is a good thing!
Blessings, Andrea and the rest of the Render fam
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Homesick
Today I am homesick for my home in South Africa. The funny thing is that I have never been there, but my heart is already there :) The needs of the people there are ever before me; the children at the orphanage, the people in Mashai, Lesotho, Our church and the needs in the community. I constantly am thinking of projects we can do to raise money for the people in Lesotho... and I have some good ideas (YAY)!
Sometimes it is hard to believe we will actually be living there soon. We are trying to be faithful here on our end, getting all the little details tied up. It doesn't always go the way we plan. Things don't sell, finances are tight, curve balls are thrown... What I do know is that the Lord is not at all surprised, or knocked of track. He knows our every need, our time frame and all that has to happen for us to move.
It is actually relaxing to know that He is faithful and we only have to do what He puts in front of us. We do not have to MAKE things happen! This is something that I have to remind myself of when I start to get worried about "time frames".
Another way to look at this is that the Lord is also working on others at the same time. Some He is stirring to support, some will be processing our Visas, Some will be pricing insurance, tickets.... There are many involved in our move, we are just part of this move.
If any of you know of people that would want to support us on our move would you let them know about us. I know the part we play, and am praying for all of those involved in this move. I can't wait!!!
Blessings,
Andrea
Sometimes it is hard to believe we will actually be living there soon. We are trying to be faithful here on our end, getting all the little details tied up. It doesn't always go the way we plan. Things don't sell, finances are tight, curve balls are thrown... What I do know is that the Lord is not at all surprised, or knocked of track. He knows our every need, our time frame and all that has to happen for us to move.
It is actually relaxing to know that He is faithful and we only have to do what He puts in front of us. We do not have to MAKE things happen! This is something that I have to remind myself of when I start to get worried about "time frames".
Another way to look at this is that the Lord is also working on others at the same time. Some He is stirring to support, some will be processing our Visas, Some will be pricing insurance, tickets.... There are many involved in our move, we are just part of this move.
If any of you know of people that would want to support us on our move would you let them know about us. I know the part we play, and am praying for all of those involved in this move. I can't wait!!!
Blessings,
Andrea
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Passports and Visas...oh my!
We have moved out of our old home that we have been in for 4 years. Now we are in the purging stage of this move. I am selling everything and right now we are going through all of our belongings. This is a daunting task as we have been married for almost 16 years and have 4 children... thus we have a lot of stuff we do not need!!! I do need to blog about our God story of getting us out of our last home and into the home we are living in now. Truly God had His hand on the move and provided for us more than we ever expected to be provided for.
On a business note we are having to get passports and visas for our family. The cost to get these is $890. This is a lot of money for us and so we are asking for your support. There is much cost to this move and there will be needs for support monthly when we leave. If the Lord places a desire on your heart to bless us with your support you can donate to us right on our blog. We have an account with e giving and you can set up a one time donation or monthly donations, they even give you a statement for your taxes. All of the monies donated to us go directly to us also, e giving does not take a percentage!!!
We would ask anyone that is following us would prayerfully consider supporting us as the time crunch for our departure is upon us. We know the Lord will provide because He has been in this move since day 1. We are so thankful for all of you that read our blog and keep up with us and your prayer support. We could not do this without all the love and support we have from our family and friends.
Many Blessings,
Andrea
On a business note we are having to get passports and visas for our family. The cost to get these is $890. This is a lot of money for us and so we are asking for your support. There is much cost to this move and there will be needs for support monthly when we leave. If the Lord places a desire on your heart to bless us with your support you can donate to us right on our blog. We have an account with e giving and you can set up a one time donation or monthly donations, they even give you a statement for your taxes. All of the monies donated to us go directly to us also, e giving does not take a percentage!!!
We would ask anyone that is following us would prayerfully consider supporting us as the time crunch for our departure is upon us. We know the Lord will provide because He has been in this move since day 1. We are so thankful for all of you that read our blog and keep up with us and your prayer support. We could not do this without all the love and support we have from our family and friends.
Many Blessings,
Andrea
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