Worry, PEACE... and PASSPORTS.

I woke up last Sunday morning just feeling "out of sorts". 

I couldn't put my finger on it... but just seemed restless and irritated. 

We had decided as a family to stay home from church after a crazy weekend and just relax,
but as the morning began...

I sensed that I needed to spend some time in His house. 

So I hurried to get ready and went to church by myself. 

I honestly can't remember the last time I sat in church by myself... but I know the Lord wanted me to be "distraction free" so I could hear His voice.

Our pastor has been doing a series on MORE & LESS of Christmas.

Worship... More

Love... More

Give... More

and this week..... WORRY... Less!

He used the passage in Luke 2:8-15.  But focused on verse 14:

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth PEACE ...
TO men on whom his favor RESTS.

He talked about how PEACE erases WORRY.

PEACE - an inner conviction that God is completely in control.

He challenged us...

1. Do we give Him ownership?

2. Do we see Him as our authority?

3. Do we PRAISE Him right where we are?

I love the phrase... When you give God the highest GLORY - God gives

you the deepest PEACE.

I went home feeling encouraged, but still felt a little 'on edge' ... and then opened my e-mail Monday morning to find my daily devotional from
Proverbs 31 Ministries (LOVE THEM!) entitled -

When You Don't Know What To Do.

"We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you."
2 Chronicles 20:12b (NIV)

It spoke right to my heart as Melanie Chitwood focused on the anxieties that we internalize as we try to 'figure out' all the issues and problems facing us in this life... instead of .."turning from these thoughts by thanking my sovereign God for all the ways He has been faithful in the past and all the ways I see His faithfulness in the present circumstances. I am learning to ask Him for wisdom for every little detail. And I am setting my eyes on Him as I wait for His answers.
What problems in your life seem unsolvable or unanswerable?  Turn from your own anxious thoughts, acknowledge you don't have the answers, and set your eyes on the One who does."

Do I Sense a Theme?????

Worry, anxiety, control, figuring it out on my own, etc....

- vs. -

GLORY, PEACE, PRAISE, FAITHFULNESS,  etc....

I realized that I had become overwhelmed by all that was swirling around me....

family, holiday planning, my job, kids, ministry, housework, projects

and seemed to have forgotten that it was not MINE to figure out...

A thought that our pastor left us with that Sunday that has stayed on my mind...

"Above all else, when God is what weighs on everything you do,
you will have HIS peace."

I am so thankful for how GOD very carefully and lovingly reminds me
of where my focus and priorities need to be...
on HIM and HIS GLORY.

As we celebrate the birth of His son so many years ago, and truly reflect on WHAT that means for each one of us today... let us not so easily become stress, worried and tired as we live each day to

HONOR and PRAISE HIM!

As the Perkey Family moves forward into the coming year... we are truly excited as we continue to follow His calling to go to Uganda in March.

Bret & I will be traveling with a group from Visiting Orphans
to work with several orphan ministries outside of Kampala, Uganda. 
We are in the initial 'fundraising' phase and have been humbled and amazed
as we have seen God providing. 
At the time of this post we have raised $2650
towards our January 15th goal of $4000. 
Our final goal is a total $6400 due by March 15th.

If you would like to make a donation to our trip,
or read more about what we are doing ...you can see that post HERE.

We are daily trusting God to provided the needed funding to enable us to go, as well as to take additional supplies greatly needed by the orphanages.

BREAKING NEWS.....PASSPORTS ARE IN HAND!

We were excited when our passports showed up in the mailbox today...
4 weeks from application!

We will be starting the process of vaccinations over the next couple weeks...
please pray for NO side effects!

We are thankful for each one of you and the role you have played in our lives over the past months.

Let me encourage you, as I have been encouraged this week.
FOCUS on JESUS and the PEACE that He alone can bring -
which erases DOUBTS and WORRY!

Walking daily... TRUSTING Him,

Calling us to go....

During this season of ‘Thanksgiving’ we are humbled at God’s many blessings.  We are truly thankful and blessed to have our continued health, family and friends so close, and three kids that continue to amaze us daily! 

God has been working in our lives, making it clear that His goodness towards us is ultimately to enable us to glorify Him by serving those who have the greatest need.  This new focus has placed within our family a passion for orphan care, specifically on the continent of Africa. 

As we have been searching for ways to best serve we have been given an opportunity to visit several orphanages in Uganda this March through a Christian non-profit ministry called Visiting Orphans.

Bret and I will be traveling with a team to support Amazima Ministries.  Our primary mission will be to serve as a part of their feeding program to the children of the Karamajong tribe.  This feeding program, which also provides for their extended families, allows the children to remain in school instead of being focused on working to support the basic needs of their families. 

Beyond securing the funds needed to travel to Uganda, we also hope to raise enough to deliver supplies and donations to this ministry.  We will also have the opportunity to help launch a new VBS program for orphans that is focused on ensuring that these children know of the love and saving grace of our Heavenly Father.   The author of the VBS program, along with Jeff Slaughter, who is writing the music, will travel with our team to the Karamajong tribe and to other orphanages in Kampala and Jinja.

We are humbly asking that you consider partnering with us on this trip by praying, encouraging and financially supporting us. 

Please pray for our mission,

that we may truly impact those that we serve.

Pray that they won’t see us,

but rather our Father and learn of His grace.

Please pray that we will return safely

and that our kids will do well during our absence.

Please pray that our team will have unity.

Pray also that God will teach us more about Himself

as our eyes are opened to a hurting world. 

The cost for the two of us to be a part of this team is $6400.

This includes our travel, lodging, meals as well as financial support for the orphanages.

We need to secure $4000 of this by January 15^th

and the balance by March 1^st. 

If you feel led to partner with us financially you can make a donation by check, payable to Visiting Orphans and mail to:

P.O. Box 668, Nolensville, TN  37135.

(please write “Diana Perkey” in the memo line) 

You can also make a donation on line HERE
We are excited to see how God will use this trip in the journey He has begun for our family. 

(please enter "Diana Perkey" as the designated team member)

James 1:27 - "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

Become a 'follower' at the right of this blog to receive notifcations as we update regularly on how God is providing, how we are preparing, and how best to pray.  We need the support of many as we walk daily trusting Him every step of the way!



He asks us to LOVE....

God has been working in my heart in incredible ways over the past 12 months.  He has taken me to places I didn't quite know I could go.  He is challenging me ... STRETCHING me to think 'outside the box' in so many ways.  It is exciting, scary, hopeful, and incredibly crazy all at the same time... to take some very radical steps in the direction God is calling you to go.

As I spend time in His word, soaking up all that I can - I am amazed at the reoccuring theme... He LOVES ME!  I have grown up in church my whole life... singing the song "Jesus Loves Me This I Know"... but did I ever FULLY understand how MUCH He loves ME?  How often do we go through our day not stopping to think about what a gift each day is... how important every detail is to HIM!  I am realizing more and more that it truly is NOT ABOUT ME... but ALL ABOUT HIM.  Such a freeing feeling to refocus my thoughts and energy on ETERNAL things and not on all the 'stuff' I so easily get bogged down with.  It truly is a DAILY dying to myself and making much more of HIM and bringing HIM glory!

I have been doing alot of reading lately... Living Naked by Jeff Bogue, Radical by David Platt and now I am waist deep in Crazy Love by Francis Chan.  If you can read those books and not see anything in your life that needs to be completely changed....UNBELIEVEABLE!  I process and filter everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, completely different now.  'Things' have little importance to me ... serving, giving, loving.... mean everything.  I was hit between the eyes as I read chapter 5 this weekend.  Chan was pointing out that in 1 Corinthians 13:2-3 according to God we are here to LOVE.  There isn't really much else that matters.... God commands us to LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART... and to LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF... PERIOD!  That's it!

How many times have I heard that but not really stopped to process what that means?  Everything else falls away from those two commands.  As I read the following passage I was SO challenged.... is THIS what LOVE looks like in MY life?

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude.  It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never ends....faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

... I would have to say I have a lot of work to do.  It is a DAILY pursuing of Christ!  I don't know where this journey will take our family, but I do know that God is moving in MIGHTY ways...  

Hope

"Hope means - to wait with expectation"

I was reading in Hebrews 4 the other day.

Hebrews 4:14-16

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin.  Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. 

As I read this passage in my Bible, I glanced over at the margin where there was a short 'thought' from one of the contributors.  It was so encouraging...

Hope is a precious gift of our salvation.  According to Hebrews 6:19, "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure."  While we can "hope" that circus performers don't fall and that our kids don't spill their soda, we must remember that our only reliable hope is in what we cannot see or control:

the outrageous faithfulness of God

Our responsibility to him as his children is to study his character so we will know, without a doubt, that whatever way he deals with our circumstances in life, it's the right way.  Even when things don't work out the way we planned or desired, he is all-knowing, all-loving, the beginning and the ending.

Hope is acting on the conviction

that despite what we see with the natural eye,

God is working in the spiritual realm

to accomplish his perfect will in our lives.

His hope does not disappoint!

- Thelma Wells  (Women of Faith Study Bible)

WOW.... I was blown away by those words.

When it seems that I am struggling with 'waiting' on the Lord and his timing in my life,

I HAVE to hang on to the HOPE that he promises. 

Today I was reading my daily devotional e-mail from Proverbs 31 Ministries

entitled "Dare to Hope"

... do you sense a theme in my life right now?

Ok, God... what is it you are trying to pound into me again and again??

Wendy Pope was talking about Jeremiah and the 'hopeless situation' he found himself in.

In Lamentations 2&3 it talks about how he cried tears till he had no more left to cry.  What brought him out of this pit and to a place of expectancy?  She mentioned four things that Jeremiah remembered about his covenant from the Lord....

• His unfailing love for him
• His new mercies meant for him
• His never ending faithfulness toward him
• His inheritance due him

In her devotional she stated the quote I have at the top of this post -

"Hope means to wait with expectancy"

I LOVE IT... 

focusing each day on God's mercies that are new every morning...waiting with great expectancy, knowing that God's way is the PERFECT WAY for my life..

Thank you Lord for reminding me in so many different ways that I need to WAIT on YOU with great EXPECTANCY and HOPE!

loving his faithfulness.... 

 

Proud of my girl!

Liz is playing JV Soccer this year.  Goalie and full-back.  It has been fun to watch her skills develop over the past 8 years.  She loves the game!

I love to watch her play.....

 

I can't believe she is a Freshman!  She has grown up way too fast.  They always say before you know it they are grown and gone... boy is the time flying by! 

We are loving each day and each new 'season' of our kids lives.

Thanks Lord for blessing our family with our independent, funny, strong-willed,

caring, beautiful, creative, helpful first born.

Liz, we love you!

Celebrating!

Birthdays...

September brings much celebrating in the Perkey house. Three birthdays in a row...Emma turned 8, Bret turned another year older, and Grandma just got sweeter! 



 Lots of fun for Emma and her girl friends as we had a 'girly glam' party! 

  

Thanks Jeanna and girls for all your help!

What fun!

 

Running...

Bret finished his first full MARATHON... yes, I mean 26.2 grueling miles of fun, sweat, and muscle cramps!  I am so proud of him.  What an accomplishment.  I don't think he is anxious to do that again anytime soon... sticking to the 1/2 Marathons for awhile!

It was a beautiful day!  Sunny, breezy and not a cloud in the sky!

(taking up shade under an airplane wing)

The kids waited anxiously for Bret to come down the final stretch.... they got HOT, tired and a little weary, but were so excited when he rounded the final turn!



United State Airforce Marathon ... check!

What a fun couple weeks of celebrating all kinds of VICTORIES in the Perkey house!  Thank you, Lord for reminding us of how YOU bless us in so many ways... every day!  Help us to never take for granted - each day - as a precious gift from YOU!

Tuned in to listen

It is amazing to me how God SPEAKS....

Through a song

Through my kids

Through someone's blog
Through scripture

Through a magazine in the mail
Through a passing comment from a friend

When I am willing to be FOCUSED on Him, and sensitive to His 'voice'.... it blows me away how He SPEAKS.  It is humbling to me to be reminded daily that the GOD OF THE UNIVERSE.... He knows, He hears, He cares, and oh how HE LOVES....me!

Psalm 95:3-7  For the Lord is a great God, a great King above all gods.  He holds in his hands the depths of the earth and the mightiest mountains.  The sea belongs to him, for he made it.  His hands formed the dry land, too.  Come let us worship and bow down.  Let us kneel before the Lord our maker, for he is our God.  We are the people he watches over, the flock under his care.

... what an amazing thought to know that WE are the people he WATCHES OVER! 

Look around you and 'listen' for HIS voice....

Rest for the 'weary'

God knew how badly we needed a long weekend!

After the first two weeks of school flying by at record speed...

 there needed to be 'rest' for our weary souls!

We spent Saturday at 3 back to back soccer games... but oh how fun to just sit and enjoy the incredibly beautiful day!  It was sunny, cool and crisp.

Fall is definitely here! 

This is Emma's birthday weekend... my baby is now 8!

Everyone told us that the time flies and they grow up way to fast,

but I didn't really understand that until this year.

Liz is now a freshman - yikes!

Ethan just turned 12.

And now my baby is truly no longer a 'baby'!

I love each and every stage.

(even though some are much more trying than others!) 

God has so been challenging me with resting in His faithfulness lately. 

I have heard a thousand times 

God is in control...

 but everywhere I look around me life seems to be spinning OUT of control.

Sometimes I have to remind myself to 'rest' in His open arms...

to 'rest' in the fact that He knows far better than I do what is best for me...

 and my family...

to 'rest' in His love and provision...

to 'rest' in His faithfulness. 

Because God is SO faithful!

The message at church today was about Abraham and how he lived a life of FAITH.

Faith is all about dying to ourselves and allowing Christ to live in us.

God asked Abraham to GO... and he OBEYED!

...not knowing WHERE he was going.

Sometimes God asks us to do things that make NO SENSE, yet...

When we OBEY and bring ourselves to the altar - facing our fear...

God WILL provide! (in ways that will blow our mind!)

Hebrews 11

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.  If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.  But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 

That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord.    

James 1:2-7

by faith....

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