More news from Ukraine

Hello everyone
We would like to start this update with a story from Christine about her time of ministry to a woman in the town of Yalta. This lady had come to Kharkiv to get some ministry and while this was going on Christine felt like the Lord was telling her to go there (Yalta) and spend some time with her just loving her and helping her in any way that she could. The following is how this happened in her own words;

We spent 3 days ministering and NOTHING. When I was praying for her at my home in my quiet time, the Lord showed me that she has a block. The block is that she does not believe that He is who He says He is and that she cannot receive love. He showed me that I need to be Jesus made manifest. I need to go be with her. Love her. Do not just read the bible to her; do not try to heal her emotionally, just to love her. When I told her this she just wept. She said that no one had ever just loved on her. So I am going to do, what? I do not know. I will pray and get to know her. When I was explaining to her what I wanted to do and why I wanted to do it I found myself saying something I did not understand. But I do now. I totally felt the Spirit on me when I was talking to her. I began to share with her about Gods love. The real love of God that we all have at one time or another had a hard time receiving. I told her about how if she were the only one on this earth God still would have sent His Son to die for her. How it is not about the masses of people. That if our whole life was spent helping, healing, and loving only one person that the Lord had called us to, that it would be enough. It is enough because Jesus character is like that. He cares about each of us so much. Here is what I said that I did not understand until now. I shared about me not being able to have a baby and all that goes with it. I said to her you know if I had kids maybe I would not be here (in Ukraine) and then I would not have met you. You know what. You are worth not having kids for. When I said that I meant it!!! It was only after that did I realize the extent of Gods love in my core being. I really got it!! My life is not my own, my dreams are not my own. My life is the Lords and IF my whole life is about doing or saying or being what ever He wants me to be to that one person then my life is complete. I mean we do not really believe that at all!!!! We are all about the masses. Do not get me wrong the masses are great but what if we only have ONE convert or ONE person completely set free from bondage? Do we think that that ministry was successful? Do we feel like we have accomplished anything? This is not personal against anyone, I am just asking. We do not really believe that one person is that important, do we? It is time we see people with Gods eyes and stop viewing people and ministries in numbers. The Gospel is not a numbers game!!!
(Romans 9: not sure of the verses but in the Message bible this is how it goes:……
I’ll call nobodies and make them somebodies I’ll call the unloved and make them beloved. In the place where they yelled out; you’re nobody! They’re calling you God’s living Children. Isaiah maintained this same emphasis: If each grain of sand on the seashore were numbered and their sum labeled “Chosen of God,” They would be numbers still, not names; salvation comes by personal selection. God doesn’t count us; He calls us by name. Arithmetic is not his focus!)(Not my writing but Paul’s in Romans in the “Message” style which is so cool)
I know that God wants to free people. Lots of people. All the people. I know God will save many and free many. I am just talking about a mind set. I hope you understand what I am trying to say. This is what God is doing in me right now. So I went and did just what God told me to do. So I went to do what? I do not know. I prayed and got to know her. She had a hard time receiving God’s unconditional love thru me, not having to perform or do anything for it. My days were spent just talking to her, cooking for her and praying for her. I am anxiously waiting to see the results of the seeds that were planted in her heart. One of the unexpected things that happened while I was there was that they asked me to “preach” at their church?! After I got over the shock of the request, I prayed and I felt like it was what the Lord wanted me to do sooooooooo I did it! My first sermon! I was scared but excited and it was a humbling experience. I couldn’t believe they would want me in their pulpit!;-) I didn’t really prepare anything I just had some scriptures that the Lord laid on my heart about Love, God’s Love. So I shared them and the Lord really touched their hearts and ministered to them. It was all the Lord and His timing for them to receive that word into their hearts. If you ‘really’ want to hear something weird, they want David and I to come back in the fall and have a 3 day seminar on God’s Love and the Father’s heart for them, before they have an inner healing seminar with Inga. Pretty crazy to me but we will pray about it all and see what the Lord would have us do.
Love to all of you
Christine
I (David) thought all of this would be of interest to all of you. Christine has since returned from Yalta with Jenya and it is very good to have them both back! I would just like to say here that I feel very blessed to have such a wife as Christine and am very proud of her. I know her well enough to know that she is being very modest about what happened in Yalta. God is doing big things in and thru her! For me it would often be enough just to support her in what she does but the Lord has a way of making it about us and doing things together! I would really miss out on a lot of blessings if I also was not willing to do what He has for me in all of this. Nothing in my life can compare to the things He calls us to do! It sounds so cliché but nothing satisfies like when we follow God and what He has for us. Man it sounds like such hollow religious talk but it really is true. It really is not easy but I can’t think of anything better. When the sacrifice is made for the Lord it is always worth it and often it does not even seem like a sacrifice. Hard to believe if we have never experienced it but true all the same. This time here has by far been the best time of all of our trips to Ukraine. He really has blessed us with so many things it is hard to convey them here in words. Things like our apartment and being close to friends and what He is doing in our own lives. Something He has really been doing to us is showing us the importance of His love for us.
I (David) have just finished Donald Miller’s book about growing up fatherless called “To Own a Dragon.” Wow what an insight into growing up without a father’s love and how that affects someone! One of the things he says in this book is how he found out about what a father’s love is and how it is different than any other kind of love. He did this by living with a family and learning from the father of this family how he loved his children. This is what he found out was different than any other love that this father had experienced. A father does not have to learn to love his children! The minute they lay eyes on that child they are in Love with them in a way that compares to no other love in their lives. I even think it goes farther. I believe that parents usually love that child even as it is growing inside the mother. Ok let that sink in for a while. I am sure that is how it is supposed to be. If you think about it, all other people that we love usually have something to do with them. Like after we spend time with our spouses to be, we “fall” in love with them or after we get to know someone we Love them. Even with God the bible says that we love Him because He first loved us. But a father immediately loves his children no matter what they have or have not done. I am not talking about the kind of love that we are supposed to have for everyone but that kind that you really feel inside of you and have a real passion about. Like the kind that you hopefully have for your spouse or your family. The kind of love that would make you lay your life down for someone. Those of you that are fathers and mothers I am sure know what I am talking about. It is no wonder than that so many people are messed up because rite from the beginning they never experienced this love even as they were in the womb. I personally don’t have children of my own but some of the “spiritual” children that we are blessed with have made it possible for us to know this feeling in a limited way. If we really learn about this love from our Father in heaven it should make it so much easier to trust Him in every way. I know that it is a hard concept to grasp sometimes, but the fact is that we cannot earn God’s Love because He loved us before we were even born and nothing we do or do not do has anything to do with that. Like the Bible says in Galatians chapter 3 the last verse. In the Message it goes like this; “If a living relationship with God could come by rule keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily” or as I would say it, for no reason! I have been thinking about that little phrase that we often say about “putting the cart before the horse” and how it applies to our relationship with God and how we think about Him. If Love is not the horse than it is no wonder that the “cart” is so hard for us to push around. If we don’t do everything we do because of Love than what a burden our lives become to us. There is so much we have been learning about all of this. I believe many times the reason we are not able to do things because of love is that we often are not able to receive love from anyone including God. If we cant receive love how can we have any to give to anyone else or even back to God. Ok please excuse the mini-sermon or sermonette but this is really on our hearts lately. When you see people being made to feel guilty or prodded to get them to do things you realize how backwards it actually is or like I said before putting the cart before the horse. I really believe that once we get a hold of the Love of our Father and what it actually is it makes our obedience to Him so much easier. If I do things for my wife because I have to what kind of love do I actually have for her? I may not always “feel” like it but I will do it anyway because I love her. I think you get the idea here. The Lord tells us many times what that Love looks like to Him but He never tells us how we can earn His love because it isn’t possible. I hope the idea is coming thru with all of this. I know it has made a huge difference in our lives and one of my passions is turning others on to this concept. Instead of what do I have to give up for God it becomes hey man look at what you will be gaining. After all we call it a gift so what kind of gift is it if we have to force it on the person we are offering it to? I think there is something wrong if we don’t model this kind of love in our lives that would attract others to it. Rather than trying to guilt people into accepting this gift. After all the Bible says that Jesus did not come to condemn the world but to save us and give us back a relationship with His Father! One other thing on Love and then I will quit here but something we often forget is what Jesus says others will know us by. He says that “they will know you are my disciples (followers) by the Love that you have for one another” Wow I don’t know about you but that is a very convicting statement. The love I have for some people would make me look like a pretty sorry disciple!
Anyway we Love and miss all of you who are our friends and we look forward to seeing all of you soon. Please continue to keep us in your prayers.
David&Christine
Ps Christine had some dental work done like a root canal etc here in Kharkiv, fun stuff! Thought you might like to know as some of you are even scared to brush your teeth here with their water. Man that made me laugh sorry but it sounds funny to me!
Sorry that there is not more day to day stuff but we think maybe it is a little tedious to be putting here but many good things are happening every week. God is really doing His downloading on us about the future and ministry. When we feel free to share all of this we will but for now we are praying about everything. We know it is God because it is not possible for us to do by ourselves. So without His provision in every way there is no way that we can make it happen without Him and we have found that is how He usually works with us. So it should be fun! We really do love what we are doing and are not ready to come home, but we really do miss many people and family so it will be good to see everyone again. But what sadness to leave those we love here also. Ok we gotta get busy cuz we have not even gotten half of what we want to do done yet and our time is over half gone
Luv ya