Hello from Rwanda! We've been here a week or so now and we are definitely still adjusting, but it is great as well. The unity of our team is definitely being challenged but we are fighting hard to keep it and push it to grow deeper. God is teaching me so much already in being here it is crazy. Ministry wise, we have been partnering with a ministry out of YWAM here called APRECOM. They provide counseling, home visits, support groups, and physical needs for people living with HIV/AIDS. We heard testimonies yesterday of how some people here got HIV. We heard a woman's testimony of how she was raped during the genocide and got HIV. She said that she went crazy for four years following the genocide where she went around not wearing any clothes. God totally got a hold of her life and healed her mind. You would never know that she had been through all of that. This woman though, a few months ago was raped again and now she is pregnant and doesn't know what to do with the child. It broke my heart to hear her story. What we are discovering here in Rwanda though is that so many of the people here are numb to the emotional pain of life. People could share their testimonies and not show one bit of emotion. It is really interesting. We're not sure if it is just cultural, or if it is because they are so guarded because of the deep wounds that they have. We are continuing to build relationships with people and our hearts are growing for them.
If you could be praying for our team for health and unity, we would be so greatful. I hope you are doing great, and that you had a wonderful Christmas and New Years. I love you all so much.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
God's Amazing Love
The last 11 weeks have been so amazing. I have learned so much about God and about myself. My eyes have been opened up to the world and the great need people have to know and experience God's love for them. In the last few weeks we have had teaching on our identity in Christ; identifying our gifts, talents, and dreams that we have been given from God; unity and reconciliation in relationships; missions; and this week we have our last teaching on compassion.
I have learned so much about what God has done for me by sending Jesus to die on the cross for my sins. God loves me so much and offers an amazing plan for my life but because I have sinned I was separated from God and therefore, I could not know and experience God's love and plan for my life. Jesus Christ is God's only provision for my sin and that through Jesus I can know and experience God's love and plan for my life. When I prayed to receive Christ as my Savior and Lord an amazing thing happened. My standing before God changed. The Bible says that the punishment for sin is death. When Jesus came to die on the cross for my sins, He took the punishment for what I deserved. When I put my faith in Jesus, His death became my death. What also happened though is that His resurrection became my resurrection! I am a new creation! Everything that is true of Jesus is also true of me; everything. This means that God's feelings and thoughts towards Jesus: adored, accepted, righteous, powerful, royalty, and authority; all of those things are also true of me. The following I wrote in my journal a few weeks ago when I realized what all of this meant:
"God loves me so much. It is because of who I am, not because of what I do. I am holy and created in the image of God. I am loving, peaceful, joyful, patient, kind, good, gentle, faithful, loyal, caring, compassionate, just, righteous, personal, relational, powerful, filled with and speak truth, comforting, encouraging, serving, edifying, have self-control, passionate, take initiative, zealous, fun, exciting, obedient, Spirit filled, and pleasing to God. I am His bride, His Beautiful, His Precious and Treasure. I am a gift to this world, and am humble. I am washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of Jesus and in the Spirit of God. The power of God is in me because the Holy Spirit is in me; the character of God is in me because the Holy Spirit is in me. The authority of Jesus Christ is in me. I am an intercessor and I am a proclaimer of truth. I pray against fear, insecurity, and rejection and receive with the authority of Christ all that He says that I am. I am Janet Mulvey and I am a child of the Living God! I am His Sweetheart."
Isn't this amazing! Two other things that are just as amazing is that this can be true of anyone who places their faith in Jesus Christ. Every single person on this planet is a child of the Living God and is created in God's image. God is just waiting for us to invite Him into our lives to pour His love out upon us. He isn't forceful, He's patient and gives you the opportunity to invite Him in. No matter what though, He still loves you, no matter what you have done, but He wants, so badly, to take away your sin. The other thing that is amazing is that God has given us His Holy Spirit to live inside of us so that we can have the power to live up to this new identity. In my own strength I would not be able to love God or love others the way that I am called to. The power of the life of Jesus in me (the Holy Spirit) is greater than the power of my old self. I no longer have to be dominated by my self-defeating and self-destructive desires and I no longer have to live a defeated life or as a victim, I can live in victory! God has given me life and a freedom to be who He has created me to be. Praise God!
What this means for my future, I'm still not completely sure. I have identified some things that I definitely have a heart for and love doing; such as working with youth, kids and women, traveling overseas, coaching sports, and being hospitable. We will see what the Lord has in store for me when I return. As for the next two months, I will be in Rwanda serving and loving people there with the love of Jesus Christ. I am so excited to get there. We leave December 18th and arrive in Kigali, Rwanda on December 21st (Pray for our travels as it will be quite exhausting!). When we arrive there we will take a few days to get over the jet lag, celebrate Christmas together, and then head into the New Year working with a Youth With A Mission base there. I am looking forward to the ministry opportunities that we will have there. These include working with people affected by AIDS and HIV, children's ministry, evangelism, working with street children/orphans, working with widows, youth ministry, and vocational training. It will be an amazing time and God is going to do amazing things in and through us.
If you could be praying for us as we travel, for our safety and that everything will go smoothly; praise God that He has provided financially for everyone at our school to be able to go to Africa (that is $5000-$6000 per person for over 80 people!); pray for us while we are in Africa for our safety, our ministry, and our health, we have teams going to Rwanda, Ethiopia, Uganda, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Mozambique.
I hope that you are doing so well and that this holiday season is an amazing blessing for you. You have been such a blessing to me and I thank God for you being in my life. I pray that God would pour out His love upon you.
"I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God..s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God..s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. (Ephesians 3:16-19)"
God Bless You!
Love,
Janet Mulvey
P.S. Here are some websites that you can take a look at about what I will be doing in Africa.
YWAM Rwanda Website - http://www.ywamconnect.com/sites/ywamrwanda
Janet's Myspace - http://www.myspace.com/coachmold
Team Rwanda Myspace - http://www.myspace.com/teamrwanda
I have learned so much about what God has done for me by sending Jesus to die on the cross for my sins. God loves me so much and offers an amazing plan for my life but because I have sinned I was separated from God and therefore, I could not know and experience God's love and plan for my life. Jesus Christ is God's only provision for my sin and that through Jesus I can know and experience God's love and plan for my life. When I prayed to receive Christ as my Savior and Lord an amazing thing happened. My standing before God changed. The Bible says that the punishment for sin is death. When Jesus came to die on the cross for my sins, He took the punishment for what I deserved. When I put my faith in Jesus, His death became my death. What also happened though is that His resurrection became my resurrection! I am a new creation! Everything that is true of Jesus is also true of me; everything. This means that God's feelings and thoughts towards Jesus: adored, accepted, righteous, powerful, royalty, and authority; all of those things are also true of me. The following I wrote in my journal a few weeks ago when I realized what all of this meant:
"God loves me so much. It is because of who I am, not because of what I do. I am holy and created in the image of God. I am loving, peaceful, joyful, patient, kind, good, gentle, faithful, loyal, caring, compassionate, just, righteous, personal, relational, powerful, filled with and speak truth, comforting, encouraging, serving, edifying, have self-control, passionate, take initiative, zealous, fun, exciting, obedient, Spirit filled, and pleasing to God. I am His bride, His Beautiful, His Precious and Treasure. I am a gift to this world, and am humble. I am washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of Jesus and in the Spirit of God. The power of God is in me because the Holy Spirit is in me; the character of God is in me because the Holy Spirit is in me. The authority of Jesus Christ is in me. I am an intercessor and I am a proclaimer of truth. I pray against fear, insecurity, and rejection and receive with the authority of Christ all that He says that I am. I am Janet Mulvey and I am a child of the Living God! I am His Sweetheart."
Isn't this amazing! Two other things that are just as amazing is that this can be true of anyone who places their faith in Jesus Christ. Every single person on this planet is a child of the Living God and is created in God's image. God is just waiting for us to invite Him into our lives to pour His love out upon us. He isn't forceful, He's patient and gives you the opportunity to invite Him in. No matter what though, He still loves you, no matter what you have done, but He wants, so badly, to take away your sin. The other thing that is amazing is that God has given us His Holy Spirit to live inside of us so that we can have the power to live up to this new identity. In my own strength I would not be able to love God or love others the way that I am called to. The power of the life of Jesus in me (the Holy Spirit) is greater than the power of my old self. I no longer have to be dominated by my self-defeating and self-destructive desires and I no longer have to live a defeated life or as a victim, I can live in victory! God has given me life and a freedom to be who He has created me to be. Praise God!
What this means for my future, I'm still not completely sure. I have identified some things that I definitely have a heart for and love doing; such as working with youth, kids and women, traveling overseas, coaching sports, and being hospitable. We will see what the Lord has in store for me when I return. As for the next two months, I will be in Rwanda serving and loving people there with the love of Jesus Christ. I am so excited to get there. We leave December 18th and arrive in Kigali, Rwanda on December 21st (Pray for our travels as it will be quite exhausting!). When we arrive there we will take a few days to get over the jet lag, celebrate Christmas together, and then head into the New Year working with a Youth With A Mission base there. I am looking forward to the ministry opportunities that we will have there. These include working with people affected by AIDS and HIV, children's ministry, evangelism, working with street children/orphans, working with widows, youth ministry, and vocational training. It will be an amazing time and God is going to do amazing things in and through us.
If you could be praying for us as we travel, for our safety and that everything will go smoothly; praise God that He has provided financially for everyone at our school to be able to go to Africa (that is $5000-$6000 per person for over 80 people!); pray for us while we are in Africa for our safety, our ministry, and our health, we have teams going to Rwanda, Ethiopia, Uganda, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Mozambique.
I hope that you are doing so well and that this holiday season is an amazing blessing for you. You have been such a blessing to me and I thank God for you being in my life. I pray that God would pour out His love upon you.
"I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God..s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God..s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. (Ephesians 3:16-19)"
God Bless You!
Love,
Janet Mulvey
P.S. Here are some websites that you can take a look at about what I will be doing in Africa.
YWAM Rwanda Website - http://www.ywamconnect.com/sites/ywamrwanda
Janet's Myspace - http://www.myspace.com/coachmold
Team Rwanda Myspace - http://www.myspace.com/teamrwanda
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