Operation 2012: Go ye therefore...

Mark 16:15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.

Tonight, we had our annual missions meeting at our Church.  We talked about where we do missions and why, and how blessed we are to be part of a Church that has so many opportunities to go on missions trips.  We currently have 19 trips scheduled, and more are sure to arise as the year unfolds (they almost always do).  We are sending teams to war torn Rwanda, earthquake ravaged Haiti, tsunami affected Japan, among other places.  Orphans, High School students, Widows and the like, will not only be taken the Good News of Jesus Christ, but will learn that people all over the world love them and pray for them.


Last year, I had the opportunity to go to Haiti twice, and both trips were a blessing.  My husband Michael went with me on the trip in July and we got to help in the Church of Hope's Vacation Bible School or "BBS" as the Haitian kids called it.  We had an average of 450 kids per day who got to hear a Bible Story, do a craft, play some fun games and get a hot meal.  In November, I went with a team of women from our Church, and we spent our days cleaning houses in the villages surrounding the Mission of Hope and our evenings having a Women's Conference similar to ones I have been to in the US.

My first love when it comes to missions, is and always will be Haiti.  The people of Haiti have so much joy and a true desire to know Jesus.  Worshiping and serving with the Haitians is so rewarding.  I hope to return there this year, and take my 10 year old daughter with me.  She has such a servant's heart and truly loves being with children.  I can't wait for her to meet Micherline, Pierre, and all the other orphans at Mission of Hope, that I have grown to love.

This year, another country has really stolen a piece of my heart and Michael and I feel called to go to Rwanda.  A couple of years ago, The Watoto Choir came to our church to perform.  Even though Watoto is in Uganda, a video they showed was of a boy who had been a Soldier in Rwanda and is now a refugee in Uganda.  Like Michael, the boy suffered from PTSD and struggled with a past that included him killing innocent people.  Since we saw that video, my husband has gone through treatment for PTSD and sought spiritual counseling for resolution of the guilt that comes from taking another man's life.  This boy's story, much like Michael's, was a story of redemption and renewal and as we sat in the missions meeting tonight it felt like Rwanda was calling for us to come.

The trip leader talked to us about how the former barracks for the Soldiers of Rwanda was given to the Diocese to build a school that would train new pastors, and I got tears in my eyes.  What a beautiful picture of redemption, and it is so similar to Michael's.  He was once a Soldier, and felt like God couldn't love him because of his taking other lives, and now he has surrendered his life to the Ministry and is going to school to learn to be a pastor.  Much like those buildings in Rwanda, Michael has been re-purposed for the Kingdom of God.  I scribbled a note to him on the back of our information sheet, "Rwanda's Story of Redemption = Michael's Story!"  We must've looked like a couple of fools, crying and holding hands in the middle of a meeting but we both knew at that moment, beyond a shadow of a doubt that Rwanda is where God wants us to go this year.

We got home and did the math, and we need to raise $10,000 dollars to go on both mission trips.  That seems like an enormous sum of money but with God, all things are possible.  We ask you to join us in praying that God provides the funds, like he has so many times before, for us to live out his calling on our lives.  We'll be setting up an Etsy page and putting handmade items up for sale and doing some other fundraisers.  We just know that God will make a way.

If you're interested in supporting us financially, please let me know.   Send us an e-mail at mikeandginnyheisler@gmail.com

In His Name,

Ginny

Some people can, and some people...

My 11th grade English teacher told me to never take up writing as even a hobby that "Some people can and some people can't!"  I think I hear those words in my head whenever I sit to write a paper, a blog post, almost anything.

And I started thinking, about all the times I let those words, "Some people can and some people can't," hinder me along the way.  Every time I start to write a sweet note to my husband, kids, a friend.  I struggle for words, thinking I sound silly or inappropriate.  When I go to pray for a friend, I stop and say, "I'm praying for you," and keep all the wonderful things that I want to say to her to myself because I don't want to sound like a "babbling brook."  That was his "special" commentary on a speech I gave once, that I sounded "like a babbling brook in that I made a lot of useless noise that would put any sane person to sleep."


Today, my college professor says: "I enjoyed reading your paper!  You are an excellent writer!"

What?  I'm an excellent writer?


To my 11th grade English teacher I say this, "Some people can, and some people are full of it!"

Operation 2012: Honoring God with Our Time

I saw this on a friend's Facebook post the other day:

Have you PRAYED about it, 

As much as you've TALKED about it?

Replace the time you spend talking about your problems, with time spent praying about your problems.  That will honor God, and He'll definitely show up in a big way!

Jeremiah 17:5-8

⁵ This is what the LORD says:

   “Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
   who draws strength from mere flesh
   and whose heart turns away from the LORD.
⁶ That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;
   they will not see prosperity when it comes.
They will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
   in a salt land where no one lives.

 ⁷ “But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD,
   whose confidence is in him.
⁸ They will be like a tree planted by the water
   that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
   its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
   and never fails to bear fruit.”

Operation 2012: Honoring God with Our Bodies

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

¹⁹ Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; ²⁰ you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. 

When I was growing up, this verse was used often to try and get me not to write on my hands and to "teach me" that tattoos were a sin (and worse a permanent sin).  Seriously, I'm not sure that's what Paul meant.  I mean tattooing "Jesus Lives" on your chest would, in my opinion, honor God but that's superficial and in the light of eternity may not mean a whole lot.

Honoring God with our bodies had more to do with what we do with our bodies, how we take care of our bodies and what we put into them.  Consuming a whole pizza with a six pack of beer and a half gallon of ice cream on the side isn't honoring God.  Sitting on the couch, day after day, becoming more lazy, more overweight and less active isn't honoring God.  Starving yourself and depriving your body of what it needs to function properly is not honoring God.

Step one of 2012, for the Heisler family, is eating better.  Cleaning up our diet is going to take some work and isn't going to happen overnight.  Michael has a sweet tooth and eats when he's bored and I have a tendency to binge on raw cookie dough in the middle of the night.  My kids LOVE candy and sodas as much as any other kids, and watching the disappointment on their faces when I tell them they get applesauce instead of Skittles breaks my heart.

We can clean up our diet though, we have to, Michael and I aren't getting any younger, and we're starting to notice the signs that we haven't been taking good care of ourselves.  Bigger waistlines and slower moving bodies aside, we're also having trouble with blood pressure levels and keeping our blood sugar stable.  For the first three months of 2012, Michael and I are doing the BodyByVi Challenge and if you're want to lower your calorie intake, increase your lean muscle mass, and getting those pesky pounds off the challenge is a great way to do it.  I'm sure the challenge, plus cleaning up the pantry and fridge and hitting the drive through a little less will get us moving in the right direction. 

Speaking of moving, that's Step 2!  We have got to get our bodies moving.  Michael and I are really bad about exercise, both of us have injured body parts and back problems that give us an easy excuse to stay seated on the couch.  We're starting slow...ten to twenty minutes on the Wii Fit...so as not to burn ourselves out, and we'll gradually increase intensity and time.

So come on and join us!  What are you waiting for?  Remember, we were bought at a VERY HIGH PRICE!

Don't forget to come back and check our progress, I'll be posting it here starting next Monday.

Operation 2012---It's all about Jesus

It's not a New Year's Resolution, per se, but it is definitely this years meme.  The Heisler family is dedicating 2012 to making the name above all names, Jesus, famous.  Through our lives, our actions, our giving, our service, everything we do to the glory of His name.

We started off 2012 in a HUGE way, sharing our testimony and the Word of God in a small local church this morning.  I don't know how well we did, but I do know how God showed up.

The founding Pastor's widow said to me as we were leaving, "You brought us a revival today!"

I can't wait to see how God uses this small congregation, but what she doesn't know is that the revival that started today was my very own personal revival.  Finally, I am fulfilling the call that I answered when I was 11 years old, the call to ministry.  Who would have known then that my future husband would receive the same call 26 years later and that his obedience would bring me to obedience as well?

God knew, that's who!

I can't wait to see what he has for us in 2012, nor can I wait to see what he has for all of you.