Trusting in Him

Proverbs 3:5-6


"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight."

A few weeks ago there was a Women's Conference at Grace Community Church. 

That weekend  Josh and Hannah were also gone at Junior Camp. As you know the weather is great here in California but that weekend was particularly cold and rainy and the temperature was very low. 

There was supposed to be ice on the road.

  If you know me, you know that one of the thing that scares me is the unknown and driving with bad weather on California Highways was not something I wanted to do. 

I had promised my 7 year old that I would have brought her to her Sunday School Christmas Party and I really wanted to go to the Conference but I was scared to drive in that weather. How was I supposed to balance everything?

I have to be honest, I was ready to give up and stay home. 

But as I was praying I realized that I was being controlled by my fears. My fears were the one deciding my actions and I was not living in God's sovereignty . 
I needed to learn to rely on the Lord, to trust him with my life and the life of the kids and trust him to the point that it would overcome my fear.

I prayed and prayed and finally started getting ready to go. 
I prayed as I was getting ready to go, I prayed as I was getting close to the car and while driving. Mainly my prayer was that He would keep us safe and that if something would have happened to us to remind me that He is sovereign. I cannot control my life nor the one of my kids. But whatever the Lord pours over my life, our life, it's good. 
 If we believe that He is sovereign we also need to live in such a way, knowing that He takes care of us and if he allows certain things in our life is because He thinks it is good.

It wasn't easy but it felt good to trust the sovereign God.
I went there and back and the Lord did protect us and nothing bad happened. It felt good not being controlled by fear.

At the Conference I was also reminded that He is the King. 

What does that mean practically?

Well a king rules!

 And he wants to be the ruler of my life and I have to be ready to let him rule. 

It was a good weekend full of encouragement in trusting the Sovereign God and let Him reign into my life.

And everything went well despite my fears!

Merry Christmas

I want to wish 

a very Merry Christmas 

and 

a wonderful New year 

to you all reading this blog.

It has been good to share with you

 all the things that have happened into our lives.

May God bless you greatly 

and

 give you peace and joy 

and

 many many blessings

in 2014.

“The Lord bless you

    and keep you;

25 

the Lord make his face shine on you

    and be gracious to you;

26 

the Lord turn his face toward you

    and give you peace.”’

-Carmela

The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer!

Psalm 18:1-3

"I love you, O Lord, my strength.

The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,

my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,

my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

I call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised,

and I am saved from my enemies."

In this Psalm David is praising God who delivered him from the hands of his enemies and especially Saul. 

David was a good man and loved God. Because God had anointed him as the next king, Saul wanted to kill him, so David had to run away for his life. 

In the midst of trials he could still praise God, worship Him, because he recognized that God was all he had and God was taking care of Him. 

In the midst of trials he relied on the Lord for strength and deliverance.

I am amazed by David's attitude and humbled for the many times I don't respond in the same way. 

An encouragement for today? 

Praise Him, no matter what is happening in your life, He is the only one worthy of praise. 

He alone has our life in the palm of his hand.

Becoming a Woman of Spiritual Passion

     This past semester I read several books, one of which is "Becoming a Woman of Spiritual Passion" written by Donna Morley.
     The book has been a real encouragement as I was reading it. It was very practical. 
     It is divided in two parts, the first sections tackles several promises that we have in God, one at the time. Most of the time the concepts are not new, but I think very often we need to be reminded of those promises so that we can face life in a different way.
     For example, in the very first chapter  "The Promise of a Better Future" the author talks about our hurts and bitterness and how those things often stop us from living a passionate life for Christ.  We are called to focus on God and instead we focus on the things that hurt us, we focus on ourselves.
     The second section has five important things that we need to do or to have in order to deepen our relationship with Christ: living out our marriage vow to Him, experiencing uninterrupted joy, giving Him all of our love, telling others about Him and so on. 
     I love how Donna starts every chapter with a story to draw you into her point. Those stories are real and detailed and you will  become part of them. There was one that kind of stuck with me. It was a story of a couple that were traveling on a ship. During their trip, they find themselves, along with the rest of the people on board, in the midst of a storm. The storm was so bad that they had to start to get rid of their food but slowly people start to die for many reasons. The woman never gave up her faith, she knew her God and knew to trust Him, she kept sharing God with those that were not saved yet and remained strong in her faith even when her fiancé died. All of this difficulties she could handle only because she trusted God.
     I know the way I retell the story it doesn't make it sound good, but that's why you should read the book. As I said this book is a very practical one. Full of encouragements for our christian walk. 
     I found the book at our church bookstore but you can also find it on Amazon and probably the book will be cheaper there.
     So I would say that this book would make a nice Christmas present for others or for yourselves. 
     Have a blessed time :)

My Little Pianist

Since this is the season, I want to mention something else that I am thankful for. 

Even if being in the States has been hard and an adjustment, I want to share how thankful I am for being here. God has done so many wonders while being in the US. There are so many things I can mention but today is a special day and I want to be thankful for Benedetta and the possibility to let her play the piano.

I know it may seem not so spiritual but it is. Growing up I have always wanted to play an instrument but my family could not afford it. I think music is just one of those things that helps espress yourself, if you are going through some difficult times or if you are rejoicing because of the great things the Lord is doing in your life. 

When we were in Italy I had looked and looked for piano lessons for the girls but they were just insanely expensive.

Once here in the States, we met this young lady at our Bible study. After a few meetings we overheard this conversation about a pedagogy class at the College and the need of some kids so the college students could practice teaching on the kids. There were only two spots left and one of them was almost taken. So basically only one was available.

We prayed and prayed and if we would have known what we knew a few months later (our support dropped) we would have probably not signed her in. But the Lord made everything possible so we were encouraged to sign Benedetta up into this program. The Lord provided financially for the first and second semester, He even provided for an incredibly old, used clavinova electric piano. 

We have been so blessed to see our little talented girl play for fun, play for us and compose her own music and songs.

Today she had her fall recital and it was just amazing being there and seeing those little hands moving around the piano keys, and those eyes concentrated on her music sheet. 

Benedetta played "Italy My Home," I don't know if it is the true title of the song, but I love it and Benedetta plays it often for me to remind me of the beauty of my homeland.

So one of the MANY blessings of being here is being able to get Benedetta to take lessons. On the other side their school provides a good music program and Hannah gets to play the flute. 

When you look at it from a human prospective, it doesn't seem that big of a deal. But when you look at it with the eyes of faith you can see that the Lord takes care of us in every little details and gives us things that are unexpected, from the big ones to the small ones. He gives gifts that sometime we wouldn't even be able to imagine!

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart

"I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;

I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.

I will be glad and exult in you;

I will sing praises to your name, O Most High."

Psalm 9:1-2

Today at 6.30 a.m. I got a message from my husband saying that he had been in a car accident on his way to seminary. The news came as a shock, Josh is an excellent driver, but sometimes that is not enough on California's highways.

Josh was fine but for the rest of the morning I was just thanking God for protecting him and not allowing anything bad to happen to him. 

November is the month of thankfulness and today from the moment I opened my eyes I have been thankful that the Lord has granted this wonderful man to be ok in the midst of a bad situation. This could have been a day of tears, but I am thankful for God's goodness. 

When Josh and I met, we didn't know how the Lord was going to transform our lives and on what adventurous paths He was going to bring us. It has been an amazing adventure living my life with Josh.

Josh is an amazing man that loves me as Christ loves the Church.

He is an amazing father, who loves and cares for his three little ladies. He loves them with a compassionate and graceful heart! 

Josh is a wonderful man who has a great passion to serve the Lord and follow Him. 

I am glad I married Josh 11 years ago, I am glad the Lord took two different lives from two different worlds and put us together. 

I am thankful for this man in my life and I am thankful today for God's protection over Him.

I will thank the Lord with all my heart, and I will recount all of His deeds. Our God is an amazing and good God.

What are you thankful for?  

Let your doctrine dictate to your heart!

David’s response to difficult times

I know many missionaries in Italy, one of them is my hero. One time in talking with his wife about the difficulties in life, we talked about the time her husband was depressed. The news came to me as a shock, thinking that certain things don’t happen to believers, much more to missionaries.

Have you ever faced something like depression?

So my question for today is, how are we to react if we ever face depression or know somebody that is affected by it?

What is depression.

It is a mix of negative feelings that effect our life to the point that we are unable to do the things that we used to do. It makes us passive and apathetic!

The thing is that those feelings are related to things that happen in life, can you think of some examples?

- loss of job

- loss of a child or a loved one

- having a serious illness

- hormone change

- post partum

In Psalms 3 David was going through some difficult times, what was his response in a time of crisis?

When David was writing this Psalm, his son Absalom was trying to take his kingdom and because of this plot, David is forced to leave his palace and run away for his life was in danger.

v1. Many were those who were against David and that supported Absalom. Many who used to be David’s friends betrayed him, turned their back on David. His own son acted evil against him.

v2. Those who were supporting Absalom probably thought that there was no more hope for David. From a human prospective, Absalom had many people that supported David's friends and enemies had every reason to think that David was done!

David had very right to be depressed, His own son, his friends betrayed him, he was forced to leave.

v3. David, however, knew some important truths: God was his shield - what does a shield do? Protects. David knew God was his protection.

God was the lifter of his head - when I think of this sentence an image comes to mind, the one of a child who is sad, discouraged. As a parent what do you do? You lift his chin up to encourage him. God is the One who lifts our chin up when we are down. God was his encourager.

v4. David cried as he prayed and God answered. What was the answer?

v5. “I lay down and slept” - how many times when we are troubled we loose sleep? We start thinking about the whys, and how's to solve the problems and it feels like a storm in our brain.

“I awoke for the Lord sustains me” - often when things go bad and we feel depressed, one of the major tendency is to want to sleep, almost to say "I don’t want to get up and deal with the problem” or “there is no hope, why do I even bother?” Well, David slept well and He also woke up knowing that the Lord sustained Him. David knew that God was his sustainer, He gave him peace at night and strength to face the day.

6. God took his fear- David was not afraid of what lied ahead, now he was able to fight them because he knew God was the only one who can save Him. One of the first things that we learned from David's life was that as a shepherd he faced so many wild animals. He was confident in God’s help, that is why he wanted to face Goliath, he knew even if he wasn’t as strong as the giant, God was on his side. Sometimes we forget how God has helped us in the past.

7. David’s prayer was the one for God’s urgent intervention.

8. The Lord saves and blesses 

The Psalm never states what the end result was in the battle. We aren't given insights into the battle strategies or whether or not David won or lost. David’s positive reaction was not based on the situations. God in fact had not changed the situation yet. David’s reaction was based on what he knew about God.

- God was his protection

- God was His encouragement

- God was his sustainer (peace at night and strength to face the day )

- God takes his fears

- God saves

Most of David’s strength in this difficult time was in his head, he defeated his feelings by speaking to his mind about God.

How many times do we face difficulties? What is our reaction? I think we know all these truths but for them to be effective we need to live them and be driven by them especially in the difficult time.

Let your doctrine dictate to your heart what it should think and feel!

Two Wolves

An old Cherokee chief was teaching his grandson about life.

“A fight is going on inside me,” he told the young boy, “a terrible fight between two wolves.  One is evil, full of anger, sorrow, regret, greed, self-pity and false pride.  The other is good, full of joy, peace, love, humility, kindness and faith.”

“This same fight is going on inside of you, grandson…and inside of every other person on this earth.”

The grandson ponders this for a moment and then asks, “Grandfather, which wolf will win?”

The old man smiled and simply said,

“the one you feed.”

"But I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desire of the flesh. for the desire of the flesh are against the spirit, and the desire of the spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do." 

Galatians 5:16

How can we walk by the Spirit? By living a life based on the word of God, knowing what he wants from us will help us have a renewed mind and so to live a transformed life, a life where we will be encouraged to live for God.

A colorful month!

October, such a colorful month! This year even if we are very busy, we decided to go to a pumpkin patch, it was our first time!

It was an hectic morning because I had a brunch with seminary wives and our Bible study leader. We had a great time there. It was so amazing to share our story and how God brought us all here at seminary, to hear of the many plans He uses into our lives.  There were not only Americans but also wives from other country and  we just learn how to bond in each other, even in our weaknesses. Some of us don't like to speak up, others are afraid to speak in English for fear to make mistakes and look ridiculous. It was good to practice compassion and grace as we listened to each other. Not to mentioned the food! everything was so delicious and our hostess very kind.

As soon as that was done my family and I headed to the pumpkin patch farm. We got to see many pumpkins and obviously the kids loved all the tractors, animals, aye pyramids. For the very first time my girls tried corn on the cob. I had tried it before but being that we have not lived in America for many years, my kids have never had it and amazingly they loved it, except for Ruhamah that kept on having a funny face every time she would take a bite.

It was a good family time, as I said our life have been pretty busy and we really miss being able to have one day or even half a day just to hang out as a family, do something fun or funny or just being together and relax and enjoy each other (even though if we are home the kids end up fighting most f the time!!!)

I just wanted to give you a glimpse into our lives. I feel blessed by those cute smiles that surround me. And I am sure God as blessed you too with many cute smiles around you. Can you think of some?

I am blessed too, by learning from other seminary wives, how we all face difficulties, how we handle them and how God gives us strength in different ways. God is good :)

Strange Fire

If you have time,
and you want to listen to something good,

 check the Strange Fire Conference at 

http://www.tmstrangefire.org

Italy

The other day I was at the Italian Bible Study here at Grace Community Church. It was good to hear songs in Italian, to fellowship with people that speak Italian or have something in common with Italy. We had a good time in listening to the message, had good conversations and AMAZING food!!!

I love talking about my homeland, and sharing how big is the need on the other side of the ocean. Today I want to do something that my husband usually does, I want to share some facts about this little country that has the shape of a boot.

• Italy has a population of 60 million inhabitants. 
• 95% of the population is Catholic.
• of that 95%, only 5% are practicing catholics.
• 0.6% of the population is evangelical;
• The rest are Jehovah witnesses, muslims and so on...

What does it mean to be a catholic? For many Italians being Catholic is like being Italian. It is part of who you are, it doesn't matter if you read the Scripture or not, if you know what the Catholic Church teaches or not, if you believe in it or not. Being Catholic is part of your ethnicity and if someone were to change that, it would be shameful.

"Aren't they Christian?" That is the question that gets asked very often.

This happened a few years ago in Acireale, right under our balcony. The carriage is carrying the statue of saint Sebastian, and has steal wheels. It may not look like it but the carriage is so heavy that leave indents in the asfalt. Saint Sebastian is the patron saint of the city and prior to this day, at every corner of the city, people were collecting money so that they could celebrate the saint with fireworks and adorn the city. Sebastian, we know from history, may have been a true believer who never would have imagined that people would elevate him so much!

People walk barefoot, hurt themselves for the saint in order that they may gain a greater GRACE!

When I was a kid I remember listening about stories of kids living in tribal areas. How they would kill their children for the gods they believed in, offer them sacrifices. I see so many correlations between those tribal rituals and the catholic church of today.

This is not christianity, it started like it but it went away from it a long time ago.

Italians are lost as much as other people in the world, but because they named themselves christian they think they are, and sometimes we, in america, think that too. 

When I look at my nation I see a great need. I see sheep lost without a shepherd. They are caught in a religion that will not teach them how to have peace with God, but that will encourage them to live by doing, to live in fear. They are caught by a religion that seems good and seems like it is bringing them to God but in reality it is making them sink even more into their own sins. On top of that it is telling them that they are ok! 

When you think about Italy, and you think about the food, the fun that the people have and the fellowship that they have, remember they that are lonely because they are missing the only person that can change their life and give true meaning. Remember to pray for them and pray for those who work there, that they may be a strong witness for the Almighty!

That you may find your all in Me

I asked the Lord that I might grow,

In faith and love, and every grace,

Might more of His salvation know,

And seek more earnestly His face.

I hoped that in some favored hour,

At once He'd answer my request.

And by His love's constraining power,

Subdue my sins and give me rest.

Instead of this, He made me feel,

The hidden evils of my heart.

And let the angry power of hell,

Assault my soul in every part.

Yes, more with His own hand He seemed,

Intent to aggravate my woe.

Crossed all the fair designs I schemed,

Blasted by gourds, and laid me low.

"Lord why is this?" I trembling cried.

"Will you pursue your worm to death?"

"This is the way" the Lord replied,

"I answer a prayer for grace and strength."

"These inward trials I employ,

from self and pride, to set you free;

And break your schemes of earthly joy,

That you may find your all in Me." 

-Author unknown

I like the ending words of the poem: "Than you may find your all in Me"! May our lives be satisfied with God alone.

God's goodness

Lately I have been thinking of a great gift among the many gifts that the Lord has granted me: my little two year old! There is a big gap between our little one and our two oldest daughters, I almost went into cardiac arrest while in labour and my precious angel almost suffered a stroke from the lack of oxygen. We are blessed to have her. Her name is Ruhamah (" one who has received compassion", from the book of Hosea), and we have experimented compassion just by the fact that He granted phisical and healthy life to both her and me. But I think the gift of God in giving us Ruhamah goes beyond that. While living a new adjustment, being in a new culture, new environment, ministry and type of life, this little girl is just such an encouragement. She is a constant reminder of the grace and compassion of the Almighty towards us. The way she hugs and kisses and demonstrates love to us is sweet. If she sees me sad I love her little voice asking me "what happen?" or "You ok?" I love listening to her singing "Jesus loves me," and "The B I B L E" while in the crib and ready to go to bed. I love her hugs and when she asks me to put her shoes on only so that she can act like she is being tickled! She is a small two year old full of joy and life, I honestly think that she is just a gift to me in these difficult days in a foreign country so that she can put a smile on my face by reminding me of the goodness of God. 

There can be difficult situations in life, and one way to handle them is by looking at the blessings that he Lord has given us. 

        "Come, thou Fount of every blessing, 
 tune my heart to sing thy grace; 
 streams of mercy, never ceasing, 
 call for songs of loudest praise. 
 Teach me some melodious sonnet, 
 sung by flaming tongues above. 
 Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it, 
 mount of thy redeeming love. "

Spiritual contentment is rooted in and based on an inward relationship to God, not to external circumstances... True contentment is not the same thing as getting whatever we want; it is submitting to the Lord's will and learning to desire what He does. Only then will we discover that his will is good, perfect, and acceptable.

- Sinclair Ferguson

The Divine Weaver

My life is but a weaving

Between my Lord and me;

I cannot choose the colors

he worketh steadily.

Ofttimes He weaveth sorrow

And I in foolish pride,

forget that He seeth the upper,

And I the under side.

Not till the loom is silent

And the shuttle cease to fly,

Shall God unroll the canvas

And explain the reason why.

The dark threads are as needful

In the weaver's skillful hand,

As the threads of gold and silver,

In the pattern He has planned.

- Author Unknown

This poem can better explain that I can Romans 8:28 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him..." God has a plan for our life, a perfect plan.  There are times that we concentrate on the negative things that happen in our life while God sees the whole pictures and  orchestrates all things for our good.

The more colors, the better, but the dark colors are essential too to give definition and accentuate image. In the same way in our life the times that seem harder are the ones where our character gets defined and where we learn to trust more our god and His wonderful work in our life. It is just awesome to know that our lives are in the hands of an amazing God that loves us so deeply and cares for us to the end.

"Lifesong"

As I was listening to the radio I came cross this song by Casting Crowns. And I was reminded to live a life that brings glory to God. As we listen to a song that we like and the words of the song impact our life, so we too should live our lives in such a way that we impact other. We need to make sure to leave an impact to both christians and non christians, to live out love, mercy, compassion, forgiveness, to give God the glory and reach out to the lost.

"Lifesong"

Empty hands held high

Such small sacrifice

If not joined with my life

I sing in vain tonight

May the words I say

And the things I do

Make my lifesong sing

Bring a smile to You

Let my lifesong sing to You

Let my lifesong sing to You

I want to sign Your name to the end of this day

Knowing that my heart was true

Let my lifesong sing to You

Lord I give my life

A living sacrifice

To reach a world in need

To be Your hands and feet

So may the words I say

And the things I do

Make my lifesong sing

Bring a smile to You

Hallelujah

Hallelujah

Let my lifesong sing to You

May the song that comes out of our lives today bring glory to God! And may we be today His hands and feet, serving others and reaching the needy.