One Battle Won!

One of my lovely girls, who has a background of satanic worship, has been very determined to have nothing to do with Jesus. When she first came here about 6 months ago, she had prayed to accept Jesus in her life and we saw some major changes in her for about three weeks. I wrote about her on the blog post of…. Then she went back to how she uses to be, hating God and saying she didn’t believe he existed.

She has been very resistant in Bible Studies and created a harsh atmosphere for the rest of the girls. We have several other girls who have similar background of satanic practices and they all follow her lead. One being the girl I wrote about in the previous post. This has made Bible studies harder than they should and leaves me wondering if anyone learned anything.

My girl started to have individual biblical counseling with my co-worker and last week it was really just a waste of time. She wanted nothing to do with anything that had to do with God. What a week will do. In her individual yesterday, she told my co-worker that she wants to know how to have a strong relationship with God. That she believes in God and knows He has the best for her. She said her pride got in the way and she is now ready to let go of her pride and leave her sinful behaviors and start following God will all her heart.

I was so excited to hear this. I had noticed in our Bible study that she was acting different, she was responding in ways she never did before, she had a smile on her face and she talked differently. I just didn’t know what had changed. Well now I do.

Thanks again for all your prayers and support of these girls.

The War for a Soul

It’s amazing at the lengths that Satan will go to keep someone blinded from the saving Truth of Jesus. If you have read my blog over the past few months you will remember the girl who I’ve written about who believes that Satan is God. It’s been a constant battle for herself and for her soul.

Today, I had a few to chat with her and I can see and hear God’s hammer chiseling away the lies. But, wow, Satan has a huge hold on her and isn’t going to let go easily. Over the past few weeks she has told God that He can enter her life and take control. However, she always leaves feeling nothing different. She believes she needs to be crying and having some emotional mountaintop experience to prove God is in her life.

You probably might be excited that it appears she has accepted Christ from what I just wrote. Unfortunately that is not what has happened yet. She continues to struggle to believe that God exists. In fact, today, she went to the other side stating that she doesn’t believe that neither God nor Satan exists. For her to accept Christ as her Savior, she must believe He exists. She doesn’t believe that John 3:16 includes her. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” She believes it’s the world minus her.

I know she is close. She wants the peace and hope that only God can offer, yet she continues to be unable to see the truth through the life destroying lies that Satan has fused in her mind. However we know that Jesus is stronger than he who is in this world and that His power can renew her mind.

Please continue to pray for her and myself as we fight this war. I know God has the victory, but pray that my precious girl will not give up on this fight. That she will allow God to pull each scale off her eye, one by one.

Brave Warriors

I am blown away every time I think about my girls and what they face every day in their process of transformation. They must stare down and uncover the abuse, the hurtful words, the lies, the reality of life, their own decisions, their fears and the ugly things they have done. If that wasn’t enough, they must learn how to battle these things and then turn them into fuel for their transformation.

Then they must learn how to dream and believe they have a future. They graduate and move back into their old world and learn how to live in an environment that remains similarly the same. An environment that screams to quite lies that they are still that old girl, that they are worth nothing, that they should just give up. They fight to survive and continue their transformation in a place that resists them. These girls are my heroes! They are braver than I ever could be. They are strong young ladies that encourage me everyday to be better.

I have the greatest blessing of walking with these girls in this process as they stand eye to eye to their past. I teach them that they are not alone in this fight. They have the power of our All Mighty Savior if they chose to accept His gift. Today was one of those moments that I got to help one brave warrior find her eternal strength as she accepted Jesus Christ as her personal Savior and to be her strength in this battle.

What a celebration there is in heaven tonight! This is why I am here in Costa Rica. Praise God!

1 Peter 2:24 “He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.”

Prayer Warriors Wanted

I have two prayer requests this weekend to present to you. First, we have a girl who has been at Renacer for less than a month and is very aggressive; including hitting and chocking some of the girls. She is on her last chance and could be expelled from the program. She is the one that I find it hard to love as I mentioned in my last prayer request blog. She does have a sweetness about her and can make you laugh. She needs to be here. Pray for her to see that aggression is not the way and that there are other ways.

The other prayer request is for me. After talking with a friend last night, we decided that if at all possible I need to go back to Missouri for a week to ten days at the beginning of October so I can raise support. I do not plan for this trip to take the place of the Dec-Jan trip (which would be more support raising). It’s just I’m at a critical time and we feel it would be the best to go home and she is willing to help me out to get there. So we have been looking up 100 ways on how to make it cheap and affordable. Please pray that God will show the path of how to get from here to there. Also pray that I would make wise decisions as I am looking for new insurance. I have found something that looks to be very good, actually works for me and is so much cheaper than what I pay now.

Thanks for your prayers.

Psalm 68:19 “Praise the Lord; praise God our savior! For each day He carries us in His arms.”

Honored

I am completely honored and blown away by the trust level the girls have with me. Over the past few weeks I have heard multiple times, “I have never told anyone this before.” Wow what an honor. Those “secrets” haven’t really been what one would call “deep” but oh have they been important! One girl had never said out loud her desires for her life. One had never confronted what the true reality is of her situation and how she feels about it.

In the past two weeks, I have had 4 girls come to me and ask for help because they no longer want to be a lesbian. This shows another way God is allowing trust to be built with the girls that they would share these things very personal things with me. I am honored that they know they are not judged, that I do not think differently of them, and that I love them as they are and I’m willing to help them.

I’m excited to see what God wants to do in these relationships and how He will do it. I am having to read and learn a lot and most importantly trust God in it all. Please be in prayer for the counseling times that God will give me His words and His wisdom. Also several of these girls will be graduating in November so our time is short.

Again I’m so honored to see how God continues to take our ashes and turn them into His beauty. These girls are living in this process of transformation!

Support Update:URGENT 9.7.11

On Monday, I emailed some of you update of the past three years, plans for next years and my financial support needs. (This is a little more specific than what was in my letter.) I know that some of you who read my blog are not on my email list so I wanted to also share with you my immediate needs. First I just added to the side of my webpage a “fundraising thermometer” in which I will update monthly.

My goal is to raise $2000 a month and right now I’m currently at $1145 which is 57% of my goal. You’re thinking I’m doing pretty well; however this is not what my take home is and is what I average between my monthly and bi/tri-monthly supporters.

This month I got a take home pay of $425 although I received $945 in support this month; which makes me at 47%. First Christ For the City takes a 12% assessment fee from the full amount ($133), the there’s almost $90 in taxes, $290 for health insurance, and about $10 for credit card donations fees. So that left me with the $425.

My monthly needs are as following;

Rent $460

Bills $150ish

Food/hygiene/cleaning products: $250

Transportation: $50

Monthly savings for visa renewal trip (every three months): $100

So these are just my basic needs that do not include the doctors (which I need to have some exams done that will cost a several hundred, go to the dentist - $100ish, buy contacts - $90ish) and I was trying to save up so I could go back to the states for Christmas.

This month I didn’t expect my support to be so low and I’m able to meet my needs this month by spending my visa renewal savings and the money I had begun to save for my return home trip. Next month, October, I will not be able to cover all my rent less alone everything else if my support remains exactly the same.

So how can you partner with me? Would you like to be a monthly supporter of any amount via a tax-deductable donation? If 10 people give $10 then that adds up to $100, so no amount is too small. Or perhaps you would like to be a bi-monthly or twice a year supporter? Would you give a one time gift? Or perhaps you have some frequent flier miles or a buddy pass to help towards my trip home for Christmas?

If you would like to help please notify me at sunshineloveland@gmail.com. I need the donations to be in by the 25th of September so that they can be added to my support for next month. Here is how you can go about giving your gift:

Send financial donations to: Christ For the City International, PO Box 390395, Omaha, NE 68139

write "for Sunshine Loveland" in the memo line

Make automatic withdrawals by contacting CFCI at 1.888.526.7551 or by email at finance@cfci.org

Donate online at the CFCI website www.cfci.org

Thank you for taking the time to read this and pray about how God would have you partner with me.

Prayer Requests

I have a few prayer requests that I would love for you all to pray with me about.

1. This week is therapy marathon, in which the girls are in therapies all day long for the entire week over a certain theme. This week is sexuality. Please pray for the girls as they are dealing with many hurts and many lies.

2. Marathon week means I am just sitting at a computer all day trying to write lessons. There is a reason why I have never had an actual office job. I’m going crazy and starting to get a bad attitude. Please pray that tomorrow will be a good productive day with a good attitude.

3. Throughout the years here and as a Foster Care Case Manager, I have never encountered a girl who I just did not like and I have been called every name in the book by them (the ones in the states.) Yet I now have one girl here that I just don’t like to be around and I truly just don’t like her. This makes me sad because I don’t want to be that way nor have I had this experience. Please pray for me to learn to truly love her and see her for more than her awful behaviors and attitude. I want my actions to be real and not fake with her because she will be able to know.

4. I need a roommate. Pray that God will provide the right one quickly.

5. For my financial support, that God will provide exactly what I need to meet all my needs on time.

6. Also I’m struggling a lot with homesickness, more than I normally do, and this greatly affects so many aspects of my life. Normally this time of the year I am back at home and so I think this is why it’s getting so bad.

7. For my walk with Jesus, that He will be truly all I need and my everything.

8. Last but not least for friendships. I have been blessed with a few great relationships but I need more of a social life. I need to get out of my house more than I normally do.

Thanks for your prayers.

The Team Update

Well it’s been awhile since I have got you all up on what has happened over the past month. So there will be a few blog posts this weekend to catch ya’ll up.

The Clearwater Christian College Volleyball team went great. I was a challenge for me because it wasn’t all planned out and I didn’t know what all would take place, but of course God showed Himself big. The team made great connections with my girls and were the arms of Jesus to them.

The team taught the girls how to play volleyball, gave devotions in the mornings, did some craft projects and most importantly loved on my girls. They also got the opportunity to play volleyball with the University of Costa Rica team and also the National League sub 20 (ages below 20). After the games the team shared Christ with them. I believe that these college girls eyes were opened and changed in how the look at others and how God can use every life.

We even had a day of fun in which we went to the active Poaz Volcano (the largest or second largest crater in the world, measuring at one mile wide). Then we went over to the La Paz waterfall park which includes a zoo and you can hold some of the animals. It was so fun and something I had wanted to do since I have lived here.

It was a very busy week but a fulfilling week and I believe God was in charge of it all. I had to really trust Him and allow Him to be the leader and have the control of it, which I don’t do well.

Thanks to the team for loving on my girls and being the arms of God to my girls.

The team.

Me and the Toucan at the Zoo at the Waterfall

Poaz Volcano. The thick white cloud from the center of the crater is the actual sulfur smoke coming from the center of the volcano. The white thin cloud above is the actual clouds.

Me and Teah at the side of the smaller waterfall. We didn't know until after the trip that she is the sister of a sweet friend back home! What a small world!

A cute little frog at the frog exhibit at the waterfall.