Long Overdue for an Update!

Well, I am LONG overdue for posting!  It's been busy... here are the highlights:

1.  Brad and I just celebrated our 17th anniversary!  I love him more now than ever.  He showed me strength I never even knew he had as he carried our family during the trials we faced this last year.  Love this man!

We started out the morning with CHOCOLATE GRAVY!  To which all southerners say - Woooo hoo!  And all others say... "say what?!?!"  :)

2.  Brad had the honor of baptizing Macy this past week at James River Assembly here in Springfield.  Even though we have prayed MANY times over the years for Jesus to come into her heart.... etc...  She recently went forward during a children's service... and walked across that invisible line of making her faith her own... not prompted by mom and dad.  She was so excited about being baptized as the next step!

Mia asked her right after being baptized, "Was it fun, Macy?" To which Macy replied, "No, it was not fun Mia... this is SERIOUS business!"  Too cute!

3.  My health = A Pie Chart  :)  The part of the pie where I feel healthy is growing slowly.  I would like for it to be 100%, but so far that is not the story.  However, I am learning to lean into God during this time, and to rest in Him, wait patiently for what He is teaching me, (not so good at that one), and to try and figure out WHO He desires me to be.  What should my priorities be in life and in ministry?  Where should I pour my time?  Because I tend to be passionate about EVERYTHING and think that all things deserve 100% of me.  However, that is such a reflection of how I have lived my life at an unattainable pace for YEARS now.  And it's not healthy.  So I need help in discerning God's clear voice in my life. When to say yes, when to say no.  And to feel good about it.

4.  Brad has an INCREDIBLE opportunity coming up to join a small team of missionaries in the Netherlands for a few days while they brainstorm the best way to utilize media in the coming years for the advancement of the good news of Jesus and His love!  Please be praying for them to have the wisdom and direction of God in their decisions!  #for such a time as this

The MESSAGE we share of Knowing God never changes... But the methods sure do! #mediaministry #mediathattransforms

5. Macy and Mia have done so well in school this year.  They basically both had to do 3 semesters in this one year just to catch up on the curriculum gaps (once again).  The GREAT news is that they both LOVE school and have grown in their self-esteem this year.  Beautiful smiles on beautiful girls! God has brought them on our amazing family journey - and I know He has plans for good in it all!


Mia was able to participate in the patriotic 1st grade program this year at school.  Boy that girl sang at the top of her lungs around the house for weeks!  "Grand 'ol Flag", "Star Spangled Banner", "Yankee Doodle", etc.  :)  She is now more proud than ever to be an American!

6.  Micah continues to GROW and prosper!  He is a BIG, happy, healthy baby!  Thank you Jesus!  From that scary start in the NICU in Madrid - to what we have before us today - what a beautiful miracle!  He is precious! I thank God for His grace.

7.  We have also had the opportunity to invest some time in a few college students here in Springfield.  We recently hosted a get together and had students over from James River Leadership College, Central Bible College, and Evangel University.  #futureworldchangers

CSI West Memphis

Just a little video from our archives I ran across this morning....
This is the intro to a video Brad did for West Memphis for a study on the Holy Spirit....
I clipped it to just the intro for the blog.... I just like the theme/effects!  :)

Prayer Update

How can you continue to pray for us?

1.  Pray that God will make me WHOLE.  I have come a LONG way with the healing of my nervous system - but without medication I am not well.  Pray for that complete healing to come.  GREAT NEWS IS: I have turned a corner since New Year's Eve and have made HUGE steps to recovery!

2.  Ironically, God HAS used this time of illness to work in me (Glenda). Pray that he will be able to complete this inner work on my heart.  Lots to share in future posts about insights He's given me to myself and to His Word.  I didn't realize how broken I was not just in body....but in Spirit too.

3.  Pray for Brad as he's been working on testimonies for different evangelism websites with our media team.  He is having to learn a whole new editing software program with them.  Pray that God gives him supernatural wisdom and anointing to fly with it.  :)

4.  Pray for Brad to have favor with all people he comes into contact with.  Pray that we can be a voice to our missions organization as a whole as to how we can take media and excellence to a whole new level.

5.  Pray for our children.  Pray for Macy and Mia to flourish in school and catch up on all the curriculum gaps that have surfaced b/c of the many moves. Pray that God will bring GODLY friends into their lives.  Pray that they, along with Micah, will be world changers and passionate for God from an early age.

6.  Pray for your pastors.  No one realizes the weight, the burden, and the discouragement that faces our pastors.  Pray that you won't be a reason for their burden either!  :)

Dreaming Again

The realization struck us about 2 weeks ago... that we left everything we knew on January 24, 2012 - boarded a plane for a new life in Spain... and mass chaos descended...

:/

Would we still have gone had we known all we would face?  If we had known the difficulties that lay ahead?  Had we known that things would not turn out like we had "dreamed"?

I am not sure that we would have gone if we had known the path before us.

However, yet do we trust that our lives and our days are in the hands of our maker.  And it is HE that directs our steps... and it is HE that ordains each day of our lives and our paths for us.  I can say that now...

...but a few months ago when I was scared, sick, overwhelmed, lost, angry, and desperate - I just kept asking God, "WHY????"

I do "know" that God DOES work ALL things together for his good.  That there is a plan in the mess.  There is a purpose.

And we are beginning to see more and more light shining on our path.

Brad received an invitation this week to be a part of a small team that redefines the way we use media within a certain missions group.  Had we not walked THIS journey, the journey of our entire ministry,  and arrived PRECISELY at this place and this moment - would he have the opportunity to be a part of something of this magnitude?  Not sure.  But I believe GREAT things are coming.

I posted this to twitter and Facebook today:
@glendamcmath 
I dream of using media to accelerate the powerful truth of how we can have a real relationship with Jesus... to people who have not heard of His awesome love #mediathattransformsKnowing God has CHANGED my life! So thankful God rescued me from the world and then He rescued me from MYSELF! Ugh! And Yay God!


DREAMING that God is about to blow up some barriers to reaching the unreached through media - and so humbled that we get to be a part of it!

Quick New Year's Update

Wow!  I can not believe it has been 2 1/2 months since I last updated anything on the blog!  I'm so thankful that I am connected via email and Facebook with so many of our prayer team - or you may have thought I had fallen off the cliff (well.....I kinda did....not literally speaking...)
:)

I usually send out an email letting you know an update is on the blog at least every 4-6 weeks.  Sorry this one has taken so long...  but I am SO thankful for the love, support, and PRAYER that we have been the recipients of!  Our email prayer team has 1800+ people... and we KNOW without a doubt - that is has been your prayers that have sustained us through this difficult fire we have walked through this year.  Most of you do not leave comments on the blog - but email us personally - and we save and treasure every word of encouragement! I plan to make a book of all of the emails we've received!

THANK YOU.

May God richly bless you as you give, as you pray, as you remember us.  We are trusting God to do something so incredibly new in our lives and through our ministry this year - that we will not even be able to believe it!  More to come soon on the amazing ways God is using technology through our ministry partner N211...  and maybe, JUST MAYBE - I can get back to blogging on a semi/at least periodic however random it may be schedule!

And how am I?  Doing better. Making progress.  Two steps forward, one step back.  And so goes the dance.  But we serve a HEALER - and He is making me whole again.  Thank God for where he has brought me from...both in my life...and in this season...

More to come soon!

Daring to Believe there's a Message in the Mess!

"Following God's plans can be extremely challenging sometimes. Gut-wrenching and intense.  Perhaps you've never faced anything this daunting before, a situation that asks so much of you or hurts in such deep places.  But with the Red Sea in front of you and Pharoah's armies barreling down close behind, you get to find out what the Lord can really do.  He's put you in a tough spot so you'll get to see just how incredibly strong and sufficient your God is.

And others will see it too.  Your life is God's story being told and His character being displayed.  So how does it read?  What does it tell others about the God you serve?  WILL YOU DARE TO BELIEVE THERE'S A MESSAGE IN THIS MESS?  It's quite possibly the best story some people will ever read." -Priscilla Shirer in "Life Interrupted"

Life Interrupted

‎"My friend, this is not an interruption {in your life}. It's a divine intervention. It's the privilege of walking in fellowship with One who will take you to a hopeless place so you can see the hope of God in it's rawest, most redemptive form. 

He'll take you to an ungodly place so you can see the Holy Spirit rising up within you, transforming an impossible situation while transforming lives in the process. 

We don't want to go to "Nineveh". Nobody does. But by running and hiding, we miss being part of what God is doing in our day and age. Like Jonah almost did..." -Priscilla Shirer in "Life Interrupted"

Boy this has spoken volumes to my life!  We are still in the middle of major transition....

The past 3 weeks since my last post have seemed like 3 MONTHS!

Seriously.

Hope to get a chance to do an update very soon!  Until then - thank you to all who have prayed and prayed and prayed for us.  We see God's hand in the midst of our chaos!