Our Family in California

Our Family in California

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Investing in the Relationship


  I’ve been praying for something for years.  I’ve prayed many times and never felt that God was answering my prayer.  My prayer was for something very good.  I couldn’t imagine God not wanting to give me what I was praying for.  I’m not gonna lie, there have been times that I have felt frustrated by what seemed like God's silence regarding my prayer!

Do you ever read the Bible and then put it down and look around wondering why things seemed different back then?  I have!  Why does the relationship that the disciples had with God seem so much different that what we see today?  I long for things in the "here and now" to look more like what I read in God's word, so I asked myself what's the difference and why aren't things like that? I looked at my own life and wondered if there was something wrong or if something needed to change, but never really got to the bottom of it.  
Stay with me here because I’m going down a little rabbit trail. 

A wise man once told me that after getting married I should keep doing the things that I had done to win my bride in the first place.  One of those things was buying flowers.  As a man I feel that dollars spent on something already dead and guaranteed to wilt and be thrown away is a waste of money.  But, because I was given that advise, I still do it.  Not as much as I should, but I do it.  I have found that sometimes I do it for her, and sometimes I do it for me.
What I mean by that is that most times things are great and I just want to do something special for her.  Then there are other times...  During those times I have found that when I “invest” in my wife, I can feel my heart turning toward her.  My heart follows where I put my investment. 

So, back to the point.  

  My prayer for all those years was simply this.  “Lord, I love you.  I want to want more of you.  Please help me to love you more!”

Now don’t get me wrong, this is a prayer that I would highly recommend!  But, after years of praying it, I felt the same as when I had first started.  I loved God before, but I wanted to love him more and couldn’t in my own strength.  I believe that God calls us to repentance in the first place and then, because of our sinful nature, has to help us even to love him.  The thing that didn’t hit me until recently was that I needed to “invest” more in the relationship for my sake.  

It was a couple of weeks ago that I started looking around at the circumstances of my life.  We have no plan B.  We haven’t sold everything, but we have much less than we did a year ago.  I don’t think God calls everyone to sell things as part of the process, but are we willing if he does?

God called us to “invest” in our relationship and now I realize that he has answered my prayer!  More than ever I find myself looking forward to my times with God!  When I read The Word it seems to be more alive than ever before!  I am depending on him like never before.  God has helped me to love him more!  
But...
I think that before God helped me to love him more, he helped me to “invest” in our relationship.  Taking this step in the process has turned my heart more toward him.  Please don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that I DID anything to deserve answered prayer, but he helped me through the process. 

The cool part about loving God is that it’s never enough!  He answered my prayer, but I’m still praying the same thing today.  I pray that my Heavenly Father will take me through this process again and again.  I hope that at the end of my life, my love for him will be something that I can’t even imagine now!  
“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field.  In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field.”                Matt. 13:44
Did you see the word excitement in that verse?  Other translations use the word joy.  Relationship with God is the treasure and spending eternity with him is worth selling “everything” in this life to get!  We get to find joy in our relationship with God and can be excited for the next time he calls us to “sacrifice” earthly things in exchange for more treasure!

My prayer for each of you reading this is that you would know the joy of investing in your relationship with the God of the universe!  In what ways is he calling you to "invest" in your relationship with him?  Will you do it?  There is joy in it!  I pray that he takes you through the process again and again and that you find yourselves closer to him but longing to be closer still! 

  We find ourselves more and more connected to the people that God has placed in our lives here in Costa Rica.  We've found a great new church home and we get to meet new "family" each week.  One of our concerns for moving down here was uprooting our kids one more time.  We knew that finding new friends can sometimes be hard, so we prayed about this quite a bit before we left.  Not only have our kids found some great friends, but Faith and I have found new friends as well as friends that we had here before!
That's right we now have no more need for diapers (during the day)!!
If you can't see in the photo, we bribe our kids with chocolate!

  Times at the Centro de Vida (the youth center) have been really good.  I've really started to enjoy and look forward to times there with my Monday night buddies as well as times spent hanging out with the youth group on Friday nights.  Our pastor here has asked that I become the director of Centro de Vida and after praying about it for a time we felt a real peace in it.  I will now be starting to schedule activities as well as looking for those willing to teach english, computer, music, and other types of classes as part of the outreach of the center.  Please pray for wisdom and that God will bring the right people in the right times to fill needs.  It is in filling these needs that we hope to have opportunities for sharing Jesus with our community!

Crazy times at Centro de Vida!
  We continue to go into the orphanages every other Friday and love it!  Some of the kids are starting to remember our faces and when you see them smiling it makes the long drive totally worth while!  Please pray for these lives!  Please also pray that we can show them the love of their Heavenly Father.


  
Craft time with our friends at the orphanage.
   Thank you so much for your support of our ministry here!  So many of you have added us to your prayer lists and are praying for us every day!  Prayer is the thing that makes the impossible possible in our lives!  Please keep praying for us and let us know if there are ways we can be in prayer for you!  Thank you also to all of you who are partnering with us financially!  You have brought grateful tears to our eyes!

                                                                                       We love and miss y'all!,
                                                                                           The Ridderings


P.S.  We are working on our budget and have found that we are around 60%.  For those of you who feel led to donate to our ministry please visit www.WorldOutreach.org/donations  you can select Aaron and Faith Riddering from the list under the donate tab.  Or, simply mail your check to:  World Outreach Ministries, PO Box B, Marietta, GA 30061 and designate it for Aaron & Faith Riddering #239. 

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Flat Tire in a Border Town


     “You fathers - if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead?  Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion?  Of course not!  So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”    Luke 11:11-13
 
Do you remember going places as a child with your parents?  My parents would tell me when it was time to go, they would help me get into the car, and they would drive me to places that I may or may not know.  Sometimes we did things that were exciting and fun and other times we did everyday things or even painful things (like getting a shot).  Bottom line was that I was along for the ride and my loving parent was in charge.  Knowing these things was enough for me to trust and even look forward to these journeys. 

Fast forward a bit. 

A week and a half ago I found myself sitting on a curb watching my front tire as it was going flat.  My family and I were checked out of Costa Rica but had not yet checked into Panama. (Where does that actually leave a person?)  I was watching my tire going flat because I had locked my keys in the car!  That’s right, now you’re starting to get the picture of how our day was going....
A requirement of staying in Costa Rica, without being a resident, is to leave the country every 90 days.  That is why we were on the border between two Central American countries.  This was our first trip to Panama, so before starting our trip we had lots of things to think about and some concerns as everyone that we talked to had a different story about what to expect and what is required. 

We prayed about the upcoming trip and placed it in God’s hands and we felt God’s peace come over us and our situation.

So, back to our predicament.

It was at that point, with the tire going flat and the keys locked in the car, that the old me would have wanted to scream and then fix things in my own power.  I would have stressed out and worried because, after all, it was up to me.   Right?  

Lately, though I have felt like that little child who is being led around by his loving parent.  Sure, it was my fault that the keys were locked in the car, and it was a bit rattling to be in that situation, but holding the hand of my big loving Heavenly Father helped me have a different perspective.  So, I sat there sweating, but with a smile on my face because I was anticipating what God would do next as I waited for a guy to come and unlock our car.
                                                                                          
  In the end the guy was able to unlock the door with enough air still in the tire to limp over to the tire store.  Once at the tire place we found a better deal on tires than we could have gotten in our town and were able to replace our very bald tires for about 50% of what it would have cost in Uvita.  We also got checked out of Costa Rica and into Panama, and out of Panama and into Costa Rica in less time than we had anticipated!  

As a father I have four little people that trust me to provide and watch over them.  When they put their hands in mine and want to go with me even when they don’t know where I am going, there is nothing that I wouldn’t do for them.  They trust and love me even though I sometimes have no idea what I am doing or where we are going.  How much more can our hearts be at peace with the God of the universe living in us and guiding our steps?  After all he already showed us that he loved us so much that he would die for us....  

Our God is good!  He is worthy of our trust, praise, and devotion!  He lacks nothing, and he is our everything, and it is our Abba (Daddy).  He is ready and willing to lead us, and if we ask, he will send the Comforter to dwell in us and give us true peace!  Will we let him? 

Here are some other ways that we can see/feel God’s loving hand working and directing our lives. 

Our family has been able to get on more of a schedule for going into the orphanages.  During these time we get to play games and eat with the kids as well as hear a Bible story.  It is so cool to have begun a relationship with some of these kids!  I know my face lights up when I see them and just remembering their names really makes them smile!  We don’t know yet what part these times with the orphans will play in our ministry here in Costa Rica, but it’s hard to drive away unaffected by our friends there! 

Game time at the orphanage!
“Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you”  James 1:27
Smiles all around!
For a couple weeks now I have gotten to go several times a week to Centro de Vida (Center of Life) and start hanging out with kids.  Monday nights are a time to play games and start relationships and Friday nights are a time with some Bible teaching.  I am really enjoying getting to know some of the kids even though I don’t know a lot of Spanish yet.  Please pray that the Holy Spirit would begin working in these lives to draw them toward repentance and a relationship with him!  

We had a week and a half between our first rental and the house that we are now moved into.  During that time we didn’t know where we would live.  God provided a place to stay through some great friends here that were going to be in the States during that same time frame!  Not only did we have a place to stay but this amazing house has an ocean view and a pool!  We are now moved into our new rental and the cool breeze is worth all the work of moving twice!

Finally, we have been humbled by some very generous financial gifts that have come this past month!  I was carrying in some groceries last week and it hit me how blessed we are.  I stood there with bags in hand and tears in my eyes!  We have been blessed by some of you, and we thank you for your faithfulness!  While not yet at 100% of what we need each month, we feel very blessed to serve a God that is our provider! 


We miss you all!   
      The Riddering Family

PS. Here's a link for those of you that would like to support our ministry here in Costa Rica -  www.WorldOutreach.org/donations  you can select Aaron and Faith Riddering from the list under the donate tab.  You can also set up automatic monthly Gifts with your credit card if you choose the "Monthly" option.  Or, simply mail your check to:  World Outreach Ministries, PO Box B, Marietta, GA 30061 and designate for Aaron & Faith Riddering #239. THANK YOU to those of you who have donated already and for those of you that are praying for us!