Your Mission ~ Should You Choose to Accept it.

As I write this I am currently a single mom. Aaron is working in the states for about a month and we are hoping he will be home next week!  We have done this before but never this long. This has given me a whole new perspective and appreciation for military moms and dads that stay back as well as single parents. These people need our prayers. If you know someone like this please pray for them! And then pray again and again! 

Even though this has been a really different experience for us, it has also been an enjoyable time filled with learning and growth. Since Aaron has been in the United States, I have really felt the presence of the Holy Spirit within me. There have been countless times during these two weeks that a problem comes up or something happens and without even thinking about it a verse or a hymn is immediately brought to mind. I have had to rely completely on the Father. I have never had this many instances of comfort when I needed them. I also realized something else: the days that I make my time with God a priority are the days that these comforts are very obvious to me.  There have been times when none of my children were sleeping through the night and there was screaming and wailing... Did I mention that they were all piled in my room? Honesty, during that moment, I was sitting in my bed calling out to the Father with my arms raised in the air. I cried out “Abba, I am in another country, it’s the middle of the night, and my kids are screaming for no apparent reason?!” In that instance, who  did I  turn to for peace and rest: the Lord! I cried out to him, “Yahweh, Abba Father, please help me! Guess what?! God was there for me during that moment and He answered my plea for help and we all slept for a few hours. This whole time hasn’t been as dramatic as that particular night, but that evening was quite hectic.  Honestly, since Aaron has been away, everything has been fairly calm and I am so thankful for that peace and calmness that the Holy Spirit has given me. I know that there are numerous people praying for me and I have felt their prayers several times over this past month.

Trust in the Lord with all heart and lean not on your own understanding. 

Proverbs 3:5

Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Don't be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand. 

Isaiah 41:10

I have also had an epiphany: I have been a mom for almost 11 years! How has this happened?! That wasn’t the epiphany. I have been searching for the last several years for my “mission” in life.  Before Aaron left, I went to a Bible Study with some friends and on my way home it hit me: my “mission” is my children. Over the last two weeks, that very thought has washed over me and has sunken into my pores. For several years now, I have wondered what was my particular “thing” in ministry . I would find myself asking Aaron, “What’s my “thing?” What should I be doing with my life? I realize there are obvious, glaring things: I am a stay at home mom. I have four kids. You get the point. I have been known to say things like, “What is my mission? What am I good at? Where do I belong? Look at what she can do. I don’t do those things. I  must be of a lesser value than that person.” Things of this nature were a fairly common occurrence in my thought life. I was comparing and I shouldn’t have been. It directed my focus from my ministry.

In all your ways acknowledge Him and he will make your path straight. 

Psalm 3: 6

Meanwhile, I have been teaching my children and also wondering why do I feel so  passionate when I teach them Biblical history or read them passages from Scripture? I find myself crying a lot because I am so passionate about teaching them the Word of God. This should have been a red flag, but some of us aren’t very fast learners or maybe good listeners or am I just a cryer? Whichever way you choose to look at it, this is the very mission that God has laid upon my heart.  My kids ARE  my mission! Why did it take so long for me to accept this thought? It’s not like I wasn’t already completing this mission, but the problem came because I was still searching for something else while doing so. I said that my children were my mission but I hadn’t fully committed to jumping into the mud puddle! Since then, I’ve jumped in and I’ve gotten mud all over me and there is a peace that comes with jumping in and being okay with the mud! If I may be transparent, the last month has shown me that things run a lot smoother when I’m content with my “mission” and I am not actively searching for something else. Don’t get me wrong there are still battles to be won and things aren’t all daisies and butterflies.  

What is your mission? Is it staring you in the face, and if so, are you embracing it? Are you wondering what God has for you? Maybe he is revealing it to you piece by piece like he did for me. It might occur slowly, but he knows each one of us and how we work and how we learn. But he will reveal it to you if you are seeking His face. He is faithful and once he shows you His mission he will give you the strength to complete it. 

Ps. We are leaving today to pick Aaron up from the airport! We are very excited!

A Blank Check

      

      It’s been a while! I haven’t written a blog in several months. That’s not to say that I haven't set down to write one on several different occasions. It’s not even to say that there hasn't been anything worth writing about. I just haven’t felt like I had the right thing to write about.... Until I read this:

“After Moses came back, he summoned the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. Then all the people responded together, ‘We will do all that the Lord has spoken.’ So Moses brought the people’s words back to the Lord.”                                   Exodus 19:7-8

Seems pretty straight forward.  The elders of the children of Israel are saying that they will do all that the Lord commands, so that God will make them a special treasure, and a holy people, right?  

Wait! This is Exodus 19. The people don’t get the commandments of God until chapter 20 - 23. What are they agreeing to in these verses? What are they making rash statements about? Why are they signing a blank check to be filled in by the Most High in the future at some point? I mean, at this point Yahweh could have commanded ANYTHING and they had already promised to follow His commands.  

I had never before realized the level of trust that the Israelites had toward God or the depth of their desire to be God’s chosen people. We are quick to judge them when we read about how many times they fell away, or how they took the commands, added to them, and made them a burden to themselves and others.  When we see, a few chapters later, how quickly they make a graven image and worship it, we wonder how they could do such a thing. But, let’s not forget this act of faith.  

Why were they willing to follow the commands of God before they knew what those commands were? They are willing because of the things they had seen and been a part of. God reminds them about what He did to the Egyptians and how He carried them out of Egypt on eagles wings. They could sign a “blank check” because they knew, trusted, and were already dependent on the One who now asked them if they would follow where He would lead and do what He would ask them to do. 

I got to see a similar scenario play out while Faith was spending time with her family in Pennsylvania. I was the only “adult supervision” for my children. (Kind of a scary thought if you dwell on it...) We needed to clean up the house, and rather than do it by myself, I asked if my children would be willing to help me with something and promised a reward at the end.  They all agreed with giggles and smiles of anticipation on their faces.  I then told them that we needed to work together to clean the mess that had been made.  

Let me tell you what!  My kids cranked up some “cleaning music”, and in about half an hour we had a house that was close to spotless!  There was joy in the “law” because they knew several things.  They knew that I would be pleased, that there would be some sort of reward when they were done, and they recognized the wisdom in getting the house in order before Mom got home.  It was a joyful night at the Riddering home as we cleaned and sang together, and then went to the beach and got ice cream. (In case you are wondering, chocolate ice cream with fresh pineapple is one of the joys of life here in Costa Rica!)

Now back to the Israelites and ourselves for that matter... How did The God of the Universe fill in the blank of the check handed to Him? 

Our kids LOVE hanging out with their friends from the orphanages!

 Well, He said love Him!  He said love your neighbors!  He said “Remember” the Sabbath and keep it holy. (a mini vacation every week, while all the other nations had to work every day just to get by)  He also reminded them to use some common sense, don’t kill, steal, lie, commit adultery, or bow down to something that He made or that they could make.  (In our house we say it like this; “Use the good brain that God gave you!”)

I don’t see anything here that was meant to be burdensome. I see loving guidelines to keep His children from doing things that they would regret.  I see a plan for the temporary forgiving of sins through sacrifices that pointed to a permanent sacrifice that would bring forgiveness by the death and resurrection of His Son.  

 I don’t see a God who wants to impose harsh restrictions on His people, but instead One who wants us to spend time with Him and truly love Him and others. He promises blessings to those who will follow His commands and lays out what those blessings will be. This is a good life! This is freedom! This is the plan and request of our Loving Heavenly Father! This is the way of life that Jesus came to live out, celebrate, reveal, enjoy, and fulfill, but not abolish.  

“Don’t assume that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.  For I assure you: Until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or one stroke of a letter will pass from the law until all things are accomplished”

                                                        Matthew 5:17-18

So, what does this have to do with anything?

 Well, what blank checks have we written God lately?  We get to write them as expressions of love and gratitude, and not because we have to in order to be saved or because it is demanded.  We shouldn't write them out of obligation, but out of a sense of wonder and love for our Messiah.  Once we sign those blank checks we wait with anticipation to see where and how He will lead in our lives while holding nothing back.

We have been here in Costa Rica for quite a while now. I have been without "work" for a 
year at this point. We have received many generous gifts from some of you as well as our 
home church, but looking back we see that the money that has come in has been about 1/3 
of our expenses here. It is NOW that we need to write another blank check to God, and ask 
what His perfect plan looks like in the coming year. Just like Romans 12 says, we need to 
offer ourselves as living sacrifices and we need to do it each and every day.

 We’ve seen Him work in the past!  We know He is trustworthy!  We know that He loves us enough to face and endure death on our behalf.  We know that He stands ready and waiting to forgive.  How would our lives look different if we truly held nothing back? 

 We have been very busy since we wrote last and we have much to report!  Our church here in Costa Rica has asked me to be the mission and outreach pastor.  My job is to continue to work at the youth center as well as plan out local mission trips and outreach projects for our church here.  We are excited to be planning a trip for July 7-9 to go visit the Guaymi Indians and do some work and outreach projects there with our brothers and sisters from Iglesia De La Costa.  

 My kids are already talking about an upcoming trip our Capstone Church family will be taking July 21-28!  We can't wait to spend time with friends and we are busy trying to nail down some of the details on this end. 

 We are also looking forward to more frequent trips to the orphanages this year with trips planned every other week.  And, we are trying to keep up with the other commitments we have here as well.

 Thank you all for your continued prayers and support!  Your notes, phone calls, e-mails, and gifts mean the world to us!

For His Glory,
The Ridderings


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!

Thank you to all of you who have helped our friends at the orphanages!  We passed out some new pillow cases last week and they are always excited to have something that is their own.

Immeasurably More

“Have you talked to mom?” This is never a good text to receive. It’s even worse when you are living in another country with sketchy ways of getting in touch with family in the States. 

This was the text I received in November. The news was not what I wanted to hear. My dad would be needing open heart surgery. I was in a quandary! I didn’t know what to do. My initial reaction was to be there no matter what. But then as I was thinking about making the ticket purchase, I just couldn’t be at peace with any of it. I kept asking Aaron what about this, and what about that. His response was supportive but not terribly helpful. “Do what you need to do and we’ll make it work.” Seriously? I really wanted him to just tell me what to do. Which flight to take. How long to be in the States. 

You see this is something that has been fearful for me. Costa Rica is a long way from Pennsylvania. To have myself so very far from my husband and children wasn’t something that I looked forward to. (Okay, I may have looked forward visiting Chiptole and a few other stores.) We have 4 kids! That’s a lot to ask for daddy to undertake. But, to have myself so far away from my parents & siblings during this time wasn’t something to look forward to either.  

So, I called my dad and asked what he thought I should do. His response, after my blubbering subsided was, “Just stay there & come when the whole family can come”. Really? I reasoned that if that’s what he wanted that I could be at peace with it. It seemed like this was my answer. I would be staying in Costa Rica while my dad underwent major surgery. While my siblings were there with my mom. 

My family has gone through this particular surgery before. Twenty-one years ago my dad almost died from a heart attack. I was 13 years old and remember standing in the emergency room watching my dad being worked on while they tried to save his life. Then several months later I watched him begin the slow recovery process from open heart surgery. Keep in mind he was 21 years younger as well. Don’t think I didn’t have my misgivings, because this time around he’s 80 years old. 

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen." 

Ephesians 3:20-21

This was my Facebook post on January 6 with my dads surgery scheduled for the 9th.  I was resting in that verse going into the week of his surgery. I really was totally "okay" with not being there. I was thinking I might need to have some extra activity while he was in surgery, but I wasn’t dwelling on it or fretting. I was totally at peace. 

Tuesday morning I was teaching the kids and getting ready for Ladies Group at my house when Aaron said, “Hey did you see this email?”.   The email was from dear friends saying that they didn’t think I should miss this time with my family. Wow~ Immeasurably more... that’s a lot! My Father in heaven was pouring out more than I could ask, think or imagine. I don’t think I have ever experienced a gift like this from someone. I was so shocked. 

So, we quickly forgot about school, and got the ticket purchased. Ladies from ladies group came and shared and prayed with me while Aaron arranged my shuttle to the airport, and the next morning I was off. 

I had great flight times considering that most flights the day I wanted to go didn’t get in until the next day.  I arrived pretty late at night, and since we had to get up very early to go to the hospital, my sister and I didn’t get any sleep. We just took showers and then did what any reasonable adult should do, and jumped on our dad when it was time for him to wake up! :) Yes, we snuggled with our dad before he had to go to surgery. He said he didn’t want to let us go. What a privilege it was for me to be able to be there and hug and pray with my parents. I was freezing but I was there. 

He was in surgery all day.  He was in the hospital less than a week! Immeasurably more~ I just kept thinking the whole time I was there that God was pouring out on us and on me! Now don’t get me wrong I know things don’t always turn out the way we would hope, and we always need to give God the glory in all things. God was showing me His love in His way in His time.

Ephesians 3: 14 - 21

"For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge --that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work with in us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

We as parents want our kids to know the love of God and to understand it in every aspect of their lives.  But do we? Do we look for God’s love? It seemed during my whole trip that God was showing me his love. At every turn He was shouting, “Do you see that I care about the little details?” Maybe it was my looking for it, or that I only had myself to look out for and could focus a little better, but I could see Him working the whole time!

When I left I asked the kids if there was something that they really wanted me to bring back from the States. They all responded with, “Backpacks!”. (Theirs have gotten a touch moldy and torn since we’ve been here.) I hoped to fill this request, but I wasn’t sure I could with the exact colors that were requested. Also, have you shopped for backpacks lately?! Oh my, they are way too expensive! 

I had purchased all but one during events that were only explained by God and was speaking with Aaron before I went into the last store and said, “You know, I still don’t have the last backpack.” That was it. I don’t remember if I prayed about it or anything. Then I walked into a shoe store and as I looked at the ladies shoes a salesman CAME OVER TO ME in the corner of the store! (Remember that I had no kids with me.) He held up a backpack and said, “You wouldn’t be interested in this backpack would you? It’s $2.00.” Wow! I was blown away! I almost burst into tears! The Lord was really getting to me with these backpacks for my kids! 

God knew the colors that had been requested! 

When I got home I shared with the kids each story of how I had found or been shown their backpack. I wanted them to know that God knew their hearts and had these picked out packs for them at prices that I could afford. (I spent a total of $20 for four new or nearly new backpacks that were all very good brands!) God was showering my kids with his love as well! Please hear me well. I don’t believe that God always shows us his love with “things”, but we need to be aware of God’s love and looking for it in all areas of our lives. 

I am definitely not the writer that my husband is, but I really felt like God wanted me to tell y'all this story. (Yes, I only lived in the South a year but I really like this word.) I have learned that I need to look for the Immeasurably More  ways that God shows us his love.  Power to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. And to know this love that surpasses knowledge and filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 

Have you looked at the ocean recently? I mean really looked at it or really thought about it.  When I look at it sometimes I am overwhelmed by the vastness of it. Mostly because I’m freaking out when our 3 year old runs into it at breakneck speeds and throws herself without care into it as the tide rushes up to engulf her.  The same is true for God’s love we need to run at breakneck speeds straight into it and let it wash over us throwing ourselves straight into the arms and love of The God of the universe. 

Life in Costa Rica is going well. We are enjoying living here. We will be visiting family in March in California and hopefully Pennsylvania as well. We are learning Spanish slowly but surely. We are by no means fluent, but if people are patient and take it slow we can usually understand what they are saying. (Costa Ricans as a rule don’t speak slowly.)

The school year starts today here in Costa Rica and Aaron has been asked to help teach one day a week at the Christian School and is looking forward to that new part of the journey. Not much else has changed with our different activities and schedules here in Costa Rica.  We were encouraged last night to be doing ministry in our community and with our neighbors in a daily personal way, life on life.  We are all to be loving and showing God’s love to those around us in the individual opportunities that God provides. Be God’s missionaries to the lost as well as to our fellow Christians. 

Your Sister in Christ,

Faith