Ah home… where the heart is… Well sorta. It’s good to be back in Washington! It’s wonderful to see my family, all my little sisters, parents, and cousins and aunts and uncles and dear friends. It’s been about eight months since I’ve seen most of these people. God has blessed me with some short term work doing different things for my aunts and uncle as they remodel. I’m a home improvement worker for now I guess!

A strange feeling has settled on my heart. This is so bittersweet. It’s like I’m reunited with part of my life, and I haven’t even been away, but at the same time I feel like I’ve left part of myself, or part of my family in Texas/New Mexico. I miss Isaac (though we talk everyday) and the rest of the family. Those Godwin’s! I tell ya, watch your heart around them they might just scoop you up and make your heart part of theirs. God has really used them to show me how kind, compassionate and involved He is in our lives. I pray He blesses them a hundred fold for every bit of love they’ve poured out on me.

Besides that I guess I just wanted to give a reminder and a bit of encouragement that Christ put on my heart today. My dear friend Kyle came to visit last week, he’s one friend I haven’t seen since before I left last September. He went on a Youth With A Mission school just like Isaac and I did, except he went to Thailand. So we recounted our adventures and told each other all the cool stories about our time with YWAM. It was a good time, but our conversation kept being drawn back to this certain point – How blind and closed down our western world is to the spiritual battles around us. It’s clear to see in Fiji, India, and Thailand how real the warfare is when you hit walls of difficulty in sharing the Message. Your team gets sick. You might get pursued by the authorities for doing something illegal. Or maybe you just feel overwhelmingly afraid and unprepared to do what you came to do (not because you actually are, but because Satan loves to lie and discourage us.)

As Paul says in Ephesians 6:11-12 (NLT)
“Put on all of Gods armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all the strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.”

Whoa…This is serious! He’s not giving us a little caution warning that there could be trouble ahead for us. He’s saying there is full on warfare to defend ourselves from! Sometimes we forget this fact and struggle. But this stuff is very real. Maybe we’re not experiencing it like we would be in a third world country, but we do encounter it in our lives. I’m sure our enemy attacks us in many different ways, but lately I’ve been experiencing it in the form of discouragement through believing lies. That’s his way I think… he tells us something that seems true and we think on it, therefore letting it effect our emotions and ultimately our actions. Thankfully we’re not alone in this battle, not only do we have Gods armor to protect us we have many other soldiers that fight with us.

Ironically my family is watching one of the, “Lord of the Rings” movies and one of the Hobbits (Pippin I think it was) just said, “We have to go after them! We can’t leave our friends to fight this war on their own!” And I think that’s a fitting way to end my very long writing. We have to be lifting one another up in prayer, and encouraging each other to stand firm. You’ve all done a wonderful job of that! And I am so thankful!

“Pray in the Spirit at all times, and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.” (Eph 6:18)

God bless!
~Kristi~