More about a Powerful God

Hello!

I've been reading a great daily devotional called Voices of the Faithful: Inspiring Stories of Courage from Christians Serving Around the World. I didn't take it to Punta Cana so was trying to catch up by doing a couple of readings at once. It worked out that just as I was studying God's Power through Isaiah 40, I read two stories in a row about God's power in answering prayer. In the first story, two women in Africa stopped listening to a witch doctor and were blessed with pregnancies. In the second one, a missionary visiting a refugee camp in a remote area of Central Asia was asked to pray with a woman who was severely ill and blinded. The following day, two different organizations brought food and supplies. Two days later, the missionary returned to find the woman completely healed!

For more encouraging stories about God's work around the world, look up Voices of the Faithful. You won't be disappointed!

Marcie Cooper

Powerful God

Dear Friends,

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. 

Isaiah 40:28

We didn't quite go to the ends of the earth last week but drove six hours to the end of the island to spend a week with Paul's family in Punta Cana. It was beautiful!

After a couple days, it got really windy and I was reminded of God's power through the crashing waves.

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 Isaiah 40 talks about God's power but doesn't stop there. He GIVES his power to the weak. Many of us know verse 31:

But they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

We continue to pray for strength for Paul's sister, Lisa, who has not been well but was finally given the OK to travel to visit us. It was great to spend time with a wonderful family!

Marcie Cooper

Eternal God

Hello!

At the end of every month, we watch for adoption news of referrals from China. I just saw a rumour today that they have matched SIX days of files. This is the most that they have matched since October. We are counting down the days until it is our turn although it looks like it will still be over a year to wait.

This week, my Bible study group is looking at the Eternal character of God. We are so finite in our counting of days but God is eternal. Listen to what these verses say:

Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

(Psalm 90:1-2)

"I am the Alpha and Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." 

(Revelation 1:8)

What an encouragement! I'm out of internet time since we're on vacation for Semana Santa or "Holy Week." If you don't hear from me before then, have a Happy Easter!

Marcie Cooper

Creator God

Good morning!

How are you this morning? My four year old thinks there is a monster in his room and keeps coming to sleep with me in the night. I'm tired.

In the ladies' Bible Study that I've been leading, a lot of us have been tired and discouraged. We were looking for a short study to do in the next couple months and decided to focus on God's character. We need some encouragement and reminders of who God is who we are serving.

I began this morning looking at Colossians 1:15-23 and studying who God is as Creator. I decided to write out the whole passage. Do you ever do that? It helps me to slow down and really think about the words. 

Are you looking for a short Bible study to focus on who God is each day? Feel free to join us! All you need is a Bible and a journal. Here is this week's schedule:

GOD AS CREATOR: COLOSSIANS 1:15-23

Monday - Read the whole passage. Write it out if you like. Underline or write out things that jump out at you or that you'd like to study more.

Tuesday - Read the passage. Write down statements about who God is.

Wednesday - Read the passage and write out God's promises found in it.

Thursday - Read it again and note God's commands.

Friday - Read it one last time and write down a personal application.

Extra - Read Genesis 1.

Don't forget to pray as you study God's word. I love Psalm 119:18, "Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law."

No matter what you're studying, may your eyes be opened to wonderful things in the Word of God today!

Marcie Cooper

*Note: Today's outline has been adapted from a Quench Bible study on 1 Peter that I did in the fall: (quenchbible.com/bible-studies/kept/) It's a simple format but I highly recommend it!

Neighbours

Hello!

In the three and a half years that we have lived in our house here in the D.R., we have had a lot of different neighbours. The house next door has especially seemed to go through a lot of tenants. We enjoyed having single missionary girls in it for a while and have had some nice chats with the Seventh Day Adventists who recently moved into the lower level. For a while though, the upstairs apartment had a stream of residents whose behaviours were questionable. The last set of guys really made me nervous. I probably wouldn't even recognize them because of the wierd schedule they kept but I felt uncomfortable and started to pray that they would move. Within a couple of days they were gone and a "For Rent" sign was up.

Enter the Jehovah's Witnesses. I have to tell you that they are actually really nice people to have for neighbours. They are quiet, polite, and friendly. They don't cause trouble. They don't try to convert me because they know me and know that I won't accept their literature. They talk to me like a friend.  And I remember to pray for them.

One Jehovah's Witness told me they heard that there were a lot of people who spoke English in our town (although most are Christian missionaries) and decided to send English speakers and start an English service. I found out yesterday that two little girls from our school also have Jehovah's Witnesses for neighbours and have been going to church with them. When I told them they shouldn't one said, "I always wondered if they were real Christians. Any time I visit them they don't let me in."

Jesus said, "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me." (Mark 9:37 NIV)

Those two little girls walk a long way to come visit us. I have to admit that I don't always feel like I want to welcome them in. But they are ten years old and no one is really looking after them. One is an orphan who was living with an aunt who then left her with someone else while she went to Haiti. The other lives in one room (total, not just one bedroom) with her entire family of six but her Mom is not always around. If we do not reach out to children like these, the wrong people will.

Thank you to those of you who are praying for us. Please pray for our relationships with our neighbours and that they may truly come to know Christ as their Saviour. And pray for God's love and energy for the children He has placed in our path.

Thank you!

Marcie

Happy Independence Day!

Hello and Happy Independence Day from the Dominican Republic!

 Dominican children proudly sang and danced this morning at the park in the middle of town. A group of our students laid flowers in front of the statue of Juan Pablo Duarte, the hero who led the way in freeing Dominicans from Haitian rule 169 years ago on February 27, 1844.

We are enjoying a day off of school and even postponed homeschool. Unfortunately, it's just not a good day to run out of gas for the stove so our cookie dough will have to wait until tomorrow. Baking cookies was probably not a typical way to spend the holiday anyways. Time to go outside and enjoy the sun!

Enjoy your day!

Marcie Cooper

Simple Sunday School

Hello!

Our little church has a big heart for kids. There is a van that picks them up for for church and AWANA and there are teachers that want them to learn about the Lord. The older kids have Bible lessons every Sunday and I am excited that now the little ones do too.

Several months ago, I started helping out with the nursery which actually went up to age four. There was a schedule but no one ever followed it because workers weren't consistent. I was hardly even in there on my actual turn because I had been in there the previous week when the helper did not show up. So I came up with a new plan. I made a list of names of people willing to help and a blank schedule for each Sunday. Then I wrote in the names of people who ACTUALLY helped each Sunday so I could keep track and not ask the same person two weeks in a row. It seems to be working although attendance is down and workers are not always present (or are helping with the older kids.) While I love teaching little ones, I sometimes find it tiring after being with my own all the time. Please pray for growth and consistent attendance among our workers. And kids! Most weeks there are five or six kids but sometimes there can be ten or twelve. Most of them are three or four years old and I found that most "teachers" were just letting them play the whole time. I felt like they needed more.

I love The Beginner's Bible and have been reading it daily with one of my children or another since our daughter was a toddler. I found it in Spanish (La Biblia Para Principiantes) and began reading a story to the children each Sunday. It was easy to find colouring pages to go with the stories (e.g., thebeginnersbible.com or calvarycurriculum.com) and all I had to do was pass it off to whoever was teaching that week. That has become my simple Sunday School.

Please pray that the children would learn to love the Bible and that their parents would also come to church and learn about Jesus.

Thank you!

Marcie Cooper