Don't worry... Be happy...

Don't worry...  Be happy...


Easier said than done Bob Marley- maybe because you had weed to take you away from reality

I have been worrying a lot lately. To be honest, there are a lot of things to be worried or afraid of. The most difficult is my dear friend being sick. In fact, I have never seen anyone as sick as her. I visit her everyday and spend time with her. The first time visited her, I was convinced she would get healed. Stage 4 cancer, who cares, nothing is impossible for God.  I have seen blind eyes get sight, fevers leave, deaf ears hear, and many other things. But it is hard sometimes. It is hard to live by faith and not by sight, especially when what you see is so heartbreaking and impossible. It is hard to pray when you don't see any results. It is hard to encourage someone to keep hoping when you don't see hope. It's hard to believe in healing, when you don't see it. It is hard to not worry when there is so much to worry about.
But God never said dont worry be happy.
He said don't worry but pray.
"Do not worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus' (Philippians 4:5-6).

It's easier said then done, but I am trying. Everyday, someone presents me with a problem: No money, abusive husband, sick child, or no food.
Sometimes I cry, sometimes I read a verse, sometimes I worry, and more times than not, I pray. Instead of worrying I just tell God. He is bigger and more powerful than me anyways. Stop trying to control everything and just trust God. It's simple but difficult: Just pray.

Listen to the song "There can be miracles"
by Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey.

We will pursue?

I stopped writing not too long ago for several reasons.  I didn't have a writing project to work on, I lacked consistent inspiration, a lot of the things I was thinking were just too vulnerable, I'm just too much of a perfectionist and lacked enough time, and a number of other worthless excuses.  At the end of the day, I gave into excuses and let my voice fall silent.

This morning I woke up to something many of you saw on last night's news broadcast and I couldn't imagine the heartbreak so many are going through in Connecticut.  That was until I opened Facebook and scrolled through my newsfeed to see "good" people answering hate with hate and I thought, "This is exactly what Satan wants."  My heart broke.  And shockingly, it had nothing to do with the death innocent children.  Let me explain...

Satan doesn't just come to kill, he comes to destroy.  The one thing he wants to destroy more than anything is the testimony and voice of the children of God.  When we call for the death or endless eternal torture of Ryan Lanza, James Eagan Holmes, Dylan Klebold, Seung Hui Cho, or any of the other gunman over the last couple of decades, we encourage the destruction of our own testimony.  We can call it justice all we want, but God already told us to leave that to Him, so do we really think we're better at that than He is?  So the world sees us as objects of wrath and hate.  Just like them.

I was thinking this morning about how we respond to tragedy.  The truth is, is that many of those families will either run to the church to make sense of this atrocity or run from it because a good God would never allow something like this to happen.  For the first group of families, it's not enough to offer condolences to help them through, even the most evil people on the planet can offer a shoulder to cry on.  We have to protect them from bitterness, rage, and revenge and lead them to forgiveness, peace, and true joy.  For the second group, we need to pursue them and not allow them to justify their hatred for Ryan Lanza and God.  Bitterness and hatred are seeds planted that need to be ripped out of the soil of our hearts immediately before the roots dig in.  Even though this goes against common sense, now, hours removed from the shooting, is the easiest time to rid the families affected of their bitter hearts and desire for revenge.  

In the next few days, these families will weep, yell, break things, overeat, not eat, not get out of bed, or mourn in various ways, but despite the emotions of the moment, now is our time to act.  Now, we need to point people to Jesus, not just invite them to church.  We need to help them focus on God's love, not Ryan Lanza's hate... or even their own.  We can't justify their evil thoughts because of the tragedy, we have to help them renew their mind and focus on life rather than death.

Sure, this is easy for me to say right now because I'm thousands of miles away and don't know anyone for Connecticut.  But unfortunately, I know that because of the world we live in, tragedy will strike me as well.  I can't convince myself I'm immune to any of this or any of these thoughts, but I pray daily that should tragedy strike me, I would have people around me to point me to what's important and remind me of these very words.  No one should ever face tragedy alone, but because of how we're raised, we're told that a strong person gets them self through these situations, rather than honestly facing the situation and letting someone come alongside them.  The flip side is that we let people get through it themselves rather than pursue them with genuine love.

Pursuit is a funny word.  Did you know you can't pursue something sitting down?  Or that you can't say you pursued something that fell in your lap?  You also can't pursue something by thinking about it without giving it your time or energy.  I read one time (I'm 90% sure it's true and 10% sure I didn't just make up the last stat) that a tiger has a pursuit trigger in its brain that when it's set off, the tiger will die of exhaustion before it gives up.  With that in mind, can I really say I'm pursuing the encouragement of these families, or pursuing God, or really pursuing anything other than apathy and laziness?  

If it were easy to help people through tragedy or pain, antidepressants, suicides, and mass shootings would affect our daily lives about as much as Bigfoot or aliens.  Sadly for us, that's not the case.  It's not about people with the gift for encouragement writing letters or making phone calls.  It's about all of us actually caring enough for people to pursue them despite our personalities or selfish desires.  We must think of others more highly than ourselves, and whether or not we do that decides whether or not we actually are a united country.  Or even beyond that, a united Body... 

So is this just a few words on a screen or a call to action?  I guess you decide that one...

The more the merrier...

So, we have had a couple more people to watch out for lately.

We are hosting 18 World Racers who have come to serve the Lord here.
We also have three lovely South Africans living with us now:

Janno and G (the men)

And Shanice

The more the merrier!!! It is awesome to open up opportunities for them and to serve with them. Everything from house visits to digging to sports ministry to cement work to cooking to college ministry. It has been a blast, but busy.

Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate?  Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. -Philippians 2:1-4

We want to encourage each one of YOU look outside of yourselves so you can help others!!!

William and I are being tested if we can LOVE beyond ourselves and serve and help others even when it is inconvenient to us. It is hard to consider others above myself but I am learning. Being humble is easier SAID than DONE.

Please pray as we are adjusting to living with more people and continuing to do the work here. 

Two months and Counting...

So much has happened in two months that it's kind of difficult to look back and think on all that has happened...

                - We've moved three times and finally settled on our long term home
                - We've launched a campus ministry at the local college that is aiming at uniting all of the  
                        campus ministries and gatherings for a united fellowship
                - We've had 12 college students dropped in our laps that just want to follow our lead
                - We've started a ministry to the local "Entertainment" or "Street" workers about their identity
                - We've celebrated birthdays and our first anniversary
                - We've met so many people that were strangers before, and now a huge part of our life
                - We've hosted sleepovers and late night events
                - We've just been living day to day life and learning what it means to be Filipino

In the midst of everything happening and all the changes and new faces, we're are seeing God's steady work in our life and He is actually the one providing all of these opportunities.  For example, Tara was sharing her heart with me on how she really wanted to find a way to reach out to the women in the darkest corners of the city and share with them how God can look through the darkness and see their beauty as His daughters.  A few days later, a pastor approached me about hosting a monthly meeting for the "Entertainment" workers (I still hate... despise... loathe... how about mega-loathe... that term), and giving them a positive message or counseling.  Because of my maleness, I had to turn down that offer, but luckily for the pastor, God had already prepared the perfect person for the job.

As we continue to share our lives with the people around us, it's fun to see how discipleship and the love that comes out of it can be so contagious.  We could have listed another dozen plus events that we've taken part in, but all we really did was show up and pray.  The people around us are realizing how simple it is to share an encouraging word with a stranger, or gather a group of people to play basketball and share water and stories no matter who won, or just wondering around and praying with anyone that is sick or discouraged.  Because we're all realizing that we tend to make this life more difficult than it needs to be sometimes by thinking too much.  We're more worried that people will think less of us or ridicule us, rather than think that they could be really encouraged, or our simple words or acts could change their lives.  We tend to be discouraged by what could go wrong rather than by fueled by what could go right.

One of my favorite questions to answer is when the people here ask me what seminary I went to.  This is a fairly traditional culture, so all pastors or missionaries get professional Biblical education.  When they find out this proud graduate of the public education system only spent a couple of months in "Official" Bible training my senior year of high school, it takes them off guard.  It's almost as shocking as Lebron picking my middle school basketball team to play with him or some religious rabbi calling fishermen or tax collectors or prostitutes to follow him...

We put too much stock in who we are or who we should be that we neglect and forget who we're serving.  If I was on Lebron's team, my focus wouldn't be on my mad HORSE skills, but it would be on getting him the ball anyway I could.  When we realize who we're teamed up with it takes all the spotlight and pressure off us and allows us to just be and enjoy.  I come in the power and the name of Jesus, so who cares who am I or what I've done in the past?  He chose me.  I'm on his team.  We've already won, so I can just enjoy.  It's kind of like we're up by 30 points with time winding down and the coach just told me to get off the bench and go try to score.  If I don't, oh well.  But if I do, everyone will cheer.

I'm not an "End Times" guy, but I cannot deny we're probably close.  But rather than look at it with doom and gloom, I like to look at it like the clock is winding down and the game is already wrapped up so there's nothing I can do to win or lose the game, so I'm going to take every shot I can get because I want everyone to know whose team I'm on.

To the bungalow...

So, we are officially living in malaybalay, mindanao. It has been an interesting couple of weeks. Visiting people, helping with children’s programs, visiting the dump, helping with a birthing clinic, figuring out how to be married and live in a  foreign country, visting the children’’s home and helping prepare to move into our bamboo bungalow. This week we are moving to the area where the children’s home and camp are. It is a beautiful location and we are excited !

Pray for us as we: 

move into our temporary house, disciple and train locals, partner with many great ministries, figure out how to help the many impoverished people here,+ just love each other and everyone around us in a deeper way.

Thanks again for all your love and support. We will have a video coming soon!!!!

Born in the USA

After spending most of our marriage so far in Africa and Philippines, we are back in the USA for a short time. God did amazing things over there and we want to tell about those great things. High school summer camps went well, a children's home was built, many people were fed physically and spiritually, and much more.  We are excited for this time, here in the USA, to spend with our friends and family before we make the long-term move to the PHILIPPINES!!!

If you want to spend time with us before we leave for the Philippines on August 19, please contact us on this blog, facebook or  w.miller33@gmail.com
We will try to make it happen.

"May God our Father himself and our Master Jesus clear the road to you! And may the Master pour on the love so it fills your lives and splashes over on everyone around you, just as it does from us to you. May you be infused with strength and purity, filled with confidence in the presence of God our Father when our Master Jesus arrives with all his followers." 1 Thess 3:11-13
We love you all and are so thankful for your support!!
Have a great summer and enjoy the Olympics! GO USA!

Building in Beira

Building in Beira

Our time in Beira, Mozambique was beautiful. Not only was the building of the first home completed, but we did some other important building. We built a leadership team, we helped strengthen and disciple the boys, and we built strong friendships and a beautiful family. God established a strong foundation in Mozambique.

 Honestly, my heart still hurts from leaving. I have cried my tears it was really hard to leave. I just love these people so much. We were a family who worked hard, prayed with others, laughed a lot, and studied the word of God together. I want our future family to be like that. I didn't know I could actually feel God's love for others, especially for the orphans and widows. I burst out in tears just thinking about how much I love them, and then I realize, that is how much God loves them. It is powerful.

Next time you read the Bible, try to look up all the verses about God's heart for the poor, orphaned or widowed.
"He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the alien by giving him food and clothing." Deuteronomy 10:18 and "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." James 1:27
  He loves them deeply and We should too.


So now, we head to help out in Swaziland and South Africa for a little over a week. Then we will return to America by the grace of God. Thank you so much for being a part of this journey. It gets better each day!!!