Wednesday, December 26, 2012

End of the Year...

So here we are at the end of the year...not the end of the world after all...  and as a family we have had so many changes.  Since January we have lived in 5 homes in 4 cities in 3 countries.  Our luggage is beat.  We, on the other hand, though possibly a little beat as well, are so much stronger for having started on this journey that beckoned us to walk closer and closer with the Lord. 

My heart and head have been worked on so much these last months.  I have been pushed to give when my desire was to keep, asked to remain silent when I felt the need to justify, asked to leap where it seemed there was no place to land.  This is true: life is so short.  We are so sure of what we have, our abilities to maintain ourselves and families, to find our security in predictable things, but I am sure that this is not what our Lord has called us to.  I do not believe he asks everyone to literally leave their homeland for him, but I firmly believe that he asks each of us to leave for him alone our hearts uncluttered.  I do not believe this is totally easy. 
“Child,' said the Lion, 'I am telling you your story, not hers. No one is told any story but their own.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Horse and His Boy 
For each of us, the story is different.  The path may lead elsewhere, but the goal is always the same - that we would love the Lord God with everything, love others as ourselves and in so doing that we would know the God who is the beginning and end of all things, in whom all things exist, the God of Abraham, the God who came to us in the form of a tiny newborn baby in a great expression of Love only to die for us in a greater expression of Love.  This is always the point of everything.

So, with the Williams family, this year we got to be a part of God's plan all the way down here in Paraguay.  It has been tremendous.  Time and time again God has provided, through each of you through your giving of love, encouragement, finances, prayers and friendship.  We have been blessed also to be givers of love, friendship, encouragement, prayer and even through our material things we have here.  We have seen people deepen in their understanding and love for the Lord, we see the seeds of change planted in the community here, and that God is working through the church here and all over.  It is always the Lord who saves and guides his church and we are priveleged to be the workers. 

Thanks to wonderful friends and family many of our needs upon coming home are being met.  We have a home to live in near our church and school and Cole will be working with his grandfather and cousin for their busy season at Williams Nursery.  Our final days here in Paraguay have been filled with the fruit of friendship with contacts, church members, neighbors and fellow missionaries.  In reality, the early missionaries like Paul and Barnabas traveled around and spent a few weeks or months in cities and then moved along but keeping in touch with those new believers to encourage them as they went through the growing pains we all have as we figure out who we are in Christ. We are definitely leaving loved ones here, but we are able to keep in touch and love from afar. 

As we finish out the year, we thank you all with grateful hearts for your support.  It still feels so crazy to be walking where we are, in complete dependence upon the Lord, trusting in the work he is doing in us as well as how he works in you.  Thank You.  Thank You. Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year.


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For year-end giving: www.extremenazarene.org/williams 
 
 
With Lots and Lots of Love and Cheer...
Grace and Peace to you.
 
The Williams Family
Cole, Kelly, Ted and Reese
 
 
 
 

 

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