Upside Down!

So it has now been 5 months since we moved to Miami to start an outreach to the homeless and a church for people who don't like church and are very far from God. There have been ups and there have been downs. There has not been more of one than the other. God has proved his faithfulness through it all. We have learned so much, lost so much and worked so hard.

There have been many people over the last week or two, calling, e-mailing, writing, just to let us know that they are praying for us and that they support what we are doing. I don't think I could have made it through these last few weeks without the prayer, love and support of so many. It has really made a difference!

One thing that I have learned in the last 2 weeks is that the way I think things should happen are not at all the way they normally do. We live in a world that is upside down in so many ways. We meet so many people who are upside down in their finances, upside down with their houses, upside down in their relationships. Upside down is a term that many people use to describe what is going on in their lives.

A friend of mine posted a verse on her facebook wall this week. It is out of James 1:12
¹² Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

With everything we have gone through these last few weeks, with all the hurting, broken, lonely, sick, addicted people we meet daily, I have come to understand one thing, Everything on this earth looks upside down, but Jesus came to show us a different picture.

Jesus says we may be tried, we may be stolen from, we may be taken advantage of, we may be slandered, we may be accused, we may be persecuted, we may be taken to the brink, but, if we perservere, we will receive the crown of life.

The way we think things should be, the way we want victory, may never come, but if we believe in the one who came to free us from ourselves and our old life and give us life new again, we have a promise that no one can take away.

Please pray that as we walk through these earthly trials that we can hold onto the hope of the promises that God has made to us so that we can spread the message of hope that a new economy is coming. One that takes us from upside down to right side up!