August 2016 Prayer Calendar

Hi there... here is our prayer calendar for August.  Please email us at mcbrideflock@yahoo.com if you would like a PDF version emailed to you.  Thanks and God bless.

Dawn: Thoughts of My Heart

Infertility… That word brings such pain and sorrow as well as a plethora of questions.  What’s wrong?  Why not?  What do I need to do?  Did I do something?  Can this.. will this.. change?  Will I …. some day?  My arms ache.  My heart aches for someone I have never met.  I long to hold this baby.  Where are you, little one? 

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life."

Proverbs 13:12

Hopelessness can settle in, if you allow it.  Not having this child that you long for can completely disrupt your life, if you allow it.  In the midst of the storm, this hurricane of the heart that threatens to strip away all joy and hope, there is an Anchor who is waiting for you to turn to Him.  God offers hope in the darkest nights.  He offers light in the ugliest of thoughts and fears.

He has promised to never leave you nor forsake 

(give up on) you (Deuteronomy 31:6).

When your eyes are fixed on what you desire, rather than on the One who desires you, dissatisfaction can overwhelm and crowd out any good and any gift that God has given you.  Remember Him.  Remember His heart towards you is good and not harmful, not mean, not a big bully in heaven tormenting you.  That is not God.  His heart towards you is peace, kindness, love, gentleness…

I have loved you with an everlasting love… (Jeremiah 31:3)

Don’t allow the storm clouds of doubt and anger steal away the light of His promises, His love, and hope.  There is nothing we can do to make Him love us more or even less.  His love is constant, not fickle, unlike the world in which we live.  He can be trusted.  Will you trust Him with this precious desire, this hunger that gnaws at your heart?  There is hope!

I have walked this road.  The sadness can take you down like quicksand, but I remember who He is.  When I can’t see what He is doing, I can trust His heart towards me.  There is no darkness in Him.  There is no sinister ulterior motive behind infertility.  The thoughts of: “maybe if I serve Him more, if I loved Him even more.. maybe He would give me a baby.”  Those are lies from the pit of hell.  It indicates that our heart is not settled on the fact that He is the giver of good gifts.  He has a divine plan and is very much into the details of our hearts and our lives.

I know this isn’t easy.  I have cried, wept over the dream eluding me.  I never imagined it would be like this.  I got married in 2009 and we decided to wait a few years before growing our family.  We set the mark of October 2011 to be our family kick off month.  Here we are years later and every month there is hope that it just might be the month we start a new journey as a family.  You are not alone in your feelings.  The challenge is not giving your feelings, your emotions more validity, more value than the truth of what God says about you and about Him.

I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Marvelous are Your works,

And that my soul knows very well.

Psalm 139:14

God is intimately acquainted with you.  He took the time to knit you together in your mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13 NIV).  Knitting takes effort and attention, especially when there is a delicate design in mind.  You were not haphazardly put together.  Every bit of who you are, the length of your fingers, the size of your nose, even your shoe size was designed by God.  He created you to be you, not someone else.  You are a one of a kind masterpiece.  Please know His precious heart towards you is good, not hardened, not angry, not vengeful.  He loves you.  He adores you.  He sings over you.

The LORD your God in your midst, 

The Mighty One, will save;

He will rejoice over you with gladness,

He will quiet you with His love,

He will rejoice over you with singing.

Zephaniah 3:17

You are His beloved and He has good things for you.  I know your wishes and unmet desires threaten and scream that He is anything but good.  The truth is He loves you, always has and always will.  He has beautiful plans for you; whether to become a mommy or not, the plans are still beautiful.

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, 

says the LORD,

thoughts of peace and not of evil, 

to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:11

When your unmet desires threaten to take you under, to drown out hope... look up, reach up to God.  He is right there and will come to your aid.  He is waiting for you with arms wide open.  

This song blesses my heart so much: Casting Crowns: Just Be Held

This song helps me keep things right: Lauren Daigle: First

I felt pressed to share this entry.  I know my Redeemer lives and has a plan.  I believe God wanted me to share this so that others in this boat would know they are not alone.  Please feel free to share this blog entry with women that are dealing with infertility.  It can be devastating and lonely.

July 2016 McBride Prayer Calendar

Please see our July prayer calendar.  If you would like us to email you one, please send us an email at mcbrideflock@yahoo.com

Obedience.. not a popular word

Obedience… not a popular word, but an important word.  Sometimes the Lord will ask me to do something that makes absolutely no sense to me.  “Are You sure, Lord?”  “Do You really want me to do that?”  A little while ago while out running errands with Andrew, I saw a woman with what looked to be her granddaughter.  She looked quite pained as she limped with this little girl.  I watched her pick her up and put her into a buggy or trolley as they are called here.  We moseyed on our way but before we left, I saw this woman again.  

Prompted, I went over to her and asked her if she was okay.  This woman, Denise, said that she pulled a muscle in her calf.  I said, “I know this is quite bold to ask you, but could I pray for you?”  She quickly agreed and we went to the Father in the middle of the shopping center.  This is not something that I would normally do, but I know if the Lord puts something on my heart like that, it is in the best interest of the other person that I heed and obey.  After our brief and poignant prayer, we parted ways and I saw her smile for the first time.  Please join me in continued prayer for Denise.  Pray with me for her healing in body and heart.  Pray that she knows how precious and loved she is by the Father.

Sunset from our apartment on the CCBI NZ campus.

The school break is quickly passing and we find winter to be quite wet and cloudy.  We love our little oil heaters as they do the job of keeping up with the chill quite well.  We are studying and preparing for the upcoming semester.  Andrew will be teaching the book of Mark and I will be helping with the ladies class where we will go through Proverbs.  Pray with us that God would say what He wants to convey through us and we would get out of the way. 

We are making more friends.  We had dinner with Naida and Ivan, a lovely couple who live in Hamilton.  I had met Naida (Nigh-da) at the Hamilton’s Women’s Retreat and a friendship has begun.  She has been such a blessing to me and we look forward to getting together again.  I will be going to the Hamilton Ladies Bible Study on the 29^th of July and will spend the night with Naida and get caught up.  I am grateful for the blessings the Lord gives us when we least expect it.

Ivan and Naida are a wonderful couple and are very hospitable.

Andrew stepped out and led worship at Shoreline Church by himself with the bass guitar and a microphone.  WOW!  It was a first for him to lead a congregation.  The need was there and Andrew volunteered to step up and take this step of faith.  His heart of worship was so evident and many commented on it.  If the Lord is asking you to take a step of faith, one that you are not sure because it seems so big, trust the Lord and step out.  The following week Andrew led worship again and was accompanied by Gordon on the electric guitar.  The second time Andrew was more at ease and sang songs that stayed with people.  I love watching God move, work, and grow people.  Andrew with Gordon will lead two more times on July.  Please be praying with us that their worship will usher people into God’s presence.

Andrew about to lead worship at Shoreline Church.
Brian giving the church welcome.

It seems that there is a theme of calling people out of their comfort zones, into a place of deeper trust.  Is the Lord asking you to do something that you are just not sure you can do?  It is probably something you really should do because God wants to show Himself mighty in your life.  “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord.” Zechariah 4:6b 

Be encouraged.  We serve a mighty God who is worthy to be praised.  He will never leave you nor forsake (give up on) you.

Much love to you,

Dawn and Andrew

Praise reports:

• The Lord has blessed us with a newer mattress.
• God has been faithful to show the things we need to learn.
• God has been sustaining us.

Prayer requests:

• Pray for wisdom on where we should live during the next semester.
• Pray for Andrew as he gets the outline of his class completed.
• Pray for Dawn to wrap her head around Proverbs and how God would have her assist with the class.
• Pray for the Stockill and Cooper families as they venture out to missions in Nepal.  Pray for them to have safe travels and acclimate quickly to their new surroundings.
• Pray for the students who are coming in late August.  Pray for their hearts to be ready to receive from the Lord all that He wants to give and show them.
• Pray for the potential students who are wavering on whether to attend CCBI NZ or not.
• Pray for the interns that are serving for the next year.  Pray that they will be prepared for the service opportunities that will be in abundance.  Pray for their hearts to be open and ready for God to move mightily.
• Pray for the future pastor of Shoreline as they navigate the visa process.  Pray for their family as God leads.

If the Lord leads you to support us, please click on this link to our support page with Shepherd's Staff.

The McBride's Support Page

Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.

Romans 12:10-13

June Prayer Calendar

Here is our prayer calendar for June 2016.  

If you would like a PDF version of it, please email us at mcbrideflock@gmail.com.
Thanks and God bless!

Thoughts Have Power

Thoughts have power.  Recently I prayed that God would help me to capture negative thoughts that threatened me.  I was becoming overwhelmed with the negative possibilities and not remembering Who held my life in His hands.  Much like the foxes that spoil the vine, I asked for help to capture those negative thoughts and silence them… to put them into a sound proof cage where they could no longer wage war on my mind.  I needed to squelch them with the truth of God’s Word, because nothing else truly silences them.  I can busy myself with music, reading, hanging out with people… but those crazy negative nillies will still nip at my heels. 

Getting into the truth of His Word is where I can be truly set free; believing what He says, since He is the King of kings and spoke the world into existence.  He has the ultimate power… not those negative thoughts that threaten me... threaten my joy and my peace.  Whom will I believe?  Will I believe the defeated foe or the Creator?  Again, going back to what the Word says, there is power to silence the enemy of my heart.

If my thoughts, if our thoughts, go unchecked, they can ruin a most blessed thing.  The Lord was specific in His Word about thoughts.  When thoughts come in and rise up against the truth, we need to bring “every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).  Here is another way to view thoughts… much like mice, we see one and it’s slightly alarming and we buy a trap.  If we leave the trap alone and don’t check it to see if we have caught that mouse, that little critter will quickly have a family and the multiplying will continue.  Those mice will cause an infestation which will take much more time and effort to take care of.  Be quick to take care of that negative thought so that your thoughts for the next ten minutes, afternoon, or day don’t become infested with other negative thoughts.

Our thoughts have power – positive and negative.  Watch out to not let your thoughts camp out on the negative.  As you think negative thoughts over and over, you are creating a worn path that can be difficult to get off of… a rut in the road.  There is power in the living Word of God.  Every day challenge yourself to read that living Word, the Bible.  Yet, don’t just read it.  Ask the Lord to show you something from what you just read and then ponder about it throughout the day.  It will amaze you how He will feed you.  Those negative thoughts will become smaller and smaller, and even fade away.

If you are battling negative thoughts, take a time out and reset your mind.  Take time in the Bible.  Take time talking to God.  He will help you overcome those negative nillies, but you have to take the action and seek the change.  He is right there to help you.  I know because He helped me.  He is so trustworthy!

Cheers.... Dawn

UPDATE OF HOW WE ARE DOING

We moved in with the pastoral assistant, Cami, while the school is on break.  This helps both sides with the cost of living.  She is a smart young woman and pleasant to hang out with. 

We bought a small car that we have named Betty.  She is a Mazda Verisa and looks to only be available in Japan.  She was imported as a previously owned vehicle and has got some great zoom to her.  We are getting more than 30 mpg in mixed conditions.  There is no way for cruise control to work here except for the toll way since there are so many turns, roundabouts, and such.  With that in mind, 30+ mpg is pretty great!

We are still acclimating to life here in New Zealand.  Dawn has been having fun learning the lingo and vocabulary.  If you are not on Facebook and would like her to send some of them your way, send her an email at mcbrideflock@gmail.com.  One such question was “What are sunnies?”

We are getting more and more into our roles for the next semester.  Andrew will be teaching about the Gospel of Mark as well as taking care of the AV and IT needs.  Dawn will continue to learn the pastoral assistant role with Cami.  There is much to take in and remember.  With school on break, we have had the opportunity to rest and get into a groove.

Dawn had the opportunity to go the Calvary Chapel Hamilton’s women’s retreat at Waihi Beach.  It was a great time of teaching and meeting new friends.  The theme of the weekend was the full armor of God.  From the write up above, you can see that Dawn got fired up again.  It was a great weekend and she is still review her notes.

Andrew attended the Calvary Chapel Hamilton men’s breakfast with the leadership team from CCBI.  There were roughly 30 men in attendance in a café just outside of Hamilton.  It was a great time of fellowship and getting to hear what is on the heart of Tom and Sam as they head with their families to Nepal.  They will be serving initially at a Bible college in Kathmandu. 

CCBI hosted their first youth conference - Ignite.  From the looks of it, CCBI will do it again with the hopes of it growing.  Two speakers were brought in from the States and a youth group for Calvary Chapel Wellington was in attendance.  Small but mighty, this youth conference was a great start of things to come.

Thank you for checking in and seeing how we are doing!  We love you and appreciate more than you know!  

May 2016 Prayer Calendar

Here is the May 2016 prayer calendar.  Please let us know if you want the PDF version @ mcbrideflock@yahoo.com.  We don't have easy access to wifi, so there might be a delay in getting it 

to you, but we WILL!  :)

Thanks and blessings,

Dawn and Andrew McBride