Blog Archives
August 2012 Prayer Letter
Dear Praying Friends,
Deputation & Family Update
It has been quite a busy couple months since our last paper prayer letter! God has blessed in incredible ways and we’ve seen our support climb to 43% as of the first of August. We praise the Lord and trust him for the rest to come in soon so we can get to Colombia. Thank you so much for your faithful prayers and financial gifts. We couldn’t serve the way we do without you holding the ropes for us.
Our newest daughter, Anabel, was diagnosed with a Strawberry Hemangioma (a type of infant tumor) on her hand and eye brow. The one above her eye was growing and forcing her eye to close, so at the end of August we spent a couple of nights in the children’s hospital in Atlanta to start treatment. It has improved and they are hoping for a full recovery after a year of medication! I have posted more details and pictures on our website: http://www.bemagnified.org.
From The Mouth Of Babes
Recently while at a church in Madison, GA, we met with the pastor before the service. Our 2 ½ year old Amira heard a crinkle sound when he put his hands in his pocket. Without missing a beat she asked him, “You have candy for meeee?” He then took her to a basket full of sweets and made a new friend. 🙂
Colombian Culture Corner
In Colombia, using your two fingers to indicate length of something is an obscene gesture. Instead, extend your right arm and use your left hand to mark off distance.
My wife is from northern Ohio and she experienced a bit of southern culture shock while in our Georgia home the other day… a live scorpion by the baby bed! Yikes! (We’re just getting prepped up for Colombia, of course.)
An Event To Consider
HELL’S GATES is an outdoor end-times drama put on by our home church during October. Last year was a huge success. Over 400 people made salvation decisions and many others were challenged. If you live anywhere near Georgia, bring your church group or lost friends! For more info, and group or individual tickets, visit http://www.hellsgates.com or call 1-888-295-0099.
Prayer Points
1. Travels while on deputation
2. Salvation of lost friends/family
3. Financial support (now over 43%)
4. 46 million Colombians still need the Gospel!
We have just printed new, updated prayer cards. Please let me know if you would like any of these sent to you.
Serving The King of Kings,
Aaron, Aubrie, Amira & Anabel Vance
Click to see or print the entire letter (with pictures).
Christ In Every Book!!
I was doing some studying today for a message and came across this amazing quote tucked away in a reference book on my shelf. This brought a tear to my eye and an awe in my outlook of who our great Savior is! Enjoy…
Christ In Every Book
“Christ is the theme of the entire Revelation of God. He is promised in Genesis, revealed in the Law, prefigured in its history, praised in poetry, proclaimed in its prophecy, provided in its Gospels, proved in its Acts, preeminent in its Epistles and prevailing in Revelation.
He is seen in every book of the Bible. Take a journey through the Halls of Holy Writ and in every one of them you will see Christ.
GENESIS He is the Seed of the woman;
EXODUS the Lamb for sinners slain;
LEVITICUS, our High Priest;
NUMBERS the Star of Jacob and the Brazen Serpent;
DEUTERONOMY the Prophet like unto Moses and the Great Rock;
JOSHUA the Captain of the Lord’s Hosts;
JUDGES the Messenger of Jehovah;
RUTH our Kinsman-Redeemer and the Faithful Bridegroom;
1 SAMUEL He is seen as the Great Judge;
2 SAMUEL as the Princely King;
I KINGS David’s Choice;
2 KINGS as the Holiest of All;
1 CHRONICLES as King by birth;
2 CHRONICLES as King by Judgment;
EZRA He is seen as Lord of heaven and earth;
NEHEMIAH as the builder;
ESTHER our Mordecai;
JOB our Daysman and our Risen, returning Redeemer;
PSALMS the Son of God and the Good Shepherd;
PROVERBS our Wisdom;
ECCLESIASTIES the One above the sun;
SONG OF SOLOMON the great Church lover, the one Altogether Lovely and Chiefest among ten thousand;
ISAIAH He is the suffering and glorified Servant;
JEREMIAH the Lord our Righteousness;
LAMENTATIONS the Man of Sorrows;
EZEKIEL the glorious God;
DANIEL the Smiting Stone and the Messiah;
HOSEA reveals Him as the risen Son of God;
JOEL the outpourer of the Spirit;
AMOS the Eternal Christ;
OBADIAH, the Forgiving Christ;
JONAH as the Risen Prophet;
MICAH the Bethlehemite;
NAHUM He is the Bringer of Good Tidings;
HABAKKUK the Lord in His Holy Temple;
ZEPHANIAH the Merciful Christ;
HAGGAI, the Desire of all nations;
ZECHARIAH, the Branch;
and MALACHI, the Sun of Righteousness with healing in His wings.
MATTHEW shows Him as King of the Jews;
MARK the Servant;
LUKE the Perfect Son of Man;
JOHN the Son of God;
ACTS the Ascended Lord;
ROMANS the Lord our Righteousness;
I CORINTHIANS our Resurrection;
2 CORINTHIANS our Comforter;
GALATIANS the end of the Law;
EPHESIANS the head of the Church;
PHILIPPIANS the Supplier of every need;
COLOSSIANS the Fullness of the Godhead;
I THESSALONIANS He comes for His Church;
2 THESSALONIANS He comes with His Church;
I TIMOTHY He is the Mediator;
2 TIMOTHY the Bestower of Crowns;
TITUS Our Great God and Savior;
PHILEMON the Payer of our Debt;
HEBREWS the rest of the Faith and the Fulfiller of Types;
JAMES, the Lord drawing nigh;
1 PETER the Vicarious Sufferer;
2 PETER the Lord of Glory;
I JOHN the Way;
2 JOHN the Truth;
3 JOHN the Life;
JUDE, He is Our Security;
REVELATION
• the Lion of the Tribe of Judah,
• the Lamb of God,
• the Bright and Morning Star,
• the King of kings and Lord of lords.”
(Robert J. Wells, Prophetic Messages
for Modern Times; Dallas; Texas Printing House, Inc., 1944; pp. 205, 206)
Love God – A Guest Post By Aubrie
What Is Our Purpose?
Now I’m not eloquent, nor do I say or write correctly, but I need to decrease and Christ needs to increase in my life, so I’m writing…
The Christian life can be boggled with all of the ‘To do’s’ of life. If I want to be a ‘good person’ or ‘good Christian’ I will try to be nice to others, go to church here and there, try not to curse that much, try to quite smoking, try to do good things.
Did you know life is not about that? It’s not really about ‘us’ at all. Though we are to live rightly –
“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 5: 16
This is not the 1st commandment. The 1st is found here:
“Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.” Matthew 22:36-38
God wants us to love Him, just like we want others to love us. Well maybe not exactly like we want others to love us because our minds are not holy like His. You can imagine though how you want to be loved. I can speak for myself when I say that I want my husband to love me.
- I want to be noticed.
- I want attention.
- I want to feel his warmth.
- I want to laugh with him.
- I want to see him and him to see me.
- I want his companionship.
- I want him to speak to me and I want him to hear me.
- I want his intimacy.
- I long for him when he is not around.
- I try to think of ways to show him my love.
- I try to cook things that are edible for him.
- I tell others about his greatness.
- I only want to build him up.
Though I am not perfect at doing all these things, I desire to love my husband in every good way. Imagine a relationship where you are able to love God in these ways.
Wake up in the morning and notice God!
Tell Him good morning. He’s real. It’s not goofy, it’s nice. Thank Him for being with you, for your blessings (bed, friends, kids, pets, breath, life, family, freedom, love, money, no money lol), thank Him for your safety, and the safety of your loved ones.
Give him your first attention!
Read His Word before Facebook, email, and breakfast. Talk to Him. Ask Him to help you see what He wants you to see and learn. It doesn’t have to be long, but its interesting and meaningful.
Feel His warmth and let Him feel yours!
If you have never ‘felt’ God, I would dare to think you might not be saved. If God is living in you and you never feel Him, he must be further from you than you realize. Find a quite spot and ask God to be with you, beg Him to touch you, to hold you, feel Him. I’ve got two parrots eating through the shoulders of my shirt right now, there is noise knocking against the wall of children playing, the mail man just threw a package against my door, and I’m still able to ‘feel God’. lol. Sometimes the place doesn’t have to be perfectly quiet as long as you’re able to recognize and focus. Those two words, recognize and focus, might not be the best words to use. Maybe I can describe how He feels.
Its like this wonderful urge to cry. You are so thankful that God would ever want to spend time with you. You usually get goosebumps right away, inexplicably. You feel comforted, the most you can ever feel. You don’t always have to beg Him for you to feel Him. Just pay attention because He is always with you. Times I feel Him the most are when I am overwhelmed with something, a loss, a fear, an incapacity of mine. He’s our strength in our weakness
“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9
Now, I could go through the rest of the ways I like to be loved and turn it around on loving God, but maybe its time for you to make a list and try to think of ways to love God in your life. This is not exactly a challenge but more of a blessing, an opportunity to grow closer to our mighty creator.
-Aubrie
Leaving Our Comfort Zone
I turned it in today.
My notice.
Many saw it coming, but it took quite a few by surprise to see it so soon.
For the past two years, in addition to pastoring the Spanish Church at Lighthouse Baptist, I’ve had the privilege of working at Children’s Medical Services as a Bilingual Program Associate. I’ve enjoyed helping families that have kids with varying disabilities and special healthcare conditions. I’ve been able to assist them with case management, interpretation with doctors, and intermediation with nurses, hospitals, specialists, pharmacies and so much more. Since this is a government job I have had the luxury of being able to pastor the Spanish church at the same time without worrying about conflicts on nights and weekends.
Unfortunately, the Monday-Friday, 7 am to 5 pm schedule doesn’t work as well with scheduling deputation meetings.
So, I put in my notice today.
We don’t have much support at all right now, but we do have a big God. There’s nothing too big for Him. It’s time to get out of our comfort zone and step out by faith.
Pray that we can fill up our calendar with meetings. Fast. 🙂
The Ball Is Rolling–Fast!
It’s official….
Well, almost.
The application has been sent and we have an interview with Macedonia World Baptist Missions tomorrow morning. Lord willing we will start raising support in 1 month. wow….
It is incredible to see how God has worked in His timing and opened so many doors for us. We are very excited to be going to Colombia, South America to plant churches, win the lost and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are about to start filling up our deputation schedule. If you would like us to present our work in your church please let me know. Send me a message, or give me a call at: 770-519-1689.
The Vance Family 