Our Prayer Letter From February...

February 1, 2012

"QUICK! GRAB THE B-B-Q SAUCE!" I said to Caleb who had accidentally let it slip from his hands. Unfortunately it had landed on the floor vent with the cap off and b-b-q sauce was quickly spilling from the opened container.

The vent on the floor is perfectly situated for keeping us cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Many times little feet can be found standing on it to warm up during the cold, winter months.  It does however, have a major drawback. Being so close to the kitchen table the vent also collects a lot of crumbs. Tiny pieces of scraps that fall during a meal, or that are inadvertently swept in the wrong direction by a careless child are quickly gathered into its depths.

After Caleb grabbed the bottle off the vent I took off the cover to wash it. What I found underneath the vent cover was disgusting! Crumbs, dust, debris had been slowly building up over time unnoticed. (Yes, it has been cleaned out several times before!) But then I began to wonder...how much of my life is like that vent?

Daily I go about my tasks letting little things slip in unnoticed...an angry thought, a disappointment, a frustration with a situation. Rather than taking it to the Lord, the crumbs fall into the hidden places of my heart and are forgotten.

Over time, my life may appear fine on the outside, but the inside is another story. The crumbs don't just sit there innocently. They cause the diseases of the heart to grow, to multiply. And those little crumbs don't just stay put. They come out in other ways...a harsh word, a lack of peace, discontentment, a critical spirit.

Just like the vent cover needed to be removed and the insides vacuumed out, so my heart also needs to be cleansed through confession of my sin and the work of the Holy Spirit.

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."  Psalm 139:23-24

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from any unrighteousness."  1 John 1:9

How thankful I am for God's forgiveness and grace. Now, if I'd only remember to have Him check the "vent cover" of my heart a little more frequently!

Weekend to Remember This Spring you can attend any Weekend to Remember Event for 50% off the registration cost by using the group code "TheCliftons". Feel free to give this code to anyone else to save on their registration as well!

Prayer and Praise                                                                                                          

*We are so thankful for the way God used you to help raise up support in our staff account during the month of December!   We still need more partners to join our team and raise $1500 in monthly support, but for now we are over the scary part!

*In August Courtney will be joining the JesusFilm Project for a mission trip to Burundi Africa.  She will be part of a team going to remote villages and showing the JesusFilm.  We are so excited for this opportunity for her to take part in sharing the gospel to groups of people that have never heard!  Pray for all the details of her journey.  She needs to raise $4000 for her journey.  (If you are interested in helping support Courtney on this mission trip you can find out more on Laura's blog www.asnapshotofmotherhood.blogspot.com, or you can make out a check to Campus Crusade for Christ and write Jesus Film mission trip on the memo line and send it to our address.)

*Josiah, our 11 year old, believes that God is calling him to be a missionary.  When he heard about the mission trip to Guatemala from our church he jumped at the chance to go.  The trip is June 12-21 and has a medical focus, but Josiah will be working with the children.  He has such a heart for people to know the Lord we are excited for his desire to go.  Laura will go with him on this journey.  Would you pray for God to raise up the money for this trip?  They each need about $1800 for this trip.    (If you want to support this mission trip, make the check out to First Presbyterian Church and send it to our home address.)

*Spring is the beginning of the next Weekend to Remember Event season.  Pray for hearts and lives to be transformed as people hear and apply the truth of God's Word to their lives and families.

Prayer and a New Commitment

One thing I have posted about recently on A Snap Shot of Motherhood is prayer.  It is one thing that is so important, and yet to me, it is one of my biggest struggles...especially praying intentionally for my children.

I have resolved this year to be intentional, to let God do His work in the lives of my children, rather than thinking a little better parenting will do the trick.  A great book that I am using to consistently pray for my children is While They are Sleeping  I have two blog posts about this book and the way I am using it this year.  Will you join with me in praying faithfully this year? 

Check out the posts A Confession and Kindness and leave a comment if you'd like to commit to prayer this year too! 

Guatemala Here We Come!

I've found myself praying more today. Perhaps it is because Tom and Courtney are on a mission trip and I have no contact with them. My prayers for them have not been out of fear, but out of a desire for God to use this trip to impact their lives for His glory. I haven't been pleading, "Oh God, keep them safe" but my prayers have been more like, "Lord, use this trip to give Courtney and Tom a passion for you. May Courtney and Tom be completely sold out for you!"

Is it just because they are out reach that my focus has been different, or is it the fact that going on a trip like this will require them to rely more on God and less on themselves?

I had wanted to go on this trip, but due to some health issues it wasn't to be...but that doesn't mean that God isn't working on me. He has caused me to look at prayer in a new way. He is challenging me to pray purposefully (and more than once a day).

While Whitney was watching a children's video on Daniel it mentioned, "Daniel faced toward Jerusalem and prayed three times a day." It made me wonder...how passionate am I about prayer and trusting God in all circumstances? How would my life be different if I diligently set aside time each day (and more than once a day) to pray to God? Maybe a little more love for God would shine through in my life too.

Here are a couple of pictures from Sunday when the Guatemala team was being commissioned at church...

Prayer Requests:

• Pray as they minister to the people in Guatemala. This trip was supposed to be a ministry to the children at Palencia School and also a medical mission/vbs to 3 locations in Guatemala. However, because of the volcano eruption and the tropical storm the team wasn't sure where they would actually be able to go. Many lives have been lost due to the eruption and the storms. (Did you see the big sinkhole in Guatemala City?
• Pray for wisdom and guidance as they decide where they can go
• Pray for the team to have wisdom as to which families should receive the 206 water filters
• Pray for people to respond to the gospel
• Pray for the hearts of those on this team...to be forever impacted by God while they are on this trip
• Pray for Courtney to have supernatural ability to be able to understand and communicate in Spanish (she has ha d 3 years of Spanish in High School and is the one on the team with the most knowledge of the language).