A new School year

Monday, August 9th, 2010
"Are we living at such a level of human dependence upon Jesus Christ that His life is being exhibited moment by moment in us?" -Oswald Chambers


A new school year is starting and my great desire is that my staff would see a clearer picture of what it means to follow Jesus this year through my life. If we are truly walking with God then the "supernatural" should be occurring in and around us. Lord, I want my life verse to resonate in my mind and heart through out my day, "He must increase and I must decrease." John 3:30.

Lord, today I pray that Your will would be done concerning a second 1st grade class...

Jamie

a daughter of the King is a princess

today hannah and sherry drake hosted a bridal shower for jamie. there aren't words to describe how wonderful it was. so many women young and old were there from the body of Christ at kinoole. there was so much love in that house. Jesus was there in all the care and preparation that had been done and the selfless giving, it was a beautiful thing to see. there were so many wonderful moments. i'm so greatful for our kinoole family. aldie was there too (on video) and the things he said and did will forever ring in my heart and mind. He loves my daughter and it's a love based on knowng her and valuing her and her walk with God. When jamie was about 7 or 8 I bought a picture for her room that had these words, "When i asked God for a daughter, He gave me a princess." unfortunately, in our society the word "princess" generally means someone who's selfish and self-centered, so sometimes Ken would give me a hard time about that placque and say he didn't want Jamie acting like a "princess". (he was especially adverse to her plastering it across her behind as was the craze when she was in highschool, not that she ever wanted to do that!) but when I read those words, I read it with the historic meaning of princess, the daughter of the King. Good royalty care about their people, work tirelessly to administer justice and provide help and care. That's what God wants His daughters to do, care about people, work for justice and provide help and care. So I still hold to my placque, because I did ask God for a daughter, for 11 long years I asked God for a daughter before He answered my prayer. but God didn't just give me a daughter, He gave me so much more, He gave me Jamie, who would become a daughter of the King. Jamie is a princess.

A very blessed mother of the daughter of the King

p.s. today at church several women came up to tell me what a marvelous shower it was, one even said that she was sick when she came but when she got home she was completely healed! I believe it because Jesus and his love brings healing. one said it was the "best" bridal shower she had EVER been to! then it was my joy to say it was all planned by our beautiful pastor's daughter, hannah, another daughter of the King. thank you hannah for honoring Jesus, as you honored Jamie.

My Mom

I have to start blogging more often. If I wait there's too many things to write about. I wanted to write on mother's Day because I love being a Mom. I wanted to say how grateful I am for my Mom and how she has loved me and shaped my life. My Mom is so much fun. She likes to laugh and have a good time and when I was little she danced the polka with me around the living room and she played games with me and she didn't just "let me win." (Yeah, I blame her for my competitiveness. :) ) She cheered me on whether it was on a stage or a track and she told me I could "do anything" when it wasn't possible for girls to do anything. And most importantly my mom led me to Jesus. When my cousin Randy died, it was my Mom who took me to Pastor Carlton's church and that is where I met Jesus. My Mom and I were baptized together. Happy Mother's Day, Mom

God's mercy

It's been a while since I blogged. Maybe two jobs, a wedding, graduation and a very sick grand daughter have something to do with it. But today, I have to stop and say thank you to God for His mercy. Yesterday was Good Friday and I had gone to church to pray at 4 and then I picked up KFC and headed home. Last night started off kinda fun. It was Friday and Ken and I like to watch Friday Night Lights, (it's one of the few shows we agree upon :)) anyway it was the season finale :( and it was good :) . Afterwards, he made us chocolate sundaes and we were just laughing and teasing each other. We watched David Letterman and were getting ready to go to sleep when Ken says, "Denise, get my nitro." His heart was racing and we checked his blood pressure and the top number read 202! I thought it had to be a malfunction, so we did it again and it was 196! Then I knew it was not a mistake. He agreed I should call 911 and when the paramedics arrived they put him on the heart monitor and said he needed to go to the hospital. So off we went. His heart was beating 114 beats a minute. As we raced across town, so many things ran through my head, the big one being that we need Ken a little longer with Hannah's surgery and Jamie's wedding looming in the near future, I asked God to please let him be alright. About 5 minutes before we reached the hospital, God stepped in and put Ken's heart back in to it's normal rhythm! Thank you Lord for your great mercy. We spent the night in the ER with them running tests and monitoring Ken's condition. He was released at 7:00 a.m. and we went home to our very comfortable bed and thanked God for His goodness. Every day we get here with those we love is a gift from Him. Please pray for Ken, he has all kinds of congestion and cold like symptoms going on, which may have caused the tachicardia, but he saw his doctor this morning and he's on more blood pressure medicine, antibiotics, and will have blood tests done and go back. hopefully, it was a one time event. Travel is difficult for Ken and we have a trip to California on the 30th for jamie's graduation and then a trip to Boston this summer for Hannah's surgery. Whenever God brings him to mind please pray for his health! God bless you all. And thanks be to God, Ken is still here and teasing me like crazy!!!!!

Our Amazing God

every day is an adventure. you never know what God is going to do. today He helped me to ask for forgiveness, and He brought restoration. karli took hannah to the doctors today and they confirmed that hannah has gained a pound and a half in the past month! God did that. she doesn't have to have a nose tube put in right now, and God did that. hannah is doing so well, that the cardiologist thinks she won't have to have surgery till the fall or maybe the following spring. God did that. please pray that hannah's left ear will clear of infection, the antibiotics aren't working, but God can do that! i got a card from one of my teacher's at school today. she feels really loved and cared for, God did that! i helped a young woman in the community when no one else would and i got to tell her that God would give her a chance. she listened, God did that. our oldest son, called for prayer for his family, he understands the power in concerted prayer and God did that. joan arakaki and i went to check out some things for jamie and alden's wedding today, it was so cool. we are already family and good friends and God did that. Can't wait to see what God's going to do tomorrow.

the king's daughter

Hannah

last week i got a phone call early in the morning from josh and karli. they had just left the doctor's office where they had been told that after months of trying to determine why hannah was not gaining weight that they had discovered the reason. the wall that should be separating the top of her heart into two chambers is missing. she is only 14 months old and unless God intervenes in a miraculous way she will have to have open heart surgery very soon. the doctors will have to build a wall for her heart. we don't know when yet, we don't know where, we don't know if they will make it out of gortex or heart tissue. what we do know is this is not what we wanted. we also know that God loves hannah and us and He is not caught off guard. He has plans for hannah's life. she brings joy to everyone who knows and loves her.

the Word says, "in this world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world". so now we have a choice, we can rely on God, seek his face and be of good cheer because we know and are loved by a powerful, loving God. we know He can heal hannah with or without the doctors. please pray for her, her mom and dad, her big sister, and all of us who love her.

keeping our eyes on Jesus

as soon as God becomes real to us, people pale by comparison, becoming shadows of reality. nothing that other saints do or say can ever upset the one who is built on God. oswald chambers

isn't is true that the most Christ like person you know has disappointed you at times? people pale in comparison to our Mighty God. so if the most "godly" of us fail, why do we allow our brothers and sisters in Christ to hurt us so deeply? we all blow it at times and some of us do it a lot! so we should not be persuaded by the opinions of others or seek to find their favor. we must fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. if God is leading us to do something we cannot let the opinions of others dissuade us, or even seek to appease them. Father, help me to keep my eyes fixed on You and wait for You to accomplish Your purposes. i am sorry Lord for the times i allow the opinions of others to push me towards action that is not of You. this word really hit home with me this morning, for my own life but also for our church. we have some in our fellowship that do not agree with the direction that our pastors and the leadership are going in. a few have left because of it, and some are trying to cause dissension. i pray that pastor daniel and pastor gail will continue to follow God's leading and not be persuaded by any other voice, mine or anyone else's. it is exciting though to see that 30 people signed up for class 101 which is an entrance point into a deeper commitment to kinoole baptist church! we've never had any where near those numbers before. thank you, Lord for drawing your people and calling them to deeper commitments to the body of Christ here in hilo!

yesterday, jamie ordered her wedding dress! :) she looks so beautiful in it, when alden sees her his eyes are going to pop out!!!! usually at weddings everyone is looking at the back to see the bride come in, when she comes into the room, she sometimes looks down, or maybe looks at her dad, or at whoever is seated in the back. she realizes that all eyes are on her and she's usually a little nervous, i think. but at josh and karli's wedding, i was watching joshua's face (he is my son) :) and i will never forget the look on his face when he saw her, it was as if she was the only person in the world, it was a look of pure love and joy. i knew in that moment that he loved her completely. she looked so beautiful and radiant, love does that to a person. my prayer is that all of our children enjoy a marriage that is centered in Christ's love for themselves and for each other. ken and i feel so blessed to have that after 35 years of marriage. our faces still light up when we see each other! we praise God for that.

this week has been a time of reconnecting with friends, it's been good to talk to mary avery, glenn and betty blanset, facebook with liz and matt shumaker, alex mcmanus, and mark rife and hopefully we are going to get to talk to the newton's today. we also found out that the sumii's are coming to the big island and we get to have some time with them in february! these dear brothers and sisters have been such a joy and encouragement in our lives and connecting with them reminds us that we are not alone on this journey. jamie and aldie's wedding have caused me to think of so many people who are important to us and our children. the guest list is long, and it is filled with the names of those who God has placed in our lives to demonstrate His amazing love to us and we are so greatful for the times we have fellowshipped together.
please pray for God's provision for us during these next few months, we have much to celebrate and celebrations are costly no matter how careful you are!

we are grateful for those who help to ease the burden through their gifts to akea lani, through amazing grace ministries. may God richly bless you.

love,
ken and denise