Quick update

Hi,

January is an interesting month,its the start of a new year so you want to  start the year with a bang..all emotionally and spiritually prepared for whatever will come your way in the next 12 months but at the same time you're making the transition from holiday to work mode.

Well I think I have officially transitioned into work mode again,the first couple of days were difficult as I tried to  work out my schedule between two different ministries but after committing things to God numerous times  I feel a lot more settled.

In both ministries God has been doing amazing things.Justice Acts is opening a safe house in February which is really exciting.God had spoken so much about this home and now its finally happening.It is a huge leap of faith for Justice Acts as we now have the building  but not all of the resources that we need  so we're really trusting God to provide everything,in particular the right person to  be our house mother.But in the midst of the uncertainty we do feel that God has great plans for this building,right down to the purposes and design for every room and we have even had an interior designer offer his services to us for free!

I have minimised a lot of my activity with Justice Acts as I work more with the Prayer and Worship department,but I really do feel like the two ministries will compliment one another because so much prayer is needed to carry a  ministry and the individual women we work with.I am continuing to disciple one of  the women in our programme and I feel like God is really doing a work in her which is fantastic because she had so many challenges last year, she is a woman with so much potential  and having her in our safe house will open so many more doors for her.

Prayer and Worship

The Prayer and Worship department is opening a prayer house right in the centre of Muizenberg's creative centre,although Muizenberg is a small suburb it has a thriving community of artists and..a thriving community of spiritual seekers and those involved in the occult. Our prayer house is pretty much smack dab in the centre of all of that...but people who are spiritual seekers are well...exactly that spiritual seekers,they are hungry and are more open to prayer than you would think.Our prayer house will be called  Bethsesda House and we will offer people prayer,prophetic art and the opportunity to be prophesied over if they so desire.But its just funny because even  as we have been working on  preparing the physical building people have come and asked questions and often when they find out what we're doing..they want to come and get prayer,they want to know what God has to say to them.And that is really our heart,to help bring people into an encounter with God,to present to them a God who is real and concerned with what is going on their lives.So from February I will be part of  the team at Bethsaida House... please pray for me as I get more involved in this kind of ministry.

In the midst of  all of that I am being drawn deeper in my relationship with God...you can't minister out of an empty vessel, in missions that equals BURN OUT! So I am enjoying what God has been showing me ,it hasn't always been easy because I've realised that even in missions you can still try to do things out of your own strength...and that is really not an option in a prayer ministry..or anything you want to bear lasting fruit.So with that said,I am really trying to pursue God's heart for people,to know more of His love so that I can love others...that's the reason for everything we do.

On a much lighter note, I have finally found a church that I will attend regularly.It is small Methodist church here  in Muizenberg,not necessarily the church I would have chosen for myself but I really felt it was a place I had to go...and I like it,the sense of community is great and it makes me feel like I'm back at my home church in Barbados.God knew what I needed and He knew where to send me to get it :)

I won't be putting out a  newsletter this month,just this update but if  you have questions about what I'm doing,you would like more information about Youth With A Mission or you would like to support  me financially or in prayer you can send me a message at faith.millington@gmail.com.

What is your hope in?

Psalm147:11( NLT)

No, the Lord's delight is in those who fear Him,those who put their hope in His unfailing love.

Perhaps I have read this before,perhaps I have heard sermons on it..I don't know but  a couple days ago the last part of that verse began to scream to me..not even speak but scream.

 I guess God was really asking me..what do I put my hope in? And honestly I put my hope in a lot of things other than God's love..God's love makes me uncomfortable to tell the truth and in the back of my head I sometimes think no this can't be right there must be something that I need to do to earn this love,its too good to be true. So  because I can't wrap my carnal mind around God's love I put my  hope in God's power...aah now power is something I can understand,the world displays power all of the time..a powerful leader that everyone fears,a poweful super hero that everyone calls on in their time of need..... so I can take one of those examples substitute in God and "think" I understand God's power. Or maybe I put my hope in God's justice..God is just, so I put my hope in a God who will come and  kill all the wicked,mean people in the world.But once again my view of what is just has been influenced by the world so  I " understand" God's justice because I think it is possibly like the justice I  have seen on tv or read about in history books. I think I understand God's mercy,I think I understand His grace...but do I?I can't if I don't understand His love.

I can look to the world and find some wish washy ( and I mean wish washy) parallel of God's character and nature...except for His love.His love is too mind boggling,too undeserved,too unconditional...so instead of putting my hope in His love I put  my hope in my perception of His power,,something I think I can more readily understand.But God doesn't want me to put my hope in  His power..that would be missing the whole point

.What really scared me and totally utterly messed with my head is the thought of putting my hope...MY HOPE,in something that  I do not understand something that seems tender,intangible, flowery and yet potent.God's love. But it is because of God's love that He is just,it is because of  God's love that He is merciful,gracious,compassionate,slow to anger,faithful in His all His ways...it is because of His love that He displays His power...it is because of His love.But sadly I haven't put my hope in God's love..I think I'm too afraid to,I don't understand it.

But I know that God is asking me to... because if  I can put my hope,my confident trust..in His love for me and in His love for everyone else,then  ..whom shall I fear,of whom shall I be afraid?

Edible Gold

So there's this scene in Pocahontas ( the Disney one) where

John Smith asks  our native american beauty 

whether she has seen gold...he described it as

  golden yellow in colour,hard and a substance that you take

out of the ground,Pocahontas not knowing what he was talking 

out pulls about an ear of corn and says " sure we have plenty of it ".    

 Last night I was laying on my  bed and it kinda hit me that corn is probably still like edible gold to a good deal of the world's population.Of course I am only speaking from my experiences  in the last two years or so ...but two and a half continents later I've realised that corn,whether its white or yellow is a real staple for a lot of people.

Let's begin with Mexico and the corn tortilla,a corn tortilla is to them what a slice of  white bread is to  North Americans.They serve it at lunch,dinner and breakfast...now I must confess the tortilla at breakfast was a bit new to me,but no matter what the meal was, there were usually warm corn tortillas wrapped in cloth at the table.W ho needs a boulangerie  when you could have a  Tortillaria! ( no kidding...its the tortilla bakery,there was one in the village where I stayed in Mexico)


 In Venezuela...there's what I call the arepa flour,its some kind of ground corn ( ok I  just looked it up and according to Wikipedia its actually some kinda of precooked ground corn flour) We were served this two different ways at breakfast,they would boil the flour/ grain and make a porridge to drink and then make like little fried breads  out of it that we would then fill with egg or jam and cheese.And if that weren't enough you could also get an empanada...made of the same flour but  bigger,longer,filled with beef and of course..deep fried.                                                                               Arepas

Now I'm in South Africa...and what is the food of the passes?You guessed it more corn..now here they call the ground corn  mielie meal and when its cooked...pap. Pap can me a porridge or the consistency of a pudding and then there's a third way..I actually have'nt had it the third way but its supposed to be crumbly. But you get my drift...pap is a staple,and not just in South Africa but in many other African countries as well.

<- crumbly pap

He he..in my desperation to have arepas again I have made the " pap pattie" which was just me making arepas using pap,I discovered that it only works with the instant mielie meal though...anything else and you're asking for trouble..trust me.

Now back home in Barbados we use the yellow corn  or corn meal,the same one Americans might a make cornbread out of.You can make a porridge out of it ( also know as..pap) or you can cook it with water and some okras to make cou cou..kinda of like a pudding consistency,top it off with  some steamed fish and voila! You have the national dish of Barbados.


So you see...corn really is edible gold.



P.S for all you people who can't  eat wheat and have gluten allergies..are you really surprised?

Happy New Year!!

Its 2011...wow

I would just like to start by saying Happy New Year  and I hope everyone has enjoyed or is still enjoying their holidays,I have about two weeks before things officially start back so I will  join the latter :)

I actually left Muizenberg for Christmas and New Years,I spent my time in a village called McGregor..in an area known as the " Valley of Wine and Roses".,what a name eh.Nothing could have prepared for the change in pace,especially after the hectic three hour bus ride from Cape Town, but it was nice You could literally stand at one end of the village and see the other end and everyone knows everyone,it was like a small town in  the Wild Wild West. Don't be fooled by the green in the picture,McGregor is in the desert,every garden and area of green has been watered using irrigation,each household gets an allotted amount of water that comes down from the dam.

I had a wonderful Christmas,I swam in a dam...can you believe it! Normally I have a policy that if the water isn't blue I'm not  going in...but twice I  I found myself in  nearly black bodies of water,one day in  the dam the next day in the river.

 We put up a desert Christmas tree...that's what  I'll call it for now and Christmas day we ate the traditional mince pies and had a South African braai ( pretty much a barbeque minus the sauce) in the evening...not to mention I CALLED HOME!! :D

 During this time God also dealt with me about a couple of things,it was not at all painless but I'm a lot wiser because of it and I hope to share some of my revelation in another post...I'm really not in a posting mood,so sorry you will have to wait :p

Hopefully I will  soon feel inspired..it is a new year after all ;)