Lisa Newland

Wednesday was a momentous day for me...I entered uncharted waters (at least for myself), I drove into Virginia! :-) Thank you, Virginians, for helping prepare me for Africa by providing such HOT and HUMID weather!!

There's some beautiful hills around here, but everything is always a bit hazy. I miss the bright blue Colorado skies and crystal clear views.

Is it Kudzu?...the vine that covers the hillsides and trees along the interstates? I love it!! Along with the haze, it hints toward something creepy or mysterious. It gets my imagination going. :-)

I'm still trying to grasp the unknown dialect spoken here, and they're telling me that I pronounce my own state incorrectly: not Color-a-do but Color-aaaww-do.

It is also much drier here than I expected, and it looks like it's drier even than the trees expected for some are beginning to die! TX and OK are flooding and VA is drying up!

More impressions to follow as I continue to explore this new world. :-) :-)

Posted by Lisa Newland at 9:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On Monday I had the huge honor of sharing a testimony/devotional for the ladies Bible study at my home church, Newark Baptist Temple. The ladies meet once a month for two feasts, one physical the other spiritual. :-) What a privilege to share from my heart with many of the ladies who have helped me grow the past five years. Here's a few highlights for those who couldn't make it.

Five verses that are extra precious to my heart:
1. Lam. 3:22-23 God's mercies are new every morning!! As a teenager, I was challenged to strive for a clear conscience- where no one can accuse me with, "you wronged me and you never tried to make it right." How can God use us if we are not clean vessels? Praise the Lord...He's ready to forgive!
2. John 15:5 Without Christ we can do nothing!! In college I knew I was going to serve God by playing the piano. I loved it and poured my life into it. God stripped those plans away with tendonitis. Those were three hard but very precious years of breaking for me. God is not interested in my service for Him but my abiding in Him! Bearing "much fruit" for Him does not come by labor but by connecting into the vine, our life source!
3. II Tim. 3:5 Standards are great, but... Are there any verses that just grip you every time you read them? This verse does it for me. What a waste!!...to work so hard to conform the outside (having a form of godliness) and yet be unusable to God (denying the power thereof). Teenagers see right through you! They know when you're being a fake! Teaching junior highers for several years helped me learn that being "spiritual" or "godly" has nothing to do with what I wear or what music I listen to but how close I am to my God and how much I genuinely love all those around me.
4. Heb. 11:6 Without faith it's impossible to what!?! More than anything else, I want to please my God! Deciding to obey God's call to missions has started a whole new realm of living by faith for me, both in the big steps and the little ones.
5. Isa. 54:5 God takes care of His girls! I love this verse! I'm never alone; the Lord is my husband! How exciting to travel with my Lord all over the country! :-)

Posted by Lisa Newland at 9:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind!!

On the way to a church near Philadelphia, I stayed with friends near Lancaster, PA for a few days. Grace was a roommate and good friend in college, I played in her wedding, and now she has two kids and a beautiful home near Hershey, PA. Yes, I did get to experience a bit of Hershey with the smell of chocolate in the air and street lamps shaped like Hershey kisses. :-) We also made good memories on the mini-golf green. How can golf balls completely disappear, anyway?

Next stop... Collegeville, PA, Valley Forge Baptist Temple for The Rescue Zone, VBS 2007. I praise the Lord for Pastor Scott Wendal and the other pastors and people of VFBT. What an exciting work! God's presence is very evident in the loving manner and excellent spirit I saw all around me. It was such an honor to be a part of their VBS... and now a part of their church family! Before the Sunday eve service was over, the church voted to take me on for support, raising my support level to 27%!!! Yee-haw! and THANK YOU, VFBT! With almost 500 children at VBS and over 200 workers, I was amazed at the organization it took to pull it off! I got to share a brief challenge for a few of the assemblies and in many of the classes. To top it all off... the children, through the penny offering, have provided for my plane ticket to Tanzania!!! THANK YOU VBS-ers!!!!

Another treat while in PA was staying with BIMI missionaries, Larry and Joy Harris, home from Australia for a while. We explored Valley Forge and historic Philladelphia. We Americans have such a great heritage!!

I traveled home last Saturday along the Pennsylvania Turnpike (stopping at a picnic table for another Swahili lesson by cell phone), and then on Sunday found myself just a half hour away at Maranatha Bible Church, Pastor Steven Shaw. It was fun to see many dear people that I've known or at least seen before from teaching nearby for four years. Lunch was a special time of fellowshiping with other single ladies in the church.

Tomorrow I head up to Bowling Green, near Toledo, OH, and next Wed. it's off to Virginia!! :-)

Posted by Lisa Newland at 6:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)