August 2012

A Future and a Hope: Small Beginnings

No turning back, we are officially stepping out in faith to care for young men in need of transitional living assistance.

Recently, we received an urgent call from a young man who had travelled to Spain in hopes of working. Because of immaturity and stresses in his life, he decided to drop out early from high school and leave the country to work. He, like many others, has a hard time recognizing the importance of school when it seems hopeless to find a job while being one of the “outcasts”. Andrei counseled him many times to stay in school, but sometimes you have to let youth fall flat on their faces before they will let you dust them off and show them the correct step. After two weeks in Spain, he frantically contacted us begging for help. He was scared and lost.

Two other young men from Betania will possibly be coming to stay at the apartment. One will be enrolling this semester at the local university with an interest in Business Management. This young man, in particular, has already tired desperately to survive on his own after ageing out and sadly ended up on the street, forced to quit school. He will be working as a handy man at Betania while going to the local university through our “Future and a Hope” Program. We are proud to have each one of these young men in the program and we look forward to seeing what our Lord will do in their lives and ours!!

Andrei is currently working on organizing the “rules and regulations” for our outreach to these young men. Prayer for wisdom is, as always, appreciated!

This program will take a lot of our time, which is already thinly spread with our own family, church, and orphan ministry. God has already given us supernatural perseverance as we obediently take steps toward opening this new program.

Please keep us in prayer as we take this HUGE step.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for peace and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

“No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” 1 Cor 2:9

Just a note…

:I am thankful to each one of you who take a few minutes to read these updates and pray for us. And I dance for the few who take the time to write us notes and share with us YOUR heart and prayer requests. I pray that God will bless you and your families physically and financially for your obedience in supporting SBM in Romania.

“Give, and it will be given to you… For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.” Luke 6:38

The Battle Belongs to the Lord: Pick up your Shield and Sword!

I wanted to share with you all a personal testimony about how God prepares and equips you for the unexpected. July through August 13th we were on furlough in Colorado for my brother’s wedding. Many of you may have heard about the tragic fire in Colorado Springs. It was the largest fire in the history of the Springs. My family and I arrived there the day the fire turned towards the town and began its path of destruction. We were evacuated from my parents home with minutes to spare. As we pulled out of the driveway, we could see 10-foot flames surrounding the neighborhood. Houses were already on fire. Long story short, we were evacuated from three different locations as the fire kept rolling through.

God had given me a dream a month prior to prepare me for this unexpected event and others. It involved a flood, a fire, and a gunman. The flood part of the dream I witnessed in our town Petrosani. In my dream I saw waters rising in our town, I lifted my hands over my city and shouted, “there will be no flooding!” and the waters receded from the streets. One rainy day, from my balcony, I saw exactly what I saw in my dream. So I spoke, being moved by the Holy Spirit, “there will be no flooding!” (the result: no flooding). So that part of my dream came true. However, I did not necessarily connect it to my dream at first—until the fire happened. In my dream I saw a demonic figure throwing fuel on a house and lighting a match. I planted my feet and shouted, “It will not catch fire, it will not be destroyed!” The match would go out and he would keep trying to light another one. I just kept repeating, “It will not catch fire, it will not be destroyed!” every time he lit a new match.

I tried to again be obedient to what God had shown me and all day I was praying and declaring “It will not catch fire, it will not be destroyed!” Pictures of our neighborhood came flooding in from the news and it was a wall of fire. I had faith that behind all that flame and black smoke our house was sitting there UNTOUCHED! God gave me a dream and I knew our house was okay.

After a few hours my Dad called, “God has had mercy on us—the fire burned to the back of our house and left our house untouched!” Oh, yes, I did my happy dance. I danced before my Lord like David, except with a little more Beyonce 😉

We later found out that when the fire reached the back of our house it turned into a fire storm (like a tornado) and our house was at the eye of that storm. Because of this, our house and the majority of my parents street was left untouched. The fire has leapt up and over my parents house and then continued is path of destruction. WOW! Only God can do that.

The third part of my dream, the gunman. You may have also heard about the Theater massacre in Aurora, Colorado. God warned me specifically that a man would come into a theater at a late night showing and empty his gun into the crowd, but I would be safe. That terrible night I was only 10 miles away from the theater celebrating my new sister-in-law. We were all safe. Thank you Jesus.

No, I was not in the middle of the gun fire (Thank you Jesus!), nor did I need to be for God to show me that I can trust him to prepare me for the unexpected. That I should fear no evil for God is with me.

It is easy for me to feel “survivor’s guilt,” especially when friends of ours lost everything in the fire and precious lives were lost in the theater, but this was my personal lesson in faith and I know He is working in everyone differently.

“The wicked watches for the righteous and seeks to put him to death. The LORD will not abandon him . . . The salvation of the righteous is from the LORD; he is their stronghold in the time of trouble. The LORD helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him.” Psalms 37:32-33; 39-40

The Peace that comes from PRAISE!

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. — Philippians 4:6-7, 9.

I was reminded of this verse this morning. And the key to receiving the peace of God is “with THANKSGIVING”. Thanksgiving is a powerful tool that will bring blessing into our life. When you take time to recognize God’s presence with thanksgiving, it brings glory to Him. God’s desire is that we prosper in all things, but that it should not come through stress or confusion; it comes through praise. The things that we have learned and received from God, DO THEM, and you are promised peace.

So we, the Andries family, walk forward in praise of all that God has done and will do. Thank the Lord with us, being anxious for nothing!

But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 2 Corinthians 2:14

Prayer Requests:

• Continue to pray for the transitional youth of Romania. That they would walk in the power of the Spirit and not by their own might. Cover these youths in love and pray for their ears to be sheltered from the constant assault of negative words and discouragement. Pray that they would become a light in a dark place and BREAK the chains that imprison them to poverty in the name of Jesus Christ.
• Please keep Andrei in prayer as he prepares the Bible studies for Sunday nights. Protection over his mind, heart and study time. Pray for another godly male to come into our path with whom he can fellowship and find friendship.
• Pray for our Saturday Bible school. That God might be magnified in the lives of the children attending.
• For wisdom and direction in ministry.

THANK YOU FATHER for what you are doing and going to do.

We give YOU praise!