Revival Begins with Me!

We've been blessed this week to have Life Action's team, One Cry, come to our church!  What a breath of fresh air they have been.  The music has been amazing and so worshipful!  Listening to my church raise their voices to the Lord of All just gives me goose bumps.

After living in Malawi for nearly 4 years and attending a village church for the majority of that time (more on worship in Malawi later...because it's amazing in its own way) one thing that I missed the most was worship!  True worship.  Raise your hands to God in awe of His wonders kind of worship!  And ok, the fact that the worship is in English doesn't hurt!

I can't stay still in worship anymore.  I can't stand there and sing without feeling.  I just have to move with the music, raise my hands, close my eyes, and sing with all of my heart even though I was NOT blessed with the voice of an angel!  God knows my heart!  And I pray that I never take this worship for granted again!

The preaching has been amazing as well.  Revival.  It starts with me!  That's what this week has mostly been teaching me.  God can use just one solitary person to start a nationwide or even worldwide revival.  He has proven that time and time again. And our country has been the recipient of God's blessing of revival numerous times in our short history.  5 I believe.  Every 30-60 years God has brought revival upon our land.  Yet the last revival happened in 1904.  Over 110 years of drought in our country.  And look at what all has happened since then.

It's time to pray.  It's time to search our hearts.  It's time for a change.  And that change begins with me.  May the Lord search me, show me my sins, show me my SELF in His eyes, that I may truly change and seek to glorify Him more.  Not my will but yours be done, Lord!  That's has honestly been mine and Jeremy plea for years!  We have died to self so much over the past years that we truly have no problem stepping aside and allowing the Lord to lead (most of the time).  I'm not saying we're perfect at it.  But our years in Malawi have given us a TRUST in the Lord that is unexplainable.  He provides.  He proves it over and over.  He loves us!  He is trustworthy.  His path is ALWAYS best!  He will show the way if we seek Him!  And that's our prayer!

Lord, change my heart to be more like you!  Mold me into the servant you want me to be.  May I be used by you however you see fit!  And may revival begin with me!

If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.- 2 Chronicles 7:14

New Life

Today is my first blog post in our "new life".  I changed up the background of the blog.  It reminded me of new life.  I'm so thankful that in Christ we all have new life! We all are HIS children and are born into HIS family the second we accept Him as our personal Lord and Savior!  If I didn't have His strength and His love, His guidance and His assurance over the past few months (ok, years) I would never have survived.  I don't know how people live life without Christ. I can't imagine going a single day!

Our new life started today.  My husband went back to work. We have moved back to MS and Jeremy was blessed to be able to return to the very same job that he gave up to go onto the mission field 4 years ago.

God works all things for the good of those who serve Him, those who are called according to His purpose!- Romans 8:28

He started back to work today.  Bittersweet.  It's not what we expected but we know it's right and it's what God has planned for us for this period of our life.  Our job is to trust and obey!

God literally gave us a home!  I mean, dropped the home directly into our laps in such a way that we could NOT say no.  It's more than we expected, more than we deserve, and more than ever imagined we'd have.  But God provided.  He even gave us a dog!  It was my one wish when we came home! He is in the details! Our job is to trust and obey! We close in 24 days.

Our kids are settling nicely into our home culture again.  I'm not hyperventilating in the grocery stores.  The transition back this time was very slow and gradual. We did that on purpose.  We spent time away, with just our family, for weeks!  Praying, seeking, praying, resting, praying, and loving each other.  We really needed that time!  We're blessed to have had it.  God pays attention to our needs, and He gives freely!

Schooling is going nicely.  The kids are happy. Jeremy is getting back to routine. I have really begun to grow my travel agent business with Family Fun Travels because I wanted something that was for me!  I wanted to add income to our family and help my friends and family at the same time.  It's important to me and I love my job!

God is so good!  He is so faithful!  And I sing His praises with my every breath!

Thank you Lord for our new life!  Thank you for the life you gave for us!  May we glorify you in all we say and do!

Jill

Leaving Malawi

24 hours from now our family will be on a plane headed back to the States.  The last few weeks, living in the city, have been such a blessing to us and have tremendously helped aid in our healing process.  The life we imagined was not to be. God had different plans for us.  When we arrived back here in April (after furlough) we thought we were here for the long haul.  We had so many dreams, plans, and goals about how we could serve here in Malawi.  But God's way is not always the way we think.  He has His own plans.  And we found out in September that His plan for our family was very very different from our plan.  Painful? Yes!  But we KNOW that ultimately it will be to HIS glory and HIS praise.  

So now, this will be my last post from Malawi for a while.  Will God move us back?  We're waiting to hear from Him.  What is next?  We're waiting to hear from Him. But we know that God has a plan and a purpose for our family and we rest assured that He will not leave us or forsake us.  

"Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy." Psalm 126:5

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble."- Psalm 46:1

Here is what we've been doing the past few days:

Sleepovers!  SM, CJ, and AJ have been getting their "friend time" in!  Sleepovers, movies, play dates, and swimming.  Right now I'm currently the only one in my home because the others are out getting their last goodbyes!  (Well, baby J is sleeping which is why I'm stuck here).  We have amazing friends here!  For that we are thankful!

Rain!  The rains are on their way!  And while they're not quite here yet we did get a couple of afternoon showers to cool off the 90 degree weather we've been having! Remember, no AC!  IT IS HOT HERE!  AFRICA HOT!

Silly photo shoot!  We asked AJ to take a picture of us with our amazing friends Sam and Malla.  Sam (the all important Member of Parliament) got a phone call.  So we had fun with the camera while we waited!

I love this lady!  SO MUCH!  

Sam and Malla Kawale

We took Lennison and his family their photo album and gifts before we left.

We love them so!

Baby J checking out the house!

They loved their pictures

Right at home!

The flags you see there above the trees signal that a witch doctor lives there.  We decided not to visit. 

Ox cart

Malawian taxi

The hardest goodbyes ever!

Ida and Evelene wanted to come with us.  Oh how I love those children!

Triple sleepover!

And now we finish packing and hugging friends and crying and all of that fun stuff!  

Our hearts will forever be in Malawi.  We'll be back very soon....

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving in another country is sometimes difficult to celebrate.  If you're not with your family you know what you're missing back home, homesickness reaches a new high, and no one else seems to understand how important of a day it is.  Yesterday I saw kids walking to school, people going to work, and just going about their everyday life.  At first I was confused.  But then, I'm not in the States.  I have to remember that.  

Celebrating Thanksgiving in 90 degree plus weather is certainly something hard to wrap ones mind around. There are no decorations, no Christmas music (whether you think it's too early or not), and no turkey, cranberry sauce, or sweet potatoes to be found ANYWHERE!  

We've now celebrated three Thanksgivings in Malawi (last year we were home on furlough).  And each year we were so very blessed to be with amazing friends that we now consider family!  The McDonalds were our gracious hosts the first year! I'll never forget the amazing guidance, love, and support that my sweet sister LeAnne provided me that year.  God sent her here for me that year! I know it!  The second year we hosted some of our FAVORITE singles whom we still love and minister with!  We went all out that year with my Malawi china and everything!  And this year we became the seasoned veterans getting together with two amazing new families who have just arrived in Malawi!  The Joneses are our family now!  We love them so much and are heartbroken to leave them so soon.  But we know the Lord has amazing plans for them, and for us.  We can't wait to watch how fast they surpass our Chichewa knowledge!  

So here are a few phone photos of our Thanksgiving.  The girls and I made Gidgi's cornbread dressing and sweet potato casserole (our favorites)!  Although we didn't have turkey we're thankful that my amazing friend Tania brought us 6 cans of sweet potatoes this past summer just for our Thanksgiving meal!  Little did we know at the time that this would be such a bittersweet Thanksgiving.  

This is the beginning of the end of our life in Malawi for now. God has chosen to move us and we honestly aren't sure the direction He is leading yet.  WE just know that we need healing and prayer.  Please remember our family in prayer as we leave for the States on Monday morning.  We're all feeling a little numb and still in shock as to the events that have occurred over the past few months.  But as always we trust the Lord and His guidance and we're excited to see what's next for our family! 

Happy Thanksgiving from the Kyser Family!  

And HAILSTATE! (because really, what's Thanksgiving without the Egg Bowl?)