Dear friends:
We are under attack! Ana, our assistant Director, has gone into kidney failure. She is 24 years old. They have put her on dialysis. She is pretty much unable to work, and of course her condition robs her of energy along with everything else. Please pray that God will restore her kidneys!
Ana #2, one of our main assistants at Casa, has had to quit because of family problems. It is very difficult for us to find qualified people to step into their shoes and help. We are very short-handed. Please pray the Lord will send us qualified people to “parent” our girls at Casa.
Raymundo, one of our most involved support team members, lives in Juarez with his grandparents. He just finished college. Earlier this week, his grandfather had a major stroke. He is paralyzed. Thankfully, the paralysis has reduced and is now only affecting his left side and his ability to talk, but it has still completely debilitated him. Please pray for his restoration, and that Raymundo will be able to keep moving forward with us and with his career plans!
One of our girls, a Junior in High School has recently made some very bad life decisions that will seriously affect her future. We can no longer trust her. Please pray that the Lord will help her to strengthen her life in Him!
Isa 59:19 When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him.
Lord, we are asking you to raise up your battle flag against the enemy!
Ps 103:2-5 Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits — who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
Lord, we are asking for forgiveness, healing, and redemption! We need your renewal!
Ps 147:3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
2 Peter 1:3-4 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises , so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
Lord, you have given us your very great and precious promises! We look to you to resolve our needs!
We have much going on at Casa, as we are approaching the time for our 4 Seniors to apply for college. We are preparing to take them to Universities in Chihuahua and Cd. Juarez, and to introduce them to college life. Now is the time that they must apply and hopefully get accepted! Lulu wants to learn about physical therapy as a possible vocation. Victoria is interested in becoming a pharmacist. Briza and Cielo haven’t decided yet, but they will soon need to make up their minds as well! Please keep these girls in your prayers!
If you would like to help sponsor any of these 4 girls for college, please let us know! We are going to have to find a way to provide room and board, tuition, and personal expenses for all of them! We expect the total costs to run about $500 per month per girl.
Betty has returned from her sabbatical just in the nick of time, but there is so much that needs attention, with staffing shortages, girls who are giving us problems and requiring a lot of supervision, and all of the regular needs we have to keep girls focused on their education, their “teen” issues, and so on. Please keep Betty and our girls in your prayers!
Phil 4:19-20 my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. 20 Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.
We are so thankful that we can trust our Lord to move in these many situations, to bring healing, restoration, guidance, to supply our needs, to fill us with His joy and His Spirit, to protect us from the attacks of the enemy, to be our guide and our goal! We are thankful that we have each of you to come alongside us and pray and work with us as the Lord shows you to fulfill His mission for Casa.
We have been praying and talking to our girls about making the decision to join the Burning Hearts Society! Luke 24:32 and Rev. 2:4.
God bless you all for your prayers and support, and may He fill you with His Spirit as we work together to bring His Kingdom on earth!
In February we touched upon some topics that relate to the spirit of Valentine’s Day. For our more mature crowd, we asked them the following question: Do you know the difference between society’s definition of Love as opposed to God’s definition of Love? Take a minute to ask yourself this question and think of the many different ways in which these two definitions clash.
Consider what God’s definition of Love is. God tells us that Love is pure, genuine, long-lasting, unconditional, patient, kind, the list goes on. The richness, the completeness, the closeness of real Love is something that God wants us to experience with one another.
However, it is far too easy to get caught up with what society deems as important in our lives. Society seems to have completely forgotten the reason why we humans exist and what we live for: Love. Even worse, when society speaks of Love, it redefines it as far more superficial and as something that can be easily given away without any care or consideration.
This month, our older students and their parents were reminded that society’s idea of Love is not correct. God created us in his image and likeness, and it is this very fact that makes each and every one of our lives so invaluable and worthy of Love. Our belongings, our boyfriends or girlfriends and our looks are not things that make our lives more valuable and worthy of Love.
God’s Love is forever and he reminds us of this in the following verse: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” Jeremiah 31:3
This month’s speakers explained how God expects us to practice Love. Society often confuses Love with the number of sexual partners one has had, how many relationships we’ve been in, if you are in a relationship with someone, how attractive you are to them, and many other things. It is easy to fall for these erroneous concepts of Love, but God’s ideal of Love exists outside of all these things. Luckily for all of us, God explicitly describes what Love should:
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Our younger students were taught the importance of having faith and hope in the face of adversity and that God always uses anything for the better if we trust in him and His Word.
A couple of our volunteers told stories of their own lives when they found themselves in a bad situation, such as family illness, personal medical problems, losing friends and the passing of family members. They explained that although these situations seemed very difficult and confusing when they were living through them, but they all worked for their personal betterment and it was only by hoping in God’s ever-present hand that they were able to carry on.
The younger students were told the story of Joseph the Dreamer, of his rough life-- filled with hardship and betrayal. Joseph was sold, enslaved and imprisoned through no fault of his own and yet he never lost faith in God’s greater plan for his life. It’s at this point that we all ask ourselves if we would be able to maintain faith in God. We’ve all experienced hard moments in our lives and we’ve all been tempted to lose hope. It is in these difficult times that we must remember what God says of the lives of those who trust in him:
Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
How can we, then, come out better in life’s most trying times? We simply have to remain firm in our belief that God has everything under control. With a heart filled with Love for God and genuine faith, God can and will utilize our lives for greatness.
Once again, we would like to thank you all of you, our sponsors. You are the lifeblood of this organization and nothing could be accomplished without your help and your prayers. We look forward to continue building this ministry with you all and we hope that you will keep the children and us in your daily prayers.
As a last piece of news, we have once again begun to accept applications for this school year! We are excited to start planning for the new year, and to continue to see the growth in our students, parents and the community. I want to remind you that this program would not exist without your support. We thank you for all your financial support and prayers.
May you all have a blessed month!
Blessings,
Bere, Abraham and Jim