Dear Friends:
LIFE PURPOSE! I think all of us have an inner need, and inner desire, to lead meaningful lives. By meaningful, I mean working to perfect our gifts and talents, and seeking to use them as God leads. Psalm 57:2 says: I cry out to God Most High, to God, who fulfills [his purpose] for me. NIV. It is comforting to know that He wants to fulfill His purposes in my life. However, I think it is easy to get side-tracked from this. It is easy to start following the goals and purposes of people in the culture around us. Or, it is easy to get lazy, and before we know it, our life has become mediocre.
The Apostle John condemns the world-path: 1 John 2:15-17
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world — the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does — comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. NIV
I have been reading through the Bible again this year, and I am currently in I , II Kings. God’s message of obedience and the benefits of following Him are abundantly clear in this book, where we see David overcoming the world and establishing a land where God is put first. Solomon follows in David’s path until near the end of his life, when he allows the beliefs, attitudes, and goals of worldliness to enter back into the kingdom, and then we see a long line of kings who mostly follow the world rather than God, and in doing so, destroy themselves, their families, and the people and land where they have influence. The only respite is when a king seeks to restore God’s order in the land.
The same is true for us: Deut 30:15-20
See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. NIV
So, how do we know where we are on this life-walk? You can start with asking yourself how your days are going? If you don’t feel a sense of purpose, a feeling of joy in your life, it can be incredibly frustrating. If you feel passionate, engaged, and valued, then you are likely on God’s path. All of us feel sometimes that we are not where we need to be in our life-walk with God. I like to meditate on God’s Word when I am having these kinds of issues. One of my favorites is:
Ps 51:7-12 Sprinkle me with the cleansing blood and I shall be clean again. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 And after you have punished me, give me back my joy again. 9 Don't keep looking at my sins-erase them from your sight. 10 Create in me a new, clean heart, O God, filled with clean thoughts and right desires. 11 Don't toss me aside, banished forever from your presence. Don't take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me again the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you. TLB
As the Word makes clear, if we are in some kind of obvious sin in our lives, whether in thought of deed, we need to start by repentance, turning away, and making a commitment to continue to turn away from it. The world we live in is so full of ideas that can permeate our thoughts and attitudes. Our culture “sells” the Big Lie to us that we should decide for ourselves what is right and wrong, good and bad. But that is NOT God’s way. We do not get to be God, as much as we might wish to. We are good at justifying ourselves. “I’m not hurting anyone, it can’t be wrong,” or “God made me that way, so I’m OK.” But, these are just excuses. God’s paths for life and blessing are clear, and His Word does not change. The only way to achieve a joyous, fulfilled life is to repent of our worldly ways, and seek God’s Ways for our lives. There is no more certain way of destroying your sense of purpose and joy than falling into the world-trap.
If you go about your days without feeling a sense of purpose and fulfillment, you may have fallen away from God’s plans for you. Fulfillment comes from doing rewarding, meaningful, purposeful things. From a job that enables you to use your skills and passions. From relationships of both giving and receiving. From hobbies that are invigorating. These are choices you need to make. If your life feels more purposeless than purposeful, then you need to make some adjustments. Heb. 11:6 reminds us that God rewards those who diligently seek Him. The changes you need will begin with diligently seeking Him.
I could go on, but you get the idea: It all begins with seeking God first.
I think about this particularly regarding our young people. The trap and lure of the world is waiting to suck them in, to turn them away for joyful and meaningful lives, to rob them of their potential, and to send them down the path of mediocrity, or worse. That is why I am so happy to see and to announce that six of our high school graduates from the Alas program are planning on enrolling in college! I do not think there is any better way for a young person to explore their gifts and talents, and then to develop them. Yes, they may develop them without it, but it will be harder and take longer. None of our high school graduates would have made it this far without your support, and none of the six who want to attend college will be able to without our ongoing support. So, our prayers and financial support for them are very important. If you can give something extra to our college scholarship fund, it will be a huge blessing, and it will enable us to help them stay on a godly path as they go through college. Just to give you an idea, sponsors in our Alas program are currently paying over $2,000 per month to support our kids in college, so anyone who can help support our college fund, please do so!
We hope and pray that you will find yourself filled with the joy and fruitfulness of the Lord as you continue to walk His paths for your life! Please continue to keep this ministry and the kids in prayer!
Jim & Pat
Hello, dear Alas de Amor family! We hope this last month has been a blessed one for all of you. We certainly feel blessed to have your support throughout this ongoing pandemic. Though the COVID cases seem to be winding down in some parts of the world, the state of Chihuahua is unfortunately going through yet another wave of infections, and the government has again closed down meetings. Due to this, we have decided to postpone our yearly May family celebration. We will be sending out prizes as part of a small raffle to give our Alas students and their families a bit of cheer during these trying times. We also plan to send each of our students their monthly pantry kits as usual.
Our students learned a lot in this last month’s meeting! Our elementary students had a very fun and very interactive lesson about values, such as honesty and integrity. Our middle school students learned about fear and how God wants us to trust in him when we feel afraid. They had to go through an obstacle course blindfolded, with a partner guiding them with their voice, just to have an interactive example of fear and trust. They also learned about the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and how they chose to trust in God, even though they were in a very scary situation. Our high school students learned about domestic/gender violence. We thought this was a very important topic to cover at their age, as this is a prevalent problem within the Palomas community.
As for our parents, we had a special lesson for them about being a living example of the life they want for their children. We spoke to them about how their lives and their actions are the first things that their children learn, and how we should avoid negative behaviors. The lesson was neatly summarized by Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
I wanted to take the time to tell you about one of our amazing volunteers. Abraham has served Alas de Amor for five years and throughout the years he has dedicated a great deal of his time, energy, creativity, enthusiasm, and passion for technology and education to the organization. You can see him in our group picture, above, between Jim and Raymundo. The work that he has donated is invaluable and I cannot begin to express my gratitude for his work and dedication, especially in the midst of a pandemic.
Abraham is getting married in May to my sister, Raquel and he will be moving to Utah!! Raquel has also worked with us as a volunteer for many years. For us this is bittersweet news, but I wanted to take the time to honor him for the excellent volunteer he has been. I ask you to pray for him and the new journey he is about to embark on, and we pray that God will open doors for he and Raquel to remain involved in the ministry!
Before we conclude this month’s newsletter, we wanted to personally congratulate each of our students that graduated from high school this semester! This is an incredible achievement and one that speaks to the power of discipline and persistence, as well as the profound impact that you, our Alas sponsors, have on each of these children’s lives.
Congratulations to our graduates, and thank you once again, Alas family!
Berenice