Write it Down

A couple of weeks ago, I had an epiphany (in the middle of a mundane task, which seems to be how most epiphanies occur). I suddenly realized that I am more like biblical Paul than David. Let me explain . . . when I was about 10 years old, I began a journal, and continued this daily discipline for over 20 years. And then following a very intense period of brokenness and healing, it changed. I transitioned to journaling only when something fairly significant occurred, and didn’t journal day-to-day things anymore. Initially I thought maybe I’d just burned out, but eventually realized there was more to it than that. There was a sense of incompleteness, but journaling more wasn’t the answer. This is where the epiphany comes in. David journaled. The book of Psalms is largely David’s private journal, as he recorded his innermost thoughts, struggles and victories, joys and sorrows, conversations with God. My understanding of God, life, and myself has been greatly enriched by his writings! His journal is a prayer book, a source of hope, a lyric sheet, and much more! Maybe Paul journaled, too, but what we know of Paul is that he was a letter-writer. He wrote to others what was on his heart, often in order to encourage them or spur them on.

Aha!
I’ve been a letter-writer all my life! As a teenager, I corresponded with 72 penpals, 20 of whom I wrote to every week. I still love to correspond with people, especially to bring encouragement. OK, so what I’m learning is this. Firstly, it’s very important to write it down. Johnny talked about that on Sunday – Moses wrote down everything the Lord had said (Exodus 24:3). We all forget stuff – some of us forget details more readily, others forget emotions, a few forget most everything. The most important thing is to record what God speaks to us. There are lots of things we could write down that would be interesting to remember, but not likely to significantly affect the course of our lives if we don’t refer back to them. But when God speaks to us, it’s crucial to write it down, think about it, remember it, do it, and read it again when we doubt or get discouraged. Incidentally, I did not think I heard much from God for many years. In retrospect, He did speak to me quite a lot, but I didn’t perceive it, largely because I wanted to define how He should speak to me. I had to learn to be still, wait, rest, listen, be open. I needed to learn to pay attention (“For God does speak – now one way, now another” Job 33:14). I’m still learning. Secondly, and here’s where I needed an epiphany – how we write it down can vary. Some of us tend to be more like David, some are more like Paul, both in the way we process things, and in the way we share with others. Both disciplines are needed for our own growth AND for the strengthening of the body of Christ. We can do both, whether we consider ourselves more of a David or a Paul . . . journaling (setting aside time to write down and think about what the Lord speaks to us), and writing letters (sharing some nuggets with others). Both habits not only help us to grow in faith and confidence, but God will bring encouragement, comfort, and hope to others as we share our treasures and our stories.

Crossing the Line

About a year ago, the Lord began to speak to us about living in Russia for a season. This had been on our hearts for years, and in our minds it was something Paul and I would do at a more convenient time like when the kids were all grown. But God spoke to us and He kept on speaking and made it clear that He had a different timeline in mind. We got to a point where we realized that there was a line drawn on the ground, so to speak. We stood there, with our toes right up next to the line, and our Heavenly Father gave us a choice. He said in essence, “I’m not going to force you to do this, but my very best plan for you requires you to cross that line. Don’t be afraid. Trust me. I love you. I’m always with you. I want you to lay everything down before me. Are you willing? (And by the way, there’s no turning back.)” It was a terrifying decision, a momentous decision, one that evoked feelings of diving headfirst off a very tall tower through a thick cloud into a tiny and not-yet-visible tub of water. The Lord showed me how much idolatry and selfishness I had in my heart – in my flesh, I didn’t want to give up seeing my friends face-to-face . . . I didn’t want to give up fruitful, life-giving ministries . . . I didn’t want to give up a comfortable living environment . . . I didn’t want to give up being known . . . I didn’t want to give up having more than one bathroom in our home . . . I didn’t feel like bending. But God is love, and He poured so much encouragement, so much grace, so much comfort, and so much courage and faith into our hearts to enable us to repent and to surrender all. He put a desire in us that we couldn’t possibly have manufactured on our own – He gave us the desire to give it all up. Now, it’s one thing to give up things that aren’t that great like clothes that don’t fit you anymore anyway, but another thing entirely to give up your most priceless treasures. We were living in a season of tremendous fruitfulness in every area of our lives. It is especially difficult giving up something that you’ve birthed, labored over, and loved from the depths of your heart, whether relationships, ministries, or math clubs. But God’s grace is sufficient! He has drenched us with His grace and given us such joy in the process! He’s continued to speak and confirm His word, through Scripture, through His still small voice, through dreams & visions, through others, through circumstances. The heart, the core of our vision, the reason we’re going is to pray, and to simply “be” among the people as carriers of God’s presence (“Christ in you, the hope of glory”, Colossians 1:27). We want to passionately embrace all that God has for us, and expect Him to connect us with whomever He chooses. We certainly don’t presume to know what’s in store for us, but we are confident that our Lord does – we trust Him. True to His Word, He’s kept us in His peace and rest as we’ve kept our focus on Him. Going to Russia is gonna be hard, maybe harder than anything we’ve ever experienced, but we know it’s gonna be GOOD because God’s plans are ALWAYS good. So . . . we’ve laid everything down at the feet of Jesus. We took the leap of faith, just one step, actually, and we were across the line. He’s shown us one step at a time, given us grace for that one step, and that is enough. Our job is simply to trust Him completely – to put our hand in His and confidently expect Him to give us grace for the next step and then the next . . . this is a FAITH journey we’re all on. I want to encourage you . . . has God drawn a line on the ground before you? Of course, giving our lives to Christ is crossing the ultimate line. But periodically, the Lord draws other lines and calls us ever forward out of our comfort zones, to transform us to be more Christlike. Count the cost, receive courage and grace from Him, seek Godly counsel and prayer from your leaders and loved ones, throw yourself with wholehearted abandon into the arms of your loving heavenly Father, be confidently expectant in the Lord . . . and cross that line . . .

Permanent Impact January 2008

. . . a newsletter to keep you up-to-date with Sculley family adventures in Russia and beyond

We're willing to go . . . are you willing to send us?

What's the latest?
MOVE DATE: January 31st, 2008!

Although we haven't purchased our plane tickets yet, our expected move date is the last day of the month - still waiting for our passports to be returned with visas inside! Even though we paid for "expedited" processing, there have been a lot of holidays over Christmas, New Year's, and Orthodox Christmas, when no official business is transacted.

Our hearts are "bistweet" and "haddy" - two words C invented to describe the bitter-sweet, happy-sad feelings we all share - excited about the amazing adventure ahead, yet finding it difficult to be separated from so many loved ones for a season! It's caused us to treasure our relationships even more, and to savor things in our environment and climate that we normally take more for granted. We're approaching the end of the packing phase, but better than packing, we're trying to get with as many loved ones as we can before we fly out, enjoying one more meal together, one more play date, one more evening with friends . . . so many special memories being made! Thank God for the internet, that we can stay in touch so much better than when we moved across an ocean in the late 80s and snail mail took 3 weeks each way. We welcome and treasure your emails, and if you want frequent mini-updates, please join facebook and add Karen Sculley to your friend list.

Along with many others at our beloved Atlanta Vineyard Church, we are grieving the loss of our dear friend, Jack Spangler, who died on December 31st, 2007. Jack and Jill (and sons J & J) have been our faithful friends, encouragers, and prayer partners at the Atlanta Vineyard for 15 years. www.atlantavineyard.com/jack_spangler.html

Here are some recent pics . . . C's hair donation (for kids with cancer), last days at ballet classes, P's 16th birthday party, then Christmas at Myrtle Beach - building the Gingerbread house, six in a tub, with Grandma & Grandpa, goggle girls, and home again for J's 14th birthday party.

Please let us know if you'd like us to mail you one of our family's new fridge magnets, to help you remember to pray for and encourage us! Let us know if you'd like more than one to distribute to your network of friends!

Let us know if you want our cool Fridge Magnet

We pray for you, too - let us know if you have specific prayer requests. One of our newest prayer tools is a computerized photo frame. Please email or mail us a photo of you and / or your family so we can add your faces to our gadget - thanks a bunch!

Support:
We are inviting all our friends & family to be our partners in ministry through prayer, financial, and moral support. We need you! We invite you to join us in this mission. We can go much further together—it’s teamwork! Our sending church provides some financial support; however, we are responsible to raise most of what our budget will require. Our current support level is 40% of our 2008 financial needs (contributions and monthly pledges combined) - praise God!

We trust God to provide everything we need to do all that He wants us to do in and through us. If you would like to invest what God has given you in Kingdom activity, through financial partnership, here are some options (all financial contributions are processed through the Atlanta Vineyard, our sending church, and are 100% tax deductible in the U.S.A.):
* automated giving (automatic monthly deductions from your checking or savings account - click here for the form - be sure to write "Sculley - Russia" in the space under "recommended giving"). Once you print out and fill in the form, please mail it to the address indicated at the bottom of the form.

* billpay using your bank's system - just mention "Sculley - Russia" on the comment line

* snail-mail (please make checks payable to the “Atlanta Vineyard”, leave the comment line blank, and mail them to our address - please ask us for it, to simplify the process of applying donations to the correct account). Our personal finance team will handle the processing of all donations mailed to our address.

* online giving via PayPal (http://www.atlantavineyard.com/resources/online_giving.html — just mention “Sculley - Russia” on the online giving comment line)

We are committed to integrity, and the Atlanta Vineyard missions and financial departments hold us accountable in financial matters. We plan to continue to live simply and debt-free in Russia, as we always have, and have prepared a budget which we'd be happy to share with anyone who's interested. Thanks for your support!

Praise Reports:
* In preparing some of the paperwork required for visa applications, we found out that our firstborn already has more than enough credits, so P is officially graduating from high school this month! He hopes to begin university studies soon - we'll share more details later as this unfolds.

* The children are close to completing year 2 of their Russian language curriculum!

* Praise God the visa-related documents we expedited to Australia finally made it there and back, despite being wrongly routed through France, Singapore, and the Philippines before reaching the correct destination.

Please pray for us:
* Pray for favor to receive the visas we need to do all that God has for us to do in Russia.

* Pray for God's continued provision, including good airfares.

* Pray for God's protection from illnesses and accidents.

* Pray for each one of us to make special friends in Russia.

* Pray for our ongoing Russian language studies, and for fluency in conversational Russian.

* Pray for us as we go out by faith and not according to what we can see . . . "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. . . and without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." (Hebrews 11:1, 6)

Our vision:
* mobilize prayer

* promote unity in the body of Christ

* raise up leaders

We appreciate your prayers so much! Thank you!

“The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike.” (1 Samuel 30:24)

Heading for Russia with love,
Paul, Karen, P, J, M, C, E, & K Sculley

"But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume." (2 Corinthians 2:14, NLT)

May you know more of the redemptive love of Christ in 2008!