Merry Christmas: Stars 2011

This year’s Christmas letter may be right on time or a day late, but I was determined not to let the obstacles we’ve experienced the last few days keep us from reveling in the faithfulness of God this year.

We love our tradition of a Christmas letter to first thank the Lord for His tremendous love. We recognize without His intervention in our lives we would have very little to write, but instead He has written a grand story full of His miracles in our lives and we are grateful! Yuri and I often reflect on what our lives would look like with out our choice of Him (knowing He really choose us first). When we look at our boy’s faces, we are in awe of His goodness to us. Only we know who we truly were before we met Christ.

Second, we love connecting with the people in our lives! We value each one of you as a gift whether we see you daily or correspond yearly, we are grateful for our unique connection with you!

Last Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we spent at Disneyland, CA with my Mom (Nana), Grandpa Jose’, Great Nana (my Grandma), Joey, Bobby (my brothers), and Miss Jenny.  In planning, we choose to create memories instead of buying presents and that’s exactly what happened. We will never forget how Great Nana (82 years old) got all giddy meeting Woody from Toy Story, proving you are never to old to have some Disney fun! The older boys ran around with their Uncles feeling like big boys and getting their love buckets full. My brothers are great Uncles! Of course my Mom made us all wear Christmas hats keeping us festive, she is really good at that! We came together as a family on the 26^th taking time to remember our Lord and spend precious family time together! Melchor family, thank you, and we love you all!

If you are a parent you know exactly how exciting this next statement is!!!!

This summer was our first family vacation WITHOUT a stroller!!!! Woot Woot! Happy dance! It was fabulous!

We headed back out to San Diego for the summer to do our annual Sea World trip and enjoy the beach. So blessed our friend Glory (who we are very thankful for, she is like family and a great blessing in our lives!) came out with us too, she helped me keep a hand on each boy, (as FOUR BOYS running around in the ocean still makes this Mama nervous). Yuri and I enjoyed a nice night away to celebrate our anniversary (which is Dec. 31^st … I know, seemed romantic at the time).

In September Yuri and I had the opportunity to go back to Israel with a group from Gateway Church. We shared this time with great friends and made some new ones too! Last time we only visited Jerusalem, this time we toured the Sea of Galilee, Capernaum, Nazareth, Beersheba, the Dead Sea, and so much more! Being baptized in the Jordan for me was a very special memory. I had been baptized before, but hey, this was where Jesus was baptized! I asked the Lord to leave something new in the water, knowing we can always walk in more freedom and become more like Him. Amen. We both feel it was a life giving, refreshing time to focus on the Lord in the Holy Land and all He has done for us.

Our last trip of the year, Yuri and I went to San Francisco and enjoyed a tour of Napa Valley with friends. While in San Francisco we enjoyed an afternoon with Lowell, Yuri’s Dad. We always love getting time with him and hearing his history of the city. We feel blessed to have shared that time with him.

As for me, It’s been 2 and half years of working with an amazing team at Destinyinbloom.com , I love who I get to work with and what we get to partner with the Lord to do.  Please visit us at the site above if you haven’t before. I’ve continued to teach and lead within the Titus 2 ministry at our church. I’ve loved the testimonies and the women connecting to life-giving prayer in our small group. I value this time to grow in the Lord and prayer with these women.

Yuri continues to love his job at Church Media and has so much fresh vision for 2012. I love watching him do what he loves; helping ministries communicate their messages and ultimately change lives. He also took on a new hobby with all (yes, ALL) the boys that has changed the dynamic of our home … wait for it … Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (a form of wrestling).

If you would have told me in high school I’d have four boys and that they and my husband would be into wrestling, I would have told you … you were nuts! But living it out and seeing how much they love what they are doing, I have to say … I’d have it no other way! Last year I had begun to pray for my men to come together in something they could really connect in. Seeing us all come together in this … well, I see His hand!

Caleb is the BIG 10 years old this year. He loves fifth grade and being at the Middle School. He is super social and assertive. He brought home a silver metal at his first Jiu-Jitsu tournament. He loves biking and playing football with friends.

Colsen is 8 years old (2^nd grade) and is our resident actor, dancer, singer you name it … entertainer! He started Christian Performing Arts Center in August (CPAC) and has just blossomed with confidence. He loves it and we love following him around to all his performances as he and his team minister the love of Jesus through the performance arts. He and Caleb also performed in a Christmas production this season, A Birthday of a King, we were so proud! He also received a silver metal in his first Jiu-Jitsu tournament.

Hudson is 6 years old (1^st grade) and he is our comedian who doesn’t know a stranger! He has done two Jiu-Jitsu tournaments this year; he won a gold and a silver metal. He was the first to start training and he loves it and all the friends he has met there.

Davis is 5 years old. Can you believe it?! He is in pre-school. He can be shy but is such a sweet and compassionate little boy. He received a bronze in his first tournament. My favorite Davis quotes this Christmas are: “Mom, Look!!! God’s shining light!” to a blinking plane light in the sky.  While we were getting him ready for his Christmas special at pre-school, I told him he should wear a Christmas color shirt and he said, “No Mama! I need to wear a God colored shirt.”

We just left the hospital yesterday from a scary staph infection that got in Davis’ blood. God spoke to our hearts giving us tremendous peace that he would be fine although it was a dangerous situation. I posted on Facebook and many began to pray, he got to leave the hospital a half a day early. We were blessed by so many who rushed to our side with concern and prayers. I was moved by how beautiful the bride of Christ is and why Jesus is so passionate about His pursuit of her; the church … YOU! We experienced some Christmas in everyone’s love towards us this year! Davis is on the mend and our hearts are full of love for our Savior and all who we are called to do life with!

Great Love and Merry Christmas, The Stars -Yuri, Ris, Caleb, Colsen, Hudson and Davis

Resources for Praying in Devotional Tongues

My favorite Resources for Praying in Devotional Tongues

Scriptures for study:

1Cor. 12: 1-11; 14:14-15; 2:9-16; 3:1-2, Rev. 5:8; 8:3, Ps. 141:2,1 1 Timothy 2:8, Jer. 19:11-14, James 4:16, John 3:8, Romans 8:26-28, Heb. 11:6

My testimony of letting Grace in and praying in the Spirit: http://destinyinbloom.com/a-basket-full-of-good-intentions/

Free Study Guide by Jack Hayford on the Holy Spirit and the gifts: http://www.livingway.org/articles/The_Spirit_The_Glor_Study.pdf

Gateway Passages bookstore: 817.552.7550

You can order the following teaching on Prayer taught at Prayer Tools class 9am at Gateway Southlake campus by Carin Prickett

This is an amazing resource:

She will also be teaching this Dec. on Sun. the 4^th and Sunday the 11^th.

You can order teaching by Date.

January 23,30-February 6-20 Prayer basics:  Material covered:  What the High Priestly ministry means and how that relates to my prayer life.  Praying ” In the Spirit”, connected to and cooperating with,  Praying in faith,  Tongues, what’s the big deal?,  Love the hard hat of prayer and filter for all hearing.

March 6-27  What does it mean to prayer something through, and how does that work.

July 3-31 Positioned in Warfare,  what does it mean to engage in spiritual warfare in the place of prayer, and how to cooperate with the finished work of Jesus.  Secrets revealed in the war camp of the Israelites and how it relate to how we stand in warfare now.

September 25, October 2,9,16,23,30 Cultivating a hearing ear.  God is a Spirit and He speaks in the Spirit.  We interpret HIS speaking by the Holy Spirit.  How to hear God’s voice and when hearing learn secrets to interpreting correctly what you hear and then put what you hear to use.

LORD TEACH ME TO PRAY CD set by Lynne Hammond:

http://shop.lwcc.org/Lord_Teach_Me_to_Pray_P145C16.cfm

Joseph Prince: http://www.josephprinceonline.com/2011/11/how-the-holy-spirit-helps-us/

For The Broken Hearted Mama

I knew a broken hearted Mama once …

Because I am the one that broke her heart.

Mother’s day holds a very special place in my heart because my children have changed my life … in the precious moments and in the struggle of parenting … they make me better. I also have a Mom whose unconditional love and unwavering support over the years has taught me a lot about a love willing to endure all things, goes to great lengths to nurture and who with out judgment lends her ear to me on days of difficulty in my own journey of being a mother.

This is my story now, a women who is reflective about her past through the lenses of what Jesus has done, able to be grateful for the sacrifice of those who’ve loved me.

This hasn’t always been my story,

I knew another story that went a little more like this …

I found myself at sixteen hanging around the wrong kids (it’s way more complicated than this, but I want to quickly get to my main point) and acting out in rebellion. I began a habit of lying about where I went and with who. I snuck out at night with my friends and boys looking for a sense of community (I guess) with others that shared in a similar adolescent identity crisis. As my defiance grew at home my Mom tried several avenues to try to get my behavior under control to no avail. Then at 17 when I had snuck out of my house, I was in a situation where I used Meph for the first time. Meph is a stimulant drug, and has many names; speed, crystal, ice, crank, etc. I literally felt like I hadn’t known happiness before that moment, I felt something I had never felt before, I felt alive. That night I fell in love with a deception and I fell in love with the drug that led me to live in that deception.

Everyday became about filling the void in my heart and chasing the illusive first high, at any cost. My life had become self destructive, if you got in my path you could get hurt so my motto became, “If you can’t handle it, get out of the way”.  It started out just days of me not coming home, then it would be two weeks at a time.

At one point I took my friend to the hospital because she thought her lung exploded from smoking meph, they took one look at me and admitted me as well. I was 90 lbs, I had sores on my lips, couldn’t keep my tongue in my mouth (I had it wrapped in a wash cloth) because the sores hurt so bad. I was severally dehydrated from not eating or drinking water. They gave me a shot to put me to sleep, it probably had been a week since I had slept and I woke up to my Mom standing over me. I will never forget her eyes as she peered over me laying in that hospital bed. She wasn’t concerned about drilling me about where I had been, because she was relieved to know where I was now. Something unexpected happened in my heart, I was sorry I had hurt her. I knew I had broken her heart and yet she still loved me. I wish this is were the story ended, but that was only rehab number two.

If you added up the scattered days I went to school my senior year of high school it would be about four months. After my fourth in-patient drug rehabilitation center my mom convinced my high school to let me walk with my class if I could get all my work in before finals. I barely graduated. The addiction went on to control my life until I was 19 years old. You can read my salvation story on Destiny in Bloom here.

I share this story not for you to feel sorry for me or air out any past junk. I’m more concerned about proving a point about the God I love and a Mom who has stood with me through thick and thin.

I felt the Holy Spirit ask me to write out my story for the Mamas struggling on this Mother’s day believing for their child to overcome some great odd. It may not be as severe as my story but a broken heart is a broken heart. This is my encouragement … God is big enough! His love arrested my life and if He healed and set me free, He can do it for your child!

I was recently at women’s conference and the Lord asked me to grab a young lady’s arm who I knew esteemed my family and say,

“I am not a “special” Christian. I went to rehab four times. I had a severe phobia of dying of AIDS. Everything I have I don’t deserve. You see if Jesus has done this for me, He can do what you need Him to do for you! All that I have, my husband and my children, I know has come from Him.”

Whether I’m teaching or sitting across the table from someone and I say, “Only I know who I was before I met Him,” this story is welled up in my chest with great gratitude for a God who was bigger than me, who rescued me and wants to rescue anyone who calls on His name.

If you have a child you are believing to come to know Jesus or find their way back, maybe they are just rebelling … I want to pray with you:

Lord,

I know you can love a child or grandchild so much your heart fills like it can explode in your chest. Fear and anxiety want to steal our ability to pray, Lord we lay those at your feet right now and we choose to instead throw ourselves on your faithfulness. Holy Spirit show us how to pray prophetic strategic prayers in agreement with your will. In 2 Samuel 14:14 (Amp) your words says, “We must all die; we are like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. And God does not take away life, but devises means so that he who is banished may not be an utter outcast from Him.” You Lord devise a plan, show us how to pray in agreement with that plan. Show us how to love in the mist of disappointment and sadness. In moments we feel utterly helpless would you speak to us and stir up greater faith to see beyond what our circumstances yell. We pray that salvation would spring up in the heart of (add your love one’s name here) and Your kindness that leads to repentance would rest there for Your glory. Lord would you heal the hearts of your Mamas … in every place that has been broken, would you touch every piece with your truth and truly bless with peace every Mama on this Mother’s day!

In Jesus Name … Amen!

I dedicate this to my steadfast Mama and every Mama who’s known a broken heart!

Great Love! ~Ris