keeping a bigger perspective...

last night i told bob- i need to get out and get perspective. So we went for a night walk... amazing what a little exercise does for the soul!  It changes my outlook and encourages me to keep pressing on... Here is the update that I sent out- sorry if it is a repeat for some...

Hello sweet friends and family!  

It has been an intense month here in Malawi.  We would so love your prayers as we keep on serving the King!  It has been one thing after another.  It has been really hard to see the bigger perspective when all we can see is what is in front of us.  The bigger perspective is that God is sovereign.  He has us in the grip of His hands and we need to trust that.  We are so thankful that these circumstances are continually pushing us to our knees and seeking the face of the one which we have the hope of eternity.  

How you can be praying...

• This last month we have had 2 major break -in and many minor ones here on campus.  As Bob is in charge of security - he has created a team of campus men to increase security.  With all that is being done we still live in an extreme poverty 3rd world country and even a bucket that is stolen is valued.  Please pray as Bob has to deal with lots of security issues and calm the nerves of  75+ Americans - plus 250 + students that live on this 50 acre campus. 
• Bob threw out his back last week and was flat for about a week.  Gosh - so it begins - we are getting old.  Please pray as he has so many things to be doing- laying flat is only meant for sleeping!
• Also Bob is preparing for this semester coming classes and his computer decided to die.  As for now it seems that it is working - but we need to get it repaired and we live very far away from an Apple Store.  It seems silly to pray for a computer but He needs it to prep and teach.  So please pray that it sustains this semester until we can get it repaired.  
• Please pray for us as we serve here and as living in a different culture can be exhausting and emotionally draining.   
• Please be praying for the staff here at ABC.  We have lots of people and people drama has drained all of us.  We live on planet full of people!  SO there will be people drama until God comes back!  Please pray as we are in relationships with others - we would shine the light of Christ.
• Please pray that we keep our eyes focused on what we have been blessed with - Family, health, amazing friends and supporters, a home and 10 puppies!  We have hope!  We choose it!
• We recognize that Satan is very busy at bringing discouragement and fear! We are thankful to know that we are covered by the King of the universe.  We must be doing something right if he wants to bother us.  Please pray that we would continue to seek the kingdom of God First!

Thank you our amazing prayer warriors.  We could not do what we do without you!  We will keep you updated!

Love- the stauffy family

This is from the daily devotional – My Upmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers.

Am I Looking To God?

0Look to Me, and be saved . . . —Isaiah 45:22

Do we expect God to come to us with His blessings and save us? He says, “Look to Me, and be saved . . . .” The greatest difficulty spiritually is to concentrate on God, and His blessings are what make it so difficult. Troubles almost always make us look to God, but His blessings tend to divert our attention elsewhere. The basic lesson of the Sermon on the Mount is to narrow all your interests until your mind, heart, and body are focused on Jesus Christ. “Look to Me . . . .”

Many of us have a mental picture of what a Christian should be, and looking at this image in other Christians’ lives becomes a hindrance to our focusing on God. This is not salvation— it is not simple enough. He says, in effect, “Look to Me and you are saved,” not “You will be saved someday.” We will find what we are looking for if we will concentrate on Him. We get distracted from God and irritable with Him while He continues to say to us, “Look to Me, and be saved . . . .” Our difficulties, our trials, and our worries about tomorrow all vanish when we look to God.

Wake yourself up and look to God. Build your hope on Him. No matter how many things seem to be pressing in on you, be determined to push them aside and look to Him. “Look to Me . . . .” Salvation is yours the moment you look.