Gayla's Magazine

He was just a boy....

My husband dreamed at 9 YEARS OLD that he was in Africa baptising African people in the ocean.  When he turned 17 years old he went on a trip to West Africa and FULFILLED HIS DREAM.  Amazing that he was in the same nation that I was a little girl in.  Although at that time my family was already back in the USA. Here he is at 17 with a Masai tribesmen.  (look at the little stool in his ear)

We connected a couple of years later.... and the instant electricity between us was and still is unforgettable.  Our paths were meant to be.  I believe in arranged marriages.... God arranged ours for sure!

I have never stopped to count the many nations we have worked in over 36 years.  The best thing about it?  We love what we do.... because as children He called both of us!!

My little native friend

This was a special day for two little african children... my mother was proud.  We were just hot.  We could not communicate as we spoke different languages... but we liked each other anyway. Mother made us dresses to match just for this special day.

She was fierce... I was shy.... and we looked just alike in our dresses.  We both had one thing in common we were both hungry. I wonder if she is still alive....

Us.... in the beginning.

Standing in the velds of southern Africa, I could have never imagined how God was going to direct our lives.  Having a baby in a war torn African nation was an experience I'll never forget.  Building churches in war was not easy... nor supporting fear stricken christian friends night and day.  Trying to feed hungry Africans while keeping our white skins alive was scary at times....  My husband was thrown in jail for smuggling food to hungry missionaries around this time in life.  War is hell...

You may just see an old fashioned looking picture of us here.  But when I look at this.... my mind is flooded with what we were doing, where we were and how we were quite alone and brave in those days.  And I see the directing Hand of God leading us through paths we could not know because He was training us to feed the nations back then.  We were left alone for a season.... no family, and no funds to support us.  Just us three and God.   

All of God's lessons imprint us deeply ....for a future destiny.

We were just two kids.... I was younger than the ageof my own daughter now. Life's perspectives do develop.... my baby girl in my arms - we determined if we died all three of us were going together!  But we didn't.... it was just part of our training in God's plan.

A white dress?  What was I thinking!

The Man of God...

The dry and deadly thoughts crept into the tired mind of the soul… yet he was still pressing…. Still yearning…. Still trying to go forward in the walk of faith.  Yet the passing hours grew late for deliverance, still the soul held on in spite of all outward circumstances of seemingly betrayed promises. 

That which warred against the mind continued to bring pressure and accusation day by day. Yet the man of the soul put his faith in God….

Long nights of tensed faith, and days of suspended progression both exercised the heart in different manners towards the expected release to come.

Becoming a man of tempered steel of character does not come because of light hearted activities and the shallow values of entertained physical momentum, But rather it comes in the deepened paths of the unknown gloom…...  having to trust in Almighty God and none else.

The forged man of God is not born from passive blessings passed down from father to son, But it comes from the fires of adversity, the depths of human suffering, and at the end of a shattered belief system that discovers the sovereignty of God when all else fails. 

Soul wrestles and mental workouts train the one who prepares for the battles by his intake in the Word of God.

And when the never ending warfare ends…. And when the “and it came to pass’ happens… The Man of faith is prepared, equipped and experienced to handle the unfolded Blessing.  For He understands the purpose of the Blessing, and in wisdom carries fresh faith to those still in the wallowing mud of  the onslaught of hell.   He overcomes…..by faith.