Refining Silver

I have a new friend in my life, one who feels like a gift to me already. She hosted a ladies Christmas lunch yesterday, to which I was invited. It was obvious she had poured herself into the preparations: the food choices were incredible and delicious and the table settings were pretty and fit for a queen. The company of women who love Jesus and enjoy one another's company was precious to me.

I had to leave early to go to work. As I did, she walked me to the door, gave me a big hug, invited me back for dinner and handed me a gift: a flower pot filled with more edible goodies, tied with a ribbon off of which dangled a Christmas ornament.

My new friend, Jodi, could not have known the significance of that ornament to me! But I want to share it here now, with you, along with a story I have saved for several years. The ornament is a visual reminder to me of the truth of the story. How incredibly special to me that the ornament itself is a ribbon wrapped gift.

I pray that the story and the picture of my new, treasured ornament soaks into your heart with the truth of His love for you!




Refining silver: author unkown

Malachi 3:3 says: "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver."

She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.

The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?"

He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it"




I pray that your celebration of Jesus this Christmas is filled with joy, hope, wonder and love, ringing with praise for who He is and what He has accomplished for you, and that you reflect His image to those around you, and to Him!

Merry Christmas! With love,
Deb

A video of "our" kids!

We have had the unique joy of being allowed to be part of the story that involves God, 127 vulnerable and orphaned children in Swaziland and a great ministry team in the people of Children's HopeChest. It has been a little more than a year since we stepped into a position we didn't understand (sponsorship coordinators), doing something we have never done before, resulting in receiving the extraordinary blessing of joy that He promises to those who obey Him when He tells us to care for the least of all: the orphan, the widows and the strangers.

We made a video of 19 of "our" new kids, children who have found their way in the last months to the Beveni Carepoint in Swaziland, a place where they can receive care in the form of food, discipleship, education and love. I'm sharing it with you now with the request you do a few things:

1) Share it with people you know, for as sure as I can be about anything, I am sure some of you receiving this email may know a person who needs to know one of these children as much as the child needs to know your friend!

2) If you are a blogger, a Tweeter or a social networker, please post it to your site. God is using the virtual world of the internet for His Glory in incredible ways, including bringing together His big kids to care for His little ones. In this spiritual battle of the air, He wins!

3) And more than anything, will you please pray? Please pray for the 18 children yet to be sponsored (I know there are 19 in the video, but little Mduduzi became sponsored this day, and so praise God, only 18 more children need the Hope a sponsor represents), for the the children who have yet to discover the Beveni Carepoint or others like it in Swaziland, for the people who are already sponsoring and for us as we continue to be allowed to be part of this story.

Here is the link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aomRX8c8aDI

Our specific prayer is that all the children are sponsored by January 6, which is Epiphany. We celebrate that day every year by bringing our gifts for Jesus to Him, even as the Magi did. The gifts differ each year; this year we want to give to Him a fully sponsored carepoint. We are so aware He is the one who draws the sponsors to the children and so in truth, He provides the gift we want to give! But I believe He accepts the desire of our hearts as part of that gift, and so we are stating that desire as a prayer.

We feel like the most blessed family this Christmas: we are the children of the King, on an adventure that is epic and eternal! We have faced so many challenges this year, but praise Him who is able to do abundantly more than we can! He has been so faithful to us. We desire to now be faithful to Him!

We pray your celebration of Jesus this Christmas is filled with hope, joy, wonder and praises, for He is most assuredly worthy of them!

Merry Christmas!

Deb Gangemi, for the Gangemi Family.

The next trip to Swaziland is being planned

HopeChest has just announced the next Swaziland Missions trips to visit our
orphan ministry sites. This trip is open to those in church leadership positions, or individuals who want to pioneer their own "Connect Community." A Connect Community is a group of online supporters who connect directly to an orphan ministry project
with HopeChest.

For more information, e-mail Vince Giordano, HopeChest's director of outreach and partner relations, a vince@hopechest.org.