The journey is the destination.

After a fantastic month at home, I now find myself back in Jackson, Michigan. I had such a great time meeting and chatting with my church family at ERCC. The more I learn and grow here at NTBI, the evermore grateful I am to call ERCC my church home. ERCC not only knows how to genuinely love people, but in His name is purposefully sharing that love with the Renton Highlands community. Love you all!

As some of you may know already, I was officially accepted onto the Interface team for this summer. I praise God for the opportunity to learn more firsthand about tribal mission work.

In many ways, the prospect of Interface is terrifying to me. I’m not going to merely experience the life and culture of a Papua New Guinean. I’m going for the opportunity to explore a future in missions. A future in missions! Me? Who am I to even entertain such a calling? Here at school I’ve had a lot of time to analyze the ludicrous possibility of my being a vocational missionary. Could I, the stereotypical middle class suburbia American, leave behind my family, language, culture, and country and submerse myself into a foreign culture for years? Most tribal cultures are animistic—what will my eyes be exposed to? How will I raise the support to stay overseas? If I’m single—how will I go at it alone? How can I maintain the energy and drive to invest in relationships with people I have absolutely nothing under the sun in common with? How will I accomplish all the work pertaining to whatever position I find myself in, all the while trying to find time to spiritually feed my soul to be able to persevere through whatever loneliness, culture shock, or discouragement I encounter?

Let me switch gears for a moment. During my first semester at NTBI I took classes on the Pentateuch and Old Testament History. The lessons learned in these two classes are many. One lesson, however, continues to reverberate in my mind. Man accomplishes nothing on his own; only through God is anything good ever accomplished. Did Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jacob, Joseph, Rahab, Gideon, David or Josiah accomplish anything righteous by their own power? Absolutely not. Isaiah 64:6 calls all our self-willed and self-sustained righteous deeds filthy rags. This in mind, why don’t we live convinced that God is exactly who He says He is?

Our God is the one true God, Lord of all. He keeps His promises. He warns His people of trouble. He communicates with His people through His Word. As a wise and loving Father, He rebukes and disciplines His children. He teaches His people. He desires our hearts. He hears our prayers. He is all-knowing and all-powerful. He is faithful. (All these truths were gleaned from 2 Kings 17-19.) My God is clearly worthy of my trust and His purposes are undoubtedly worth giving my life for.

The more I learn at NTBI, the more I realize the gap between God’s expectations for me and my ability to meet them continues to widen. What is the answer to all the worries regarding a life in tribal missions I mentioned earlier? It’s simple: I cannot do it. Never could, never will. It is God who will accomplish His purposes, not me. I can do nothing by my own power, but fortunately I have a solid Rock on which to place my faith.

Where will this life lead? What is my purpose? What does my future hold? I have absolutely no idea. God simply asks me to walk in fellowship with Him. For the believer in Christ, the journey is the destination.

This semester I look forward to learning more about what ‘walking with God’ means. At NTBI I’ve been privileged with the incredible opportunity to develop an irreducible core set of Biblical beliefs. I desire for the ideals and values I hold in higher importance than anything else to be founded on the Word of God. I praise Him for His faithfulness!

Please pray for this Interface opportunity. There is still much preparation to be done and much support to be raised.

Please also continue to pray for the girls at the Salvation Army. Pray that God’s truth infiltrates their hearts and minds and transforms their attitudes and actions. We’re hoping to get them plugged into a church body soon. Please pray that we will be able to find a church that is founded on the Word of God and is within walking distance for us and the girls to attend.

Thank you all for your prayers and support.

God Bless,

Abbey Smith

His faithfulness abounds...

Hello everyone,

I sat in class today thinking about the fact that it is already November 4th. Only another month and a half left of this semester! I was reminded of the importance of pouring every bit of energy and focus into my classes. I cannot believe how fast time has flown.

Classes continue on. My Pentateuch class will be complete at the end of this week and my Hermaneutics class will be finished soon as well. I look forward to my next classes, Old Testament History and Proverbs.

What a blessing the study of the Pentateuch has been. God’s overwhelming faithfulness and glory leap out of the pages of all five books. The same God that led a great nation out of Egypt and through the wilderness with a pillar of fire and split the Red Sea in two and delivered great nations into Israel's hands and rained manna out of the sky and made water flood out of a rock to satisfy millions-- He is the same God we serve today! He has not changed. Glory and honor are due to Him alone.

I’ve always associated the nation of Israel and their documented history in the Old Testament with the Law. Yes, under the old covenant they were indeed under the Law. However, we recently read through the beginning of Isaiah 40 in Hermaneutics.

Read Isaiah 40:15b-17…

(15b) Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust. (16) Even Lebanon is not enough to burn, nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering. (17) All the nations are as nothing before Him, they are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.

Isaiah is saying that if every tree in all of Lebanon was cut down and piled high to prepare a burnt offering for the Lord and then if every beast in the whole of Lebanon was slaughtered and placed upon that offering, it would not suffice. God is so mighty, worthy, and majestic that even the monstrous offering described in Isaiah 40:16 would not be good enough. The fact that God allows for the Israelite’s measly offerings of a single dove or calf as described in Exodus and Leviticus is a demonstration of God’s incredible grace. God’s grace amidst the Law! He extended His people grace then, and He extends us grace under the new covenant as well. He is faithful to His people. Just as Israel proved herself unworthy of God’s grace, love and faithfulness time and time again, how unworthy we are also. He is so good to us.

Looking to read a fantastic demonstration of God’s unending faithfulness? Read Deuteronomy chapters 1-6. What a mind-blowing God we serve.

In regard to the prayer requests listed on my last entry, I have decided to apply for the Interface trip next summer. You can read more details about the trip in my previous entry, but the trip entails eight weeks in Papua New Guinea taking classes and exploring vocational missions.

- Please pray for wisdom and an open mind as I move forward in this Interface venture. I want my heart and mind to be open to God’s leading.

Another prayer request:

- The bible study continues at the Salvation Army. Last week some of the girls had a breakdown of sorts. They came to us in tremendous anger because we had been absent from Bible study a few weeks prior on account of a school trip. After talking to them for a while, the true issue was exposed. Everyone in their lives has left them at one time or another. Nichole, our newest believer, isn’t even living with her family anymore. They accused us of the abandonment that will occur when we graduate from NTBI. They believe we will leave them and continue on in our lives. This past weekend we had a Halloween sleepover with them and I believe some relational-repairing happened there, but please continue to pray for these girls. Please pray that they will come to a full understanding that God alone is worthy of their faith and trust. No person on this earth can provide a faithfulness that compares to God’s. Please pray for comfort, growth and maturity in each one of them. Please also pray that they would be encouraged to bring friends, which could open up more opportunities to share the Gospel. (There are pictures of the girls in my Facebook album titled, “Shake Loose,” just in case you want to put a face with the prayer request.)

Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement.

God Bless,

Abbey Smith

Greetings!

Hello everyone!

I’ve been meaning to put together an update for a while now… Finally! Didn’t want anybody back home assuming I’d fallen off the face of the planet.

For those of you who haven’t heard, I left Renton in August to attend New Tribes Bible Institute (NTBI) here in Jackson, Michigan. Quite a long haul from home! I’ve wanted to go to a Bible college for a while now, first and foremost to know God’s Word better and also to explore vocational missions.

Looking back on these last few years while I was pursuing attendance at NTBI, I don’t think I knew quite what I was getting myself into. And now as I look back on these last few months, I am awestruck. To share all that I’ve been learning—where to start?!

I’ll begin with a little about the school. NTBI is a fairly small school with only about 400 students. Almost all the staff is here on a volunteer basis and is supported by their sending churches. Many of them either were on the mission field overseas or had plans to pursue overseas missions, but due to unforeseen circumstances (health problems, change in government policies in the country they were working in, etc.) had to remain in the states. What an incredible difference it makes to know that our teachers are here purely because they see the value in equipping prospective missionaries with knowledge of God’s Word. NTBI is closely associated with New Tribes Mission (NTM), and this Bible college is in essence the first step in NTM’s missionary training process.

I’ve had the privilege to meet many people from all over the world from all walks of life. In my dorm alone, Texas, Missouri, Maryland, Washington, and Thailand are all represented! The testimonies of my fellow students and the staff are incredible—God has pulled some crazy stunts to bring people here.

Now to mention the nutshell version of what God has been teaching me…

I’ve realized that I’ve fallen into self-condemning patterns in my faith, caused by some misplaced notion that I want to be a “good” Christian versus a “bad” Christian. I know that doesn’t make any sense on any grounds but for some reason I’ve found myself locked in that mindset. God has been teaching me is how incredible small I am. I, on my own strength, can do absolutely nothing. Aside from the Holy Spirit, there is no good thing that can be found in me. The first month and half here was characterized with feelings of brokenness and terrifying vulnerability. I have experienced tremendous freedom in the reiteration that because of Christ’s blood shed for me, I am eternally in right standing before God. Eternally! Forever! Because of Calvary, nothing can ever damage or hinder the fact that God sees me as clean. Praise God!

Subsequently, though my flesh nature remains a part of me, I am no longer under the authority of sin. I suppose I always believed on some level that if a ‘major’ sin existed in my life, God would be displeased and thus would not be able to use me. Funny how legalistic our thinking becomes sometimes, hm? The sin of the flesh that remains in my life will cause me to be out of fellowship with God, there in laying the need for spiritual growth and maturity.

There you have it; the nutshell version of a bit of what God has been teaching me.

I’m not going to lie; I have not felt this spiritually immature in years. God is breaking me down; stretching me; challenging me in ways I’ve not been challenged before. But that’s how He works, isn’t it? NTM emphasizes a chronological teaching of the Bible, meaning that they believe the gospel message begins with Genesis 1:1, not John 3:16. Subsequently, I will be studying the Bible in depth chronologically, beginning with the Pentateuch and ending with Eschatology. I also will take other classes throughout the Bible-only courses, such as Bibliology, Evangelism, Hermaneutics, State of Man, etc. It is an honor and a privilege to be here committing at least two whole years to studying the Word of God. I believe that it is important to know the Word better than I know anything else, and now I have the opportunity to learn! I am so incredibly blessed.

Thank you all for your encouragement. I hope for a chance to chat with each of you sooner rather than later.

If at all possible, please be praying for me and the opportunities I’ve been presented with here at school.

- Please pray for continued brokenness in my life. I need to be humbled, to be taken to the end of my own self-sufficiency. Please also pray for maturity. I know that maturity only comes after time and trials, but please pray that God will help me mature in these next two years.

- Two of my fellow students and I have been given an incredible opportunity at the Salvation Army, which is located only two blocks down the street from my school. Vayle, one of my fellow students, has been discipling a group of five young girls since last year. She, another fellow student named Erika, and I started a bible study with them a few months ago. Since that time two more girls have started attending, and one of them accepted Jesus Christ as her personal Savior three weeks ago! Praise God! These seven girls come from homes of the most broken of circumstances. The junk these girls have to deal with on a daily basis in their homes is heartbreaking. Please pray that God would protect them. Pray that their homes would not prove too much of a distraction in their walk with Christ and that they would continue to mature and grow. The girls in our Bible study are Kiersten-age 17, Cheyanne-15, Nicole-18, Kami-17, Kayla-14, Kiana-11, and Courtney-17.

- There is an opportunity to serve on a short-term mission team to Papua New Guinea during the summer of 2010 called Interface. It is actually more of an educational experience than a mission trip. I would spend a total of eight weeks in Papua New Guinea. The first six would be spent on a school campus taking all sorts of language, culture, and Bible courses. I would have the opportunity to go into several tribes and interact with many different tribal and support missionaries. The last two weeks would be spent in a business administration intern position, working alongside missionaries in one of Papua New Guinea’s major cities. The trip would be an incredible opportunity to explore vocational missions. Please pray for clarity as I try to figure out if this is something God would have me pursue.

Thank you again for all your support and encouragement.

God Bless!

In His service,

Abbey Smith