December Prayer letter

Here is our current email and December prayer letter. If you'd like to be added to our email list/newsletter list, please email me at anastasiamcclain@aol.com and I will gladly add you! :)

Good evening! Wow! Can anyone else not believe it is December already? This year has flown by, especially the second half of the year. God is so good, all the time! Amen? Amen!

We hope this email finds you all well and staying warm, for those in not so warm areas of the world. We put the Christmas tree up Saturday, in the heat of the day, fans blowing around the hot air, in our tank tops and shorts, sweat dripping from our bodies and I must admit it was hard to get into the spirit of things. We played Christmas music and really did make special memories after we got over how weird it was that it was so hot and we were putting up our tree.

Isn't it like that with our faith? Don't we sometimes just not feel in the spirit of sharing Christ with our neighbor or our brother or our mother who does not yet know Him. Don't we sometimes wait for that one thing that we hope will energize our spirit and our faith a little bit and get us moving again? What if that one catalyst moment never comes? What if our faith never gets that jump start we were hoping for? Maybe we are looking at things all wrong.

Maybe when we put up our tree, our focus should have been about Who and Why we celebrate instead of the material and traditional aspect of the tree and what usually goes along with it. Maybe when it comes to our lives and living up to our call to love one another, we have put our hope into all the wrong things and forgotten our One True Hope, the Only real Hope, who is Jesus Christ and spending eternity with Him.

Philippians 3:14 says, "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." This earthly life is all about our transformation into one who is more and more like Christ. Our Hope is that one day, we will all be with Him, worshiping Him forever, in heaven. Jesus wasted no time healing the sick. He wasted no opportunity to love them. He wasted no time being with the least of these.

What more do we need to jump start our faith, to give us hope, and to spur us on to fight the good fight that Paul talks about in Philippians than Jesus Christ and spending eternity with Him?

Our prayer for each of you this Christmas season is that you waste no time sharing Christ with your lost neighbor, brother, mother, co-worker, spouse, child or whoever it may be. You can pray that we waste no time sharing about the Great Physician either.

In Christ, who is our HOPE,
Matt and Brooke :)

December Prayer Letter:

In both January and May 2009, we asked you to pray with us throughout the year for specific things. Please join us in praising our God, who is able to do immeasurably more than anything we might ever ask, for these answered prayers!

Praise God that Isabelle has been free of asthma-related issues for many months now and is not taking any medication or inhalers!

Praise God that for the first time since we moved to Costa Rica, Audrey is sleeping through the night! Praise God that our children play hard during the day, watch little television and therefore go to bed tired and sleep soundly through the night. Therefore, they are showing less signs of fatigue. Praise God!

Praise God for the thirst and hunger growing inside both Matt and Brooke for the Word of God! Praise Him that while being spiritually challenged and spiritually fed, the hunger and thirst continues to grow. Praise God that we are learning how to more effectively study the Word and seeing it come alive.

Praise Him that we felt His will for our lives, were obedient, and in a matter of mere weeks are seeing fruit from that obedience. Praise God for revealing in both of us areas of sin in our lives. Praise God that as we repent of these sins we become more like Christ. Praise Him as He continues to lead us.

Praise God for a son that loves to read, research and learn about new things and spends time reading the Bible every day and who wants to be a Lego designer one day. Praise God for one daughter who loves to create things with her hands, loves to serve, and loves to sing and wants to be a doctor or a teacher. Praise God for our youngest daughter who loves animals, loves laughing and joking and imaginative play and wants to be a ballerina one day. Praise God that we are seeing them grow up amazed at the world we live in and all there is to learn about.

Praise God for those that pray for us without ceasing, those that strengthen us with their intercession, those whose prayers are heard and answered by the all-powerful God, El Shaddai. Praise God with us for new financial and prayerful partnerships this year. Praise God for those that sacrifice financially for our family to serve Jesus in Latin America. Praise God for the encouragement we receive from the Body of Christ from literally all over the world. Our thankfulness cannot be described accurately on this page for those of you who are the hands and feet of Jesus to our family.

Praise God that He is showing us lost people around us and He is speaking through us in ways we most often don’t realize. Praise God for opportunities to share the gospel with our neighbors, as well as to share our lives.

Praise God that He has fitted our feet with the gospel and we will go where He leads. In what now seems like such a crazy thing to do, we left all that was comfortable and “working” to go to yet another unfamiliar place and are now seeing people accept Jesus as their Lord and immediately begin discipleship! Praise God for the gift of faith—of believing what is not yet seen.

Praise God that in financially hard times, we have faithful financial supporters. Praise God that even though what we have may be little to some, we can give generously to those who have so much less or have nothing at all.

Praise God that we are saved by grace. Praise God that Jesus’ grace is a gift that He gives freely, that we cannot earn, nor buy with works.

Praise God that He is changing us, as a couple, as parents, but mostly as His children. Praise God for times when we feel most weak and He can then be shown to be the strong and powerful God He is.

As we approach the celebration of the birth of Christ and the end of another year, please continue to pray for our family. Continue to pray for the ministry of our family and the ministry of evangelism and discipleship. Pray as we seek to be discipled. Pray as we seek out the lost around us and share Christ with them. Pray as God burdens our hearts for the poor and dying around the world. Pray for financial gifts to purchase a vehicle and an increase to our monthly support level.