My Grace is Sufficient

It's been awhile since we've written anything and so you will probably be seeing a couple of posts. Gino just recently came back from a missions trip to Central Asia. I will let Gino share about the trip in the next post but I wanted to share God's faithfulness to me as Gino was away. About a week before Gino left, his cousin's wife sent me the most encouraging e-mail along with a verse that she believed God was urging her to share with me. Here is the verse: 2 Corinthians 12:9, "But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me." 


"My grace is sufficient for you."  This verse was definitely for me. It stayed with me everyday. I prayed it non-stop sometimes. And when my patience was running low or I was tired, I would keep saying this verse over and over and God would always give me enough strentgh for the day. He is so good. The song "Your grace is enough" by Chris Tomlin also played constantly in my head. And it really was enough.

At the time I was reading Jeremiah and yet God cared enough about me to use a wonderful friend, who was willing to take a chance and share a verse, to remind that His grace would see me through those two and half weeks. He is so faithful.

Not only did He give me guidance through His word but He used so many loving people around me to help me with the kids. To love on my kids when they were missing their dad. There were a few guys who loved on Sean especially and I knew he needed that because he was drawn to the guys rather than us girls. It made me see the importance of having mentors and godly families around us. God was showing me that I am not called to be a hermit when Gino goes away. I am called to accept help when help is offerred, to let other godly people come and love on my kids. To let amazing girlfriends come and keep me company and laugh with me at night when my kids are sleeping. He has called us to not be alone. He calls us to have fellowship with others for times like these. So when you are needing help - help is there. When you are needing godly men to influence your children because their dad is gone - they are there. When you need girlfriends to come watch a romantic comedy on your 10 year anniversary and just laugh with you because you are missing your best friend  - they are there. That is how God calls us to love each other. And I am so thankful for each one of you who loved on me and my kids while Gino was away. God is teaching me that that when we move - these types of relationships are vital, not only for me but for my kids. So thank you to all of you who loved on us. I pray you know that each of you are so special to us. And thank you to everyone who prayed for us. We felt those prayers - God answered those prayers. May He be given glory and honor for that!

I pray that my family loves on all of you the way that we have been loved by each of you. God Bless!

Perfect Peace

It's been over a month since we last posted anything. God continues to be so good and faithful.  He has brought another new supporter our way and He constantly reassures us we are on His right path.  In my last email to our ministry team and partners I shared a verse from Isaiah. Isaiah 26:3 "He will keep in perfect peace all those who trust in Him, whose thoughts are fixed in Him."  This has been a running theme these past couple of months. What confirmed this is that Gino's Dad actually had shared the verse with him in a conversation that I was not a part and when I posted the verse I hadn't known about Gino’s conversation with his Dad.  God confirmed to us our need to trust in Him and to keep our thoughts on Him. I find that lately I've been quoting this verse a lot to myself. Whether due to the stresses of raising our support for the mission field, whether the kids or us are sick, which we've been a lot lately, whether it's just been a hard day, etc.  God has given me this verse to remember, and when I remember to repeat it over and over again on days like that, the Holy Spirit really does fill me with His perfect peace. It doesn't remove the hardship but it's like a fog lifts and I see clearer. I see the light at the end of the tunnel. Things don't look so gloomy or tough. Sometimes He even uses my little ones to say just the right thing to make me smile. Like last Saturday when I was getting Sean ready for bed and he asks for another story (if you know Sean, you know we've told him like 50 stories already during the day), but I decide to tell him a story and to tell him a good one. He cuts in half way through and hugs me and says, "Mom, you're my best friend," Well, not only peace, but also joy washed over me and I realized that all the time outs we did and all the reprimanding didn't ruin the day. It was indeed a very good day.  I love how God will use little ones to bring light and joy and peace into hard days and make them seem not so hard at all.

Last weekend we went to see Gino's family and Papa John and I were talking about Isaiah 26:3 again and also Psalms 23.  We were reflecting on a few specific words in those chapters. How important it is that we focus on every word; like how God promises His perfect peace to those who TRUST in Him.  We have to TRUST to get that peace.  How often I fall so short. Yet even when all I do is repeat that verse and pray it out loud, He is so merciful and gives me the peace that He promises. Well Papa John's talk inspired me.  I had to write in Gino's phone real quick so I wouldn't forget the words but I hope you enjoy it. It's a song inspired by Isaiah 26 and Psalm 23. I call it "Papa John's Song." It's a prayer of mine and I pray that we all can experience God's perfect peace all our days and that we all will work hard to TRUST in Him.

Papa John's song - dated 3/11/12

Your goodness and mercy follow behind me, They follow behind me, all of my days

As I walk through the valleys and into the shadows, Fear will not seize me, No fear will not seize me

For I will fix my thoughts on you

Remembering you have saved me

For any darkness, death, or fear is already beaten by you

So let me not fear Lord, let me not fear

Cast it all out, Yes cast it all out

Replace it with your perfect peace, Replace it with your perfect peace

Lord, you promise Salvation surrounds me, Salvation surrounds me

Making me strong

Lord help me trust you, Help me obey you

And bring only glory and honor to you

For I will fix my thoughts on you

Remembering you have saved me

For any darkness, death, or fear is already beaten by you

So let me not fear Lord, Let me not fear

Cast it all out, Yes cast it all out

Replace it with your perfect peace, Replace it with your perfect peace

Replace it with your perfect peace, that this world can't give to me

Replace it with your perfect peace, Lord your peace is all I need

Blessings - The Quinns

"My Upmost for His Highest"

A few weeks ago, I (Laura), was given the opportunity to speak at a teacher's devotion, to share what God's doing in our life and share our need to raise monthly support to start our journey as a missionary family. I have to share how God has been so faithful and just such a provider. I pray it encourages you as well.  As I was trying to balance housework, three kids, and a sick husband, I wondered how in the world was I going to speak.  What was I going to say? I am not eloquent with my words by any means. I was a nervous wreck. The weekend before I spoke, I started writing down what I might say and looked over past notes we had.  It just didn't sit right with me this time. So I prayed and just kept asking God to use me and to somehow encourage those who hear.  After I prayed, not only did my husband come down with food poisoning or a flu bug, but Sean had tummy issues too and a cough on top of it, Hugh soon followed. I started to wonder if I was supposed to still talk or if we were being attacked spiritually. The day before I spoke I kept praying and praying and I was determined to also read His word and spend time with Him. I had been wondering what to read when I remembered talking to a wonderful woman named Ruth. She had been encouraging Gino and I as we shared at a Bible study about Operation Mobilization and our part in it. She asked if I had read "My Utmost for His Highest" and I had read it a few times but I was wondering what to read again and told her I should read that again. She encouraged me too and reminded me that Oswald Chambers was a missionary as well. I had made a mental note to start and of course forgot.  Well the day before I was to speak, that book came to mind so I put the kids down for a nap and picked it up.  I prayed and said, "Lord, speak to me."  Well thank God I decided to listen and read it because it's what I used the next day to speak.  It's what opened my eyes to see what He wanted me to share. By the way, I got through the first passage and was so excited that I was going to read some more and Hugh started screaming so I only had a chance to read this one passage.

Here is what Oswald Chambers wrote, "...my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death." (Philippians 1:30)... It went on to say , "We will all feel very much ashamed if we do not yield to Jesus the areas of our lives He has asked us to yield to Him.  It's as if Paul were saying, "My determined purpose is to be my utmost for His highest, my best for His glory." 

To reach that level of determination is a matter of the will, not debate or reasoning.  An undue amount of thought and consideration for ourselves is what keeps us from making that decision, although we cover it up with the pretense that it is others we are considering.  When we think seriously about what it will cost others if we obey the call of Jesus, we tell God He doesn't know what our obedience will mean.  Keep to the point - He does know.  Shut out every other thought and keep yourself before God in this one thing only  - my utmost for His highest. I am determined to be absolutely and entirely for Him and Him alone." My unstoppable determination for His holiness. 

( **I was tempted to cancel as the kids were sick and Gino was sick and then Hugh was up every couple hours coughing and then eating...so I had no sleep but I knew that I was supposed to go. I knew that this was a God given opportunity. So I went and you know what? Gino felt better that day and Sean did too, Hugh's cough also started getting better. Coincidence....I must say NO.) 

I pray that as Gino and I press on to follow His will for our lives, that we will fight hard to give our utmost for His highest. I pray that we can all say that we are determined to give our best for His glory. Through this journey, God has brought wonderful people who have encouraged us, and have even been used by God to show us what to say on certain occasions. I am thankful for those moments when I can recognize Him at work because it helps confirm to me that we are on track, His track.  While I stumble and fall back many times, I pray that this year, my best is given more than my worst and that God is all the more glorified for it. I pray this for your lives as well.

We are still sharing and God is building up our ministry team. We are so blessed and thankful for those what have joined us and are going to be sending us out.  We are still looking for more partners.  God just brought in most of our moving/start up costs, which were quite high as it includes moving and going to a conference/training called the "GO conference". This is where OM missionaries spend time training and praying before they are "SENT" to their destinations whether in the US or abroad. Being that our moving costs are almost met, another one of our partners already wants to help us complete that need.  What a blessing. So now we just have to focus on finding folks to partner with us in monthly support of our ministry. Our monthly expenses (based on actual bills our friends generously shared with us and insurances, 4 trips a year to various countries) it's about $6200 a month. Currently, monthly, quarterly, or annual commitments from our ministry partners make up 38% of our monthly budget! Gino has set up a calculator on our Excel spreadsheet that shows how many supporters we need at different monthly amounts in order to encourage us along the way. To make up the difference of %62, we would need approximately 39 people to partner with us at $100 per month, or 77 people to partner with us at $50 per month, or 154 people to partner with us at $25 etc. God is so good and He is moving, even when we fell that we are not. Once we reach 75% we will put the house on the market ( I'm still praying God will bring someone to knock on our door and want to buy it! Don’t laugh, it has happened to other OM’ers).

Please be praying that God will open up more opportunities for us to minister and share, and that He would give us the courage and faith to do so when those opportunities arise. We are so very blessed and eager to share His faithfulness with our family, friends, and the church and hope to continue to get the chance to do so.

Also please be praying that we can manage our time so that we might fix up the house a bit and be able to sell it quickly when the time comes. Please pray that He will get us there in His time but if it is His will there is a possible tour in the summer that Gino is needed for and it would be good to get there before that so we can settle as a family.

 He keeps bringing wonderful teammates beside us. Thank you if you are one of them and you are reading this. Always remember that you are part of a ministry team along with us. Without you fulfilling your God given role to send, we couldn’t fulfill our God given role to go.

We will try to keep everyone updated more often. It's been a bit of a juggling act but I'm finally getting the hang of everything. God Bless you all! Praying this year is filled with blessings for all of you!

Thankful for all of you,

Laura and Gino

Come see what our family will be a part of and hear an awesome concert on top!

Where we are...No turning back

It's been awhile since our last update. One major event that occurred was the birth of our son Hugh. He is such a blessing and Sean and Kayleigh are awesome siblings to their new brother.  Praise God. All that being said, lack of sleep and juggling the 3 kids as they now outnumber Gino and I has been a bit of a challenge. But we wanted to take time to update everyone on how God is working in our life and still moving us to the mission field.

A few weeks ago I was driving in the car praying and asking God to give me wisdom as I answered some questions someone had about us joining Operation Mobilization and what exactly we were doing.  As I was driving, Third Day was playing in the background, as I had put their concert DVD in earlier for Sean to watch.  The song "I have decided to follow Jesus" was playing and it actually brought me to tears as the meaning of those words really summed up our life the past 4 years. Here are the words:

I have decided to follow Jesus
I have decided to follow Jesus
I have decided to follow Jesus
No turning back, No turning back

The world behind me, the cross before me
The world behind me, the cross before me
The world behind me, the cross before me
No turning back, No turning back

Though none go with me, still I will follow
Though none go with me, still I will follow
Though none go with me, still I will follow
No turning back, No turning back

"No turning back".  That sums up our life right now. God has given us clear direction and has transformed our lives. We have decided to truly mean these words. To follow Him no matter what. There is no turning back and so we press forward excited to follow him step by step.  That does not mean we are perfect and that fear does not creep in, but He gives us the strength to obey His will.  We are still in the process of raising our monthly support. God has brought wonderful ministry partners already and we are at 36%.  We still need to raise 64% and our goal is still to be out there by February. There are a few trips coming up - one in March and it would be a blessing to be out there by February to get the family settled and so Gino can go in March. The team needs him and we are seeing that God is calling us louder and louder and so we are pressing on. We are praying God gives us opportunities to share with more people in order that He may be glorified as they may hear what He is doing in our lives. We are also praying that those whom we share with will prayerfully consider joining our monthly ministry support team if our ministry matches their concerns, just as Paul mentions to the Philippians (Phil 4:10) who are supporting his ministry. Whether the people we share with choose to join our ministry support team or not, we hope that their time of prayer in seeking the Lord's direction will be new, refreshing, and encouraging, building their faith in our Abba Father.

Also as we prepare to go, we are gearing up to fix up the house as much as we can so that we may put it on the market.  God keeps bringing support in surprising ways which is awesome and confirmation that we are following His will for us right now. But we must be diligent as well.  If you are reading this and are interested in meeting with us or talking to us or getting information please contact us! We'd love to share what God is doing in our lives.  Thank you all for continued prayers!

Thoughts about myself

This has been a season of change and transformation. At times I find myself apologizing to God for failing to commit enough of my time to meeting with others in order to build our ministry team. At other times, I take a step back and praise God for all the things He is teaching me along the way. Fears arise and are put at ease. I let worry set in and He calms me. But the most important thing that God has taught me lately is quite basic, yet it has been extremely important for me to grasp. Are you ready?......

        

                           IT IS NOT ABOUT ME

Not a very profound statement right? But in order for our ministry to be a success, it can’t be about us. It has to be all about Him.

As I have struggled with myself to grasp this concept, God has shown the joy and rest that comes with laying all my burdens on Him. Sometimes I think about our support raising and the amount we have left to go, and admittedly it has given me a big lump in my gut if I dwell on it long enough. I have found myself asking God, “How are we ever going to raise the support to go?”. But it’s in these times when God reminds me that it’s not about me. It’s not about what I can do. Can I raise the funds needed to go myself? I just don’t think so. God can though and He will. After all it is His ministry, not mine. I didn’t create it, He did, and He invited us to join Him. It’s His job to get us there.

God continues to show us time and time again that He already has all of our supporters picked out.  When we are down emotionally, He hasn’t failed yet to remind us that He is in charge of our financial support by bringing a new supporter whom we didn’t technically ask to support us. We’ve worried at times about sharing our ministry with others fearing that we may not use all the tools and methods we’ve been taught regarding raising ministry support, but again, when it comes down to it the funds are Gods job. There’s no formula or methodology to ensure that everyone we ask will join our support team. It’s God who will stir the hearts of those who will join us and then He will provide us with the funds.

Throughout the Bible you can read of how God is the one who blessed His people with financial support.

• Numbers 18:21:  21 "To the Levites I have given every tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service that they do, their service in the tent of meeting,

I’ve also been reading a book lately in which the author provides an example of how he sees tithing, which has been a great example for me. To paraphrase, the author thinks of our tithe as going straight up to God on Sunday morning, then He throws it back down into the offering baskets in the Usher’s closet just before they begin counting. God supports His people. When we give, we give to Him, and He in turn gives back to us His people.

God has shown me our job. Our job as His children is to bring Him glory through our ministry, sharing the awesome things He’s done in our lives and in the lives of our friends already on the mission field, ultimately encouraging others to live for Christ and find comfort and joy in fulfilling the roles that He has created us for. After realizing this, it hit me; God has already given us a passion to share about the great things He is doing. To encourage others to be a functioning part of the body. To bring Him glory and in the process watch people’s faith in God grow as they learn and/or see first hand how our He interacts with His people. When I look at it this way, my job is not so hard after all! It is our joy to honor Him. He has already instilled this passion in us. We just need to use it to point others to Him, because after all, it is not about us. What an awesome and loving God we serve. 

So with that, I have thought of updating one of our prayer requests. For those that have our brochure, in it you will find we ask for prayer that our financial support needs would be met. Honestly though, I feel like this is somewhat a childish prayer request. We already have the answer. God will meet our needs. He already has everything planned out and everyone picked out. He has called us to go and He will get us to where He wants us to be. If I could change our prayer request on our brochure, I might change it to this:

•  Please pray that our hearts would be focused on glorifying God through our ministry.

It’s a simple prayer request, but with so much weighing in on us, it’s not that difficult to lose focus and return to our selfish natures. The more we focus on ourselves, the less we focus on Him and what He’s doing. The less we focus on Him, the less we get the chance to glorify Him by sharing the great things He is doing in our lives. The less we share, the less others are encouraged.

So here is my prayer for you who read this: That you would be encouraged by the great work of the Lord and that you would be refreshed by His outpouring of love on His children. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

Fullness of Joy

Lately the past few weeks have been ok. We must admit that it felt like we were just getting through each day, we found ourselves in a rutt.  We found ourselves feeling down, tired, discouraged, and just unmotivated. I say we felt joy-less.  This week has been an answer to prayer and God totally opened our eyes to see just how much joy we can experience only through HIM.  Gino was asked to speak at the young adults class this past Sunday and so instead of turning on the TV to relax after the kids went to bed, we actually spent time reading God's word, talking things out, and praying.  What a difference this week has been.  We also were given opportunity last week to share what God has been doing in our lives these past 3 years with a couple over dinner which was great and encouraging as well. Gino gave a message focused on Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12.  One of the passages was:

Romans 12:6-8

 ⁶ In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. ⁷ If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. ⁸ If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.

He talked about the body of Christ and how each of us have been blessed with individual gifts that are needed and important to furthering the gospel to the ends of the earth.  Not only that but he shared about how God opened our eyes to see that these gifts are to bring us joy.  God didn't create us and give us gifts that pull us down or make us depressed when we use them.  He challenged us all to look and reflect at what we are doing with the talents God has given us. Are we seeking Him out to hear what He wants us to be doing? Are we getting to know what gifts He's given us and the putting them to use for Him? Gino always thought his love of music was for his own pleasure only. He never dreamed that God had maybe given him those talents to be used for bringing the gospel message to others and maybe to also encourage other believers.  He had  a picture of what being used by God looked like - all sacrifice and no joy. But God has shown us over the years through His word - that in Him is life and life abundantly. In him is fullness of joy.  Gino has experienced first hand the joy of using his guitar skills to give God glory and bring others closer to God.  He's never experienced any joy like it.

I have been reading a book by John Piper called "Desiring God".  In it he says: " What would bring us fullness of joy? Not a padded and protected and comfortable life.  Rich people are as miserably unhappy as poor people. What we need in answer to prayer to fill our joy is the power of love.  Or as John puts it, the power to bear fruit.  Prayer is the fountain of joy because it is the source of power to love.  John 15:7-8: "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.  By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit."  (You see this verse isn't stating that God is a Genie...if we have God's word in us and we know His word, then we know Him. If we know Him, personally, then we will know His will for us, therefore we ask....and it's done...and He is glorified because He made it possible.)

We are seeing personally that true joy comes from knowing God and loving Him and doing His will.  While there's hardships and trials, the joy that comes from doing God's will is worth it all.  Compared to so many missionaries in the world, anything we face here is trivial and yet we all have that same joy and that same drive to get God's work done and be a part of His purpose.  What encouraged me about Gino's message was that we ALL can be a part of getting the gospel to the ends of the world.  What's more is that we can enjoy and, in fact, have joy abundantly doing our part in getting the gospel spread.
Psalms 40:8 says: I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your instructions are written on my heart."

God Bless!