Pray For One Thing

We are at the airport about to get on our plane to Ethiopia and I just wanted to tell you some of our prayer requests. I really have 1.
1. This first prayer request is the foundation and filter of our other prayers. Please pray God would grant love, faith and joy in Jesus for the praise of His glory. not just more love, faith and joy for us but for us and you and my kids in Ethiopia, and my kids in Houston, and orphanage staff workers, and my parents, and our friends, and our kid's friends. We know this is the will of God for us. We do not know if health, or airplane flights on time are His will for us, but we know love, faith and joy are. I am praying our love for Jesus increases. I am praying He draws near to us and shows us more of His beauty. I pray our love for people increases. I pray our dependence on Him increases. I pray our trust in His goodness to us increases. I pray our joy in Christ increases as we experience His love and trust Him.
2. Please pray that our 2 children in Ethiopia would feel loved by us and by God.
3. Please pray we develop a good relationship with the orphanage manager and workers. Please pray we are able to meet with our children for more than 1 hour a day. We have heard this is determined by the orphanage director.
4. Please pray we pass court on May 18th. sometimes people do not pass court the first time.
5. Please pray our little Girl E continues to get better. We think she is still in the hospital, but off the feeding tube. She is continuing to get better.
6. Please pray we do the work of God He desires for us to do while we are there. We want to really sense from the Spirit the words or actions of faith He wants us to take. We feel like we are get to be the eyes for so many who would love to be in our spot. We want to see it well for you and communicate it well to you. This is a work of the Spirit.
7. We are going to get to meet our Compassion child, (we love Compassion International) and visit a compassion site next Thursday. Please pray for us to encourage their work and faith in Jesus.
8. Please pray for strength, faith and patience for my parents as they take care of my kids in Houston.
9. Pray that God would do a fresh work in us as we walk among orphans and the poor.

The Best Mother's Day Present!

Psalm 103: 2-5 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, 3 who forgives all your iniquity,who heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit,who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 5 who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's."
This is the best mother's day gift. We just got this news tonight from the doctor in Ethiopia. We praise Jesus for healing our little girl in Ethiopia. It was so sweet of Him to show us His steadfast love and mercy through this.
Here's the note. 
"Edil is doing fine no diarrhea, no cough, no fever. She is taking food orally. Still there is NG tube feeding with her special milk. She has special attendant. Her checkup for TB is negative. Her leg edema has improved she lost like 300g because of this edema, but i am very hopeful that she will start putting in weight in few days."
Thank you, God for this precious gift for Mother's Day. I receive it as love and a glorious display of the riches of your mercy!
Jesus is the All-Satisfying Treasure!
Ashley 

She is improving. Join me in the fight for FAITH!

The doctor in Ethiopia said that our Baby E is still improving. Thank you so much God! All glory to you. Thank you for hearing us and choosing to answer us in this way. Her diarrhea has stopped. She is taking some feeding by mouth. She does not have a fever. She is coughing less. She still has an IV and needs the Kwashiokor milk. Please continue to pray for her healing and the presence of the Spirit to fill her with comfort. I have spent hours and hours today trying to figure out how to get her some vitamin supplements they requested. Please pray God would help.
I have to say that I am having to battle anxiety right now. I just wanted you to know that in the midst of this it can feel like the weight of the world is on our shoulders. I just got sick and have a fever. Jay has been sick. We are doing some remodeling to our house and we are putting in a new pool. This is the last 3 weeks of school for my kids. They have parties galore. We leave in a week and  a half for our court date in Ethiopia. All I want to do is stay on my knees for Edil. It is so cool how God uses trials to clarify what matters. I love times when I am so desperate I do not want to get off my knees.
So I am listening to Piper's series Battling Unbelief, http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/by-series/battling-unbelief, specifically the Anxiety sermon. They are may be my favorite Piper sermons, but I love 1 & 2 Peter.)  The Christian life is a fight for faith. 2 Tim 4:7 God commands us not  to be anxious but trust Him Matthew 6: 25,27, 31 and 34. The root of anxiety is unbelief in the promises of God. 2 Responses. 1. This is not good news. It is good news and bad news. Like finding out you have cancer. You need to know you have it so you can fight it before it kills you. 2. How can I have any assurance at all?
Listen to Piper and learn how to fight. "My answer to this concern goes like this: Suppose you are in a car race and your enemy who doesn't want you to finish the race throws mud on your windshield. The fact that you temporarily lose sight of your goal and start to swerve does not mean that you are going to quit the race. And it certainly doesn't mean that you are on the wrong racetrack. Otherwise the enemy wouldn't bother you at all. What it means is that you should turn on your windshield wipers and use your windshield washer.

What I mean is this: when anxiety strikes and blurs our vision of God's glory and the greatness of the future that he plans for us, this does not mean that we are faithless, or that we will not make it to heaven. It means our faith is being attacked. At first blow our belief in God's promises may sputter and swerve. But whether we stay on track and make it to the finish line depends on whether we set in motion a process of resistance. Whether we fight back against anxiety. Will we turn on the windshield wipers and will we use our windshield washer?

The Testimony of Scripture

Psalm 56:3 says, "When I am afraid, I put my trust in thee." Notice: it does not say, "I never struggle with fear." Fear strikes and the battle begins. So the Bible does not assume that true believers will have no anxieties. Instead the Bible tells us how to fight when they strike.

For example, 1 Peter 5:7 says, "Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you." It does NOT say, you will never feel any anxieties to cast onto God. It says, when the mud splatters your windshield and you lose temporary sight of the road and start to swerve in anxiety, turn on your wipers and squirt your windshield washer.

To the One Who Struggles Daily with Anxiety

So my response to the person who has to deal with feelings of anxiety every day is to say: that's more or less normal. The issue is how you deal with them.

And the answer to that is: you deal with anxieties by battling unbelief. And you battle unbelief by meditating on God's Word and asking for the help of his Spirit. The windshield wipers are the promises of God that clear away the mud of unbelief. And the windshield washer fluid is the help of the Holy Spirit.

Without the softening work of the Holy Spirit the wipers of the Word just scrape over the blinding clumps of unbelief. Both are necessary—the Spirit and the Word. We read the promises of God and we pray for the help of his Spirit. And as the windshield clears so we can see the welfare that God plans for us (Jeremiah 29:11), our belief grows strong and the swerving of anxiety smoothes out."

What an amazing word. May we use the trust His promises in scripture with the power of the Holy Spirit. Use your windshield wipers and wiper fluid when anxiety attacks. 

Hear Piper model how to fight for Faith:

• When I am anxious about some risky new venture or meeting, I battle unbelief with the promise: "Fear not for I am with you, be not dismayed for I am your God; I will help you, I will strengthen you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand" (Isaiah 41:10).
• When I am anxious about my ministry being useless and empty, I fight unbelief with the promise, "So shall my word that goes forth from my mouth; it will not come back to me empty but accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it" (Isaiah 55:11).
• When I am anxious about being too weak to do my work, I battle unbelief with the promise of Christ, "My grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9), and "As your days so shall your strength be" (Deuteronomy 33:25).
• When I am anxious about decisions I have to make about the future, I battle unbelief with the promise, "I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you" (Psalm 32:8).
• When I am anxious about facing opponents, I battle unbelief with the promise, "If God is for us who can be against us!" (Romans 8:31).
• When I am anxious about being sick, I battle unbelief with the promise that "tribulation works patience, and patience approvedness, and approvedness hope, and hope does not make us ashamed" (Romans 5:3–5).
• When I am anxious about getting old, I battle unbelief with the promise, "Even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save" (Isaiah 46:4).
• When I am anxious about dying, I battle unbelief with the promise that "none of us lives to himself and none of us dies to himself; if we live we live to the Lord and if we die we die to the Lord. So whether we live or die we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and rose again: that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living" (Romans 14:9–11).
• When I am anxious that I may make shipwreck of faith and fall away from God, I battle unbelief with the promise, "He who began a good work in you will complete it unto the day of Christ" (Philippians 1:6). "He who calls you is faithful. He will do it" (1 Thessalonians 5:23). "He is able for all time to save those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25).]

I am printing this out and using it to fight for faith in Christ tomorrow. Trusting that when I seek Him first all these things will be added unto me in the exact measure He desires!

Thank you Father, for your great and precious promises. You are Faithful!

Jesus is the All-Satisfying Treasure!

Ashley 

Thank you, God that our Baby Girl E is doing better.

I am so thankful for every day that God saves our Baby E's life. I am so thankful for every step she takes towards getting better! I just want to declare that every bit of healing is from His merciful hand! We got a report from her doctor in Ethiopia that her condition is much better than yesterday. When he visited her she was sitting up comfortably and being fed a little orally. They are concerned that she is getting another infection. Please pray with us that God would protect her or heal her from this new infection. He also said that he is hopeful that she can get better very soon. We praise you, God. Thank you.
I just wanted to tell you also thank you so much for praying with us and bearing this burden with us. Gal 6:2 says, "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." You have loved us well in this. You have carried this burden with us and encouraged us to hope and trust in Christ more. I can not thank you enough for that!
We love you.
Jesus is the All-Satisfying Treasure!
Ashley 
Luke 9:24 "For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it."

Praise God! Our little boy E is doing fine.

We got an update that our little boy E is doing fine. Our agency told us that they think the water was contaminated and that is how the children got the bacterial infection. They are saying all the children got sick, but it was only the little ones who needed to be hospitalized or died. They said many more died that we had originally thought and several are still in the hospital. Please continue to pray for all these children. We praise God that our little boy is doing well. Thank you God for saving His life! Please, Great God, save our baby girl too.
We have no update on our little Baby E. Thank you so much for praying.
Jesus is the All-Satisfying Treasure!
Ashley
Psalm 104:1 "Bless the Lord, O my soul!
O Lord my God, you are very great!"

Please pray! Our Baby Girl E is not doing well.

Friends,
We are desperate for God to work on behalf of Our Baby Girl E!. 
My heart is so very, very burdened. It seems like she is not doing as well as we had thought. Her condition is stable but still critical. She still has severe malnutrition and anemia. They are concerned that she has Sepsis. All that we knew, but we thought that her condition was improving, not getting worse. Please, please continue to pray for her to have healing and comfort. Please pray God would allow her body to get the nutrition it so desperately needs. Please pray that she would feel the Holy Spirit's comfort and the love of God. Please pray that she does not have Sepsis. 
Please pray for Jay and I to have wisdom on how best we can help her. 

I know I can not heal her. I can't even hug her. Please pray that it would be God's will for Him to heal her.

I will make Him my Refuge and taste of His goodness. I trust Him no matter what.

Jesus is the All-Satisfying Treasure!
Ashley Brown

Romans 34:8, "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!
Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!"

Praying for my sweet Baby E! Trusting deeply that God is good!

On Wednesday at 6:00 pm. We got a message from our agency saying that our Baby Girl E in Ethiopia, (the little girl we are adopting,) was in the hospital with the flu. We were devastated with the news and began to cry, pray and ask everyone to pray. We received an update on Thursday that it was normal for orphanages to take children to the hospital to quarantine them from the other children and get them basic medical help. At 3:00 pm on Friday we got news that our our little girl does not have a the flu but a very serious bacterial infection and she is in critical condition. Several of the other babies in the orphanage have already died. Our hearts ached for her. We desperately pleaded to God to help and asked even more people to pray for her. We know God alone is the Healer, Protector, and Comforter. He can do in an instant what we can not do in a life time. We need Him!
Praise God on Saturday we got word that she is now in stable condition. We are thankful for this news and we are praying for her body to get the nutrients it needs to heal and that she would not get a secondary infection. Please continue to pray for our sweet Baby Girl E and that God would be glorified in all this. Right now we think her brother, our our little Boy E is fine and has not gotten sick. We praise God for His protection and we are asking for it to continue.
I feel like He is teaching us so much through this:
1. It draws us to our daughter even more. We loved her already but this sickness has made us long for her and her brother even more. We can not get to them fast enough.
2. I feel like it has confirmed in our hearts that death is GAIN for those who are in Christ and yes for babies who have yet to know Him. We have talked to our kids about our Baby Girl E being sick and told them the Bible is clear that babies go to heaven if they die. 2 Samuel 12:22-23 So we are sitting out on our driveway having a picnic dinner on Friday and I am still crying. Braden says, "Daddy, all babies go to heaven! So Baby E will go to heaven if she dies and that is better." Amen, Braden. Yes, it is Gain! Kennedy says, "Baby E would get to learn about Jesus from Jesus! How cool would that be." I start laughing at the sweetness of it and Kennedy says, "Look mommy is laughing and crying at the same time."
3. It is teaching us to trust more in God and not in human resources. Being 8,344 miles from our daughter just confirms how helpless we are as humans. We need God to work and move on our behalf for the sake of His glory. Some trust in doctors and some trust in medicine, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. Don't get me wrong. We love TCH, doctors, medicine and IVs but they are not our Hope or our Refuge. He is.
4. It is making us pray more fervently. I praise God that He hears and cares. When we got the good news about Baby Girl E, Braden said, "God heard us and He is healing her." I love that!
5. Even from Jay's lesson today from Psalm 34, he is teaching us to taste and see that He is good. We have no promise that He will heal our little girl. We say with David and Joel, "Who knows whether the Lord may be gracious to me..." 2 Samuel 12:22, Joel 2:14  But we do have the promise of Romans 8:31-32, "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" He is for us! He will not spare giving us one good thing. 
We love you, Father. Thank you for being for us. Please heal, protect and comfort our Baby Girl E tonight. Please continue to protect our Little Boy E. Be Glorified in all!
Jesus is the All-Satisfying Treasure!
Ashley