the belier family

Daily struggle

2010-11-08T15:27:00.000-08:00

Lord what do I have to offer these people, what do I have to give these people? Jesus I am having a hard time relating, a hard time finding the right words that will make a difference. I desire to be all things to all people so that some might be saved as Paul says in 1Cor 9:22. But how do I live that out, how do I become homeless to the homeless, jobless to those who don't have jobs, drug addict to those controlled by drugs. My heart is big, for I long to "fix" everyone, but I know it's not about what I can do or accomplish but what you need me to say or do. The needs are never ending and so overwhelming, the burden weighs my heart. I desire for people to have the same relationship I have with you, to know you like I do, to have peace in this fallen, dark, destructive world we live in. Please teach me how to reach the unreachable, to love the unloveable and to give hope to the hopeless. Everyday we meet another one of your treasured people and I realize just how much of too much stuff we actually have. Help me to focus on the people you need me to reach, so that your Glory is shown! Matt 22:39 Love your neighbor as yourself. I pray that I will think of my neighbors needs above my own!!!

God' treasure

2010-11-08T14:29:00.000-08:00

I had another opportunity to meet one of God's treasures whose name is John. He was standing on the corner of the gas station in the Canyon Springs Pkwy, waving a gas can around. I drove on by Him and headed to the fed ex place to make some copies. After I finished my errand I made a u-turn and decided to go buy the guy some gas. By the time I got there the man had gone inside the gas station, so I went Inside to track him down. I asked him if he needed gas, then filled up his gas can, and then offered to buy him some lunch. We went to the McDonalds across the street. John told me that he was 61 yrs old grew up in Dallas,TX. He said he has a place to live but work is very hard to find. I asked him if he knew who Jesus Christ was, and he said yes he did, that he had a relationship with him, but struggled with this sin and that sin. I encouraged Him that God cares about our hearts and that we should start by loving him and then everything flows from that. Thank you God for John give him the courage and strength to give up things that are blocking him from loving you. Send someone his way to disciple him. Provide a consist job to help pay for his needs. Teach him how to love you!

Treasure Hunting

2010-10-31T11:49:00.000-07:00

The other day we had the opportunity to include God on one of our dates. Jeff calls it treasure hunting. We prayed and asked God that he would use us to speak into someones life while we were out and about. We have been feeling convicted for a while to be consciously aware of other people while we are living our everyday life, but it always seems like people ask for help or money at the crazy busy times and we justify now is just not a good time. But God has said "your time needs to become my time, do not be too busy for me to use you to help my people!" So we set off on our date for God to use us. We prayed for something specific to be able to find who he wanted us to talk to. Jeff got the word HAPPY, not knowing if that was someones name or if it was going to be on their shirt we stared looking. After driving for a while we arrived at a park and started walking. When we first got there, there was only one man sitting on a bench, he looked normal a tad scruffy but not in bad shape we passed by said hello and kept walking. We felt anxious, overwhelmed, and then fear started settling in. We talked about the feelings that were coming up. We do this for a living now, we are "missionaries" why would helping someone out and telling them about Jesus be such a struggle. Our heart cries out that people would come to know you, but when the rubber meets the road anxiety and fear fill our hearts, Lord what is wrong with us. More people filled the park, we scanned over all of them looking for our "happy" clue, not seeing it we thought let's just start talking to the people that look homeless. We couldn't make a distinction of who was and who wasn't homeless. Not wanting to go up to someone and offend them by asking if they needed money, when they were not even homeless we felt defeated. Jeff and I talked to God and expressed how we felt stupid that it was so difficult for us, we thought our intentions were pure but He sweetly started convicting us. It was again convenient for us to help someone. We had gotten a babysitter for the kids, devoted a couple hours of our day to "do the will of God". Although those times are good, God doesn't want us checking our good deeds off a list, He wants it flowing from our veins, that we can't help but help people every time they ask even at the most inconvenient times! Wow what a selfish life we have been living! We of course apologized and ask that we would become His disciples all the time and not just when it is easy. To finish the story, we left the park and as we drove away we realized it was the backyard to an old folks home. Oh man I am sure almost all the people were just scruffy retired old guys enjoying a sunny day at the park, thank the Lord we didn't ask and offend them by thinking they were homeless. We had some errands to run before getting back to our kids. After leaving our last store an extremely tall black man was standing outside asking for money for the metro link, to be able to get to LA. We gave him all the cash we had, and got in our car. Jeff said "hey why don't we drive him to the metro link and buy him a ticket" I said "ok", but at that moment fear again sank in. What if he was lying?what if he robs us? or hurts me?... I bit my lip and thought oh well. The man got into the car. His name was Fredrick he was about seven
feet tall, slender, hair in braids and finger nails as long as Florida. We started up conversation and discovered he just left rehab, and knew
the Lord thru rehab but was struggling with a consistent relationship with Him. We talked for about ten min, and encouraged him to give it
over to God. We arrived at the metro link and Jeff got out to buy him his ticket. As I was waiting in the car I notice we stopped behind a taxi.
Jeff got into the car and right before he drove off I said hey look the name of the taxi is HAPPY taxi! Holy moly God you are an amazing God that we serve! That day did we not only learn our lesson but God still choose to use us despite our shortcomings to find one of his treasures whose name was Fredrick. Thank you Jesus for your forgiveness and your grace, may Fredricks life be changed thru you. Give him The strength to surrender! May you be given the glory for his life as well as ours. We love you Jesus!

How to avoid living a lukewarm life in southern California

2010-10-18T08:53:00.000-07:00

From the moment you open your eyes, physically get on your knees before God and declare with your mouth that He alone is God, (Ps 19:14, Ps 37:30, Ps 71:8). He alone is Lord of your life, He alone is worthy of your praise, every thought, action and desire (Ps 51:15). Then praise Him and thank Him for everything you have, while standing in awe of who He is (Heb 12:28, Ps 95:2, Ps 100:4). Throughout your day fill your mind with the truths of God from His Word, the Bible ( Ps 25:5, Ps 26:3, Ps 86:11). Deny yourself the things this world has to offer, instead live a life of giving and reaching out to others (Phil 2:4). For the Word says we are to share in the sufferings of Christ. Our life is not to live out the American dream but to suffer and be persecuted for Christ Jesus, that He may be given all the glory for our life here on earth (1Peter 4:12-17).
Just think for one moment if you do not even desire to worship God here on earth what makes you think Heaven is going to be enjoyable for you. Do not live a life scooting by just barely making it into heaven, because if you do not enjoy worshiping God now, heaven may just become your hell! Choose everyday to live a life by the Spirit (Romans 8:5-17). And your afterlife will truly be your Heaven!
Revelation 3:16 So, because you are lukewarm-neither hot nor cold-I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

Update

2010-10-15T13:01:00.001-07:00

It's official we are here for a while longer. Looking forward to meeting a lot of new people and sharing our vision. We prayed for God to open doors and like always He answered with way more than we expected. It's times like this that I need to remember always, so when times get hard I can remember His faithfulness. Thank you so much God for caring about this unworthy servant. My dependence is completely on you... Love you so much

Untitled

2010-10-15T12:57:00.001-07:00

Hello

We made it

2010-09-23T09:49:00.000-07:00

Well we survived the trip from Texas to California. We did 17 hours the first day and about 6 the next. it is good to be back home but it is so crazy the spiritual atmosphere is so heavy. The difference from Texas to here is obvious. Both Michelle and I automatically worry about the way we look and feel like we need to go buy stuff. This trip was the first one that we actually prepared ourself. But the reality is that it doesn't matter how much preparing you do its all about putting it into action. We really want to keep our head clear and in line with what God wants us to accomplish. Please help us by praying that mind would be continually set on Him.

Vision for the next generation

2010-09-22T05:49:00.000-07:00

God has been downloading vision and purpose into our hearts for our personal lives, and for the youth of America. He is challenging us to live His dream not the American dream. It is going to take us sacrificing the stuff that this world has to offer to get a clear understanding of Gods direction. Matthew 6:21 "For where your treasure is there your heart will be also". Our desire for our lives as well as this next generation is to have our hearts prepared and at a place they can hear His voice and be obedient to go where He needs us to go.

Matthew 28:19 "therefore go and make disciples of all nations" this was the last thing that Jesus commanded us to do. So how do we do this? I think that the key is to know who God is and then make him known to the rest of the world. No just a knowledge in our head but a knowledge that is experienced through a continual interaction with Him. We are excited to come home and speak to the youth at Sandals church and encourage and challenge their relationship with God. We are looking forward to making new relationships and have some fun in the process.

God gets to the heart

2010-08-30T19:11:00.000-07:00

I want to tell a story of the beginning of a relationship that I gained in the last few months. A friend of mine asked me if I would take some time to talk to his 21 year old son, his name is Steven. His dad gave me a brief explanation of what was going on in his sons life. He said he had some crazy experience with God that scared some sense into him, left where he was and is now back at home. Of course I jumped at the opportunity to be real with someone about a relationship with God. He has been involved in a lifestyle full of drugs, sex, money, I guess you can say he was fulfilling every earthly desire the quickest way he could. I sat down in his parents back yard with him and he began to tell me this story of him coming down off these drugs he was taking at the time. I will spare you the details but he said some interesting things. He had a few times where he would kind of have these out of body experiences where God was revealing some stuff to him, I think God will use any means necessary to save one of his lost sheep. He said it was a glimpse of the spirit realm, and continued saying that he thinks drugs is a gateway. At first I was a little hesitant on thinking that this guy had a real experience with God and was ready to turn his life around but I kept on listening and God gave me a real peace at what He was doing in Stevens heart. He said that each time it was like God was telling him to run away. Steven said at first he thought it was the drugs but realized that it was happening when he was coming down off of them and not at there peek. From what he told me I guess those types of things only happen on the high not when your coming down. Whether he is right or wrong is really not the point the point is is that God was warning him of the danger his lifestyle was leading him to. The third time this happened was the craziest it scared him to the point he got up from where he was and drove home to his parents house which is about two hours from where he was. He broke his cell phone with all of his drug connections in it and told God he was done running away. The conversation between us went on for a while just more stories about his previous lifestyle. I just kept on listening and offered some feedback when I felt it was necisary but mostly just listened. The one thing I did challenge him on was to do this with all of his heart and not just half way. I think some time we may have an amassing experience with God but then when the feeling is over or we come down off of this spiritual high we get right back into the things that destroy our lives. The key is to simply stay consistent. And surround ourself with people that can challenge us and be real with us. I told him at any point I could be there to help him but the choice was going to in the end be his to make. Please partner with me in prayer for Steven that he would rely on Gods strength not his own to accomplish this new journey God has him on. I am deffonatly excited to see what God is going to do in Stevens life and I will keep you updated on his journey the best I can.
Thank you for your prayers,
Jeff

Reality check in Chicago

2010-08-25T21:36:00.000-07:00

Ahh Chicago, I love it. Even though the trip was only for a week God accomplished so much. I took a total of 40 people including students and staff. Michelle and the kids stayed home this time. I challenged the students to really step out of their comfort zone. They really stepped it up. When I asked them to do it I was really talking to myself. God really showed me how my fear of man was hindering Him to use me in radical ways. I couldn't asked the students to do anything that I wasn't willing to do myself. They were only going to go as far as I was willing to go. So I just went for it. And I will tell you God was with me. We did some really in your face ministry like riding the bus and train system and waiting for someone to sit next to us then just go for it asking them if they needed prayer for anything or just simply sit and listen to their story once we got them talking of course. Some people ignored us or just looked at us like we were crazy. But the people that did open up God met with them right there on the bus or train.
I really think God changed peoples life, the people that we met on the street and the kids that were there stepping out of there comfort zone. I had these kids full attention for these two weeks I expressed to these group of kids that the people that they are meeting on the streets are going to still be on the streets when you get home to your nice comfortable homes and safe environment. This trip isn't just something where you go and do your church thing and have great stories to tell about all the good things that were done while you were gone, it's really about God opening there eyes to a world that is suffering and lost right in there own back yard and we can do something about it. There understanding of the spiritual battle was opened wide up, the devil has a grip on these people that he does not want to let go. It is time for us to stand up and do the work that Jesus called us to do the basics of going into all the world and preaching the gospel. That's it, simple I think. Set the captives free... The only answer to the problem is simply Jesus.

Becoming a real mother

2010-06-29T09:12:00.000-07:00

I have been a mom for four years now, and I feel like I am just now learning how to be a mother. What a sacrifice it is 24/7. This use to frustrate me and so much anger would rise up in me of the constant demands from my children. But I have started to pray for all of the fruits of the spirit from God, and that He would show me my children thru his eyes. My greatest role as a mother is to pray, to war on the behalf of my children that they will become who God has created them to be. My thoughts before were all selfish of wanting constant "me time" although every once in a while it is good, this sacrifice is only for such a short time. The fruits of the spirit are such an essential part of following Christ, it allows people to tell us apart from others especially our children. I am on my knees every morning crying out for God to help me become more like Jesus. I have so much to learn and daily I mess up but God's grace is enough for me!

Chicago trip April 29, 2010

2010-04-29T06:56:00.000-07:00

We are currently in Chicago, IL preparing for this summer. Housing is the first on our list of thing to find for the students. It is awesome to see how people in the such a large city interact with each other. There are many people who never say a word but there are a few who try and strike up small talk with the person next to them. God we just pray that you will be able to use us to speak into someone's life. We pray for divine appointments and start preparing the hearts of those that need to hear about you. Thank you Jesus for this opportunity, and may someone come to know you for the first time or on a deeper level with whom we interact. We give you all the glory and praise!

A day at the Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-26T13:40:00.000-07:00

What an amazing beautiful day at the Pumpkin Patch. The girls absolutely loved it. There was swing sets, slides, water games, hay rides, train rides, scarecrow building, feeding the catfish, and face painting, the place was amazing. It ended up being good family quality time...

2008-10-26T13:28:00.000-07:00

2008-10-26T13:22:00.000-07:00

2008-10-26T13:11:00.000-07:00

Update on our life

2008-10-20T11:28:00.000-07:00

We are doing great... Well we are busy but hanging in there. Jeff is crazy busy with School of the Bible. He has class M-F and has 3-4hrs of homework everynight. I am staying at home with my two girls and I also watch two 3yr old. What an experience! I think God is preparing me for a thrid child. So after watching four all day three should be a breeze. We definitely look forward to the weekends of doing nothing but relaxing, because our schedule is so jammed packed during the week. The girls are doing awesome and they love being at home with mom.They have been healthy for about two months now which for them is a world record THANK YOU JESUS. Keep us in your prayers that God will give us grace and patience through this next year of crazy business.

a few pictures of our trip home ...

2008-09-26T12:56:00.001-07:00

We are coming home to visit

2008-08-10T08:27:00.000-07:00

We are coming home to visit California... We will be out August 15-30. We have just finished our SOE (school of evangelism) at Youth With A Mission. What an amazing experience. We have been taken through the ringer of getting rid of all of our junk: selfishness, presumptions, pre-conceived ideas of people groups and of God, and just learned how to be humble, thankful, and learn where people are coming from and that despite our circumstances around us God is a good God. The funny part about finishing these two schools is that we feel that we have way more to learn then when we started them. That is why we will be doing School of the Bible, it is a year long "seminary" school. But before we start that we will be going home to visit all the people who have been supporting us financially and spiritually through these two schools. We are excited about seeing all of you and we thank you for all of our support. We will go into more detail later about what School of the Bible entails. Thanks again everyone!!!!!!

Wild ride in Chicago

2008-07-28T12:42:00.000-07:00

Well we made it back in one peace. It was such a crazy and exciting trip. Chicago is such a diverse city, if you want to reach the world Chicago is the place to do it. Its like every two blocks you have a new people group. You can drive through little India then pass through little Israel then through little Korea. I think you get my point. The kids that we took their were so on fire for God they wanted to tell everyone about their experience with Him. We did street evangelism, Dramas, feeding homeless, cleaning businesses and allot more. Their is one thing that we did that really hit home to me. We went to the city like downtown, right in the heart of all the madness and did this thing called open air worship. Their was a group of about twenty students and five staff with just one guitar. We just started worshiping God right in the midst of the crazy city. You should have seen the reaction of the people passing buy. We were in a tight circle not showing off or trying to get anybody's attention. Just connecting with God and inviting Him into the city. It was like people were drawn to the presence of God. I was on the outside of the circle and when people would stop I would just start talking, just to see if they had any questions. I had quite a few crazy conversations, but over all I think that God used us to plant allot of seeds. To be honest with all of you I am very uncomfortable with that kind of ministry but I really felt like God just wanted me to obey and step way out of my comfort zone. When I did He blew my mind. I really saw Him use me in ways I have never experienced before. It is all about trusting and obeying God. I am constantly learning how to do this every day. I am going to add some pics from the trip. Hope you enjoy them. Jeff

Outreach with SST to Chicago

2008-07-13T07:56:00.000-07:00

Well we are in the middle of our outreach and it is very exciting and exhausting. We are working with about 50 kids that are going through a SST program. It is a three week program for kids ages 13 to 17. They have one week of intense teachings and ministry time. Then we all head to Chicago and take what they have learned and put it into action. I have never experienced anything like this before. Their is restoration and new revelation going on these kids lives. God has given me a heart for these kids. I have been able to lead a small group and teach a drama. It has been good to get to know some of these kids on a more personal level. Some of their stories are amassing. We are leaving on Monday to head for Chicago. I will give an update when I get a chance to jump online. Keep us in your prayers.
Till next time, Jeff and Michelle and girls

Vow Renewal

2008-06-26T06:14:00.000-07:00

This past year of our life in coming to YWAM (Youth With A Mission) has been such a growing experience for us. We were able to deal with a lot of issues in our marriage and Jeff felt like we should recommit our marriage before the Lord, friends, and family. We started our marriage out rocky we weren't committed to the Lord or each other. so after 6 yrs. we realized we needed to renewal our marriage vows and recommit ourselves to each other and declare that we are going to put God first in our individual lives, our marriage, and our family. It was such an amazing experience the whole ceremony was just praising God for keeping us together and declaring that from this point on God will be the center of our lives. It was a very spiritual event!!!

We also want to thank everyone who has supported us through this past year, we could not have done it without you!!!!

vow renewal

2008-06-25T17:54:00.000-07:00

here are a few pictures from our vow renewal: