News From the Dyars...

Hello Everyone! 

We hope you are all doing well. This month, we want to pull the curtain back so to speak and share where we are as people as well as what’s going on for ministry; a conversation between friends. Is that all right? Awesome! Grab a cup of coffee and settle in.

THE FAMILY
 We continue to be astounded at how our children have taken us at our word and stepped out in faith in where they see God calling them. We’ve bred a whole new generation of risk takers and it’s awesome to watch God show up for your kids.

Hannah, our oldest, continues to do well in medical school and will be taking her first set of board exams this summer. She tends to be more naturally inclined to nervousness and anxiety, which has been a struggle at exam time in the past. Over the last year or so, though, she’s made great strides and is approaching her board exams with confidence.

Ellen is graduating from college in May and already has a year long contract
in place. She will be traveling around the country, and possibly even overseas, bringing and teaching theatre to communities and children that otherwise would not have access to theatre. She’s excited to see how He grows her in this next season as she pursues bringing His kingdom to the world of theatre.

Claire is finishing up her first year of ministry school. She has been invited to apply for second year, and she will be submitting her application soon. You may have heard of an event called Azusa Now. Her entire school, 1st, 2nd and 3rd year, is partnering with The Call for this event at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to see a fresh outpouring of signs, wonders, miracles and the proclamation of the Gospel. She has continued to see the Lord perform miracle after miracle for her finances this year. Watching her has both blessed and challenged us. It’s been amazing, and scary, all at the same time!

THE MOVE TO REDDING
10 months in the transition here has been about what one would expect. Moving to a new community,
making new friends, getting plugged into a new church family is fun, exciting, exhausting and stressful all at the same time. This move has been a faith walk for us. A 10 year-old promise fulfilled. But how many of you know that sometimes you still have to subdue giants in order to inhabit the promise? We find ourselves in the place of being recalibrated on some things, particularly when it comes to finances. The old ways of doing things are not producing the same results. And truthfully, they never produced fabulous results.

The Lord has been challenging us on this front recently. Psalm 23:1 “The Lord is my Shepherd, I lack nothing” NIV. When you do a word study on the word lack/want, you find the concept being conveyed is total and complete provision in the perfect present tense. Not, we will lack for nothing some day over in glory; but today: here and now. Because He is our shepherd, we have all the energy, health, faith, relationships, favor, finances, and time we need to fully inhabit the promise and the purpose He has for us.

Where the Lord has been prodding us on this is for us to understand that the issue isn’t our circumstances; it’s our mindset. More specifically, it’s our mindset about Him, and having at least partially bought into the idea that maybe we can’t be trusted with abundance. We’ve settled for “just enough” when He says He is the God of MORE than enough. We’ve settled for reducing our calling down to what we can accomplish with our own two sets of hands….may the Lord forgive us.
At the beginning of the year the Lord added Psalm 27:13 to the meditation “what would have become of me if I had not believed that I would see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living.” AMP.  Julie found herself doing what she usually does when working through things with the Lord, she started singing and this is what the Lord gave her:

No eye has seen
No ear has heard
What You have prepared for me
(repeat)
I believe I will see the goodness of the Lord
Here and now in the land of the living (repeat)
I will wait
I will wait upon You Lord
And I will sing, I will sing 
Spring up oh well (repeat)

It’s a simple chorus, but for us it encompasses the fullness of this place we are in:
1. Settling in our own hearts who He is as provider for us.
2. Waiting on the Lord to continue to transform our hearts and minds and to give us strategies for how HE wants to fund the advancing of His kingdom.
3. Declaring provision into existence.

KENYA
After reporting the delay for this trip last month, this became a “wait on the Lord” space. The money
had not come in and we were actually concerned that we wouldn’t have much to report in this newsletter. Just a few days ago though, Mark received a message from a friend committing $2,000 towards the trip. That leaves $1,800 to be raised. As for the timing of the trip, we are seeking the Lord to see if it should happen this summer, or later in the year. All the while trusting, “For from days of old they have not heard or perceived by ear, Nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him.” Isaiah 64:4 NASB.

ROMANIA
Another “waiting on the Lord” space. We’ve had a couple of groups express interest in putting together a team to work with the people at the dumps, however, none as yet have firmed up their commitment. Even if we are unable to confirm a team for this trip, Mark needs to make the trip to meet with Audi, deliver the finished portion of the curriculum, discuss any edits that need to be made and get updated on location and timeline for opening the school. In the meantime, we have begun to make headway in developing the mentor-network, as well as some potential contributors for finishing the curriculum, which is an absolute answer to prayer.

NEW OPPORTUNITIES 
This is one of those spaces that are particularly challenging in this financial provision space. The inner dialogue looks something like this – “how can we consider X when we haven’t even seen everything come together with A, B and C?!?!?!?”

The truth is, we have enough invitations to keep us overseas and on the road for most of the year. We don’t lack for ministry opportunities.

Recently the Lord brought a missionary to the underground church in China into our lives. It is one of those sovereign connections where you almost see the relationship form outside of your own effort or will. They have asked us to lead a team of people from our church over to China to minister to the underground church there. What. A. Privilege. 

We are in the very beginning stages of discussions, and will keep you informed as that possibility progresses.

In all of this, we simply ask for your prayers and support. We ask that the Lord would pour out an abundance of wisdom as we seek to do His will.

Yours for the kingdom,


Mark & Julie Dyar