May 2016 Broniste Family Update

Christ In the Broken Places

By Chris Broniste

Each time that I sit down to write a monthly newsletter I am confronted with the question: what to write about this month? So much happens in a week let alone a month. What could I possibly write about now? But every month like clockwork I am reminded of a particular trial and the extraordinary way that God has met our family needs in and through it. And just like that I am presented with the subject of our next update. True story. It is 1:12a in the morning as I write this. I am both utterly exhausted and compelled to write the following:

God often meets us in the broken places to remind us once again that He alone can make us whole. He alone can rescue us from the tyranny of our own decision making. He alone can see us through the maddening complex disappointing & mysterious trial that we call life. He alone can expose the raw nerve we hide behind our endless activities. No other person, place or thing can fill the void that we create when we try in our own strength to do His job for Him. 

The problem is, the only time we are able to really see this is when we have exhausted all of our own resources. Only in those moments of profound loss, brokenness & bankruptcy do we see who we really are and how we have replaced the One who made us with things that are made with human hands. Right? I know I'm not the only one who does this. Surely we all do it, especially in seasons of crisis. We clamor to things we know cannot possibly save us in hopes that this time they will. And they never do. And they never will because they can't. There is only One Savior in this broken world. And it is not us, not any of us. But like children we have to prove that on our own by exhausting our own resources completely first. 

And once we have done that, once we are at the end of our selves and our own temporary resources, then we cry out to God because we finally see our need for Him. And what does He do simply because He loves us? He condescends to us like a loving father in our brokenness, to meet us where we are at in the hurt & disalllusionment of our own inability & failure, not to rub it in our faces mind you or even just to fulfill some earthly temporal need we believe we have to have or may genuinely need. No. He comes to do so much more for us than that. He comes to reveal Himself to us in a way that we will not soon forget because He knows that this life is temporary and the only thing that truly matters in the life to come is the relationship we have with Him and the relationships we have with others. 

Sit on that for a minute and consider. The God of the universe is more concerned with the health of our relationship with Him and the relationships we have with others than He is with the trinkets & bobbles, the places, promotions & provisions we desperately cling to and plead to Him for in prayer. He cares more about the state of our heart than He does our physical health our temporary homes happiness or hope. That is not to say that He does not care at all about those things. He cares very much for our sake. It is only to say that He cares much less about those things than we do. They are not idols to Him or impossibilities He can do nothing about. He knows full well that it is nothing for Him to provide those things for us which are best in His timing according to His will. But He wants much more than that for us. He wants our hearts wholly set upon Him, resting in His promises for our sake. 

He wants our hearts to be free from the tyranny of the urgent; the pressing of the now. He wants to set us free from the burden of worry and stress, from the fear of the unknown. And the only way to do that is to ground our heart in the reality of who HE is, the reality of the gospel, the reality of His Son and the life He laid down for our freedom. It is as Paul wrote in Galatians, 

"For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." -Galatians 5:1

I think we all will agree that the fear of the unknown, the restlessness of concern and worry is not really liberty or freedom at all. It is a yoke of unending bondage draining the life out of us, a burden that God in Christ has committed Himself to relieving us from. But in order to do that He must first convince us that we are carrying a burden to begin with or we will only ever fight Him when He goes to remove it from us. So He presses us, brings us to the places where we cannot carry the burden on our own. He leads us through the valleys of humiliation and longing despair and death to bring us to the end of ourselves. 

And that my dear friends is the place that my family and I have been for the past week and a half: with our resources depleting, a job provided and then taken away just 24 hrs later, tired of living in a hotel, weary from looking for work, worried about how we are going to make it when Cindy's last paycheck comes and goes, wondering when God is going to finally provide the job I need to provide for our family. And do you know what God has done? You guessed it! Not at all what we expected. Instead, He has exposed our unbelief, revealed our apathy, our idolatry and our penchant for clinging to the temporal and temporary. In a word He has revealed to us the myriad ways that we have replaced Him in our marriage our ministry and our family, and all of this for our benefit. And contrary to what you might think it has actually been quite freeing. Granted it's not the answer to prayer we were expecting. But it's been freeing none the less to see who we really are and find out that He has not changed in the slightest. 

He still has a plan for us whether we see it or not. And He is still good. He led us here to heal the wounds we could not see from the burdens we did not know we were carrying. Has anything in our outward situation changed? Nope. Not at all. Do I believe it will? Yes. I do. I really do. But even when they do, nothing will really change because He doesn't change. Sure we might be more comfortable on the outside. But the same redemptive work will be going on, in the inside. We will still be in need of a deeper revelation of who we are and who He is, in spite of us, how desperately we need Him and how available and able He is to fill the void in the broken places that we too often try to fill without Him. I guess what I'm really trying to say is that there will always be a need of some kind and He will always be there to provide what we really need, whatever that looks like. 

And because of that, and because I see that, I feel like maybe for the first place we are finally on our way to being truly healthy as a family in our relationship with God and our relationships with others. Sure it's going to be a long road ahead of us. And sure we will falter and we will fail. But as the scriptures say God is for us no matter what happens. So if He is for us who can really be against us? 

I hope if you take anything away from what you have just read, it is this: do not fear to walk with God in the broken places. Do not be afraid to confront your disalllusionment and despair. Do not be afraid to admit you cannot move forward. Do not be afraid to trust God with the places you are the most uncomfortable with going. Remember it is always in the hurt that God is manifest as the healer, in places of need that He is the provider, in places of brokenness that He is the restorer, in breaches of relationship that He is the redeemer. Trust God in the broken places and let Him do the impossible. It might be sorrow for a night but joy will come in the morning. I promise you. I have seen it with my own two eyes. He is faithful even when we are NOT because it is who He IS. 

Thank you to all of you that supported us through the years. We owe a debt of gratitude to God for you kindness and generosity, your encouragement and prayers. May the Lord do for you as you have done for us.   

Prayer Needs:

- A job for Chris that makes enough to at the very least rent a two bedroom apartment for now preferably in Lake Stevens, Snohomish or Everett. 

- Cindy's health and stress level

- The boys to finish school out well 

- Chris & Cindy to grow as a couple

- Emotional healing from Cindy's bout with cancer & chemo

Becca Joy

Mommy time :)

I'm Batman 

Noah James! 

Playing with the kiddos

April 2016 Broniste Family Update

Faith Beyond Profession

By Chris Broniste

Those who know me the best know that I do not typically subscribe to the Christian concept of the 11th hour. I have found in my own life that although God works within time He rarely works according to it, at least not in the way that we are accustomed to. He works according to His own nature & will which are perfect. And this creates a problem for those of us who are finite and imperfect, who are constrained by the realities of time and space and the demands of ordinary life. 

When we pray for example for a felt need (a place to live perhaps or a job that will provide for our family), as finite beings we cannot help but pray with the sort of urgency or anxiousness of those who are uncertain, those who question the goodness of the one they are asking. Because the truth is in those moments, moments of profound personal crisis & need, we really do feel uncertain and we really do question the goodness of the one we are asking, even though we have little reason to do so, which brings me back to the so called 11th hr. You see I don't think God waits until the 11th hr to accomplish His will. I think He waits as long as it takes to bring us to the point of seeing ourselves for who we really are and who He really is in spite of our unbelief. He waits until we see how we really view Him in spite of our great professions of faith. He waits until we cannot keep up the act any longer of trying to believe on our own. He waits until we are honest with ourselves and others. And then He goes to work. 

You see God is not interested in the journey or the destination. He is interested in us. He wants to free us, from the tyranny of time, the bondage of stuff, the fear of the unknown or the preoccupation with our selves. But you know what? He wants to do even more than that. He wants to free us from our broken human perception of His love, His Son and the gospel. He wants to set us free from the bondage of our performancism, our ritualism, our idolatry and apathy. And how does He go about doing that you might ask. Well, the simple answer is, He leads us to the place of needing Him to such an extent that no one else can help us. 

It is there that He begins to expose us for what we are, so He can begin the work of saving us from the delusions we labor under: delusions of grandeur, of false humility, of self centered service, and false professions of faith or zeal, what Jeff VanVonderen calls the curseful living. Basically He loves us too much to let us live in bondage to our own self deception & dishonesty. So He leads us to the place of seeing ourselves for what we are, to liberate us from the lies we tell ourselves & others, to make us ministers of the true Liberty of the gospel for the benefit of other captives like ourselves, which brings me back to our motel room in SE Everett & my own little crisis of faith. 

You see I wrote this nice little treatise on walking by faith in uncertainty last month and I talked a mean little talk about the will of God. But when it came time to actually practice what I had preached in my everyday life, to actually trust in the face of endless disappointment, I failed miserably. That's because I put my trust in my own ability to believe, to muster up the faith to move forward in difficulty. I failed to reckon with my own brokenness and frailty before God, my need for His endless grace. And He loved me too much to let me keep it up. So when my own best efforts had failed me & I could find no way out, I did what I always do, what I do best. I ran. I ran to the comfort & lies of this world. And I hid in the darkness of unbelief. I chided God for leading us to this place of impossibility. I questioned His goodness and motivation for leading us here. I prayed angry doubting prayers and I shut people out. But God wouldn't have it because He loves me too much. 

First, He surrounded me with community, putting person after person in my life to direct me back. Then He pursued me through my wife, our kids & even the new pastor until I started to quake under the burdening reality that I have never actually confronted my own brokenness let alone in a community of people who love me. Sure I've talked about my past, blamed others for why it happened and even tried to fix it myself. But I never actually confronted the reality that maybe I am really broken beyond repair, that someone other than myself must fix the mess that I have made. And you know it's funny. That's how I first came to Christ as a youth. And God apparently saw fit to bring me back again almost 18 yrs later because He knew it would lead me back to Him. And wouldn't you know it, it did. 

Slowly almost imperceptibly the Holy Spirit began to do His work in me, leading me back to the place of a real childlike trust. Of course it wasn't instant tea. It wasn't overnight. But little by little He brought me back. A long forgotten song by Keith Green came to mind. Dust to Dust. Classic lyrics. The remembrance of a promise. The faithfulness of God in the past. The perseverance of my wife in the now. The fact that we are in this together. I could go on. But the point is I had to lose my faith to see how brittle and unreliable it was, to see it wasn't rooted in Christ or the gospel of my salvation. I had to see that there is no better place than trusting in the One who made me and saved me for Himself, who led my family to this new and difficult place, who will see us through. 

I had to see that everything in this life is temporary, that even if I get a job that pays enough and get our family out of this motel it doesn't really matter. Because life is about more than living. It is about knowing the One who saved us. It's about resting in His promises as those who don't deserve them. It's about living in the liberty of seeing ourselves for what we really are and being ok with it because He is ok with it. He made us for Himself. And He delights in our contentment with Him. My family & I had to be led to this place of impossibility to see that and accept it. No other place would do. No other trial would be sufficient to accomplish as much. 

So why is this update called Faith beyond profession you might ask. It is simple really. We all make professions of faith at one time or another but we rarely step out of our comfort zone to follow through. We all make declarations of love but we rarely let Him call the shots in our life especially when it matters the most. If I have learned anything it is that God delights in us. He desires to have us all for Himself. By that I mean He delights in our simple faith. Faith that says I'll take you at your word no matter what, faith that is willing to suffer, willing to be confused and discouraged, faith that rests in the reality of who He is, no matter what our heart might say. And even if we don't have it in us right now to have that sort of faith, it's still ok. Because Jesus walked in that faith on earth in our place. His perfect faith has been applied to us in His name. So we are free to try and fail. Isn't that great? 

I hope I have stirred you on to greater faith with my testimony of faithlessness. Perhaps my failure can be a lightbulb to you in some dark place in the not too distant future. Maybe it will remind you to turn back to the gospel, to rely on Christ in your own time of need when you forget as I have. I hope so. Either way I am honored to share with you what I have learned in this great season of transition. I pray the Lord will richly bless you as you follow His leading in your own life. 

Cindy and I are so grateful to you for your love and support.


Praises: 

- For a great community of believers to fellowship with!
- For new friends and play dates for the kids!
- For excellent reports from both boys teachers at school!
- For opportunities to grows in ways we never knew we needed to.

Please pray....

- For a great job for Chris with great benefits and great pay!
- For decisions that need to be made in the next week and wisdom.
- For a great place to live. That God would provide the perfect place and we would trust Him.  There are lots of housing obstacles here but with God nothing is impossible.
- For the finances to cover all of our needs.


Here are some recent family pictures....

Silver Lake Park, Everett, WA

Daddy pushing all the kids at the park!

Josiah turned 6 years old!!

Its fun getting to know all the parks!

Noah loves the park!


Thank you for your continued love and support!! We love to pray for you and your concerns as well.  Please let us know how we can be praying for you. :)

Love in Christ,

The Broniste Family
Chris & Cindy
Josiah, Noah and Rebecca

Feb/Mar 2016 Broniste Family Update

The Deep End of Grace

Something Andrew Murray once wrote stands out to me this morning as I (Chris) write. What he basically wrote is, (and I'm paraphrasing here) that Grace is not merely the response of God to us once we have sinned, but the power of God in Christ toward us not to sin. As I write on the subject of faith, I am struck by this fact: God not only extends His grace to us when we are faithless, but also in order that we would deepen in our faith in Him in the midst of our adversity. In other words, grace is not only the response of God to us when we fail, but also His method to grow us in our shortcomings all along. He is after all gracious by nature. Why shouldn't He be gracious from start to finish? 

As I write I am confronted by the simple fact that the trial of faith is both a demonstration of God's gracious nature towards us and an opportunity to grow in our dependence upon it in our adversity. We just need the faith to see it. And there in lies the mysterious reality of our pilgrimage. We need faith to rely upon the grace of God in adversity and the grace of God to believe Him for the impossible. The gracious nature of God makes it possible to trust him in the impossible and the impossible reveals the gracious nature of God to us in spite of our faithlessness.  So we are stuck in a paradox of sorts that leaves us helpless, revealing our creatureliness to us (and others) in the most uncomfortable ways. 

But what does that mean for us in reality or simply put how does that impact our every day life? Well friends I will tell you truly, I am learning what this means myself every day. And what I have learned I will do my best to communicate here briefly(?). 

For example the first thing I have learned traveling from place to place with my family nearly homeless in the great state of Washington is this. Walking by faith is not about us. It's not about how much faith we have or do not have. It's not about our ability or inability in a particular situation. Walking by faith is an ongoing revelation of who God is. It is a proclamation to us in the most mundane of circumstances that we are not who we think we are. We do not love God as much as we think we do. More to the point we do not trust Him in the way we think we do or secretly long to, nor can we. And that's the point. 

Simply put, Jesus already did. And his faith has been applied to us already in the gospel and THAT is what God wants us to see. In the same way that the law reveals our need for Christ, in the same way that God's holiness reveals our sinfulness apart from Him, walking by faith reveals our own cowardice and faithlessness in Christ. And here's the rub. It's not so that God can point his finger at us and say, "Ha!" If that were the case we might be justified in our selfishness and fear. No. It is so he can free us from the practical tyranny of our selfishness and fearfulness. In a word it's so he can redeem us from the effects of our most innermost pride & sinfulness. But most importantly it's so he can cement in our heart the reality of his love for us in Christ. It's so that he can affirm to us our need for Him and then remind us that His love for us is not based on us or anything we can do or not do. It's so that he can fulfill the need he has exposed. It's so we understand his devotion to us is solely and squarely rooted in Him; that his love for us exists outside of us. 

Wait. What? Yep. Walking by faith is yet another in a long list of ways that God deepens & solidifies our relationship with Him which ultimately works to benefit our relationship with others. Sit on that for a minute and dwell. 

But lastly I have learned, (Wait for it) that this life of faith never ever ends (this side of eternity) because we are always in need of a fresh revelation of...God and the gospel, not ourselves. If our introspection only ends at what we need to do, or haven't done then we miss the point. Walking by faith is always about who God is and what He has done for us in Christ). And we are always in need of seeing that, because we are exceedingly selfish and broken. And this is the will of God for us. In our brokenness God reveals his love. And in His love he reveals His self and His son. Without our brokenness we do not seek Him. Without a need to walk by faith we would fail to see the measure of our brokenness. 

So here I am Broken in Everett, waiting for God to open the impossible door, exposed like a raw nerve in the rough craving complacency and safety because I love my comfort. But God will not grant it to me because he has something infinitely higher to give to me: His self.  It's not that he doesn't want to provide or hasn't already. He wants me to remember that this life is short. And my relationship with him is forever. He wants to bless me more than I would ever bless myself because he loves me in the right way. Where I do not. I always destroy myself with self love because it is rooted in destruction. He loves me and leads me toward life in his love because He is life, not the sort of counterfeit life I'm always chasing after, either. True Life. Real, lasting life. 

So friends let me encourage you to seek new ways to walk by faith, to rest in the gracious nature of God, to grow in dependence upon his love and his provision, to feed upon his promises and be satisfied. I guarantee you if you do you will never be the same and always only in the best way. And that my friends is the update I have for you. That is the word I have to write. And I pray that it will bless you & strip you of what's hurting you like it has me. Lord bless you for your faithfulness to our family. You are always in my thoughts and prayers as I travel the road with my family. May He be with you as He has with us. 

-The Broniste Clan

Down to the Nitty Gritty:

Praises: 

-For a warm place to sleep each night! 

-For kids that are great even in hard changes! 

-For the amazing ways God provides in unexpected ways! 

Prayer requests: 

1. An amazing Job for Chris where he can grow and that will provide for all our needs. 

2. For a great house to live! Either to rent or buy! There is a housing shortage in the area. That He would give us wisdom on what to do and make it clear! 

3. For our kids as every day there are new challenges and disappointments. Pray that God would give us the wisdom and grace to help them through this time.

Photos With the Fam! 

The Promises of God...2 Cor 1:20

Precious Moments with Mommy 

Fun at Chik Fil A! 

Our New Friend Brianna

Road Trippin Brothers

The Broniste Family Final Missions Update 2016

The Far, Wide, Long in “Trust”

Proverbs 3:5-6"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths."

Dear Family and Friends,

As we continue to move forward and learn what the “new normal” is for us as a family, one thing we have come to realize is that we have changed and life will never be the same again.  Cancer radically changes a person. Not only their view on life and what is important but it also changes their view of God.

For me (Cindy) personally one of the many things that God has been teaching me is how far and wide and long do I trust Him. When I was 19 years old and on a mission trip to Mexicalli, Mexico I surrendered all of me to go anywhere, to do anything, to fully obey His voice and take the gospel to where it was needed.  That call on my life has looked differently during the different seasons of my life.  When I was single that call lead me to some amazing places in the world to live and I saw Him radically change lives. Then when I got married that call looked different then I expected as I learned to serve Him in new ways that brought encouragement to those on the field.  

Now again, I find His call looks so much different then I ever thought. For months now Chris and I have prayed that we would go wherever He called us.  Through prayer God lead us to friends of mine who I served with when I was single in Houston, Tx.  My friends Doug and Lori Kothe are the pastors of a very small church in Lake Stevens Washington, which is about 40 minutes north of Seattle. When we contacted Doug and Lori to share with them what God was calling us to it and how we felt called to come along side a couple and do life and ministry together with them, they shared how they had been praying that God would raise us a couple who would do just what we shared with them. Washington is the least churched state in all of the United States and what better place to share the love of Jesus than by living there and doing life and ministry. 

So we have decided to take a step of faith and trust God in His plans for our lives and we are moving to Lake Stevens, Washington. As I think about the verse that God gave me this last year through Cancer Proverbs 3:5-6 the word Trust stands out to me the most. What is it to trust God with our lives. By definition trust is firm belief in reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.   Again I am seeing how far and wide and deep is my trust of God really is. If I trust God in who He says He is and what His word says then stepping out in faith isn’t scary but a fun adventure of trusting God for everything.  So we are off on another adventure with the Lord! We are getting rid of everything, pulling our kids out of school, Chris quit his job and we are moving. Our pastor recently taught on Gideon and following Gods call even when we don’t understand.  That it took great faith of the part of Gideon to obey God and praise Him cause He had already won the victory.  So we are doing the same. We are stepping out in faith, fully trusting that God will provide a job for Chris that will provide for all of us and a great place to live where we can minister to others.

So what has changed? The BIG change for me in all of this is I will no longer be living on support.  God has graciously given us 3 months from our move date which is February 14^th, 2016 to continue to live on support.  So that means for all those who are supporting us financially that your last day for giving is May 15th.  If you are giving electronically you will need to contact Jack Fletcher at Saving Grace World Missions  (714) 993-4801 or email him at jack@ccsavinggrace.com in May to end your giving. For those giving by checks please don’t send anything in past May 15^th, 2016.

If you feel lead to continue to help our family as we make this transition you can just send checks made out to us personally but you will not get a tax receipt.

We want to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all your love and support through out these years as you have so graciously given and been such a loving part of our lives and ministry. 

If you have any questions feel free to email or call us.  Thank you again! We love you all.

If you want to continue to know whats going on in our world...Chris will be updating our blog once we get settled in.  You can check it at  https://trustinghim4everything.blogspot.com


In Christ,

Cindy 

Praises: 

-For all the loving support from friends and family as we move!

-For a place to stay temporarly as we transition to a new place!

-For all the big stuff that has been sold or found a new home! 

-For the amazing ways God moves and works in our lives! 

Please pray..... 

1. For an amazing job for Chris that would provide for our needs and have great health benefits. 

2. For a great place to live that will meet our needs and be a blessing to others.  Also that it would be exactly what we can afford.  We are praying and trusting that God can provide a place to rent that will be below what the normal rent is or for Chris job to make enough to cover rent and living expenses. 

3. For unity for Chris and I as moving is very stressful but we have a special needs little boy that makes things so much more stressful and harder. 

4. For the kids to adjust to a new place and a new school.  They both will be going to public school so pray for Josiah as he adjusts from private christian school to public.  

5. For God to provide all the things we need to live.  We are getting rid of everything here but our beds and starting over there. 

6. For great closer as we say goodbye to friends here! 

7. For the drive to Washington.  That God would provide someone to go with us and for a safe and successful move.

Here is a look back through the years....

                                                                            Oct 2008

                                                                          June 2009

June 2010

January 2012

June 2013

March 2015

November 2015

The Kids fall 2015

Broniste Family Missionary Update Dec/Jan 2015

The Difference Between Ministry & Ministering

"And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'" Matthew 25:40

I hope you were all as blessed last month by my wife Cindy's update as I was and that this letter finds you well & enjoying the fruits of the holiday season. If you don't mind I'd like to share with you another valuable lesson I learned this past year walking beside my wife in her cancer/chemo battle. And that is what the difference is between ministering to a particular individual as we are led by the Spirit of God especially in times of suffering and being a part of a particular general ministry at church. Allow me to explain. 

As a former worship leader, children's ministry worker, Jr High youth leader and custodial assistant I have done my fair share of being a part of a church ministry. And yet it wasn't until my wife was diagnosed with Stage 4 Hodgkin Lymphoma & I was forced to take care of our three small children completely on my own at times, that I was forced to really see what it looks like to minister to another person one on one outside of the confines of what we call ministry (when no one is looking). That is what the God of Heaven has slowly and methodically worked into the fabric of my heart over the past year. That is what I want to share with you now: the difference between being a part of a visible, tangible expression of public Christian service in the abstract impersonal and intentionally going out of one's way to sacrifice one's time energy and resources to serve an individual most are unaware of when no one is looking. 

Now I need to clarify. I'm not saying that general church ministry is inadequate or unbiblical, quite the contrary. But church ministry in the corporate sense is meant to be the outflow of ministering to people in the individual sense not as the source but as the fruit of God's overall work by the Spirit in His body. Furthermore being in church ministry can become an excuse to isolate from & worse yet even ignore the people we interact with on a daily basis both at church and more specifically in the world we live in. 

Francis Schaeffer wisely remarked (I am paraphrasing) that the difference between the secular humanist and the Christian is this: The humanist will typically (nearly always) publicly address some general human need, trumpeting causes that never really touch them where it hurts or make them vulnerable where they live as an individual (I think of the Syrian Refugee Crisis and the outcry it has created, or hunger & poverty in the abstract). Where the individual Christian is called by God in Christ to practically minister to EVERY individual they encounter personally as they are led by the Holy Spirit. And there is a big difference between the two, huge, if we are willing to see it. But that is just the problem. Most the time we are not. It is far easier and less invasive to send a meal from a distance than to show up in person and sit beside the hurting or worse yet...dying for a few hours. It is far less time consuming to write a check than to visit the broken and downtrodden in our own neighborhood or further, far less difficult to send our love with a card, a Bible verse or even a Facebook or text message than it is to manifest it in person, much easier to send a prayer than ask how we might be involved in the answer to one. Is it not?

I know that is the case for me. And I am certain I am not alone. The problem with the American church as I see it (and I am included in this) is that we are far more willing to speak of being led by the Spirit than we are of actually being led by Him especially in the most practical ways, far more willing to study the scriptures and apply them to others than be exposed by the scriptures ourselves for what we are and be sanctified by the Spirit through them as we interact with other people. We are far more willing to speak about the ills of our country as a whole than interact with them as individuals and we are far more able and willing to serve when others are watching us than love when no one is. And that is the truth. It is our nature as human beings, Christian or not to do so. And that again is the problem.

But that is exactly why God gave us His Spirit to begin with: to sanctify us out of our old humanity and way of doing things and conform us into the image of His Son as both individuals and a corporately redeemed body of believers both representing & partaking in the reality of the new creation. We want the world to see Christ and yet we refuse to be changed by Him in the core of our being through the revelation of the gospel and our own need for it as we interact with both fallen and broken humanity. Now I am not saying we can or will do this perfectly. We can't and we won't. 

But we CAN try and begin by submitting to the Holy Spirit as He leads us to minister to the needs of others in person according to His will. We can grow in our willingness to sacrifice when no one is looking to the praise and glory of our God. We can admit when we fail and repent in faith that God will use us in spite of our self and redeem the time we have wasted on ourselves. And above all we can saturate ourselves with the gospel and cry out to God in prayer that He would change us from the inside out through it so we can reflect more of His heart for the individual and less our own to the watching world.

I know this is a heavy topic to be discussing during the holiday season, but honestly what better time? What better time than now, in the hustle and bustle of church pageants and Christmas shopping, of planning parties and spending time with the ones we love to get outside of our comfort zones and ask if God would not lead us by His Spirit to reach out to whomever He wills for their own individual benefit even if it costs us our own? I pray that this word is an encouragement to you even if it is painful to hear at first. I know for me it has been the healing work of God in my own heart, even if I daily fall short to live up to the glorious ideal it represents. And I know it is because of my very failures in this area (and so many more I don't even know about) that God sent His beloved Son to begin with to that lowly manger not only to die on my behalf but live in it as well. Merry Christmas Friends and a Happy New Year. I pray it is a glorious and God centered one for you and your families.
We love each and every one of you and thank you for your support.

-Sincerely
Chris, Cindy and the Family

Praises- 

-We got to spend thanksgiving with family in the Central Valley this year! 

-Noah is improving in potty training. 

-Gods amazing provision for our financial needs! 

-Josiah got awarded the character award for thankfulness!! What a special award!

Prayer Requests-

1. Cindy's health... She has some unusual symptoms in November so she will have another PET scan December 9th. Please pray for clean scans and for all the details cause she can't be around the kids. Pray also that Cindy would continue to heal and get stronger. 

2. Pray for Noah at school. He is in special Ed preschool. Pray for his continued development. 

3. Pray for Rebecca as she adjusts life with her brothers during the day. 

4. Pray for us as a family as we figure out what things as we move forward as a family! 

5. Pray that we would continue to trust God to provide for all of our needs. 

Thank you for praying!! Please let us know how we can pray for you and your loved ones! 

                                Christmas family pictures 

                        Noah's 4th Birthday

                             Brotherly love 

                          Mommy & Becca 

Broniste Family Missions Update Oct/Nov 2015

"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.

For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Learning to Surrender

As I ponder what to share with you this month, the theme that continues to ring true in my life right now is just learning to surrender. Cancer has taken so much away from us and changed our lives to such an extent that there is really no way for anything to ever be the way it was again. We will never be the same as a couple or a family again. And that is a fact.

And in the midst of that reality I am learning that as we continue to move forward I must give everything to God. Everything in my world must be completely and fully surrendered to Him no matter what. It is hard enough when you have no control of anything, but to accept that you will never gain the control you once had back is another thing altogether.

And that is in essence the reality I have been forced to accept and walk through these past few months. Although the treatment is over, nothing is really the same. My body is not the same, my emotions are not the same, my energy level is not the same, my house is not the same, my husband is not the same, my children are older, taller and not the same. Everything in my life is completely different including myself. Even I came out of it a different person. And I could choose to be frustrated with that or try in my own strength (and fail miserably) to go back to the way it was. Or I can trust God and fully surrender to Him moment by moment and allow him to do his perfect work in and through it all. And if I'm honest it is so hard to be that fully dependent on Him for everything but I know deep down that's what He wants.

Aw the joys of surrendering... I'm sure you understand.

In the end we must all choose to remember that the LORD is the author of change and that His ways are not our own. His ways are so much better then yours and mine. We must all learn to be thankful for the changes we cannot control. After all our sanctification is about surrendering to the glory of God... being conformed to the image of Christ through our weaknesses and frailty so others (including ourselves) can witness the sufficiency of Christ. Besides what we call control is really just an illusion anyways right? Why fight for something so illusive?

As the image bearers of Christ we must each learn to lay down our own rights, ways, methods & dreams, in essence all we are and want to be, the the "I's" & "me's" that plague our hearts and let the Lord be the LORD and master of everything we hold dear. After all He paid for us with His Son, gave us His Spirit and the promise of a life beyond our wildest dreams. The least we can do in return is embrace the Fully surrendered life!

We love you!! Thank you for being a vital part of our family! 

In Christ,  Cindy 

Praises: 

-For special moments together as a family!! 

-For Noah starting preschool! 

Prayer Requests

1. For the health and protection of our family!! We have started cold and flu season and the kids have already been battling a couple strong viruses. Please pray the Lord would sustain and protect Cindy from them. Pray also that they would stay healthy and strong this season. 

2. For Cindy's health. Her white blood cells are unusually low and Drs are concern. They may schedule her up comimg PET scan early just to be safe. Pray for Cindy's lack of energy. Pray that she would just be fighting something and the cancer would not be back. Pray for us as we continue to trust the Lord for her health. 

3. Pray for wisdom and guidance and we move forward into the future. 

4. Pray for Noah as he is potty training and starting a new school. Pray he has understanding and he gets it. Pray for us as we help him in this process. Pray also for him to learn and adjust well at his preschool. 

Here are some recent pictures of our family to enjoy!! 

                 Our kindergartener Josiah

                 Our little preschooler Noah 

                    Our little girl Rebecca 

                             Becca & papa! 

                        Grandma & Becca 

                   Daddy and his little ones

                           Mommy & Becca 

September 2015 Monthly Update

WALKING by Faith NOT Sight

This past month Cindy and I had the profound opportunity to get outside of our comfort zone and visit a small church in another state. What transpired was a mix of blessing and difficulty as the Lord challenged us to get outside of our little paradigm and consider the possibility that His ways are not only different from our own but far exceed them in every way. As I stood in the spare bedroom of a complete stranger, looking outside of their window into the dense physical and spiritual gloom of a place totally foreign to me, I was confronted with this verse:

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." 

(Hebrews 11:1). 

[Some translations also read "faith is the substance of things hoped for" or " the confidence in what we hope for".]

Either way what the Holy Spirit conveyed to me in a nutshell in that moment was that I would never see what He was doing in my life or anywhere for that matter if I only looked with my eyes. I needed to trust Him regardless of what the situation or other people in my life were communicating to me in that moment. By speaking to me in this way he revealed two very important things to me: First this is what it really means to walk by faith and second, I was not doing it. I was not walking by faith, not really, not in the way that scripture exhorts me to. I was clinging to confirmations, to external financial provisions, to family, to friends, to my intellect and my understanding but not Christ, not the Holy Spirit and not the Father that led me this far. And I knew it. Deep down I knew it. And He knew it. And He led me all the way to another state to finally graciously and authoritatively call me on it.

You see I had always thought that I HAD lived my life by faith because I was willing to do what certain other believers professed to do but didn't have the courage to really follow through on. I thought that if I exhibited a little more faith than THEM that I was walking by faith in a way that is pleasing to the Lord. But I only deceived myself because that's not really walking by faith in the way that God calls us to, is it? He does not call us to judge and compare the faith of others and then act accordingly. No. He calls us to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in everything regardless of the circumstances. He calls us to set aside our own parameters and comfort zones, our personalities and experiences, to leave our judgment and understanding at the door and trust His naked word, and not just the cannon of scripture but also the voice of His Spirit in our inner being as He leads us according to that cannon of scripture.

You see it is not our place to set the parameters for walking by faith. That right belongs to God. It is our place to follow His leading, to rely on His word and depend on His power. We get the privilege to be led. He alone has the right to lead.  So, why am I sharing all of this with you? Why be so transparent about about something so sensitive to so many? Well, first of all if I am honest it is because I believe the average American Christian (myself included) has inoculated itself with the idea that faith is somehow easy, that because we live in this comfortable little country of ours there are no real hardships or opportunities to step out of our comfort zones outside of evangelism. And that is false. The call to be a christian in this world is not a call to creature comfort or blessing (although there is no doubt that such grace is available). The call to be a christian is a call to be conformed to the image of Christ, to depend upon HIM the way HE depended upon His Father and the Holy Spirit in His humanity here on earth.

It is the call to live in both the visible world and the invisible, to experience the tangible and intangible realities that God in Christ has provided for us in the gospel. And up until this time I had failed to see that, at least in practice. I failed to see what it really means to WALK with God, to live by the principle of dependence on Him for everything. And standing in that (now) friend's spare bedroom I came to understand that there is no spiritual couch to wait upon in Christ. It is a call to walk by faith. We must put our feet in the darkness of uncertainty as He leads us and trust that He will light our way. We must speak when we are afraid if He commands us to. We must learn to forsake our reliance upon ourselves if we are to walk with Him, if we are to live by faith. And that is always for our benefit.

So friend, my exhortation to you now is this, do not forsake the leading of the Lord for something more comfortable or more tangible. Do not rely upon your own senses or sensibilities to guide you. Do not let the word of God in scripture become an excuse to dull your senses to the word of God in your ear by His Spirit. Learn to rest in the promise that He will never leave you or forsake you, that He has gone before you, overcome the world and prepared a place for you. I promise that you will never be disappointed if you do, no matter how difficult the road before you may be to do so.

Lord bless you for your faithfulness to our family. I know it has been a blessing to write you as I do. May the Lord encourage you, drain the dross of my message and fill you with His peace.

You are loved. And we are grateful for you!

-Chris and Cindy

 

     Celebrating our 7 yr anniversary in Seattle  

      Daddy and his little ones! 

     Just got my port removed!! Celebrating 1 yr cancer free!!!! 

Praises- 

~ A fun 7th yr anniversary trip to Washington kid free! 

~ Cindy's port-a-cath (what they used to administer chemo) removal was successful and is healing! 

~ Celebrating 1 year cancer free for Cindy this Oct. 

~ A diagnose for Noah which will provide other services we need to help our little boy. 

Prayer Request: 

-That God would continue to heal Cindy. She still struggles doing normal things like taking care of our kids. Pray that God provides helps for the days our nanny has to miss and the Lord would give her the rest she needs to heal. 

-Pray for Noah who will start a special Ed preschool at the end of October. Pray we can prepare him for the transition of school everyday. 

- Pray for the finances we need to purchase another computer. Ours crashed with the new Windows update. Pray that we would be able to get a new one that will last for the needs of our family. 

-Pray for His leading and direction for the future of our family! 

- Pray God would provide another place to live that is bigger and more affordable. Our landlord increased our rent and we are still struggling financially post cancer. Pray we would trust Him to provide all that we need. 

- Pray for wisdom and guidance as we raise our family! 

We love to see God answer prayer. Please share with us how we can be praying for you and your family!