quick update (:

I have been sitting here staring at this computer wondering where to even begin; part of me simply does not want to say anything, but I must. This week has been indescribable as I have had my heart put in check by the Lord, have been provided for abundantly, & have gone deeper in learning what it is to be a woman of God who is head over heels in love with Jesus.

I can't turn it sideways, haha, but my cousin Jon had
to dress up for work tonight! Loved his costume! (:
What a blessing my cousin is!

I, myself, cannot even begin to fathom the abounding grace & unfailing faithfulness God has & is, so it is incredibly difficult even thinking of how to explain His grace & faithfulness He has had toward me this week to you! If you desire to go into more detail, contact me! I'd love to share, but for some reason, I am utterly speechless (which is a rare thing, haha).

I do want to share with all of you how God is providing! A month ago, someone gave me a choice that they would either help me purchase a camera or they would help me with my Japan plane ticket. I prayed & I really felt like the Lord wanted me to simply sacrifice the camera situation over to Him. . .completely. & that meant not even thinking of purchasing a new camera or even saving for one. It was difficult, but eventually I began answering others (when they would ask me about my broken camera & how I was going to buy a new one) saying, "I have faith He will provide." Why wouldn't I believe that? From the day I found out I no longer had a camera I believed, "God doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called," (thank you Brent Keizer for that bit of wisdom). Well yesterday He provided. . .a friend of mine's mom (in the midst of me explaining how I was surrendering over my having a camera for Japan) suddenly responds, "Take mine to Japan with you!" I refused at first, but something God is teaching me is to accept blessings. I still cannot believe she handed over her extremely nice camera to me! I cannot express my immense gratefulness to her or the Lord. . .I really wish I could! It's just amazing how God blesses us so unexpectedly in ways we never could have imagined! 

Another blessing in relation to financial blessing for Japan. . .God has provided & is continuing to provide monthly support! This past weekend I attended a birthday party where I saw a pastor from a church I went to when I was younger; we sat down & visited. . .he ended up inviting me to speak about Japan & play the piano at his church & get this, it's missions day! Perfect timing! I am so grateful to him for being so willing to give me this opportunity & I give all the glory to the Lord for it. God has really guarded my heart, soul, mind, & body from stress these past couple months (praise Jesus!). I am so grateful to Him that He has not allowed stress to effect me, especially with all of this support raising! I also want to thank you all for your support & prayers!! They are felt & deeply appreciated. I praise God for you all every single day! If you would like to know more information about supporting me monthly. . .CLICK ME! It will lead you directly to directions ;) THANK YOU!

I leave in a month & I cannot wait to be a part of the work God is doing in Japan. I don't know why He chose me, of all undeserving people, but I am not complaining. . .I am honored & incredibly humbled. Well I gotta run. . .meeting an old friend, mister Jake (shout out!) for coffee & tomorrow I'm headed off to Texas to see my best friend from grade school get married! Time flies! :) I am so thrilled to be a part of her big day too! Praise the Lord for marriage. . .what a beautiful representation of Jesus & His church right? Love you all. 

"Create in me a pure heart, O God, & renew a steadfast spirit within me." 

-Psalm 51:10

My heart's motto & prayer every morning.

4 year olds trying to marry me off & an answer in silence. . .

some of  my missions team & I in Costa Rica!

Today was my first day at the new job & as I sat at a table shaped as an octagon with multiple 4 year olds coloring, these three little boys were absolutely shocked when I told them I didn't have a baby because I was nowhere close to being married. Their jaws dropped even more so once I said I didn't even have a boyfriend; all of a sudden I was given some incredibly wise advice. . .one little boy tells me, "Right after school today, you have to go find yourself a boyfriend!" The other two boys played off of that bit o' wisdom & told me I MUST find a boyfriend so I could fall in love, get married, & have a baby. All of this occurred in the morning. . .later the same afternoon, the first boy reminded me of my duty after school. . .for some reason, they were set on the whole idea! Made my day & it still makes me giggle thinking these little guys were trying to marry me off, haha! Trust me though, those of you who are reading this, those things are not even a priority anywhere in my life. . .I really desired to share this with you because I love to bring a smile to your face through the stories that bring a smile to mine :). Another little boy had me giggling because he told me I looked like I was 5 years old. . .he's 3. Man, those growth spurts aren't messing around!

In my last post about Ruth, I mentioned writing about some of the other things I have been learning from God in my next post, which is this one! A lot has been going on in my life, things that range from a guy to my photography/camera to the reason of my being in Japan! Because of these things, I have had so many questions & I have stood before God presenting my desire for some clear, visible answers to Him. . .not in a way that is questioning Him, but coming before Him seeking answers, understanding, wisdom, ANYTHING, but I have not received a single clear answer. Without even realizing it, I was beginning to grow weary from it, until God did answer me through my devotional. He didn't answer my questions, but He answered my weariness.

"The mine destroys & contaminates!"
graffiti in Costa Rica is awesome.

". . .His silence is the sign that He is bringing you into an even more wonderful understanding of Himself."

". . .not a silence of despair, but one of pleasure, because He saw that you could withstand an even bigger revelation. If God has given you a silence, then praise Him - He is bringing you into the mainstream of His purposes." 

-Oswald Chamber (My Utmost for His Highest)

After reading these words (& so many more) I began to realize that I am receiving a silence that brings me into a deeper understanding of God's character; one that is drawing me closer to His purposes (the "answers" I'm looking for) for me & He is going to reveal it in His timing, not mine. The author even writes, "Time is nothing to God." My cousin & I had a discussion on this & the way I described it to her was like a surprise birthday party; if you're anything like me, you LOVE surprises! I explained to my cousin that if someone was to plan a surprise birthday party for me & then solely because I question what to do for my birthday, this someone ends up telling me that they're planning a surprise birthday party, what I'm receiving for gifts, who all is going to be there, & so forth. . .I'd be sooooooo upset! It ruins the "bigger revelation" Oswald Chambers is talking about.

I want to go deeper than a surprise birthday party though; the verse that goes along with this devotional is John 11:6: "Yet when He heard that Lazarus was sick, He stayed where He was two more days." YEP, the story of Lazarus. . .pretty epic story right here. Although Jesus knew that Lazarus was sick, He stayed right where He was. . .Lazarus ends up dying & immediately we, as well as Mary, Martha, & their friends, question why the heck would Jesus do something like that if He could heal Lazarus & save his life?! Jesus then makes a statement which seems so messed up:

"So then He told them [the disciples] plainly, 'Lazarus is dead, & for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.'" -John 11:14-15

son of a missionary in Costa Rica

After arriving where Lazarus & his sisters, Mary & Martha resided, Jesus comes to the tomb. . ."'Take away the stone,' He said. 'But Lord,' said Martha, the sister of the dead man, 'by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.' Then Jesus said,

'Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?' 

So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up & said, 'Father, I thank You that You have heard me. I knew that You always have heard Me. . .'

When He had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come out!' The dead man came out, his hands & feet wrapped with strips of linen, & a cloth around his face. 

-John 11:39-44

This story is an incredible example of the Lord's silence. . .people questioned why Jesus didn't come sooner to heal Lazarus, I mean really, immediately after He arrived where Lazarus resided, everybody (Mary, Martha, & their friends) were questioning Him, yet He responded in silence. He never gave a reason except that they may see His glory & believe. How much more legit is it that Jesus raised a man from the dead by simply saying, "Lazarus, come out!" I also love how Jesus tells God that He knows that He hears & has always heard.

come thou fount.
(found this on pinterest.com)
I want to make something like this

If God always gave us the answers to our questions, we would never see the miracles in our life happen; miracles that give Him all the glory so that we & others may believe. I no longer desire my questions to be answered right now. . .I'm so much more stoked for these "bigger revelations" to come unexpectedly.

Living after the example of Ruth.

I miss these awesome women of God.

 God has placed this deep desire inside of me to read the stories about the amazing women of God in the Bible & to place them as an example in my life & strive to be like them. One of my favorite stories ever is the boldness of Esther, but this past week I have dived into the story of Ruth & picked apart her amazing story!

First off, let's start with how DEVOTED Ruth was to Naomi (Ruth's mother-in-law) after both of their husbands died. 

"Then Orpah [the other daughter-in-law] kissed her mother-in-law good-by, but Ruth clung to her. 'Look,' said Naomi, 'your sister-in-law is going back to her people & her gods. Go back with her.' But Ruth replied, 'Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, & where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people & your God my God. Where you die I will die, & there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you & me.' When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her." 

-Ruth 1:14-18

Am I truly devoted to the Lord like Ruth was to Naomi? Ruth was not willing to leave Naomi whatsoever. She disregarded her commonsense, her worries, her future to remain close/faithful to Naomi. In that same way I must disregard the same things to remain devoted to my Father.  The only thing that Ruth would allow to separate her from Naomi was death. Even then. . .death cannot separate us from the Lord (Romans 8:38-39); praise God!

"'Let me go to the fields & pick up the left-over grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.' Naomi said to her, 'Go ahead, my daughter.' So she [Ruth] went out & began to glean in the fields behind the harvesters."

-Ruth 2:2-3

Ruth did what she had to do to provide for her & Naomi; she was WILLING. Another thing I noticed about Ruth in this verse was that she was TEACHABLE; she was open to learning from others. 

There is A TON more to Ruth's story: Ruth was DILIGENT (Ruth 2:7); she had RESPECT (Ruth 2:10); she was BOLD, she had FAITH, & found refuge in the Lord (Ruth 2:11-12); she was HUMBLE (Ruth 2:13); & she was PATIENT (Ruth 3:18), but I am going to skip ahead to another important characteristic Ruth displayed. . .OBEDIENCE.

Naomi gives Ruth directions on how to approach Boaz (Ruth 3:1-4) when Ruth replies:

"'I will do whatever you say,' Ruth answered. So she went down to the threshing floor & did everything her mother-in-law told her to do."

-Ruth 3:5-6

I love my niece.

As the story unfolds, Boaz & Ruth end up being married & they have a son named Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of David. Ruth's faithfulness to Naomi produced a devoted obedience (she never even questioned Naomi) & because of her obedience Ruth was blessed with the awesome opportunity of being a part of the lineage of Jesus Christ! I told my dad during our coffee date this morning that despite the fact that Ruth couldn't see the bigger picture, she had faith & obeyed. We never know what is going to come from our obedience & there is going to be times where we will never see what comes from it, but isn't having that kind of a faith exciting?! 

This entire past week I have been blessed with the opportunity to get to know God's character a little bit more & I'll share more in my next post, but I really felt like I needed to share what I learned from Ruth this week. She was a woman of God & I am determined to follow her example.

I'm gonna leave you with some entertainment; the photo to the left is a drawing I did when I was 3 or 4 years old. After going to the dentist I started to draw my people with rather large teeth :) haha go ahead & laugh at me, I think it's hilarious.

Supporting the Journey to Japan.

What a beautiful thing God did when He created community & it is an act of worship when we come together as one in support of each other.  I will be living in Tokyo for at least a year so I must raise $1,000 of monthly financial support (which will take care of my living expenses) & the only way I can achieve that is through prayer, the Lord, & through my friends & family!

How to participate in sending me to Japan!

I am moving to Japan, December 5, to serve in music ministry, kids' ministry, & advertising through photography at FUSE Jesus Community (a church located in Machida, Tokyo).


There are a few options of sending a donation:

• Donation by mail: mail a check with my name on a separate piece of paper (so they know who it is for); the address is:

PAZ Japan

c/o Project Amazon

P.O. Box 3253

Peoria, IL 61612

• Donation by credit card: Gail Hodel (executive secretary of PAZ headquarters in Peoria, IL) runs credit card donations twice a month (the 10th & the 25th). If you choose to utilize this option, please call the office at (309) 263-2299, to give your credit card information (Mrs. Hodel doesn't recommend sending the information via e-mail).

• Donation through Paypal: go to www.pazjapan.org/footer/donate.php; you will then have a choice of either "One Time Gift," or an opportunity to "Pledge a Monthly Donation." Once again, you will have to send a note saying to which missionary or which project it is being sent to; you can specify that by sending Gail an e-mail at: dove@dpc.net

• Electric Funds Transfer: EFT Info & Form

• OR you can send a one-time donation to my home address:

Abigail Shaffer

409 Oriole Rd.

Florence, CO 81226

In case of any problems or additional questions, please call our PAZ Japan headquarters at: (309) 263-2299 & ask for Gail Hodel, OR you can e-mail her at dove@dpc.net 


I also created a Facebook group: The Journey to Japan. where you can easily message me with questions or advice! :) & please, please share this with anybody you think would be willing to support me!! I will be updating this blog while in Japan too if you desire to keep up with what your support/prayers & what the Lord is doing in Japan! Thank you for your support & thank your for your prayers all! I am deeply blessed by you! 

My niece Kellyn & I; I love her picnic table blouse!

Love,

Abigail

adventure.

silence.

". . .I am more convinced than ever that there is no way you & I can move toward a deeper, intimate relationship with our God without protracted times of stillness, which includes one of the rarest of all experiences: absolute silence." 

-Charles Swindoll

I have no idea what website this came from,
but I spotted it on Pinterest.com

My mother had such a wonderful idea this morning when she told me I should go down to the riverwalk to spend my time with the Lord. I definitely took her up on that & I scooted out the door! I have been reading this book called, "Intimacy With The Almighty," (which is where the above quote resides) & the author focuses on 4 things that are important in our intimacy with God. He also says that there are more than four, but there are no less than that. One of the four is silence. 

I walked among tall trees that looked like they were lightly dipped in buckets full of yellow paint & after a little while I found the perfect spot to simply sit. I found a log surrounded by trees with the sun shining down through them & placed my book bag under my head & laid there listening to the leaves rustle. I have to say, it was absolutely blissful. I surrendered every little thing that has been buzzing around my head this past week over to Him & I told Him I was deciding to simply be WITH Him. I'm not going to share with you some supernatural experience or whatever, but I have to tell you, lying on that log with the Lord put my heart & soul at a place of pure rest. 

After awhile I began reading scripture out loud; I read a lot of verses, but the passage that really sticks out is Psalm 145. Please go read it now! It is such a beautiful chapter & it reminded me of how faithful my Father is, how beautiful the craftsmanship of His hands are, & that I need to praise Him for those things every day when I wake up. It refreshed my soul & give all the glory to God. Thank You, Lord for blessing me with the freedom to step out into nature & be with You. I praise You for the silence that I found You in this morning.

 If you desire to simply be with Him, to clear your mind, & to converse with Him on such an intimate level, I highly suggest being with Him in silence & patiently waiting on Him. He is so beautiful & worth quieting ourselves (our minds, our hearts, our cares, our busy schedules, etc.).

"If the pace & the push, the noise & the crowds are getting to you, it's time to stop the nonsense & find a place of solace to refresh your spirit. Deliberately say 'no' more often. This will leave room for you to slow down, get alone, pour out your overburdened heart, & admit your desperate need for inner refreshment." 

-Charles Swindoll

I know this may seem rather on the contrary, but I found this song with such beautiful lyrics & I desire to share it with everybody, haha! Abba by Jonathan David Helser <<click it, be with the Lord, & enjoy.

It's been awhile.

It sure has been quite awhile since I have blogged, so be prepared for a ton of updates!

The yard sale was a huge success & I raised about $800! I want to thank those who came out to support me & also those who prayed over the yard sale as well. Your prayers were answered & I deeply appreciate you! I'll be honest, I went into this yard sale believing the Lord was going to financially bless me beyond belief & while He did do that, I was blessed in a totally unexpected way! As exhausting & difficult a yard sale can be, the best part was the people who came to support me. I had the opportunity to meet such genuine, unique, & loving people & because of their uniqueness I experienced the beauty of the Lord. I cannot even begin to describe to you what it was like, but whenever I would have a conversation with someone I felt God & I saw His beauty in them. By far the best part of my yard sale! Once again, thank you all for your prayers & support!

photos from my film camera

In the middle of September I surprised all of my friends from Ft. Collins by showing up to a retreat (Breakaway) near Monument one weekend & God blew me away. He spoke to me multiple times & it seemed as if the message Paul Austin (the speaker) spoke was directed toward me. At this time I was struggling with my decision to leave Ft. Collins & the decision to leave Colorado in general. I am really excited to head off to Japan, but what scares me is not knowing exactly how long I'll be there. I was slowly, but surely, convincing myself I didn't want to go. Paul Austin spoke of how so often we attempt to make God a part of our life when in reality, we need to be a part of HIS life; God desires us to partner up WITH HIM, not vice versa. I also realized I was the type of person who was holding God's hand saying, "Yes, I will follow You," but all the while digging my heels in the ground as my Father walks forward. I was also reminded that walking with God wasn't a walk in the park. . .there are going to be many times with the Lord that hurt like hell, scare me half to death, or situations I flat out don't want to be a part of. That is where I find out where my faith, trust, & hope reside. . .do they reside in my common sense or in the Word of my God? If all 3 reside in my common sense (or there lack of, ha ha) then I will never have a beautiful, dangerous, exciting, risk-taking adventure with the Lord! A moment I will never forget was during worship one morning when I began to cry because I heard Him tell me, "You are weak, but through you, My power will shine." It is the truth; I am so incredibly weak, especially when it comes to moving to Japan! It was a beautiful reminder of 2 Corinthians 12:9-10:

"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 about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

Another exciting thing about this retreat was the freedom that came with it! My small group & I spent a lot of time in prayer & we were all honest about the things we were all struggling with, the things that were weighing us down & keeping us from running with God. Tears, words, snot, & laughter were all shared & I fell in love with the stunning hearts the Lord placed inside of these women. During my prayer time with these ladies, I heard the Lord say, "Even though you are women, you are warriors for My kingdom & you, as warriors, will break the chains off of others in My powerful name." Exciting right?

A lot has happened in this past month, but sadly I cannot share ALL of it here, but I will end with telling you I had a job interview this morning & that was an answered prayer, praise God! Also, I cannot be more excited to follow the Lord to Japan & God has been filling me with His joy as I am here at home with my parents. It gets lonely, but I am learning how to have intimacy with Him & that is worth the loneliness. I have 2 more months until I leave & still a TON to do! Please keep support raising, the Lord providing a camera (my Nikon is sadly broken), the nation of Japan, the organization PAZ Japan & FUSE Jesus Community Church, & all of their workers in your prayers. Thank you! You & your support is cherished & let me know how I can be praying for YOU!

"This is what the Lord says, He who made the earth, the Lord who formed it & established it - the Lord is His name: 'Call to Me & I will answer you & tell you great & unsearchable things you do not know.'"

-Jeremiah 33:2-3

how cool (: