God’s faithfulness – The Rousehouse

What’s the Rousehouse up to this summer?

Posted on August 5, 2020 by Spanky Rouse

July has been a heavy month emotionally. To be completely honest it has been a difficult time for our family but we are trusting in the fullness of the Lord to take care of us. We were planning on being in the US this month to see family, friends and ministry partners as well as take a very anticipated vacation to the beach. Instead, we planned a couple shorter getaways here in Uganda. There is no beach, unfortunately, but there are some pretty spectacular natural beauties in this country. It’s also an adventure in just traveling to these places.

Spanky and Lara: Lara and I went away for a long weekend with our friends, Smooth and Kelly, to an area of the country we had never visited. We travelled about 9 hours away to the Kibale Forrest in the western portion of Uganda. We simply relaxed, laughed, ate good food, stayed up late, and swam in one of the 88 crater lakes (A crater lake is a former volcano that has filled with fresh water…so we went for a dip in a volcano!).

Family trip: Then Lara planned a family trip to the Murchinson Falls area of the country which is about 8 hours north west of our town. We stayed at some friends lodge which was a beautiful, quiet safari camping lodge for 4 days. One day we took a game drive (safari), another day we drove to the top of the Murchinson Falls, and most of the other times you could find us sitting by the pool listening to music and playing games. You can check out some pretty cool pictures from our trip by clicking —> here.

Community on high alert: This month many of you know that we have had some very serious home invasions around Jinja. They have all been focused on expats like some of our friends. We have upped our security, been more alert (less sleeping), and even created a safe room and emergency plan, just in case. We pray daily for the Lord’s army of angles to surround us!

Recently we have been noticing a few things that are quiet normal here but might be a little unusual from what you would experience in America.

I asked if this was safe and the worker said, “why wouldn’t it be???”

Kiddos…

Mac decided that he wanted dreads so he got dreads.
He is loving them!
He grew his hair for 3 years for this.

Elly visits the local supermarket weekly just to play with the kittens that are running around the shelves.

Grey’s been enjoying learning how to play tennis these days

Ministry and life is not what it use to be here but we are learning a new normal. Our ministry is definitely more personal as we are feeling our days with individual conversations, dinners with families at their homes, and working to figure out how we can have home groups instead of large church gatherings. We are anticipating the day we can get back into remote villages to serve and volunteering as a family to help meet others needs. Until then, we are doing the next right thing by encouraging people that God puts in our paths and keeping our eyes open to those opportunities that are right in front of us.

It was a major Muslim holiday last week and our neighbors let us share in the slaughtering.

Please join us in prayer:

The kids and Lara will be starting school back this month
Please continue to pray for safety. Lord send your army of angles to surround us!
Awareness of the opportunities the Lord wants us to step in during this time
Praise the Lord for time away and a vacation
Financial support and stableness
Our friends, neighbors and church members that are struggling with finances and food during this time
Our families mental, emotional and spiritual healthiness during this time
Spanky is finishing up his schooling and hours for Life Coaching

The best way to be sure you don’t miss an update would be to follow our blog or one of our social media outlets.

https://www.instagram.com/spankyrouse/

https://www.instagram.com/lararouse/

https://www.facebook.com/spanky.rouse

https://www.facebook.com/lara.rouse.7

https://www.instagram.com/causing_wonder/ – Mac’s Instagram

End of year generosity

Posted on December 3, 2019December 3, 2019 by Spanky Rouse

Biggest needs:

Better transportation (vehicle) for our family. We have a nice 4×4 car now but it is old and not made to weekly travel down the village roads therefore we are regularly fixing and replacing things on it. We need something that will be stronger and more reliable for this kind of travel we have to take weekly. ($3000)
Funds for staff investment opportunities like a Christmas party, monthly birthday celebrations, staff appreciation days, small groups and bible studies, and special needs that come up ($1500)
Funds for annual trip to the US for a time of refreshment, rest, and support raising. ($2500)

Ways to be praying for us:

Protection…physical, spiritual, and over our relationships
Increased favor with our staff
Strong community of friends and encouragers
For Sole Hope leadership as they lead us in a healthy direction for this next year
Wisdom in finding a new car
Healthy bodies
Encouraged hearts
Lara and kids visas to come through (Spanky received his work permit last week!!!)

How can you partner with us:

Pray Pray Pray
Have your church partner with us and Sole Hope through hands on events like shoe cutting parties and more. Sole Hope, Get Involved
Come visit us! or Bring a team to visit and experience Sole Hope and Uganda
Share with others. We would love for others to have the opportunity to be a part of this mission and Sole Hope www.rousehouse.org
Be generous. We need more monthly givers Give Monthly
Give a special gift to support this ministry here in Uganda Special gift

VISA update!!!

Posted on September 5, 2017September 5, 2017 by Spanky Rouse

But you, O Lord, laugh at them;
you hold all the nations.

O my Strength, I will watch for you,
for you, O God, are my fortress.

My God in his steadfast love will meet me;
God will let me look in triumph on my enemies.

^{Psalms 59:8-10}

It’s time to celebrate! The Rousehouse received our visas for South Africa this past Friday in Los Angeles! After our fourth visit to a South African Consulate office we couldn’t believe it when they handed them to us. I [Spanky] stood there and read them over and over just to be sure it really was the correct visas we had been fighting for, for more than 3 months now. It has taken months, many trips out-of-town, lots of unexpected expenses but more than anything, it has taken a toll emotionally and we have struggled to keep the course. God has once again proven His faithfulness, His presence, and His care for us through this battle.

Before sharing the joys of getting our visas in LA, let me catch you up on all that has happened over the past month quickly...

June 13th the Rousehouse heads to NYC South African Consulate to apply for our visas.
June 21st we get an email from the Consulate asking us to fill out an extra wavier form. No explanation as to why we need this, we were just told to fill it out even though we had all documentation they require for our volunteer visa.
July 30th, 2 days before our departure flights for South Africa, Spanky returns to NYC to hopefully get our visas and passports. He spoke with the consulate who made it very clear that he was not on our side and was intentionally delaying our process.
August 1st, we cancelled our flights and were not able to leave for South Africa like we had planned.
August 14th, Spanky returns to NYC for the third time this summer to get our visas but ended up leaving with nothing more than our passports. We were back at square one with the visa process.
We began pursuing every avenue through friends in South Africa, talking with other people who have been through the process, and our ministry leaders who were talking with am international consulting firm in South Africa.
We started the visa process from the beginning (paper work, background info, applications, etc) while working with this South African visa consulting company.
Planned our trip for all five of us for Los Angeles because we were advised that the LA office was much more willing to work with us to get visas and in a timely fashion.
Headed to the west coast on August 28th and were the first person in line at the Consulate’s office on Tuesday the 29th.

This has been a trying season in our life. Nothing like it to be honest. It seemed like the door to our dreams had been shut. We weren’t sure what to do and the worst part was not having a back up plan or a time line. We were sure that we had heard from the Lord and that He said He had good plans for us in South Africa. There were days that we struggled hard and had nothing else to do but hold tight to the Lord and His promises for us. Thankfully He never let’s go and is always completely in control. The Lord has used this experience to awaken us to His presence and power like never before!

We walked into the Los Angeles Consulate office, handed them our files and moments later were sitting in an interview room. The lady on the other side of the glass was extremely nice and made our kids feel very comfortable. She seemed ready to help us get approved for visas to South Africa as soon as possible and even better with no extra hoops to jump through. Once she found out that we were going to hang around LA for a few days this government official said she would do her best to get us visas in hand before we left town. We didn’t really believe her, after all that we had experienced from the NY office this summer this seemed crazy. Never in our wildest dream did we think we would leave there with visas last week.

On Friday morning we woke up and called three-times to the Consulate’s office. No answer! It rings three times and then hangs up on you, every single time. We decided that in faith, we were going to drive back to the office and ask where we were in the process before we left LA. Lara and the kids went to a coffee shop next door while I went up to check on everything. The lady at the front desk went to ask someone else behind the scene and came back to let me know that everything would be ready in 30 minutes! Nerves, excitement, and disbelief were all going through our minds as we waited those 30 minutes with sweaty palms and a shaky knees. “Was this really about to happen?!?!” Five minutes before the office closed for the day, the lady who did our interview a few days earlier came out with a handful of passports. Talk about my heart pounding out of my chest! The piece of paper that gives us the right to head to South Africa, the key to all of these plans of us moving, and the prize we had been working and praying so hard for these past few months was right in front of me!!! As the passport was opened and I read the phrase “3 year volunteer visa for multiple entries in effect September 1, 2017 to serve with East Mountain Leadership Development” and was speechless. I couldn’t wait to run out of there and show everyone.

I left the South African Consulate’s office praising the Lord and partially wondering if this was really true. I had all five passports and visas in my back pocket! As I saw my family standing across the street waiting on me by the car I could barely hold in my excitement. I decided to walk up to them with a somber look and an empty envelope as if things had not gone well. They looked at me waiting on some kind of emotion as I huffed and said, “I don’t know what we are going to do now.” I started to feel bad as I saw the kids faces turn towards disappointment. I then pulled the stack of passports out of my back pocket and yelled, “WE GOT THEM!!!! WE ARE GOING TO SOUTH AFRICA!” In the middle of the parking lot we jumped around and yelled with joy. We have been hoping and praying for this moment!

We walked through this trial, questioned lots of things, experienced an array of emotions, and felt bombarded daily with thoughts of fear and uncertainty. It is by the grace of our Father and His Spirit that we were strengthen to continue to stay the course. I saw my wife [Lara] battle through this well! We saw and felt the support of our family, friends, and ministry partners through this time more than we could have asked for and it kept us going day after day. And we believe that we saw the hand of God and felt His love wash over us over and over.

We may never know why we had to walk this path but we can trust that it is all part of the Fathers best plans for us! And now we are rejoicing in the fact that He has chosen to now give us visas to go love, serve, and care for those in need while leading people in a growing relationship with Jesus. He is also allowing us to go to be impacted and developed personally and as a family in ways we can only hope for.

When are we leaving for South Africa??? We just re-booked our flights (2 hours ago!) and will be heading out to South Africa on September 18th!

Please continue to follow our journey so you can keep us in your prayers and know how to partner with us further in this journey! To be continued…

Also, following along on Instagram and Facebook, we will regularly be posting pictures and stories.

https://www.instagram.com/spankyrouse/

https://www.instagram.com/lararouse/

https://www.facebook.com/spanky.rouse

https://www.facebook.com/lara.rouse.7

https://www.instagram.com/causing_wonder/ – Mac’s Instagram

He has joy. What’s my problem?

Posted on September 8, 2016September 8, 2016 by Spanky Rouse

20371_1364726396548_4775971_n — So, he doesn’t look very happy here. He had never seen a camera before and was checking it out. He also loved suckers and could unwrap them and put them in his mouth by using just his feet. That is talented!

“Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart…” “I desire to do your will O my God…” “You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing…” “He fulfills the desires of those who fear him…” (Psalms 37:45; 40:8; 145:16,19)

Every so often I think about this boy. I meet him on one of our trips to Uganda when we use to mobilize a mobile medical clinic to serve the local churches out in the bush (the middle of no where Africa).

I get caught up in what I need, want, and am working towards and forget about where true joy and satisfaction comes from. I find my self operating in the mind-set that, if I can get my needs meet, wants provided for, and goals accomplished I will be happy, feel complete, and experience real peace. It is all a lie!

I know it is a lie because I have met this little guy. He was born with no arms and has very little possessions and success in this world. He lives in a dirt floor hut, eats less than he should eat everyday (if he eats everyday), has no regular medical care near him, wears the same clothes day after day, and did I mention he has no arms. This little guy has Jesus and a joy that is unlike most in this world.

I know that those things I think will bring me joy are nothing more than surface layer desires and some even distorted desires. Let’s be honest when we get what we are striving after are we satisfied? If I reach a certain goal does it quench that longing in side of me? When I have those experiences like an amazing vacation is life really all that fulfilling? Not really. Ok, to be fair it is all good for a moment or a season and I am not saying to not pursue these or that they are bad. It’s just that I usually find my self back in that place of need, want, and seeking after to gain joy and satisfaction pretty soon, if not immediately.

So what now? How can I obtain this joy that this little boy who has barely life has?

Good news, there is a “fix to all” to this. It does cost me something but the cost is really isn’t that much of a cost to me. Surrender (abandon oneself entirely to, give in to, hand over the controls to). When I surrender and surrender daily to the love of the Father that is when I find my deepest longings and desires can be completely meet. He is the one and only (I AM) that can quench my thirst. He created me with desires and passions, therefore why would I not let Him be the one who satisfies those things in me.

What is the biggest desire you have today? It probably just came to mind, didn’t it?

Think about it for a moment. If you got that thing, had that relationship, accomplished that goal, etc., would you really be happy?

Take some time to prayerfully consider, “what is it I desire more than anything”. Surrender that to the One who loves you more than anything and let Him fulfill your deepest longings. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal your deep longings and desires so the Father can engage with you in a way you have never experienced before.

Battle for the Heart

Posted on August 19, 2016August 19, 2016 by Spanky Rouse

Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men of courage, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love. 1 Corinthians 16:13-14

Above all else, guard your heart,
for everything you do flows from it. Proverbs 4:23

This past weekend I was privileged to attend a retreat with some guys that I work with here at UWM (United World Mission). Honestly, I had too much going on and this felt like just an event that I couldn’t wait to be over. Little did I know the Father was going to meet me there. And He was going to radically transform my heart that will then offer life and growth to every other part of my life.

The Battle for the Heart is a long weekend but it is so much more than an event. I was blessed to go with 4 other men that serve with UWM and spend 4 days outside Birmingham, Al learning about this battle that is going on inside each of us. This time was about each one of us learning who God has created us to be as men, what He has chosen each of us to do, how evil is hunting my heart constantly, and how a community/fellowship can protect and propel me into the Larger story of life…His ultimate story.

After the first night I went to bed thinking that my head was going to explode! It was like drinking water from a fire hose. I was ready to go home. I felt like I had only begun to realize just how messed up I was and felt like I was a big ball of tangled mess.

The second day things began to move to my heart as I processed them with my group and alone with the Lord. The mix of large group times, small group conversations, and time sitting in the woods asking the Father to speak to me were pretty moving!

The third day was all about the Father revealing His amazing love for us and me seeing me the way He truly sees me. I had a face to face moment with God that completly blew me away.

On Sunday, the last day of the retreat, I was able to start putting all of the pieces together. I was also able to share them with a group of men that were now brothers not just co-workers of mine. We spent that morning telling one another what we see God doing in each persons life, affirming the unique glory of the Father coming out of their life, and challenging one another to live out His purpose in their life, family, marriage, work, ministries, etc. This was a powerful moment!

Before this weekend I had heard two friends at work talk about this retreat and how it was the most impactful thing that they have ever been a part of other than receiving Jesus. I honestly thought it was a sales pitch to get us there. I even told one of them that and he said, “well, what do you think now?” After going through this weekend and now knowing that get to walk with these men for the next year, I am sold! It honestly is the best, most important, impactful, life changing, transformational thing that I have been a part of other than Jesus saving me from my sin!!! My life, marriage, children, ministry, and every other relationship in life will never be the same again! My HEART will never be the same again, Praise the Lord!

I could talk for days about my experience and how the Lord meet with me! It was a sweet, sacred time that I am so thankful for. Instead of talking about everything that I heard, learned, and experienced I thought I would list just 5 of the 1000’s of quotes or truths gained:

I am His Beloved, I am enough just the way I am, and I am an image bearer of God Himself.
Deceitful Desires: Expecting fulfilment of a surface desire – any material, experiential, positional, or relational desire – to satisfy a deeper desire. Only God can satisfy a deep desire.
Our deepest desires aren’t bad. They were put in us by the Father himself because they reflect who He is and who I truly am.
I can have impact not only by what I can do but simply by being – being who God created me to be.
Evil is hunting me today because I am a danger to him. Evil is going to cleverly try to get me off track through fear, anxiousness, and pride so I am not able to live and love as the man God created me to be to my domain (life, marriage, family, work, ministry, friends, etc.)

I would strongly encouarge every person I know to attend and go through the Battle for the Heart! If you are interested click here and if you would like to hear more from me about this time I would love to share. Just let me know!

Stories from Senegal

Posted on August 18, 2016August 19, 2016 by Spanky Rouse

I received this story from a missionary that I get to serve with in Senegal, West Africa. I asked them if I could share this story and they were glad for me to do this because of the One who gets the glory from it. It is a story of how God is still at work even when the Evil one has such a strong hold. I pray that this encourages you and opens your eyes to see how God is at work in your day and life.

What we are about to share with you is a story of power, a story of who God is , a story of salvation and deliverance. It’s a story that involves you and I and those who are in Christ’s kingdom here in Senegal.

We are still awed at how God works in different ways around the world and yet He never wavers or changes. He is an absolute constant, a faithful Rock. He is all powerful!!

In this story I am going to use different names for the safety of us all.

A STORY OF SALVATION AND DELIVERANCE

Our story unfolds in one of the villages we minster to along with Mission Inter Senegal “MIS”. It is a story about two wives who came to know Christ in a most unusual terrifying way! The entire family is actually saved now.

These two ladies are now part of the church in this village and their story of salvation is mind-blowing and miraculous! A Sene and F Sene are both married to the same husband. There husband was a very evil man and practiced witchcraft. In fact he was the right hand man of a super powerful man witch called a Laga. They deal deeply in demonic activity. In order for A and F’s husband to maintain his power he has to do what the Laga tells him to do. This involved sacrificing his own children.

A, his first wife, only had two children left so the husband tried to take children from his second wife, F, to sacrifice. F was a very outgoing lady and very talkative, boisterous and loud. According to the Laga and demonic spirits they like to perform rituals secretly, under the radar so to speak. F was so loud and talkative about the situation to the village that the Laga and the demons refused to use her children for sacrifices. A and F’s husband had to quickly come up with a child to sacrifice. The Laga, through the influence of the demonic spirits, grew impatient with A and F’s husband and cast a spell on him and he died quickly.

Now the Laga was looking for someone to replace A and F’s husband to continue the demonic work in the village. He chose A’s eldest son P to replace his father. A and P were terrified and could not stop the events that were about to take place.

The demons attacked P in the form of a bull but only P could see this bull. It was a terrifying situation for all the family and those nearby even. P was under such fierce combat with the demons he appeared crazy!

A and F remembered how a women by the name of E who was the wife of the pastor in this village, was delivered from demons by a group of people at an evangelical center. They did not know where to turn for help and this was the only thing they could think of that could help A’s son P.

So they sent P to the same place that E received deliverance from the demons. At the evangelical center they prayed for P. He was delivered instantly from the demons. P said he could see the demons fleeing. P gave his life to Christ and returned to his family. When A and F saw P for the first time after being delivered they could not believe their eyes and were amazed. They gave there lives to Christ that day and now the whole family are believers!! Wow, Praise the Lord!

It is hard for us Americans to comprehend the magnitude of this story but it is real and God is victorious over the darkness. Rest assured this is happening in many places in Senegal and around the world. Jesus Christ is showing Himself strong! Hallelujah!

I wanted to share this story with you to remind you that GOD IS AT WORK! And at work in some mighty ways all around this world! Thank you for your prayers and financial support. You are helping and enabling us to serve some great men and woman of faith around the world!

Take just a minute now and pray for West Africa. Pray for the believers that are working hard to spread the good news of Jesus. Pray for the harden hearts to be softened to the love of Jesus. Pray that evil will not win. Pray for our workers that are giving their lives to this great work. God bless!

Shining Bright

Posted on June 10, 2016June 10, 2016 by Spanky Rouse

I have been in this routine lately of getting up super early during the week. I don’t actually like to ge glory1 t up early but I do like to get in a work out before the day starts. During the winter months this is extremely difficult to do since I do not enjoy cold weather. Those mornings when it is freezing outside and the sun isn’t up until later are really hard for me. Over the past few weeks however I have enjoyed watching the days get lighter earlier and earlier. Now as I drive home from the gym I can see the sun peaking just behind the tree line shining bright! It reminds me of a child standing ready to tell you all about a big surprise. This morning the sun was high in the sky and exploding with its brightness! So bright that it was blinding me and it was only 6:30am! I love this time of year!

This week I have been finding myself reading some about God’s glory. So, when I saw that radiant sun bursting with light blinding me in the eyes this morning all I could think of was His glory. His glory covers the earth while it also fills my life. He has chosen me to be one that carries and displays His glory! When I am living life fully and abundantly it is His glory shining through. Every morning that I wake up and see the sun coming up is a direct declaration and reminder that my God is alive and pouring out His glory on me! glory3

Let us look for the glory of God in our lives and around us today! If the sun is up His glory is shining!

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.- Psalms 19:1

Arise, shine, for your light has broken through!
    The Eternal One’s brilliance (glory) has dawned upon you.
2 See truly; look carefully—darkness blankets the earth;
    people all over are cloaked in darkness.
But God will rise and shine on you;
    the Eternal’s bright glory will shine on you, a light for all to see.
3 Nations north and south, peoples east and west, will be drawn to your light,
    will find purpose and direction by your light.
In the radiance of your rising, you will enlighten the leaders of nations. – Isaiah 60:1-3 (The Voice)

“The glory of God is a human being fully alive.” – Emotionally Healthy Spirituality

noun: glory

high renown or honor won by notable achievements.
praise, worship, and thanksgiving offered to God.
magnificence; great beauty.
a thing that is beautiful or distinctive; a special cause for pride, respect, or delight.
he splendor and bliss of heaven.

verb: glory

take great pride or pleasure in.

It’s so simple but I forget

Posted on August 12, 2015 by Spanky Rouse

Driving into work this morning I was having this broken, sloppy, and unrefined conversation with the MAN up stairs about how I just feel like I am not running on all cylinders spiritually. I know most of you know this feeling and what I am talking about. Those times when you just don’t feel like praying or when you do pray it is more like drawing a blank. Now to let you also know, I am tired this morning and rushed out of the house therefore I am aware that some of this is a physical issue not a spiritual one.

When I got to work I decided that I should probably spend a few minutes reading my bible before I get started. After all I am in ministry and am expected to help people figure out God’s call on their life. I might want to be in touch with or awakened to the voice of God myself before I try to help someone else.

Just before I opened the bible I prayed, “God form my heart and life and let me pay attention to the things that really matter so I can be connected with you and love life today fully.” Then I opened up to 1 Peter 2 and the words smacked me right in the face!

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

I was reminded and awaken to the FACT that I am chosen, I am God’s special possession, I am here to declare His praises, I once was nothing but now I am something. I was reminded that it doesn’t matter how I feel today, He still sees me in these ways and His mercy towards me is overwhelming.

Sometimes I just need to stop trying to pray and make it “work” and listen to what my Father has to say to me and about me! I am special and nothing can separate me from His awesomeness! I am connected to Jesus today because He is connected to me and that is where life becomes full!

This is our home!

Posted on May 6, 2015May 6, 2015 by Spanky Rouse

Almost 8 years ago Lara and I since that they Lord was telling us to sell our new home that we had built just a couple of years ago. We knew that God was leading us into a life of full-time ministry and wanted to make sure we had more financial margin than we currently did. We are so glad we listened and did sell it! We had no idea of the journey that was before us.

We thankfully had a great home to move into but planned to only be there for 6 months – 1 year. Well, we never really had a chance to move out of that home and we never felt like God was saying it was time. Until now.

Also, 4 years ago we were led to start a ministry in a local neighborhood (Piney Grove) after serving in a variety of countries for that past few years. This became a large focus of ours and our church’s (Ridge Church). We have seen God do some really awesome things around the school, with the staff of the school, and with a handful of families in the neighborhoods surrounding the school. There are some pretty amazing stories we can tell and some that are still in the making! Then towards the end of 2014 around the same time I was privilege to take this new role with United World Mission, the RouseHouse felt the Lord might want us to move into the Piney Grove neighborhood. We toyed with the idea and prayed some about it but didn’t know if we were ready just yet. Some of our closest friends began to feel the same stirring to move into the neighborhood which seemed really cool to imagine both of our families living and serving together. Then our pastor, Chris Brown asked us, “Have you thought about moving into the neighborhood?”

We began wondering what it would look like for “us” to become a “them”? How much more could we live intentionally and missionally if we were in the midst of the community? Why wouldn’t we do this? Is God putting all of the pieces together for us to take this step? This could actually be a huge blessing for the RouseHouse in so many ways.

As we began praying through and wrestling with these and other questions we quickly found our hearts becoming more attached to the idea of living in this community. Therefore we started looking for houses with our friends. Every home that was for sale over the last 6 months in this neighborhood we have looked at. Early on in our search we found one house that was in much better shape than most and it seemed to have a lot of community living space; 2 living rooms, patio, large back yard, and a front porch. For the reasons we want to move in this neighborhood we knew that we needed living spaces like this. So, we made an offer! Unfortunately, the night before the seller accepted someone elses offer. We were bummed but had to try to move on. We just couldn’t move on though. At least I couldn’t. I genuinely felt that the Lord had told me that this was the house He had for the RouseHouse but it didn’t make sense because someone else was already buying it, so I prayed that if it was His will He would make a way. And He did, about a month later the contract fell through and we were the first offer on the table!

The RouseHouse on the front porch of our new home

It isn’t the dream house, it isn’t the biggest house, it isn’t the newest house, it isn’t the area we would normally choose to move too…it is however the place God has called us too! It is our mission field and these are the people He has put on our heart and in our path to serve/love for this season of our life. This is our home and we love it already!

The RouseHouse is so excited and so nervous all at the same time. We know that there will be days that may not be the easiest or the most comfortable. We are also hopeful for the days when we get to sit on the front porch or in our living room with new friends laughing with them and caring for them. Our goals are simple. We want to be the best neighbors, make good friends, serve those in need, seek ways to bless those around us, and after all of this, we want to show people how to follow Jesus and worship our God.

As we take this next step in life and ministry we would love for you to remember us in your prayers often. Please be praying for His Spirit to be so evident, His blessings to cover us and our new home, that we may be a “city on a hill”, that we will gain favor from our neighbors and have great influence in their lives, that God will provide a smooth transition for us and the kids, that our kids will build some great friendships, and for the Fathers blessings and presence to flood us during this season of life.

The best is yet to come!

I don’t have any money to pay for this healing….

Posted on April 27, 2015 by Spanky Rouse

I received this update from a missionary that I get to work with that is living and working in China. It blessed my heart and made me question how big is my faith in my God. He is still able to do the impossible and He is still at work today!!! Prayer is a powerful gift that the Father is just waiting on us to use because He knows that it is an opportunity for His power and glory to be on display.

The elderly woman’s joy faded into panic as she anxiously told us that she could not pay us for the healing she had just received. We had met her only moments before as she sold snacks to travelers at a rest stop. She was walking with difficulty, and we offered to pray for her. As we prayed, the pain in her legs caused by rheumatism disappeared! While praying for her legs, we noticed she had a hearing aid in her left ear and we asked if we could also pray for her hearing. She told us she had been completely deaf in her right ear since she was a child and that she had very little hearing in her left ear due to a burst ear drum that hadn’t healed. We prayed for her again, and her right ear Immediately opened up! After more prayer the hearing in her left ear became more and more clear. Because Tibetan monks charge for their spiritual services, she thought we, too, would want her to pay. When she told us she had no money to pay, we told her that it was Jesus, the creator God who loves her, who had healed her and it was completely free. A huge smile crossed her face, and she began to cry as she thanked us and thanked Jesus. We encouraged her to call upon the name of Jesus regularly because he created her and loves her. As we got back in our vehicles to continue our journey she walked away smiling with her hearing aides in her snack basket.

This is just one of the amazing things God did during my recent trip to a Tibetan area in our province. Ours was one of seven teams made of up other missionaries and visiting ministry school students that participated in this outreach, and each team had incredible testimonies of salvation and healing. We are so thankful for the way God is demonstrating His Kingdom among these unreached peoples!

What are you praying for and how certain are you that He is able?