Isabelle's Corner

Hi! It’s me again! It’s been awhile since I last wrote because Mom and Dad have been keeping my busy. They’ve been taking me on walks, giving me baths, changing lots of diapers, feeding me, playing with me, taking me on trips, and making sure I get my beauty sleep. In my free time I like to roll over, make girly noises, sing when Dad plays the guitar or when Mom plays the piano, watch Mom cook, hangout with my cousins, and smile. See ya later. I’m hungry now.

-Isabelle

Isabelle's Corner

Hi! My name is Isabelle and I like to spend time with Dad and Mom. They are fun and so are the students that come over to our house. I like when Dad and Mom get me to smile and laugh. Going on walks are also one of my favorites. My Grandmas and Grandpas are also a lot of fun. I like staying at their houses. See ya later, I have some zzzzz to catch.
-Isabelle

Here I Raise My Ebenezar

Many of you know that this past spring we had a difficult time getting our house. Right at the time we were supposed to lock in, the government lowered the debt to income ratio which looked like was going to prevent us from getting a house. We found another type of loan that worked but we had problems with the underwriter and loan documents getting through the government. On top of that there were two people interested in the house and one person made an offer when we had an accepted offer with the seller. At one point we didn’t know if we were going to get the house and in three weeks our lease was up and someone else was moving in! During this time I know God was teaching me about faith and I could either doubt Him or trust Him believing that He will working things out for the best. Samuel experienced a different kind of battle and afterward he gave glory to God. “Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, ‘Thus far has the LORD helped us.’” - 1 Samuel 7:12

Tara and I decided to have a stone of remembrance in our yard remind us of what God did. Though circumstances like this were stressful at times, our faith grew huge after seeing how God orchestrated it all. Praise Him!

Housing Update

Thank you all who have been praying for us and the housing details. It's been a long process and we are making progress.

After I sent out the email last week, on Wednesday we did get our loan commitment with one contingency. It needs to be approved by the Rural Housing government office. Then we're pretty much good to go. The closing date is this Friday, April 17. Last week God reassured me in my time in His word that things would be okay. 1 Thess. 5:16-18 says "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus"

We can easily get anxious about things not going the way we imagined, but it is still God's will for us. I think of Gideon who went into battle with three hundred instead of the thirty thousand he thought he needed and because of it, he knew for sure without a doubt that it was God who won the battle. This Friday when we have the keys to the house we will know that only God could have worked it all out and He deserves the glory. (We just may put a stone of remembrance out in the front yard.)

Thank you for praying for us.
For the sake of the gospel,
-Tim and Tara

It's a girl!

Isabelle Joanna Chamberlain was born March 29, 2009 at 3:37pm.
Weight: 6 lbs 10 oz
Length: 20 inches
Hair: Blond

Tara did such a great job! The labor was long but well worth it.
I'm so proud of her and Isabelle.
Thank you for praying.

Tim and Tara Chamberlain
-For the sake of the Gospel

Our House!

Here is our first house! Tara and I have been looking for the past four or five months and we found this diamond in the rough. In three weeks, March 24, we're expecting a baby to come and then April 17th we move into our house. It has three bedrooms on the first floor and two bathrooms, one on the main floor and one downstairs. We can't wait to have people over to visit and stay. It has a great backyard that extends to the large fields between schools.
We're praying that this house would be a blessing for our family and a great ministry tool.
Thanks for your prayers!

Tim and Tara Chamberlain
-For the sake of the Gospel

God's Miracles

This morning I woke up at 5am from a crazy dream and my heart was beating irregularly. It felt like my heart was hiccuping.
I asked Tara to check and she noticed it too.
It kept going like this and was really scary. I prayed that it would go away but it continued. So we prayed about it and decided to go to the ER.
They got me in right away and checked my heart with an EKG.
Then they ran blood tests and those came back okay. The doctor came in and said that the upper chamber of my heart wasn't functioning properly and they were thinking that they would shock the heart back into rhythm.
I was pretty scared about it because they said the effect of the shock could cause a stroke if a blood clot formed.

Tara was and is amazing, she sat near me and prayed with me. She quoted Philippians 4:6-7 to me

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

I felt a peace about what was happening. It says that the peace of God will guard your hearts, man what amazing truth to hold on to. I realized there was no need to be anxious or afraid because God was there every minute.

We called our parents to let them know what was going on. After we had just finished with our parents on the phone, the doctor walked in said he talked with another doctor in Madison. He said that they would give me some medicine and hopefully the heart would eventually return back to normal. Wow, great news!

The doctor didn't know exactly what caused this to happen to me, but said that caffeine, stress, dehydration, heart disease, hyperthyroid, and some others are factors for people that have this.

So Tara and I got up and headed out of the hospital. As we were on our way back home, the irregular beats stopped! I'm taking it easy today...doctors orders.

I don't doubt for a second that the prayers for me and for the doctors helped reset my heart. I'm not fully out of the clear though. I need to see the doctor again tomorrow and hopefully it doesn't come back.

Just wanted to share how awesome God is!

Tim and Tara Chamberlain
-For the sake of the Gospel

A New Adventure

As Tara and I have come back to get ready for the semester to begin, the new adventure of being the campus director is starting to set in. With large group meetings to plan, leadership training to think about, Bible studies to plan, and many other details to coordinate; the feeling can be a bit overwhelming.

I was reading in Isaiah and thinking about this new adventure and responsibility that we are stepping into and felt peace that our Lord would not leave us. God will be right there, in fact, He has already gone before us and behind us to make the way for us.
Isaiah 52:12 says,

"But you will not leave in haste or go in flight; for the Lord will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard."

How awesome is that?!
Tara was telling me that she similarly was reading in Isaiah 41 and felt a peace about this new challenge and adventure.
Isaiah 41:10 says,

"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

Tara and I are excited to step into this new role and adventure. We ask that you would continue to pray for us, for strength and continual renewal by the Holy Spirit.

Tim and Tara Chamberlain
-For the sake of the Gospel

I am fool according to the world

Recently Tara and I have experienced spiritual attacks about what we do.
It's frustrating when people that say they are Christians don't understand why we are working with The Navigators. They question why we fundraise and our work schedule; because it's not like the rest of the world.

Tara and I are confident that we have been called by God to work with college students in Whitewater. Though it still can be discouraging when people close to us don't understand and they may never understand. God never promised that following Him would not be easy.

This morning God answered in a big way. Tara was spending time in 1 Corinthians and read chapter 4. Below are verses 8-13.

"Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have become kings—and that without us! How I wish that you really had become kings so that we might be kings with you! 9For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men. 10We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! 11To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. 12We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; 13when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world."

In 1 Corinthians 1:26-27 Paul says:

"For consider your calling brothers: not many of you were wise according to wordly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise"

Thinking about how God has used us this past semester blows my mind. Peter coming to Christ was by far the greatest memory of the semester and there is no price tag that you can put on that. So it is hard to have people question what we are doing. But I would rather do what God has called me to do and look like a fool in the worlds eyes than going with the crowd and missing these amazing opportunities of bringing someone into God's Kingdom!

Tim and Tara Chamberlain
-For the sake of the Gospel