To our family and friends, we pray you are all keeping well. This newsletter was written in Australia, but just moments before I was set to send it our laptop died... never to wake again. Therefore, sending it had to wait until we arrived back to our desktop computer at home in Thailand. If you don't have time to read it maybe have a quick look at the VIDEOS.
Peace and blessings, Tom, Tuu & Ataiah
A Little Faith and God's faithfulness!
Our 5 weeks in Australia were really special, full of many blessings. While there I spent some time reflecting on God's faithfulness, which to be honest I find absolutely impossible to comprehend. The 'big' things that God has done in our lives, we have had little part to play. In fact the miracles God has done in the past two years have been right when our faith was at its lowest. These were times when we had forgotten God's promises or were even close to giving up, that's when God came through! Surely God only rewards the faithful? Yet he has chosen the bless us!
"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever."Psalms 107:1 "Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things he does for me."Psalm 103:2
We have been so blessed as of late, though our income decreased with Tom only doing 3 half days of paid teaching per week, we have seen God provide for us things we never thought we would have, and he has provided for all the extra costs that come with having a new addition to our family. We Praise God for his faithfulness to care for us, and thank you for being apart of that.
Currently Tom is taking on more responsibility with YWAM Korat, helping them with Communications, Worship Leading, and teaching English twice a week as a part of their university ministry. Apart from that we are discipling Tuu's aunt & sister, and studying the Bible at our house. Amongst all that we are still seeking God for his timing and plans in regard to further ministry with the young people in our village.
Lives in Korat and God lives in them!
Just before coming back to Perth, we took some time to record our family speaking on video. Both Tuu's sister (Boom) and Tuu's aunt (Naa Noiy) talk about how God has been their help in times of trouble, and they are trusting God to keep working in their lives and the obstacles that lay ahead.
Boom is preparing to go to DTS next month, but she has only 15% of the fees needed to be paid on the first day. This is very much her first big leap of faith, and we believe God is going to do something great!
We appreciate your prayers for both of them, and we believe you will be greatly encouraged and challenged by their simple and genuine faith shared in the videos. To watch just click on the links below, or alternatively we can send you a DVD (let us know by email if you're interested).
Miracles on Holiday because God is at work!
We came to Australia to catch up with family and friends, to relax a little, to share a little, but we never expected the miracle that God would do in our midst. Two years ago, we met a young lady named 'Angie' in Korat with a serious brain tumor. At that time I, Tom, felt I had heard clearly from God that there was something special about this girl, that God would one day reveal himself to her and use her life in an amazing way. Over a year we were able to spend time befriending her, sharing with her, and praying for her. We had also asked others to pray for her too. After that year she moved to Bangkok and we lost contact with her for a while. I would sometimes think about what God had told me that day and wondered if it would ever happen. I was unsure whether I had even heard from God at all. One of these times I felt this was while we were in Australia, and within just a few days Angie emailed us from the Gold Coast (not knowing we were in Perth at the time) asking if we could help her find a place to stay. She was flying over to Perth, but had no where to go. All the guesthouses & cheap hotels she had contacted were full. She was coming to Perth to visit an Aussie friend she had met in Thailand, but once she called him from the Gold Coast he avoided any contact with her. Full of despair she was considering just returning home... but you see, God had her in Australia for a reason!
The fact we were here and were able to give her a place to stay, was just one of the many miracles God did for her. Others included Angie getting an Australia visa in the first place (impossible unless you supply many supporting documents, which she didn't) and being allowed into the country without any contact details or solid plan for being here (they did keep her at immigration for 8 hours though). As we spent time chatting with Angie here in Perth, she told us about all the "coincidences" (which I call Godcidences) that she has had in recent years. Friends she had made in the US that had told her about God, friends in Thailand that had told her about God, even just as recent as the week before in the Gold Coast, an Indonesian lady at the guesthouse she stayed at told her about how she loves traveling because she has Christian brothers and sisters wherever she goes. God has been trying to get her attention for a long time ... one day she will write a book about it I'm sure! Through the week, God gave us many great conversations with her, sharing with her, and loving her.
Another miracle was the fact that when we asked her to come to YWAM worship meeting on Friday night, she said 'yes', even though she REALLY REALLY wanted to watch the Royal Wedding on TV. She came to YWAM and sang along with the worship songs, as she did God worked in her heart. Afterwards we introduced her to our Thai friends, and instantly God started to use 'Narong' to speak into her life and before I had finished my piece of cake she was praying a prayer of repentance and being apart of the real ROYAL wedding. How fitting it was that she was wearing her new all-white dress that she had just bought in Perth.
Please pray for her that she would find a great place to fellowship in Bangkok as she heads back to work. Please pray for her family who are extremely anti-Christian (long story...). Please pray for her continued health as the tumor she has can never be completely removed by surgery alone. We believe the miracles have only just begun in Angie's life. Praise God He works even when we're on holiday. Praise God He remembers his promises even when we forget them. Praise God this special girl has an extra-special God.
Our Little Boy and God's perfect timing!
Ataiah 'TaiTai' Beckingham arrived into this world on the 17th of November, 2011. Two weeks late by the doctors calculations, the doctor was getting concerned that Tuu would need to have a C-section. We prepared ourselves for the fact that the natural birth we were hoping for may not happen. Getting close to the doctors deadline, we wrestled with our faith and were getting close to giving in to doubt, but God did exactly what we prayed for... in His perfect timing.
God had in fact been speaking to us about his timing for some time. Soon after we found out Tuu was pregnant God gave the Hebrew name "Ataiah/Athaiah" to us, which in fact means "God helps" or "God's timing". Every moment from Ataiah's conception until his birth God was in it, God had helped, and He had helped in his perfect timing. We now see the amazing perfection in God's timing every day of our lives... and because of Ataiah we will never forget it. His nickname also holds special meaning, because 'Tai' means 'free'. TaiTai is going to have a special role to play in leading God's freedom to those that aren't yet truly free.
