Make Known
You make known to me the path of life. Psalm 16:11
I sat in my beat-up chair this morning, listening to the Gungor channel on Pandora. My hands were wrapped around a steaming cup of hot peach tea, and my mind was processing our weekend and what needs to be done this week and in the months to come. We submitted the first draft of our budget to Adventures last week, and are going through the refining process and
7,700
Is the number of monthly support we need before we are fully supported.
1,100
Is the number of monthly support we have right now.
As I sat in my chair this morning, I kept repeating the first number. And the thought, “How are we ever going to get there? This is never going to happen.” popped into my head. It was immediately followed by God saying back, “It’s not you that’s doing this.”
There’s a peace in knowing that, even when I am aware of my nerves and panic. This isn’t us. From the beginning, God has made it clear that this isn’t our dream, it’s his. This isn’t about us, it’s about him. This isn’t about sacrificing our dreams, it’s about giving us new hopes and visions. And that he is leading us, completely and beautifully, on this path.
In the midst of the panic, there is peace. And I’m praying for the panic to recede, for miracles to happen. Pray with me?
Luke 18:29-30
There is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.
From Proverbs 2 to Luke 2
Some of you are aware of my love for Proverbs. I’ve been going through it each month for the majority of the past two years. A few months ago, Frank started reading through it on the same schedule (one of the 31 chapters, each morning) and it’s come alive for me because I have someone to talk about it with. This month, he suggested adding Luke on to Proverbs. Because Luke has 24 chapters, and it speaks of the coming, arrival, life, death, and resurrection of Christ, it’s the perfect book for December reading. Acting as its own Advent calendar, leading from the birth to death then resurrection of Christ.
Not only that, the two books have similarities. I love how the second chapter of Proverbs, part of the nine chapter introduction, explains the process of finding wisdom and why its important. While the second chapter of Luke shows how Jesus increased in wisdom. Here’s a little taste of both chapters.
Proverbs 2 (ESV)
My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.
For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints.
Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path; for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you, delivering you from the way of evil, from men of perverted speech, who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness, who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perverseness of evil, men whose paths are crooked, and who are devious in their ways.
Luke 2
Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Fest of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the group they went a day’s journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.
And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
Ireland
We’re back from our trip to Ireland and settling back in to our day to day routine. The trip was incredible and God continually answered prayers and spoke to everyone individually. He broke down walls that many of us didn’t even know we had built. He showed us who we are in him and confirmed callings that he had placed on our lives.
We lived in community. We built relationships. We laughed. We cried (some more than others). We sang. We danced (Ambassador training camp dance-off winners!). We told stories. We lived stories. Together.
* The rest of this update was originally posted at Honeysuckle Life:
Dungarvan Quay, Ireland
In late June, Frank and I, along with our co-leader Tony! Toni! Tone!, left for the Adventures in Missions base for a week of training, dancing and flag-making. We picked up six students, ages 16-18, on our way to the amazing, lovely, ancient country of Ireland. A team of four from the Elemental group picked us up and our three week Irish journey began.
In our cultural debrief before leaving, our contact said that Ireland is “pretty much like America.” That’s a big yes and no. Yes because English is the primary language, it’s comparable in overall wealth and industry to America and most residents are well-versed in American culture. But. It’s definitely not America.
Our mission while in Ireland was to set up a drop in center for Irish teenagers, a place for free coffee and tea, card games, and x-box. We spent hours building relationships with some really cool kids. And at the end of our trip, many tears were shed by them and by us.
Dungarvan Quay, Ireland
I’ve spent the last week trying to process the trip. To find the core truths I learned from the experience. And I’m having a hard time doing this. We saw so many beautiful things, and made so many beautiful friendships, that I’m not sure I can think or write about the trip without getting upset that we aren’t there anymore. It was a solid month filled with spiritual and personal growth. Something I’ve planned for and looked forward to for the last 12 months. And now it’s over.
Kilkenny Castle
But, I’m comforted because God affirmed so many things through the trip. Goals that we set prior to the trip. Goals that were made on the trip. He moved. He answered prayers, immediately and consistently. He used us to connect to teenagers, and peers, in a deeply emotional way. One that revealed deep hurts, and allowed us to speak life into each other.
Mahon Falls, Ireland
I had so many moments of clarity, and now I’ll begin the process of applying it to my life here in Alabama. One thing I know and believe for sure, my life is beautiful. I am, again, filled with gratitude for the things God has allowed me to experience.
Sunset
As long as I’ve known Frank, he’s been fascinated by sunsets. Our favorite date was to grab a blanket, find a spot, and talk while the sun went down over a mountain. How awesome for him to be called to a place that has the most amazing sunsets, night after night.
On Leadership
Leadership isn’t something I’ve sought out in the past. I’m happier being a follower, and am at my best when I have a leader I can trust and job duties that are easily checked off a list. Because I’ve seen ineffective leaders, I avoided leadership roles out of fear.
–>warning, rabbit trail ahead.
Proving, once again, that God has a sense of humor (hello ability to pass gas!) God called us to a place that has shown me how to trust, but removed my lists. Sure, I have lists for groceries and for my basic duties here but most of what we do here is relationship based, and as you probably know relationships don’t come with a list.
and rabbit trail done<–
Through a series of events, God had given me the desire to lead a short term trip. Frank and I discussed it, and he agreed that God had placed this calling on my life. I emailed a friend at Adventures in Missions and asked to be put on the list if an opportunity opened up. He responded that the trips had been booked for the summer, but that he would keep me in mind.
A month later, another staff member emailed me and asked me to lead an Ambassador trip. From what I know, these two staff members had not communicated with each other. God had given my name to the staff member. I signed up for the trip, not knowing all of the details.
Then I received the email with details, including that part of the trip would take place in Ometepe. Frank would not be with me. I thought, “Oh boy! This isn’t what I signed up for.” Which is typical of most major commitments, but because God had confirmed this calling in several ways, I accepted it when it didn’t go the way I though it would.
Things I learned and felt while on the trip…
I could feel prayers covering me. The most obvious being that I found it easier to show myself grace and to make mistakes without allowing discouragement and feelings of failure to seep into my identity. The day after the trip ended, a lot of these doubts started coming back. I’m assuming this is when parents and leaders stopped praying in full force for the trip.
The last week was the hardest. My patience wore thin, and I snapped more at the girls during that trip than the rest of the trip combined. I didn’t handle difficult situations as well as I could have. Mostly because I was so tired and hadn’t had any time to myself.
A month long trip allows you to just start getting into the surface. Serious issues aren’t really uncovered in a month.
Leadership requires getting your hands dirty. You have to serve when you don’t want to serve. Answer questions when you have already answered 50. Be nice when you feel like being mean.
Leadership requires a desire to learn and knowledge that you will not be perfect.
Leadership requires humility and courage to apologize and make things right when you make mistakes. Something I’m still working on.
Leadership requires leading by example. If you gossip or tear other people down, the people who follow you will do the same. If you cheat or cut corners, so will they. If you grumble or complain, they will take this as permission to do the same.
God is real and active. We had a moment when we were praying where one of the girls had a vision of bright light surrounding us. At the same time, another girl opened her eyes while praying and saw streams of light flowing through us. Coincidence, I think not.
Goodbyes…
In two weeks, ten members of our group here are heading home. We’re so excited for them to leave. Most have plans for future travel (Haiti, Israel, England and Spain), and others start university, and a few more are still trying to figure out what they want to do in life. It’s going to be hard saying goodbye to these friends, but I know that the future is really shiny for these happy people.
In the meantime, we took a group trip up to Matagalpa and went crazy! We had a blast laughing and making inappropriate jokes. Talking about future plans. Drinking a lot of coffee and having one big trip together before they leave.
Tom, Trevor, Amber, Liana, Jessica and Garrett
Heather, Seth, Frank, Bekah
Abominable Snowman meets Abominable Frank
Wood sprites
I’ve typed and re-typed paragraphs about these kids. But I can’t quite put into words how I feel about them. They’ve have matured, and they have matured us. We learned what it means to have seven adult children. Our home is randomly used for internet, sleep overs, baking and chatting. From a person who misses her big loud family, this has been God’s way of giving me back that noise I sometimes crave.
Novas team, we’ll miss you and can’t wait to see you again.
Vida Joven 5K Pictures
We put up a new gallery from the Vida Joven 5K. Find it here.
Connected
I felt connected at worship this morning, to generations of worshipers. To my grandmother, who loves Jesus and has been a great example of grace. To my mom, who trained me. To Mary, Naomi, Esther, Ruth, Rachel, Rebekah and all the other women in the Bible who worshiped the same God.
Our pastor spoke of the amazing mystery of being a tabernacle, the dwelling place of God. It is awe inspiring to realize that I possess the living God in my body. I sat there, ashamed of the ways I reject the God who created me. The ways in which my pride takes over and I am left with less than what God wants of me.
As I raised my hands in worship, I remembered the first services I participated in at Brookhills. Where my heart was healed after years of running from God. I felt connected to the person I used to be, and realized how far I’ve come in the past five years. The words poured out of me at the end of the service, when our pastor gave us time to respond to the message. I can’t even remember the specifics of my prayer, only wanting to belong to God completely and fully. Realizing that this was the last Sunday I would worship with my faith family until October was emotional. Our God is not a God of time, and those months will pass faster than I could ever imagine. But I will still miss this place, these people.
An Unlikely Mentor
Heather and I have started meeting one on one with the four female AIM team members. It amounts to a one or two hour meeting, every other week. But a funny thing has happened, I’ve started wanting more time with them. The conversations are a chance to really get to know these girls. Heather and I have also started meeting one on one as well. The result is that a good portion of my time is now taken up with these meetings. It’s not the type of ministry I thought I would experience here, but I love it.
These aren’t superficial conversations. We talk about the things that really matter. I pray for wisdom as I talk to them. I share my experiences, both good and bad. I hope that I encourage them, and allow them to see themselves as God sees them. Not as they see themselves. I thank God that he allowed me to go through each experience, each hurt, because these experiences are now redeemed. They allow me to share hope. That life does even out, that relationships can be good. That bad experiences, and shameful secrets, can become something that brings us closer to God instead of taking us from him.
