The Next Chapter

Four months of living back in the states, it's time for another transition right? This weekend I will be moving to Lafayette, IN.

I'll start at the beginning...my friend, Ashlen, was reading Jesus Feminist by Sarah Bessey. In the book Bessey writes about a women's rehabilitation center called Mercy Ministries. Ashlen knew that after getting back I was now interested in counseling women and in particular at a place where we all lived together and the help could be in every aspect of their lives. So she texted me and I looked up Mercy Ministries. I found they have a house in St. Louis. I read more about them a decided to apply. For no reason at all I Googled to see if there were anymore houses like this and I found Vision of Hope in Lafayette. I applied there too.

I received a response from VOH and after some phone interviews went up for a shadow weekend to see how everything ran. I loved everything I saw and everyone I met. While I was there I got a call from Mercy and set up a phone interview with them later that week. After talking with friends and praying about it I decided to take the position at VOH.

"Vision of Hope is a faith based residential treatment center whose staff and program focus on applying love, practical solutions from God's Word to help produce permanent and lasting change in women whose lives have been characterized by negative, life-dominating habits."

You can read more about VOH and watch testimonial videos here.

I will be escorting the residents from meals to classes, overseeing their volunteering at the church and community center, and going through counseling training. Since my shifts are about four hours I will have some free time. I am excited to get involved in the Lafayette community. When I was visiting I heard about some ways people are helping in the homeless cimmunity, one of the girls working at VOH is on a volleyball team, and I'm hoping to go to Thursday night meetings at Purdue's Campus House.

The next two weeks are training; afterwards I can post again and share how it's all going.  

It's not about you

My walk leaving church

Last May I went to training before becoming an apprentice in Haiti. The other 20 or so people there were interning for the summer in a few different countries. One of the girls, Courtney, spent the summer in Kenya. When she started school again in the fall she started a blog for one of her classes talking about her time serving in Kenya. In October I read what she had to share. God told her, "Don't you see, none of this has to do with you? All of what you are participating in is about Me and furthering My kingdom. You can't be effective here unless you realize that you are nothing without Me and that your identity is in Me. You are not your clothes, your past, your hair, your story, you are simply my dear child." I did not want to hear this at the time. Isn't my story who I am? I thought I was in Haiti to be an example of Christ so lives would be transformed. Even now I have to remind myself that this, what I'm doing with my life, isn't about me. It's not even really about anyone who is watching my life. I am living a small story compared to the one God has written. The one where he and his kingdom are at the center. 

Dancing at the Christmas party in Mirebalais

During my time in Haiti God taught me who I am and that it's not prideful to own these characteristics. He revealed to me the image I had created of myself for protection from other's judgments. Once I was able to see and believe God's truth about me I was able to love others better. I am not as concerned about what others think or how they react to me. Now that I am confident in who I am I can see where God wants me to love and serve others.

If you know me, you know I like to read. I read a lot in Haiti and one book was called True Community by Jerry Bridges. In this book the author talks about the different ways Christians live. We should be abiding in Christ. This means instead of asking God for help to get through the day because of his power I should ask him to get me through the day because of his power. God and I are not equal working on a problem together, he is doing everything, and I am just the physical being here on earth the work is being attributed to.

Romans 15:18 God did his work through Paul. Paul acknowledged he does nothing on his own. 

Phil 2:13"For it is God who worketh in you both to will and do his will." 

Isaiah 26:12 "Lord you will ordain peace for us, for thou also has wrought all works after us."
Rms 8:28 and 2 Tim 1:9 I am called to do this right now, not because of my own works but because of his purpose and grace. It doesn't matter what I can do, I am called to do what God asks.

I noticed that the youth I became friends with want to evangelize to everyone they see and think that all Christians think this way. I am learning from them to tell my story so God is praised but it's not about me. It's not about them either, is it? The point is Christ.

Pre-Field Orientation

Last week I went to the NMSI office and campus in Florida. Twenty interns came as well for pre-field training. They are spending June and July in several different countries around the world. Everyone is going with a team except for me.

When I arrived in the airport Derek and Ashley were there to pick me up. I joined the group of girls going to Cambodia for our first task. We were driven to different parks and asked to complete different tasks. Like communicating with a woman speaking a different language, finding our way to a skate  park, speaking at a church, and eating an international meal. Afterward we talked about our experiences and the part that impacted me the most was being asked to speak at the church and having no time to prepare. We were each asked to share our favorite verse and sing some songs. Then the ladies and gentlemen in the audience asked us questions like, "What is that book you are reading out of?" "What is sin?" and "Why are you singing about blood?" It was good practice to be put on the spot to think about how to explain something so common to us but never heard of to them.

After dinner we were shown our rooms and I shared mine with girls from the Kenya team. Every night we had different worship leaders from area churches lead the praise and a staff member give the teaching.

During the week we had sessions over different subjects to prepare us for the field. Different staff members shared about expectations, partnership with the people we are going to serve with, what it looks like to surrender to God and His plans, how dependency should turn into sustainability, how a true follower lifts up their leader, how to deal with conflict within the team and with the locals, what is looks like to make the gospel relatable to the people we are trying to share it with, and writing our purpose statement for why we want to go and what we want to do. Usually after a session we would break off and talk about what we learned. For these times I was with the Myanmar team.

In between sessions we would play games or do team building activities. One day each team sat at their own tables (I was with Cambodia) and was handed an envelope. In each envelope were several shapes that would make a square. We were told we could not talk or gesture. We could only pass our pieces to someone else. The hardest part was not gesturing. Each of us could see what we thought needed to be done next but until the person who the piece was in front of realized how it would work there was nothing we could do. It was a really good exercise, there was one point when I thought I knew what pieces needed to be moved but it ended up different ones needed to be moved. If I was allowed to talk or move the pieces myself the squares would not have been made.

While the teams split up and learned more specifically what they would be doing this summer I met with Jim the Regional Director. He showed me some pictures of the school I will be working at. It is an elementary school. He shared some of his goals for me; that I would build relationships with the people because the Haitian culture is very relational and that I would share at youth group at the church. Seeing pictures and hearing more plans I am so much more excited for all the work God is going to do. Jim would like me to leave the first week of August.

Near the end of the week we learned how to write our purpose statement for this trip. The teams broke up and brainstormed what their purpose statement would be. This time I was by myself thinking about why God wants me in Haiti now. My purpose in going to Haiti is to learn the language and culture. To show love and share what it means to be a follower of Christ. So that the men will love their families, the women will know they are worthy, and the youth will rise up and proclaim the name of Jesus to other Haitians.

I am 18% funded for this trip. I have two months to raise the rest of my support. If you would like to give online you can go to my page on the NMSI website. 

If you would like to receive emails or newsletters from me when I am on the field please leave that address in the comment section or email me.

If you would like to talk about my plans or have me come and speak to your church or small group please let me know and I would be happy to.

We were created for God's glory, right?

“Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.” Isaiah 43:7

If you have grown up in church you have heard the purpose we were created was to glorify God. But did anyone ever tell us what that really meant? I’ve started the Beth Moore Bible study Breaking Free. In it she presents glory like I have never thought about it before. First off, the Hebrew word for glory is kavodh meaning weight, honor, esteem. So Beth says this means, “God’s glory is the way He makes Himself known or shows Himself mighty… God’s glory is how He shows who he is.” Moving on to the Greek, the word glory is doxa meaning the true apprehension of God or things. “Giving glory to God is ascribing to him full recognition.” Through this I have been shown that we weren’t created to give God glory, we were created to be His glory. It’s not what we do to show His glory to others, it’s about who we are that shows others His glory.

“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and external weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” 2 Cor. 4:17-18

I read a blog recently that looked at the use of the word glory in these verses. This light momentary affliction is preparing us for the glory of bearing it through til the end. Finishing without comparison, because there is no comparison in heaven—we will be all too enamored with the King of Kings to consider our neighbor. Paul is trying to get us to understand that those of us who are going through experiences in deeper and more painful ways are being prepared for a greater glory we can't compare.  

I don’t know if any of this has made any sense. I have just had some pretty cool revelations lately I wanted to share.

Repeat that one more time please

When I went to Haiti last January one of the lessons God taught me was that I can’t do it alone. I just saw things I wanted to fix in the Haitians’ lives and I couldn’t. But I also saw the love and passion growing inside my group members for the Haitians and I was encouraged. With our different talents and resources we could make a difference.

This last Sunday God reminded me AGAIN of this lesson. I went to Graceway in Kansas City. They are doing a series called Why Church? They are answering this question by studying through the book of Acts. This past week in Acts 9 the answer to the question Why Church? was Because together we can impact the world.

You can listen to the entire message here

Paul could not have done what he did without the church. (I need to stop and point out that the church here is not one specific church but is referring to all believers) After Saul has an encounter with God and his name changed to Paul he spent the rest of his life telling people about Jesus. He didn’t do this by himself. Some men and women went with him while others stayed behind to invest more where they were at. When Paul was writing to the Philippians he thanked them for providing for him without him asking, because they were praying for him they knew he was in need.

None of us can reach the world by ourselves but all of us have a part in God’s mission for Him to be loved, served, and worshiped by all peoples.

A Different Perspective

Recently I have discovered a new perspective on Joseph’s life, Joseph in the Bible that is. I’ll give you the short story of his life. He was the eleventh son of Jacob. He was the favorite of his father’s. His brother’s hated him. One day his brother’s threw him in a well and eventually sold him into slavery in Egypt. This is usually where the preacher/ Sunday school teacher stops and tells everyone that God knew the whole picture and had a plan in mind. Back to the story, Joseph eventually becomes second in command in Egypt. There is a famine and his brothers come to Egypt to receive some food. We are usually left with the main point of the story being that even though God brought Joseph trough some hard times he is now able to provide for his family. Read Genesis 37-47 for the complete story.

 But what if that wasn’t God’s whole purpose? What if there is even a bigger picture than Joseph’s life? When we are going through trials we tell ourselves, “God has a plan” but we think that plan is still about us. What if God brought Joseph to Egypt so that he could tell the Egyptians about the God he served? If Joseph’s brothers had never come to get food, God’s purpose would still have been accomplished because Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams and God was able to show how great He is by not only saving His people but the Egyptians as well.

Even when we are at the center of God’s plan do we still think it is about us?

Turning a Page

               It has been an interesting beginning to the start of the next chapter of my life. I spent the last semester of my college career reevaluating what it would look like for me to be an Interior Designer. I let God know I was up for where ever He wanted to take me. It turned out He was not finished with me living here in Warrensburg.

                I started my internship at the Christian Campus House on July 5^th. I took over the basement floor with projects getting CCH ready for returning students. No one project could get down without many steps so while a painting was drying I would start another one. I surprised myself a few times with how good a project turned out.

                There was a week or so when I was the only one in the office this summer. This was a tremendous learning experience. I discovered that when I feel overwhelmed I need to stop and take each situation separately and work through it. I am so glad I learned this during the summer and not after school had started.

                I was thankful when the whole staff was back and students started returning. Our leadership team this year is amazing! This includes the 5 staff members, 5 student interns, and 10 community group leaders. To learn more about them here. Before the school year started the leadership team went to the National Student Conference. It was a chance for us to grow closer as a team and become stronger leaders. Tim Sutherland was the main speaker. He spoke about the story of everything. He had great things to say every night but the thing that stood out to me the most was how vulnerable he was towards us. Speaking to 300 people he not only told us about hard times in his life, his son leaving for college and his wife leaving him, but he shared with us how he felt in those situations. There are very few people I can be that honest with and through Tim doing so God presented it as a challenge to me. Maybe not to speak to 300 people, but to be more open to share my life with others. That is one of the reasons I started this blog.

                One of my fears of coming on staff the summer after I graduated was that the students, my friends, would still see me as such and not respect my authority. I have had not one instance of that happening yet. When we got back from NSC the leadership team had two days to prepare for students arrival. Brad and I had a list of everything that needed to get done. Once someone was done with the task they were assigned they would come asking for more to do. When we were setting up for the Week of Welcome activities, a student intern was in charge of each night, they came and asked me what needs to get done or how does it need to be set up. It brings me joy to see their servant hearts.

                Also at NSC I went to the women in ministry luncheon. It was encouraging to see and hear from the other women in ministry. One woman spoke about whether you are single or married you need to find time for yourself outside of the ministry. I thought since I am single I can focus everything on the ministry. But I understand her point and I am still in the process of figuring out what that looks like for me. I came to the conclusion; this is going to be the hardest year of my life thus far. A few days ago God reminded me of the girl I was when I first came to college compared to who I am today. After this year, of who know what crazy things God is going to do, I am going to be changed and it will be good.