It's Here and I'm Ready!

My passport came back to me today with a visa for the Republic of Mozambique inside!!

All week there has been JOY bubbling up in my heart every time I think about what is happening in just 32 days. The funny part is that I really haven't thought much about what the summer is really going to contain. My focus has been so much on the things to accomplish before May 28 but I haven't thought about what happens after that day. Of course I've thought of things like swatting mosquitoes, soaking up hot sun, worshiping, praying, learning, crying, laughing, making new friends and seeing some dear old ones. But I really have no idea what my Heavenly Father has planned. I'm just expecting a new explosion of LOVE in my heart for Him and His world.

Reading::No Longer A Slumdog

I just finished reading this book by K.P.Yohannan. His writings and ministry spur me on to run the race with perseverance {Hebrews 12:1} and challenge me to think about what it means for ME to follow Jesus.

  In this book K.P.Yohannan shares the stories of children growing up in some of the poorest corners of our world AND how hope is being brought to them through a ministry called Bridge of Hope. 

   God used this book, and His word, to begin changing my heart in a big way and {I think} to prepare me for my summer in Mozambique. 

   You see, it didn't really open my eyes to anything new. I know the drastic situation so many millions of children are living in today.

I watched the movie {Slumdog Millionaire}.I have been to India and seen the desperation of the begging children. 

I lived in Thailand and I knew the children that sold flowers on street corners late into the night and went home hungry too often. 

I have seen the statistic that an estimated 2 million children in our world are being exploited through human trafficking.

But...

...this book opened my heart to just how important each of these little ones really is to our Heavenly Father. 

   Of course my heart was moved with compassion and a cry for justice for them before. But in chapter 3 of this book, K.P.Yohannan writes about the heart of God towards children revealed through the life of Jesus.      He said in Mark 9 that if we receive a little child in his name, we receive Him and His Father. {Mark 9:36-37} In Mark 10 He is indignant when the disciples try to send the children away. Jesus invites them near to  Himself and holds them up as an example. "Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all." 

  As I read this chapter in {No Longer a Slumdog} my heart was opened to the love and respect Jesus had towards children. Too often I get impatient or annoyed with my little sister. But I am to be like her - not look down on her or brush her off. We are all to look out for the ones that need defending or feed the ones that are hungry. God's heart is for the orphan to be cared for and for every child to know Him. 

  K.P. Yohannan writes: 

"Are we willing to have our hearts break with His at such sights {poverty, loneliness, exploitation}, knowing these are children who suffer so much in this life and have no hope of heaven in the next, simply because they know nothing of the hope that is in Christ? 

  I believe, as followers of Christ, we are commanded to reach out to the least of these in the name of Jesus and show them they matter a great deal to God, who sacrificed His only Son to reach them with His love."  {Chapter 3, pg.72}

  I regret to confess that I was one of those people that brushed off children's ministry as "easy" or less important than other things. But God has been opening my heart and showing me that He cares so much for every single one of us, especially the smallest ones. Jesus died for every child just as much as He died for us "big, important" adults. Jesus said that whatever we do to the least of these, we do for Him {Matthew 25: 40}. What better way to obey His great commission to us than by bringing the least of these into His kingdom? 

.spring. & .preparations.

Spring has been here since the middle of March but this weekend was the first time I was able to take pictures of the glorious beauty of the season.

This forsythia is nearing it's end now but every spring for as long as we have lived here it is one of the first things to bloom. Our forsythia is a burst of yellow and gold to welcome the spring season.

.lovely little purple asters.

.elegant bleeding hearts.

While enjoying the bursts of color and all the loveliness of spring I have also been in a flurry of activity to prepare for Mozambique! Only 41 days until I board a plane out of Chicago to take me to Pemba, Mozambique.

My heavenly Father has been doing miracles with finances! I have bought my plane ticket and have 2/3 of the school tuition covered. I also got my vaccines and my visa is being processed. In addition to the big things I've been working on little things too like collecting skirts and other articles of clothing suitable for an African Adventure!!

I still need to finish paying for the school, purchase medical insurance, and continue collecting things like a small travel tent, a water filtering system, and fill my prescription for anti-malaria medicine. A huge THANK YOU goes out to the awesome people that have supported me through their finances and encouragements!! God has been so GOOD and is providing so FAITHFULLY. I can't wait to watch Him finish what He has started.

This weekend we are holding a large garage sale to raise more money for the adventure. Today I checked the forecast and I'm praying the April showers hold off until the evenings this weekend!

Happy Spring World!

muddy.toms

I walked 10 muddy miles in my toms this weekend!

Our local Traffick Jam event was this weekend! For every mile we walked, our sponsors donated a $1 to the Hard Places Community; an organization is working to END child sex trafficking in southeast Asia. I LOVE being able to do something practical to help with a cause so close to my heart and my heavenly Father's. The group of us walking raised about $3000!

My TOMS needed a bath at the end and my legs were sore, but it was worth it.

"Learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow."

Isaiah 1:17

Betel Nuts and Jesus

I love the things Jesus uses to teach me about Himself and His kingdom. This week He {again} showed me my heart and how it isn't completely aligned with His heart yet.

The lesson began as I was reading another book in preparation for my summer in Mozambique with Iris ministries. The author was sharing about certain cultures being more focused on time and schedules compared to others that are more concerned with specific events and being together.

I thought as I read that story that I am a very time oriented person. This was confirmed to me later in the week when I was invited to have dinner with one of my dear ESL students and her family. Shortly after I sat down I was offered these to chew on...

These are betel nuts. They are very hard and slightly bitter. Chewing them could be compared to attempting to chew cardboard...it doesn't really happen. But in my friend's culture, it is something to do with your mouth while you are sitting around and enjoying your friends and family. My precious friends were completely content to spend their evening feeding me their food, teaching me their language, asking me questions about my life, and chewing betel nuts. Yet I had a hard time with it. My mind was anxious about the many things on my to do list. When I did leave to go home, I could feel Jesus tugging at my heart. It was as if He was saying "take time to chew the betel nut".

Finally, the next morning I was reading Luke 10 when the story of Mary & Martha in verses 38-42 stopped me. I can be such a Martha, always busy with all the good things, the needed and important things. But Jesus was saying stop, choose the best thing, the thing that will last for ETERNITY. He is using these funny little nuts and some dear friends to teach me to be more like Mary, to be with Him and those He loves and longs to bring to Himself.