Porque Él Vive

I only have a few minutes to get in a post for Easter - and by now this is no longer a quirky tradition but rather a deep-seeded habit. And there's SO much to write about, I'll never make it in time for this contrived deadline of mine... But here's trying.

First off, I've been amazed at how this semester has flown by. I've been "practice" teaching fifth grade math this month in a Jackson Public School, and I have absolutely fallen in love with the kids there. I'll admit I was terrified at first - afraid of being rejected and not connecting with the kids or my cooperating teacher - but God has been so faithful! Whether it's been a good day or a not-so-good, my heart has grown for these kids every single day. Hearing my name mispronounced countless time a day - I love it. Seeing them light up when they GET IT (the math concepts or my name - I'll take either) finally - takes my breath away. It's amazing having this calling affirmed and really coming to life. I feel so at home in the classroom. It's absolutely where God has made me to serve. And I am THRILLED to do it. And these meager words don't even begin to express how much I love it. (If you can imagine...)

I'm also in the middle of classes for getting a certificate to teach English as a second language, and while I'd rather be IN the classroom actually teaching, the classes have been fascinating - brought out my nerdy side with linguistics and second language acquisition. And I've seen God use this, too! One of my London professors invited me to come and speak at her WMU meeting and share about my trip to Peru last summer, and after speaking there, I got an invitation to speak at ANOTHER WMU group where I met Mrs. O'Dell - another former London professor's wife(!) - who wanted me to teach her missions group the basics of English as a second language teaching before they head to Mexico this summer - to the same school where my "big sis" Betsey is serving this year as a missionary. Mrs. O'Dell and her husband were also once part of the faculty at Southeastern Seminary... where Andrew has been feeling led to go... and have connections with potential teaching jobs in North Carolina for me in the future... Coincidences? I think not. Haha! Again, I'm really just stunned looking back at all of these "incredible chances" that have been so affirming in learning to trust God's providence...

And speaking of this Andrew person... :) just know, Internet world, that God's plans and God's timing are absolutely perfect. Who'd've thought that a last-minute Secret Church trip back in November would bring such incredible blessings into my life... I randomly went to the Church at Brook Hills with a camp friend and her friends from junior college, and Andrew happened to be the driver for the weekend... And after he gets back from serving as a missionary over the Christmas break, he contacts me, and the rest of the story is pretty much history...

And looking back further - since this IS technically my senior year and with that comes much reflection over the past four years - I've been amazed just how every little moment in life has been orchestrated for the glory of God... I have some of the most incredible friends I could ask for. Friends who have challenged me to grow and at the same time challenged me to stay young at heart... Friends who are moving to Africa to serve - and that in and of itself is a beautiful story only God could have put together... Friends who are still waiting patiently on God's guidance for what the future may bring... Seeing His guidance in the past and trusting in His faithfulness and steadfastness for the future...

And this weekend, I was one of 50,000 brothers and sisters all over the world tuned in to "Secret" Church that has become less and less of a secret and more and more of a global movement, and throughout Friday evening I felt this overwhelming sense of being connected to something so much greater than myself... being part of this Body of Christ... knowing that God has called us as a Body - His Bride - to go and make disciples... to carry His Name... to share the message of His salvation through repentance and believing the Gospel... starting here... with my precious kids at Pecan Park... and all the way in another hemisphere to those beautiful faces of Peruvian children that are still ever-focused in my heart...

All the way my Savior leads me.

Who have I to ask beside?

How could I doubt His tender mercy

Who through life has been my guide?

All the way my Savior leads me,

Cheers each winding path I tread,

Gives me grace for every trial,

Feeds me with the Living Bread.

You lead me and keep me from falling.

You carry me close to Your heart.

And surely Your goodness and mercy

Will follow me...

All the way my Savior leads me.

All the fullness of His love.

All the sureness of His promise

In the triumph of His blood.

When my spirit clothed immortal

Wings its flight to realms of day

This my song through endless ages:

Jesus led me all the way.

JESUS LED ME ALL THE WAY.

All the way my Savior leads me.

Lucky

Why stop a good tradition? Happy St. Patrick's Day!

So. Here's what's going on. I have officially purchased airfare for Peru this summer! There is a wonderful family at my church who is lending me a hiking backpack to take with me this summer. The Recuay team is now up to SIX girls! There's this phenomenal guy in my life who is pursuing the Lord wholeheartedly, and he just happens to like me a little and wants to serve the Lord with me and is leading and challenging me more spiritually than I've ever been led or challenged AND he's in Peru this week (perfect). I've gotten to pray for several of my friends this week who are serving all over the world - Dubai, Zambia, Morocco, Mexico, Kansas, Panama City, Mission Arlington, Honduras, PERU - and seeing more and more how the Church really is one body with one purpose. And it's spring break. Life. Is. Beautiful.

Breaks from school are ALWAYS welcome, and this one is no exception. While I haven't gotten as much homework done as I should have, it's been great to rest with friends and enjoy some time off. [I'll just need to remind myself of that when school gets back in full force next week.] And one of my favorite things about having time off is the time to THINK about and READ things other than the best methods of teaching math and social studies to fourth graders. This break, I read Discipline: The Glad Surrender by Elisabeth Elliot. What a challenging reminder. The Lord has been teaching me so much about the power of our MINDS ever since Passion this January, and Elisabeth Elliot writes that true discipline is rooted in our minds - what we THINK about is what we will DO. She says that to discipline our minds is to discipline our entire selves. And how else do we discipline our minds than to allow the Holy Spirit of God to do that for us?

"Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." Romans 12:2. That's where those sweet RE-MIND-ers from God come into play in my life - those moments when God uses a situation to refocus my mind on Him and His calling on my life. Recently, there have been so many other things on my mind - school, Flat Stanley, the future, unicorns, really anything to distract me - and many of those things are good, but I have neglected resting in and getting to know my King. Paul writes in Philippians that his ultimate goal is KNOWING CHRIST - not being busy doing His work or making sure the Gospel gets to the ends of the earth, even though those things are what Christ has called us to do - first and foremost, we were made to be in a beautiful relationship with the Creator of the universe as His bride - His very body. THAT is the will of God for our lives... to know Him. intimately. personally. And out of that relationship, to let love be a sunshine that fills the heart so full of radiance that it overflows upon the outward world.

So that's my goal. That's my purpose. To know Christ. And to let His love overflow through me. Right here and now. With the kids in the fifth grade math class I'm teaching in April. With my third graders on Wednesday nights and my girls on Sunday mornings. With my friends in classes and on my hall. And soon and very soon - with the people who have already stolen my heart in a little town in the mountains of Peru.

Pray with me? For Karen, Olivia, Jordan, Mary, and Lynnlee, my teammates in Recuay. For Humberta, our fabulous hostess/translator. For the people of Recuay and surrounding villages. That we ALL may seek to know the Lord, and may we fall more in love with Him the more we know Him.

With the tradition of blogging on holidays...

Happy Valentine's Day...

"For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is His name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth He is called. For the Lord has called you... 'with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,' says the Lord, your Redeemer." - Isaiah 54:5-8

Knowing the deep, faithful love of this Redeemer... resting in the peace of His presence... coming away with Him... what a beautiful way to spend Valentine's Day... especially considering that traditionally St. Valentine was a Christian martyr, persecuted as part of the early church...

So much more than a Valentine, my Maker is the Giver of every good and perfect gift. He never changes. His faithful love endures forever. His mercy and forgiveness and grace is new every morning. He has called me, imperfect and impetuous as I am, to be a witness to the nations... His ways and His thoughts are so much higher than my own. I can only marvel at the way He has orchestrated my life - one teensy part of this grand symphony that sings His praise. He is so worthy of all my praise - with every breath - today and forever.

Beautiful. :) And now for the news - I have officially been appointed to return to Peru this summer! Plans are underway for me to head to Recuay with a team of students to make disciples in this town and the surrounding areas. You can be in prayer already for my teammates Olivia and Karen - that the Lord will continue to prepare our hearts for His plans for the summer - that He would provide all that we need - that we would learn to depend on Him wholeheartedly and love Him more the more we know Him. More details to come soon! Until then, "to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, to HIM be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen."

Passionate

"In the path of your judgments, O Lord, we wait for you; Your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul."

Isaiah 26:8

Merry Christmas

I love this time of year. I love my family. I love that LOUISVILLE experienced a white Christmas this year... even if the snow didn't exactly stick - it definitely still counts. I love that Wenli is here with my family, part of my family. :)

I love that, as Marianna prayed for me at the beginning of the break, God has definitely met me here this Christmas... and how beautiful that is - that not only did God send Jesus to be Immanuel - God with us - but He continues to meet us where we are through His Holy Spirit drawing us and guiding us into a closer relationship with the God of the universe who cares about us so personally...

And I love how our Father reminds us that we are not alone in this world. Our brothers and sisters in other countries have faced incredible persecution this Christmas season in their desire to celebrate the birth of the Savior of the world. This morning as I was watching the news on TV, I noticed in the newsfeed at the bottom of the screen that several churches in Nigeria have been bombed and 38 Christians killed in the past two days... while I am here, comfortable, surrounded by my wonderful family in this country that has been so blessed with religious freedom. What heart-breaking news that I so desperately needed to be reminded of this morning.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was LIFE, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it... He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor or the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth... And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made Him known."
John 1:1-5, 8-13, 14, 16-18

The Word came, and still his own have not known him...

Who will go and tell them?

Here I am! Send me... even though it won't be easy... even though there will be troubles and persecution.

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:37-39

Now, what does this mean for the way I live? There is still so much to be done... Barring a really, really bad interview with state BSU, I'll be in Recuay, Peru this summer, making disciples, serving the church in whatever way possible... Before then, professional block... after that, student teaching in the fall... and then what?

PRAY.

"When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore, PRAY EARNESTLY to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into HIS harvest." -Matthew 9:36-38

Thankful...

So, sitting in McDonald's tonight (slow internet at home + free wi-fi at MickyD's) completing my summer missions application for this summer, realizing just how blessed I am... I usually cringe whenever I hear people talk about being blessed because I guess it just seems like such an overused phrase, especially when people focus so much on their own blessings and not on how to reciprocate those blessings for others... but tonight, and maybe it's just the turkey and sweet potatoes talking, but I feel so thankful - for the big things and the little things.

I am thankful for the sovereign God of the universe, and His Word that became flesh and dwelt among us and His Holy Spirit that refreshes and challenges and guides and comforts us. I am thankful for my wonderful family. I am thankful for Soo and her friendship. I am thankful for Ogles and Aly and Liz and Margaret and Morgan and Caleb and Chris and Max and Nancy and Xinni and Wenli and Liz Anne and Marianna and Katie and so many more incredible friends who challenge me and make me laugh uncontrollably and pray for me and with me and encourage me. I am thankful for school, even when that means doing completely ridiculous projects all Thanksgiving Break - projects which I admittedly love. I am thankful for Coke. Enough said.

AND. I'm going back to Peru. Despite mom's worrying about my getting sick before student teaching. The harvest is ready! All around the world... But the workers are few. So PRAY. Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers. To India. To the Middle East. To Malawi. :) To Europe. To Canada. To China. To Korea. To Russia. To Southeast Asia. To North Africa. To Costa Rica. To Mexico. To Alaska. To New York. To San Francisco. And to Peru.

What's our job? PRAY. And as we go, make disciples. Live life with people. Share the Word - even while waiting in lines on Black Friday. and PRAY. We have the Holy Spirit of God living in us. We have the Word of God to guide us. We are serving the sovereign God of the universe. What more could we need?

Thoughts from "home"...

Well, I thought I was finished with this blog... Thought I'd only open it back up to remind me of the amazing things God did last summer... But what if last summer wasn't the end of mis aventuras en Perú? What if God has more up His sleeve?

First of all, this year I'm in our education program's "reading block" where we're working with low readers and leading them to fluency in reading. I had told my teacher at the beginning of the year that I would love to work with Spanish-speaking students if that's possible... and sure enough. In the second grade class where I'm observing/teaching, there is a new student from Mexico who speaks very little English. What did I do all summer? Taught kids how to speak English. What am I doing this semester? Helping a student learn to speak English. Our God is so sovereign. His plans absolutely blow my mind...

And now. It's summer missions application time (as crazy as it seems to be thinking of summer when the weather has FINALLY caught up with the calendar and it feels like fall). I've really struggled this year with why God would send me back to Peru. Don't get me wrong - I LOVED Peru this summer. I knew that God had led me there for a purpose... But there are so many other places in the world where people have NEVER EVER heard... where there is NO church, NO believers... Why wouldn't God send me THERE if He wants for every nation, tribe, and tongue to be represented in heaven? And still there's this tugging at my heart... What about Peru? Why would God have gifted me in these ways if not to use them?...

So. Just some thoughts. There is a position this summer in Recuay - only 2-ish hours away from where I served this summer... helping build up the local church... hiking to surrounding areas, teaching in schools, doing whatever we can that the Gospel may be heard... If this is where God is calling me, I know there are so many things I would do differently than last summer... but what an amazing adventure it would be...