Hope Again

• “When we are trapped in a tunnel of misery, hope points to the light at the end.
• When we are overworked and exhausted, hope gives us fresh energy.
• When we are discouraged, hope lifts our spirits
• When we are tempted to quit, hope keeps us going.
• When we lose our way and confusion blurs the destination, hope dulls the edge of panic.
• When we struggle with a crippling disease or a lingering illness, hope helps us persevere beyond the pain.
• When we fear the worst, hope brings reminders that God is still in control.
• When we must endure the consequences of bad decisions, hope fuels our recovery.
• When we find ourselves unemployed, hope tells us we still have a future.
• When we are forced to sit back and wait, hope gives us the patience to trust.
• When we feel rejected and abandoned, hope reminds us we’re not alone…we’ll make it.
• When we say our final farewell to someone we love, hope in the life beyond gets us through our grief. “

Introduction to my favorite book, “Hope Again” by Chuck Swindoll

One People

A friend and I sat in a quiet little corner of a very busy coffee shop. We had finally come up with a good evening to just be together. We wanted to talk about what God was doing in our lives. As we sat there talking and sharing our hearts, a young lady walked into the coffee shop. Wearing a leopard print skirt and leather jacket, she quickly ordered coffee and then sat near us. Honestly the first thought that crossed my mind was not whether or not she knew Jesus, but that she wasn’t dressed like us. A short time later she made a phone call and then began to talk to someone about their plans for their Bible study later that day. It suddenly dawned on me that so often we have no idea that others around us are our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Two weeks later I walked up to a home and rang the doorbell. I was welcomed inside and greeted with a kiss. It was shortly followed by another kiss on the left cheek, as is the custom when greeting someone in an Arabic nation. I wasn’t there for a visit, but rather for an Arabic church service. Arabic Christians from two states were coming together to fellowship, worship, and learn about our Lord. Although I don’t understand the language, I had something in common with these people. They were from all different countries, some including Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, to name a few. All live in the United States, and some have been here for quite some time, and have raised families. One man shared how they had been forced to leave Syria, but that God had greatly used that event in his life to bring him to this point.

As they lifted their voices in their own unique style of worship, I found tears in my eyes. I could not understand the words that they were singing, but I knew from the looks on their faces, and the joy in their song, that they were worshipping the same Jesus that I love. As the message was quietly translated for us in the corner, my heart was stirred. I looked around the room, listened to the quiet exclamations of “ah-meen” (amen), and found myself marveling at the body of Christ. How is it that we can’t even communicate in the same language, look nothing alike, but we are all servants of the same Lord? I began to really do some thinking about the body of Christ. It truly is something amazing.

In my devotions I came to 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, which says “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.” We were all made to worship one Lord, one Savior, one Jesus.

The things of this world; our culture, our home, our country, seperate us from each other. But one day in Heaven we will all be one people, praising a holy God forever.

Just For A Moment…

 Over a month ago now, I first wrote about Spain. So many things were still up in the air. So many things needed to be worked out. A couple of weeks later, several things happened to make me doubt that I would get to go. I remember crying out to God, asking for an answer, and grace to accept that answer. God has truly taken me through a time of testing. Testing of my will, obedience to Him and others, and my least favorite thing in the world…patience. (I am SO not patient).  

God is still faithful, throughout all those nights with no answers. So much good came through that time of waiting. A lot of pruning was done in my heart, and I praise God for revealing my stubborn pride to me. Once I had finally given this trip back to God, which came from Him anyway, I still did not know how God was going to work everything out. Suddenly, email after email came from Spain, details flew into place, dates were set, and an amazing ticket was found.

Last week, with my family sitting around watching, I bought my ticket to Spain. It still hadn’t really hit me that night. Little by little it would sink in, and I would randomly scream, something I’m not sure my family appreciated, but they graciously understood.

But it really still had not sunk in to my heart. My head knew I was going. People knew I was going, but it still sounded weird to me when they said the words “You’re going to Spain!” Sunday afternoon I began to look at pictures, trying to imagine what I would see. I thought to myself “wow, that’s a beautiful place!” and then suddenly it hit me.

I am going to Spain! It has been sinking in slowly, but surely. And everytime I remember that I’m going to Spain, just for a moment, I can barely breathe…

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For more information on the family team I will be ministering with, please visit That All May Know.

Snapshots Of My Life

Teaching, Caring for, and Loving on little people.

It snowed…in MARCH.

My birthday was celebrated by many…with plenty of pickles to go around

Allie came to help me celebrate my birthday, and we had a fantastic night. Bella, 4am curfews, a suprise visitor bringing flowers, Pillow fights (during which she sat on my head!) and girltalks.