My Mission:

Engaging, Equipping, and connecting children and their families to their most strategic role in completing the Great Commission.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

God's provision Continues

Continual praises as I move forward!

- A family from Switzerland has chosen to give a large, one time gift, as well as join the team in monthly support. This brings me up to almost 24.5%!

- Adding pay pal to the Global Xpress website has proved incredibly fruitful. One new church from Alabama, and 2 so. cal families have joined the journey. That more kids get the magazine and getting to know the world God so loves!

Thanks for your continual prayers! Happy New Year!

Friday, December 11, 2009

Moving forward

Things are moving forward!! My future ministry with the USCWM seems more and more a reality....which makes me more and more excited!

- I have reached 20% of my support goal! Praying God will bring $470 more in monthly commitment by December 31st!

- The staff at the USCWM helped set-up paypal for Global Xpress yesterday so we can now process orders online and with credit cards!

- Last month I moved all my GX supplies to my new office in Pasadena. I continue to work from home, but the non-essentials have found their new resting place there.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support!

Friday, November 27, 2009

Because I'm in love with you...

Thanksgiving has finally come and I find myself most thankful for the fact that I have a 4-day weekend that's not booked with a million places to be. I have been planning for weeks to use these four days (yes, even Thanksgiving day itself!) to accomplish the frightening and ever growing to-do list that has been accumulating for months. I spent all day in my office/room working. Even now, as the day comes to a close, I discover that I somehow found a day's worth of things to do without even touching my page long to-do list or the 8in thick to-do file of paperwork sitting on my desk (no exaggeration there)!

In light of the busyness, and the frustration that comes with it, I have found myself praying urgently for two things lately: the financial support needed to be able to do ministry full time and for God to bring my future husband quick (a balanced help mate!).

I forced myself to take a break right before dinner today and spend some time in the Word. The psalmist cried for God to revive him and for God to show him the depths of His unfailing love. I found myself praying that too, and praying urgently for the things above...all the while surrendering my will to His. It's an interesting state to be in. You want something so bad that you have no control over. All you can do is pray. Yet, not matter how hard and urgently you pray, it doesn't change the Father's will, and you know that. You can kneel and cry and try and "earn" some quickened response, but His perfect timing will prevail.

As I rose from prayer to get ready to leave for the evening, a familiar loved song came on as I was listening to my ipod. I found it easy to sing along with the girl as she said,

"What can I do for You, what can I bring to You, what kind of song would like me to sing. Cause I'll dance a dance for You, pour out my love for You, what can I do for You beautiful King...."
Oh what can I do Lord? I prayed. What can I do to bring these things to pass? What can I do to grow deeper in you so that I'm so fully satisfied that I can do without these things? Why is this process is taking so long...
That's when the song progressed and the Lord's response to her broke through...
"And then I hear you sing to me...
You don't have to do a thing.
Just simple be with me,
and let those things go, cause they can wait another minute.
Wait...
this moment is to sweet.
Would you please stay here with me
and love on me a little longer,
Cause I'd like to be with you a little longer,
cause I'm in love with you...
It hit me like a ton of bricks.."let those things go, cause they can wait another minute."
The work can wait. The future can wait. My desires, and dream, and longings can wait.
There will be plenty of time for all those things but I can hear the Lord asking me through this song, "Would you please stay with me and love on me a little longer? Would you take the opportunity now to learn from simply being in my presence? Would you love on me and sit in intimacy with me before things do change and people and things fight even more for your attention?
I don't know about you, but the word "wait" probably brings a twitch of fear and frustration and maybe even pain at it's sound. But what if we started hearing these words in it's place? What it "wait" was code for the Lord saying to your heart...
Slow down your busy mind, and your busy world and just be with me...
You got to learn to just rest, just realize
Hear me say you don't have to do a thing
just simply be with me
and let it all go...
cause it doesn't even really matter.
Just wait cause this moment is to sweet,
would you please stay here with me
and love on my a little longer...
cause I love to be with you a little longer...
cause I'm in love with you.
I'm IN LOVE with you.
-Jesus
I'm praying that the Lord will help me heed that, no matter how long the to-do list, how frustrating the day, or how anxious I am to move forward into full time ministry at the USCWM (or even in finding my future husband, if the Lord wills!). And I'm praying that for you too, because there have been fractions of times when I did get it, when I did just simply be with Him...and those moments are indeed too sweet to waste.
*Song: "A Little Longer (live) by Brian and Jenn Johnson

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

What if? A Video of Vision


Here is the vision of all I do and am aiming to do (in 3 m and 30 sec anyways!)

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

This is War

Well, if I wanted a climb, I got one! The journey continues. Most days, I have felt weak and weary and discouraged. I guess that comes with the territory. In a strange way, I sort of feel like a race horse who, after months and months of hard work and training, is finally put into the start gate. It's her time to shine and now she's just waiting....and waiting...and waiting, waiting for that gate to open so she can take off running and win the race.
I had an awesome conversation with a friend last night that was so needed. She reminded me that we, as Christians, are in a war. There is a battle unseen raging around us and an Enemy who would like nothing more than to knock us off course. I forget that...a lot. I forget that the discouragement and the thoughts of being undeserving and feeling like nothing more than a screw-up aren't from the Lord. Oh how quickly I forget His grace. Oh how often I forget that He who began a good work in me will be faithful to complete it. Am I deserving? No. Do I have it all figured out? Of course not. I, in myself, have nothing to boast about. All the lies the Enemy whispers to my heart are true...or at least they would be if God hadn't redeemed my life.
My identity is in Christ. Where I am weak, He is strong. Where I am not enough, He is. When something is impossible for me, it isn't for Him. He completes me.
Today, I choose again to surrender to His sovereignty. He's got a plan. He had it in place before the earth was even formed, and even though I may feel so lost and confused and unsure of so many things, He isn't. Today came straight from His drawing room. It has a purpose. I have a purpose.

Wednesday, September 02, 2009

Lessons from the climb

Being a Disney fan, I often find myself being one of those cheesy girls who actually does enjoy their movies and music. As lame as it may be, there is some great truths in them at times. While listening to "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus, I couldn't help but sing out in agreement. Her lyrics struck the strings of my heart. It's been an incredibly long journey since college graduation in May 2007. It's hard to imagine that that event only took place two years ago. So much has happened. So much has changed. My life has been completely remodeled. Even now, as the storm passes and light reappears and I can almost see that "dream I've been dreamin", the change continues. Just when I think I've made it to the top, another hill appears. It just keeps going. God keeps challenging...keeps rearranging...keeps pushing me forward.
It continues to strike me over and over that it really is all about "the climb." I'm such a goal oriented person. I see the end product. I see the top of the mountain and I'm incredibly focused on getting there. But over the last two years, God has challenged me in that area. Is it really all about getting to the top? What if what's at the top, although in appearance more glorious, is in all actuality far less beautiful than what's along the path I need to climb to get there? I'm so tired of rushing ahead, or being in a hurry.
This fast-paced girl finds herself wanting to fully enjoy this moment, for, as Steven James says in his book
Heart Exposed, "This moment is all that [God] asks of me. I can either give it to [Him], or turn it into a fist and try to keep it to myself. And fail." Timing really is EVERYTHING, and it is His timing that is perfect. He has never been late. And He's never been early either. What He is doing now, during this moment, in me though this climb can never be replaced by the mountain top. I would not know Him as I do now if things went the way I planned them, when I planned them. No, this moment is all too sweet. I know fully well that I can not even begin to see all that is happening now in and around me that is preparing me for what's ahead and healing me from what has already passed. So, Miley may be right..."The struggles I'm facing, the chances I'm taking, sometimes might knock me down but I'm not breaking. I may not know it. But these are the moments that I'm going to remember most...


It's not about how fast I get there.

It's not about what's waiting on the other side.
It's the climb.

Friday, February 20, 2009