Ripples...

Sometimes you see a need and just volunteer to meet it without knowing how the story will unfold or the ripples that small act will create. 

You see, in 2013 we were on home assignment after our first term in Uganda and we were scheduled to serve at a camp meeting in PA. We were expected to speak on missions night, teach a youth class and participate in the missions marathon. But then we also served food in the dining hall and volunteered to watch children in the nursery. And it was just our boys and another family or two... but what happened afterwards we could never have imagined... 

That family we got to know from serving in the nursery, started praying for us, then started supporting us financially and just yesterday reached out to say that they would like to increase their giving by 50%. And as my husband commented this is #whyyouvolunteertobabysitatcampmeeting 

But it wasn't why we volunteered. We saw a need and we knew we could meet it. and after that the camp meeting realized they could be serving the kids at camp more (which is always a good thing. kids are people too). 

And you know that adorable toddler in the nursery we took care of? She says she has been having dreams lately that God is calling her to the mission field. just maybe in part because we said yes to God and volunteered in the nursery at camp meeting (and of course mostly because her parents are raising her well and are pumped about missions). Our kids are watching. What gets you excited? Where are you investing your money?

He is always up to something bigger when we say yes to Him! 

So, volunteer in the nursery- you don't know what seeds of faith you will plant in those tiny lives. See a need and meet it. And if you're a missionary- please volunteer for something besides preaching on missions night- it's the relationships that matter.

A Quiet Life

"...make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders..." -I Thessalonians 4:11-12 NIV

As I sat on our balcony I could literally feel my soul take a deep breath.  Everything within me expanded and heaved a sigh of relief.  We are so grateful to be back here.  It's a curious feeling to have a strange land become yours.  But that's how it feels.  We loved being in the states with family and friends.  We needed to reconnect with our home church so they could truly send us.  And yet, it almost feels like we were never gone... we've stepped right back into our home and life here... and it feels good.  

We will have to find a new normal- we've never had a baby in this place before.  I will need to lay down some tasks I carried when I had whole days alone while the boys were at school.  But these verses have really spoken to me as I pray about my role on the field- making it my ambition to lead a quiet life, to be faithful in only what He calls me to, that my daily life may win the respect of outsiders.  

And so I will wash dishes and change diapers for the glory of God.  I will embrace the everyday sacred. And I will faithfully carry out all He lays before me.  

How is He calling you to serve Him and expand His kingdom around the world?  Does it feel big or small?  

My Spiritual Act of Worship...

Dear Mama of a newborn, these are hard, exhausting days.  I'm right there with you!  I know they say you will miss it {and we will someday} and they say it's only a season {and it is}... but it's still hard and lovely... but hard!  

This is a season of intense sacrifice.  We sacrifice sleep {severe understatement}. We go through the day with the use of only one hand.  We go days without a shower, meanwhile wearing clothes with someone else's spit on them.  We eat hurriedly while baby sleeps.  We literally have the life sucked out of us. We don't have the luxury of alone time, or even the ability to think two consecutive thoughts.  And like I said the other day, we have a choice: it can make us bitter or beautiful.  Motherhood is the most sanctifying thing I have ever done. 

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship...We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us....if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully... Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. -Romans 12

There is something beautifully practical in these verses for the new mama- a mama who is constantly offering her body for the life and nourishment of a newborn... this sacrificial love can be worship.  It can be, but it isn't always.  

There are nights I am painfully woken 6 times, and with a grumbling spirit I reach for my sweet babe... this is not worship.  This is drudgery! And it isn't pretty.

But there are other nights, {thankfully} where I get up graciously, feed Elizabeth once again and breathe "for You" as I serve my family in this way.  This. is. worship.  If my gift in these days is works of mercy... He calls me to do it cheerfully.  It isn't always easy.  But love and sacrifice rarely are.  He is worth it.  

So weary mama, don't just get through your days by sheer determination and caffeine- look to Him, offer your body as a living sacrifice and feel the joy of your Father!  He will carry you in these days, and your offering to Him will be sweet!
 

deep thoughts percolating...

"There is an experience of the eternal breaking into time, which transforms all life into a miracle of faith and action.  Unspeakable, profound, and full of glory as an inward experience, it is the root of concern for all creation, the true ground of social endeavor." -Thomas R. Kelly, A Testament of Devotion

and slightly less deep:

"Ours is to be a symphonic piety in which all the activities of work and play and family and worship and sex and sleep are the holy habitats of the eternal." -Richard Foster, Prayer

What big thoughts are you currently pondering?

a piece of the puzzle

stay at home mom.  it feels insignificant at times.  does it matter that i am living in Uganda?  missionary- can i even claim the title?  {yes!}  this summer God and i have been in dialogue about my calling here in Uganda.  where do i fit?  what has He shaped me to contribute?  i was certainly busy last year, but i don't just want to be busy; i want to be fruitful.  and so i need to be about what He is about.  i need to do the things only i was created to do.  and i need to not do the things He isn't calling me to do! {perhaps that's even more significant}

and i think we reached some clarity, me and God!  i've been doing a lot of these things already... but the pieces all fit together in my mind and in my heart.  there's a conviction and calling that i was somehow lacking last year as we figured out how to do life in Uganda.  so what is this glorious calling He has laid on my heart??  {drum roll, please....}

He is calling me to create oasis.  making our home an oasis for my husband and children.  making our home an oasis for friends and weary travelers on their way to somewhere.  making team prayer meeting an oasis for our colleagues to come and carry each others burdens and be recharged for another week of ministry.  starting a book club for international women- saturday morning oasis from ministry!  being on retreat committee... maybe that's kinda obvious.  leading a small group of women from the university in a midweek oasis in the Word for these young women.

it's my prayer that even this blog is an oasis- a place of beauty and peace- a welcoming point of entry for friends and champions into our lives and ministry here.  so, yeah, oasis.  pray that it's true.  pray that He gets all the glory. 

so i'm thankful this week that He showed up.  He met me and spoke calling and clarity into my life. 

#6680.  loads of linens and laundry

#6681.  stacks of dishes
#6682.  toys everywhere

#6683.  empty fridge
#6684.  this ministry of hospitality

#6685.  hellos and goodbyes to tons of amazing people!
#6686.  joy in serving from my giftings.
#6687.  peace as You live through me
#6688.  discovering Your calling on my life- my unique contribution to the kingdom- how i fit in this Uganda puzzle.
#6689.  like unwrapping a gift... my gifts... from a good and wise Giver.
#6690.  a clarified vision, an intense focus.
#6691.  new teammates arriving
#6692.  their own unique callings

so what about you?  what is He calling you to?  does it thrill you?  does it terrify you?  does it make your heart sing?  it will probably do all those things at various points.  but at the end of the day there is no place sweeter than the center of His will!  

i would love to pray for you if you're entering a new calling- or jumping into your current calling with renewed joy and energy.  leave a comment and let me know how i can pray for you!

Teaching Kids to Serve: Friday Five Links

This Summer I've been thinking a lot about the qualities we want to instill and nurture in our boys.  At the end of the school year I took note of the ways they were growing and learning.  But I also want to be intentional as a parent.

So I started to ask:  What character traits are we cultivating?  What values are we instilling in them?  What am I modeling?  When am I actively training and teaching them? 

Today I want to highlight one value-  {serving}.  You mean, just because we're missionaries we actually have to teach our kids about service?  Yes.  And we have lots of room for growth.  As we were sitting in traffic the other day, a girl with a baby on her back came to our car window.  She was begging.  And I avoided making eye contact.

There are many conflicting views on how to respond to poverty- but in that moment I knew that Jesus would have reached out and not turned away.  A ton of kids begging on the street are working for someone who will take all the money they get.  And I don't want to reward begging, but I can't ignore them... "if you've given a cup of cold water to the least of these, you've given to Me..." I'm wrestling with this.  Asking how He would have me respond.

All that to say- teaching our kids to serve is vital.  And that is what prompted this post.
 
Serving is helpful on so many levels:

• it takes focus off of self.
• it grows compassion 
• it makes them grateful
• it gives children an avenue to show love for God and for others
• it teaches them responsibility

Here are five great links with ideas of how to get your kids serving and growing!

• The Reason We Serve
• 19 Ways to Serve
• Mighty Warriors Club
• 7 Ideas for a Stay At Home Mission Trip
• Reach Out from your Doorstep

 {How do you respond to beggars?  How does your family serve your community?}