Saturday, April 28, 2012

The Surreal Becoming Real

I cannot believe that the last week of classes has already come and gone and that finals week is upon us! I know at the end of the semester, everyone always says the semester flew by- but really, it just flew right on by. The typical busy-ness of the last week of school was made even crazier when I began receiving a flood of e-mails from Experience Mission with further details on this summer (a good, overwhelming feeling nonetheless). My dates on the field have been finalized and I will be officially starting work in Costa Rica on June 10th and will be returning home on August 12th. To be honest, I was a little relieved to see that in between our orientation on May 10th and our time of service that I will have a good three weeks to better holistically prepare for work overseas. When I found out I was accepted to the program, I began researching the local community and preparing myself for anticipated culture shock and other things. But with school, work, and the different ministries I'm involved with in Waco it has definitely been a balancing act to prepare as much as I would like to (course I realize life rarely stops being busy). Either way, I am excited to see that I will have these few weeks without school or work to be able to dig in deep on personal reflection, goal setting, and divine guidance to prepare myself to best serve the people of Costa Rica and meet them and their personal vision.

On this note, I have been lucky enough to take the first Cross-Cultural Ministry class offered at Baylor this semester and the Lord couldn't have placed me in a better environment to learn about short-term mission trips and how to prepare for them. The entire course is revolved around the effectiveness of short-term mission trips, different types of ministries on the field, cultural intelligence, among many other things. Throughout the class we have had opportunities to reflect on the biblical and personal basis for doing missions, lead devotionals on missions ministries, interview long-term missionaries, and research different types of ministries on the field. For our last project, we are coordinating an entire short-term missions trip. There is so much more to preparing for missions trips than I could have ever imagined- it is a process that requires deep reflection and goal setting months ahead of the trip, multiple times daily while on the trip, and months after the trip to ensure long-term impact. I'm lucky to be in a course that has opened my perspective and knowledge on how best to handle short-term missions trips. It does make me think though - how many leaders are still lacking this type of wisdom? If I were to have led a short-term missions team before this class, I know for a fact I would have had a completely different method on how to prepare and lead. Of course, we do have the greatest leader to take over ;)

I ventured onto my account for Experience Mission the other day, and was so so excited when I saw that a list of the teams that will be coming to Costa Rica this summer had been posted! It made this surreal experience so much more real being able to see the name of the church, the age group, the number of people in each team. Also, I can now pray for each of these churches and individuals- and I would like for you all to help me. I'd like to pray over the teams, that they will be using this time to grow close to one another in support and unity. I'd like to pray over the individual members and the personal goals that they will be setting for themselves. I'd like to pray over their local churches and communities, that they would be empowered to support these teams both financially and spiritually; that there would be mentors set up to provide prayer and encouragement back home. I'd like to pray for the team leaders, that they will rely on God throughout this entire planning process. Finally, I want to pray, of course, for the Bribri and Cabecar tribes that we will be serving in Costa Rica. For the long-term missionaries who are already there and for the relationships that are already being built. I just pray over these people, that the Lord will be stirring in their hearts a desire to want to know Him and His truth. That the short-term leaders and teams that are coming in will be reminded that we are visitors to these people- that  we will be encouraged to meet them where they are, that we will listen to their vision, and will disregard any personal bias or perspective. We are so blessed to have this opportunity, to learn more about these people and to simply love on them in the name of Christ. 

I've listed the names of the churches below and I'd like for us to pray over the next few weeks, that both I and each of these groups will rely on the Holy Spirit to lead us as we prepare for this upcoming journey.

June 27th - June 23rd: 
     Morgan Hill Presbyterian Church, 11 team members
July 1 - July 7th: 
     Christ Community Church, 48 team members
July 8th - July 14th: 
     Evangel World Outreach Center, Grace Presbyterian Church, 14 team members
July 29th - August 4th: 
     Cumberland Fellowship, 12 team members
August 5th - August 11th: 
     Rivertree Community Church, Emporia State University, Community of Faith Church, 
     18 team members 

Friday, April 20, 2012

Man, I Feel Like A Woman

This week, I have been really reflective on womanhood; what it means to be a woman of God and how to be the woman God intends for me to be. It began on Monday, when I had the pleasure of meeting with Becky Ellison, the associate director of Christian Women's Job Corps. In all that she said, Becky continually brought all of her plans and motives back to the Lord. It was neat to get a glimpse into a ministry that humbly seeks obedience to God in every single thing they do, while empowering local women through their programs which all have a spiritual foundation.

Later that evening, we had our last Accountability Group. "AG" are small groups set up by my local Christian sorority, Kappa Chi Alpha, to establish accountability and discipleship within our organization. I had the opportunity to lead one this semester, and felt so blessed to have in my group eight amazing women. For our last AG, we talked about what it means to be a woman of God. In the Bible, when God creates Eve he calls her an ezer kenegdo which is translated to mean “sustainer beside him.” Every other time this word is used throughout the Bible, it is used to describe God Himself- who is our Sustainer when we desperately need Him. What a cool picture this is! God describes woman as He describes Himself throughout Scripture! We talked about our favorite women of the Bible and within our lives, writing down the qualities we admired and what qualities we think make a woman a true woman of God. 

When I think about how I personally consider a true woman of God, I think of a woman who is completely content. One who no matter what the circumstances, in times of joy and in times of hardship, is still joyful. I think of a woman who believes strongly in the power of prayer, who is in constant prayer throughout the day and sees God in everything. I think of a woman who humbly serves, who gives of herself without even giving it a second thought or having alternative motives. I see a woman whose love for Jesus is far deeper than emotion or circumstance, but is laid on a strong foundation of truth and grace. 

With this reflection at the beginning of the week, I found it funny that in the remainder of my week I was surrounded by so many different women; women of different ages, different personalities, and different beliefs. Within them all, I saw a certain pattern. See, men who are reading this may not relate- but one overwhelming issue with women is body image. It's not a secret or anything to be ashamed of, college girls think they're the only ones facing this personal self-consciousness; but the truth is we all experience it to some extent. Women strive and strive for the perfect appearance or to reflect a certain image; we succumb ourselves to strict diets and work out plans, go broke in an attempt to put together the perfect outfit or keep up with trends, we continually adapt ourselves to fit a certain mold that we've been told we need to fit into. 

But what for, what are our motives? 
Are we trying to compete with other women? (We never win) 
Are we simply doing it for ourselves? (We'll never find our identity that way)
Are we trying to please a man? (Would only last the first 30 minutes until he gets to know you)

Anyway you look at it, it's evident that women often put their value in things that are fleeting; whether its men, trends, or our physical bodies-- all are always changing and will one day deteriorate. So why do we waste so much of our time, money, and effort towards these things? We've been brain washed by the world and the devil who have told us to place our focus and value on stuff, and in the process we lose ourselves

But God is calling us to daily run to Him- to find our identity in Him. And when we finally do we find and discover that we are worthy, righteous in His Spirit, called to be the Bride of Christ. In this discovery, God fills us with joy and peace that sustains all situations- and allows Him to form us into the same type of righteous women who we consider to be genuine women of God. 

Monday, April 16, 2012

The Day of Rest


Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Exodus 20: 8-11

It never fails to amaze me how perfect our God is. He created our bodies so uniquely and wonderfully, and they serve as our personal temples that He dwells in. It's crazy how the body works. Our bodies need nourishment from food and daily sleep to continue to function the way it should. It's easy for us to skimp over the small things, we abuse our bodies and try to play "superman," by trying to carry the weight of the world on our shoulders throughout the week. We suffer from an inability to sit still, we constantly desire to go go go, we push our selves and our bodies to its limit- BUT the Lord, being the wonderful and amazing Father He is, anticipated us bearing a long, hard work week. So, He specifically created the Sabbath to give us rest. And you know what, there is something about Sundays where a calm, peaceful atmosphere never fails to overcome my day. After being guilty of succumbing to worries and stress throughout last week, God brought me on my knees on this wonderful Sunday to remind me of His promise; to remind me to run to Him for rest and for peace.

I am so grateful for Sundays, and today truly enjoyed worship, meeting a new friend, having lunch with a good one, and spending the evening with my roommates. Sometimes when we stop and allow God to bring us rest, our day ends up filled with so much more love and joy than when we try to squeeze in everything ourselves.

He promises us guidance in all things- all we have to do is let go. Easier said than done though, right?

On another note, I just finished writing my support letters and will begin sending them out this week! I am so excited for God to build this team for me- to support, pray, and encourage me throughout this process. For those who will be on my team, you are all already a huge blessing to me. I know this summer will be a big stretching experience, filled with challenges. I am already praying for empowerment, boldness, and flexibility for trying times that are up ahead; but I am excited to have a supportive community being my personal "cheerleaders" back at home; excited to see my friends and family come together as the true body of Christ; and excited to see what God will reveal to me and those praying throughout this journey that we will take together!

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Happy Easter!

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. 
He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 
and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.
John 11:25-26

It's so amazing coming out of the Lent season and celebrating the holy power of the Lord through the body of Christ. Church was packed today and the presence of the Holy Spirit was so heavy, it was beautiful.

I heard a message on the radio the other day that has really resonated with me over the past few days. A man called to talk about the notion of time. It's interesting how we revolve our lives around time. Especially as Americans, we feel so obligated to be efficient every moment of every day. We live our lives based off of a timeline- a time for school, a time for work, for marriage and kids, and eventually retirement. We celebrate certain days and holidays, evaluate our success on our age, feel older and older as "the clock ticks." See, we reflect on the Gospel- Jesus and His ministry, His death, and resurrection as an event that happened 2,000 years ago.

But our God is bigger than time

His sacrifice and promise of grace is just as fresh today as it was ever before. What an awesome truth- He promises eternal love and mercy. Eternity is something we fail to comprehend as we are bound by this notion of time.

Lord, I may not understand but I trust. I trust in the truth of Your salvation and promises that forever reign.

Happy Easter everyone! I hope your day is full of love and friends and family, as you celebrate Jesus's life, ultimate sacrifice, and resurrection that remains true today, tomorrow, and forever.