From Striving to Abiding

As God leads me into the adventures of this summer, I know that He is leading me into a season of rest and intimacy with Himself. I’ve been a striver for as long as I can remember, and for most of my life I’ve felt stressed out and overwhelmed at the number and enormity of the tasks before me. This past month has felt especially overwhelming to me as I have learned about more and more desperate situations going on around the world and God’s desire to bring hope and life into them. In many ways, I feel like I’ve been carrying the weight and pain of the world on my shoulders and it’s felt like my responsibility to strive harder to bring God’s Kingdom into these places. But I’m learning that God is not calling me to strive or to carry this weight. Psalm 46:10 says, “Cease striving and know that I am God. I WILL be exalted among the nations.” I know that God wants to lead me to a place this summer of abiding rather than striving. He’s calling me into a deeper experience of His words in John 15: “If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing.” I’m excited to learn the practice of remaining in Him this summer: to rest in Him throughout the day, enter a deeper place of intimacy with Him, let my heart and mind abide in Him and His presence, and then watch HIM produce fruit through me. The secret to bearing much fruit isn’t striving. The secret is abiding, and I’m excited to dive into that secret and all its treasures this summer!

Heading to the Nations!

I can’t believe the time has finally arrived! It’s now 7 days until I board a plane for my beloved Kenya once again. My heart is ready. Ready to hug my friends and family there, ready to dance and play with the kids at our Children’s Homes, ready to watch God work mightily in the lives of our teams and interns, ready to sit and pray with the sick, ready to be God’s hands, feet, voice, and ears, and ready to experience all that He has for me in the next four months. This summer is going to be big; I can feel it in my spirit. God has much in store and I have much to learn and follow Him through. He’s leading me into 7 countries this summer – can you believe it? He’s been expanding my heart for the nations this past year, and now begins the journey of Him actually taking me there. Here’s the tentative plan (tentative because I definitely never know what other detours or stops God may want to throw in along the way):
May 14: Depart for Kenya
May 28-30: Leadership Training Time in Rwanda with New Covenant Ministries International
May 30-June 7: Ministry at the ELI site in Bukavu, Congo with my parents and their team
Jun 7-Aug 30: Kipkaren, Kenya Hosting teams & interns and partnering with the ELI training center, children’s homes, health clinic, HIV program, and other ministries
Dates unkown: Travel to Kampala, Uganda to visit Watoto Childcare Ministries and the girl that I have sponsored through them for the past 5 years
Aug 30-Sept 3: Visiting missionaries and a church plant in Pattaya (red light district), Thailand
Sept 4-7: Visiting AIM 4 Asia in Phnom Penh, Cambodia; AIM is helping with the recovery and rehabilitation of women and children rescued from the human trafficking industry
Sept 7-15: New Zealand; visiting my good friend Annie Wright who is serving there for 2 years
Sept 15: Arrive back in the U.S.
It’s going to be an exciting journey and I can’t wait to see how God wants to teach and use me in each of these countries!