My Hope

It was surreal watching protests in America unfold while we were in Lebanon and it left me feeling as though I didn’t know how to speak into the situation while I wasn’t here.  This week, despite being here, has just left me speechless though.  In my last post I mentioned that I’ve been trying to hold my tongue and not say things that will cause further division and I believe that’s still true.  But I also believe we are called to cry out, particularly for justice.   I’ve been praying throughout the week and trying to listen.  I’ve been trying to seek wisdom from the Father and align my will with His.  As I prayed, I just felt a heavy sense of grief.  It’s an emotion I typically feel throughout January though each year the weight of grief varies.  But this year as I watched the insurrection live on the news, it was not my son that I grieved… it was not even my nation I grieved…    I grieved the souls of...

I think I've said this before, but maybe the thoughts have just run through my head.  I'm saddened by the divide in the church that just seems to be getting greater and greater.    We are called to be one body.  I am not speaking of everyone, but there are some people that have made us feel as we no longer belong to the body because they don't view the things we do as being of value.  We are so grateful for the members of the body who have lifted us up and confirmed our call to be here for such a time as this.  We will not stop being a part of the body just because some people have said "I don't need you!"  God has placed us where He wanted and we will continue striving to carry out the unique role for us.  We strive to please God, not man.  But that doesn't make it easy to sit and listen to the hatred.    Are you working in unity with the rest of the body?  Are you telling other parts of the body they don't belong?  We only need so many eyes and s...

The struggle is real.... I’ve been struggling this past week.  There are so many conflicting views and thoughts on my news-feed and I’m wrestling with reconciling them all.  I love the community we’re in.  When we moved here I imagined it would be a step towards ministry and knew we could impact refugees in the area, but being here for the past year and a half has been so much more than I ever imagined!  The friendships I’ve made have enriched my life so much!  We share each other’s joy and pain.  I feel like the time here has stretched my faith and caused me to examine in different ways what it means to truly live my life as a Christian.  Welcoming the tired, the hungry, the huddled masses is not just something that is symbolic of my view of America, it goes to the very core of my beliefs as a Christian and being here I’ve been able to practice that faith in a way more richly than before. It’s not that the outreach I’d done in the past was superficial, but it truly wasn’t incorpora...