Bracing for Impact with the Living God.

Recently my hubby and I had the privilege of returning to the Simply Youth Ministry Conference. Our intentions were to gain training for a couple of college students who are called to ministry.

I was not expecting much for myself. You see my hubby and I have found ourselves in a year of dis-orientation...

Meaning, good friends have passed away or lost their jobs, family strife, our church is without a Pastor and wrestling with it, and so much more...

To put it plainly we have felt disoriented.

I thank God for the Simply Youth Ministry team for listening to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Disorientation was a theme discussed again and again at the conference. 

God, You are always right on top of things aren't You?

 I have a few posts for you on lessons I learned while there. I hope they bless you. The posts are very raw, but maybe...just maybe there are some out there who can relate? 

I pray this finds you, the souls who are trying to stand in the midst of storms and cry out to the living God for the strength to follow His will. I am grateful for this truth, that in the process we absolutely will discover His unfathomable grace and amazing love. 

God Bless you all greatly,

-Heather

Jesus, You just keep messing with me.

Turning my insides out...

Shaking the loose pieces to the ground...Sifting.

You are a fire scathing, seething, licking away the impurities and reducing me to liquid.

It's been painful...I feel like I bleed and cry and scream, but to no one but Jesus, because who else would understand this anyways?

Then comes the reminder...

He is the God of the light and the dark.

He is there in the darkness, and yet creating light from it.

"Seriously, Lord?!? What do you want from me?"
 I ask searching for answers yet again.

Hot messy tears begin pouring out as I sit huddled and bent over tucking my head into my knees.

I am rocking with my hands over my head as if I am bracing for impact in a plane crash.

White knuckling it, I try to restrain the sobs as I feel my face growing red from the tension. Fearing it might burst forth in all its ugliness and confusion, I find I am holding my breath...

I am bracing for impact with a 

Living and Holy God.

Shaking....
Hoping no one notices me in this state of fear and heart ache under the cloud of darkness in the worship session I whisper,

“ I don't like this Lord.” Sobs begin to escape my throat , “This scares me... Why? Why now?”

Then...

His words rush over me like a crashing wave.

“Oh how I love you daughter.

I do... I love you.”

As if I am in the choppy tangled waves of the ocean

I gasp for breath in great gulps. I feel like I am drowning.

In the darkness of the worship session I hide.

“I don't like this Father. This scares me. Please no...Please no, no, not this!”

I beg and beg as I rock. He whispers gently again,

“I love you. Trust me. Obey.”

Again and again this was the message. It scares me, this task He is asking from us. Its different. (I am not always great with change.)

Now we are diving into the unknown and uncharted waters and this definitely requires trust.

“Not my will, but yours be done Lord.”

I will wrestle my will and fears to the mat...Through Your love and grace, Lord, I will surrender to You and Your ways.

Oh Jesus, You are unrelenting and I find myself grateful for You never ever give-up. Father, Your ways are not my own and Your thoughts are not mine.

Once again, with knees still knocking, I stand.

I am shaky still, but my feet are planted on Your solid rock of Truth.

I raise my hands high. Lifting my face to the light, I offer my heart again to You in worship and praise. I open my mouth and sing.

Will you join me friends? In the tough times? In heart ache and loss? In the pain and confusion will you join me and sing?

Do you have something you are wrestling with?

An area of your life where things are confusing or painful?

Can I pray for you friends? 

Stop Calling Me Stupid! The struggles behind illiteracy....

Greetings Friends, today I am joining the blogging team with Help One Now. 
Please stay with me as we try and experience what it's like when the hope for an education is lost... 

Children who cannot read because their school was destroyed in the Earthquake of 2010 and the government has still yet to re-build.  

Please take some time and click on the following links as you read this.

May God Bless you all,

-Heather


What does this say? 

Can you figure it out? 

Maybe you just need more time. 

Try again.

What if I told you 90% of the population could figure out what this says? 

Well then... Why can't you? I mean seriously!? 
Are you stupid or something? 

Why can't you figure this out when most everyone seems to know what this says? 

Whats wrong with you? Are you an idiot?  

People have figured this out in only a few seconds...

Why is this taking you so long!?!

I hope you catch this...

I am not trying to be a jerk, but this is what it feels like when you cannot read.

People may call you stupid, but here is the rub...

You are not stupid. 

Deep down you know you are not stupid. You know why this is a struggle to read and it has nothing to do with being lazy or dropping out of school...

You were not afforded the luxury of attending a school. 

Your one hope of education, your school, was destroyed in a horrific earthquake in 2010. 

This photo of the 2010 earthquakes damage in Haiti is courtesy of Dan King at Bibledude.net 

You did not have this opportunity to learn, and because you cannot read you find yourself struggling with communication. 

You wrestle with interpreting signs, and finding locations. 

You do not know which signs lead to safety and which ones warn of danger.

You are an easy target for those that would trick and traffic you out to satisfy the sick and degrading pleasures of horrid people for nothing more than their own financial gain.

I pray my friends...

With all my heart, I pray today that you have glimpsed a small taste of the frustration that so many face today.

I pray that these few moments spent here move you past sympathy...
to compassion.

compassion 

a feeling of distress and pity for the suffering or misfortune of another, often including the desire to alleviate it. 

Do you feel it? 

Do you feel that deep distress? 

Do you feel God's heart calling you to alleviate it? 

We can friends... We can do something about this together. 

Meet Naiderson... his dreams will come true soon because people...

Blessed ordinary people, just like you and me, decided kids like Naiderson, should have a school again. 

Naiderson will have the opportunity to learn again. 

To no longer look at his world through only poverty's eyes, but through eyes filled with knowledge and hope that will help him to advance beyond poverty's trap door.

Will you join me friends? 

Will you join Help One Now? 

It's as simple as throwing a garage sale for these precious orphans and donating the proceeds.

Click here  to read how one child provided a play ground for orphaned children in Haiti by simply having a garage sale. 

If He can do it, so can we, right friends?

Or perhaps you would like to sponsor a child. You could be the one that brings hope to a little ones eyes by bringing them food, health, education and protection. 

This photo is courtesy of Dan King at Bibledude.net

I ask you friends to meditate on these things...

James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.





With every breath I breathe
With every song I sing
I want to shout it out, 
Lord I am listening!
To every word you speak,
I'll go where you will lead
To love the least of these 
Is my greatest offering!

-All Sons and Daughters

P.S. Are you still wondering, what the first picture said? You know, the one I asked you to read in the beginning of this post.

It reads,

"Being Illiterate is like being blind, dumb, or paralyzed."

So yes, some of my readers can read it, but many of us cannot because we did not learn Japanese. 

I used this as an illustration because the letters we see on a page that so easily form words and sentences look like foreign characters we cannot decipher without first being taught what they stand for. 

This is what it is like for those who cannot read.
To read more on the statistics for education in Haiti from Unicef click here.

Will you join me friends?

When my view, not the camera's is damaged

“Hallo!

Smile please.

 Ja? Smile?

 Goed!”

I spoke in a broken mix of Afrikaans and English that made them giggle.

 I smiled at their beautiful faces. 

These were some spunky and tough kids. I clicked the button and took the camera down to look at the picture on the screen.

Suddenly, I was mobbed by these precious little ones.

 I squatted down as their little hands tugged and wrestled to get closer… to see their very own faces on the view screen of the camera.

Laughter and screams of delight would ring out as they spotted themselves…

“Jesus lief jou.”

“Jesus loves you,” I whispered.

And this made me think…

I am pretty much mortified when I see a picture of myself.

I feel embarrassed as I immediately spot my imperfections. My nose that was broken a few times has a lovely crook in it from certain views, my teeth that are not quite right anymore…

While on this mission trip one of the photographers snapped quite a few pictures of me laughing…she said she loved how my whole face lit up.

 It was a compliment, but I tell you I looked at these photos and thought…”Ah! I look like a donkey laughing!”

But those little ones in South Africa and even my own sweet children just adore seeing pictures of themselves. 

They delightedly attempt all sorts of crazy poses and muster up their silliest expressions trying for the biggest laugh… 

You see... Their view finder is not damaged yet.

They truly find joy in seeing themselves in these photos.

And this is where God whispers once again and humbles me.

“I look with great delight at each and every one of your photos my child.

I love you. I created you. I designed and knit you together in your mother’s womb. “

Psalm 139:13-14

For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.

I wonder… Do I?

Do I know that full well?

Do you know this?

Maybe we all might need a look through our Heavenly Father’s camera lens that is full of grace and love. 

He isn’t distracted by our crooked noses, scars, or lack of muscle tone. He looks to our Hearts first. 

He is speaking love and grace over His cherished children.

I pray you hear Him as He whispers to you today...You are cherished by the King of Kings my friend and oh, how He loves us!

I pray you know this today,

Romans 8:38-39
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.