From Africa to Arkansas

I kind of forgot about this blog, which probably means everyone else has too (and by everyone else, I mean Dre and Mom :)). I started it to keep my parents updated on what is going on in our hearts and lives while they were gone. Little did I know that the same things that were stirring their hearts over in Africa would be stirring in mine half a world away. While the Lord started giving me vision through a documentary about blind Tibetan children, I texted my parents to find they were hanging out with a family who works with unreached people groups in Tibet. And the morning I spent sobbing bc I couldn't stop thinking about all of the horrible stories I had been hearing about children being treated so cruelly around the world, I called my mom to find out that people have been prophesying that my family will play a role in ministering to children sold into sex slavery. And the day after Dan and I talked about our common passion for children with disabilities, my mom called me to tell me about an orphanage in the city they'll be in that takes in children with special needs...I love that the Lord is not bound by geography. He moves everywhere all the time. While he's speaking to my parents through prophesies and dreams, he's whispering desires and plans into Dan's heart and mine through common visions and passions that he is stirring up in our marriage. I don't know where that will take us in the future...and I'm learning (not so easily) that it's ok not to know right now. When you don't have all the answers, you can only rely on what you know...and what I know is that I serve a Lord who has loves all people so so deeply and desires for us to do the same, I know I have a wonderful husband and precious family that want to see the Kingdom here on earth and I'm thankful I get to be a part of that with them, and I know that there is no such thing as being in a place where it is impossible to be effective. So even while we're here in Arkansas, I am learning that every relationship the Lord brings into my life is a divine appointment. I don't have to wait for the "bigger" plan to start seeing the Lord's will done in my life. This season is just as important as the next. I don't want to "despise the day of small beginnings" (Zechariah 4). Mom, if you get this, I love you guys! And I am so so ready to give you all a hug! Praying for more revelation and lots of rest before you come back :)!

You Put A New Song In My Mouth

This morning while I was cleaning our impossible oven, I turned on a sermon that my pastor back home preached right before my parents left for Africa. Before Jason got up to speak, my dad had been asked to share a little bit about ministering to the homeless (bc the majority of the people in my parent's homegroup are living in homeless shelters). Anyways the part Dad shared wasn't on the podcast, but a little ways into Jason's sermon he made a reference to what my dad had been talking about it, and then he mentioned how obvious it was that my dad was so sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading (which is so true :)!). And right then, I remember thinking, "I don't know if anyone could say that about me right now." And I just started praying that the Lord would do a work in my spirit to bring me back to that intimacy with him. About an hour later, I got a text from Mom telling me that Molly had accepted Jesus as her savior that morning in Mozambique...and something in me just got freed up. I received Jesus as my savior 15 years ago, and there have been several instances where I can look back and remember being in awe at how the Lord had saved me that day...but there was something about learning that Molly had heard the heart of God call her name that just reminded me what a miracle it really is to be called into grace!! I just sat there and cried for a while before I called Molly to tell her how excited I was for her (Praise God that even now my sweet family is just a phone call away)! All afternoon, I haven't been able to stop thinking about how HUGE it is that Molly just answered the most important question of her life. I even drove up to Dan's work right after I got off the phone with Molly, because I couldn't wait until he got home to tell him. I'm SO SO excited! Maybe this is selfish of me, but I've already asked Jesus if Molly can be one of the people I get to stand next to when we meet Him for the first time :). Just a second ago a Jimmy Needham song came on and the whole time I was listening to it I couldn't stop thinking about what the Lord had done in Molly's heart today and what He did in mine 15 years ago!! And I started crying...again (I'm going to blame that on the allergy pills, I'm really not a crier usually). Anyways I'm going to put the lyrics on here and mail Molly a flashdrive with this song on it, because He put a new song in her mouth today and I think it probably sounds something like this:

(I highly recommend downloading this one)
Yours To Take- Jimmy Needham

This is my second chance
This is no song and dance
You came in and renewed a right spirit
This is grace at its best
This is taking a restless, messed up heart and having you clear it

I can feel the weight is lifting
I'm barely staying on the ground
And I can feel the wait is over
Finally the lost is found

So, this is what it feels like to live life
So, this is breathing air for the very first time
The Son of man, He came here to give life
And in return He asking for mine
I've been captured by grace
I'm not going away
I'm Yours to take

I was down for the count
I was up, but knocked out
When I heard pardon for the interruption
Then like out of blue
Out came glorious You

You picked me up without barely any introduction
You won my heart by a landslide
You tend to do that every time
So, everything I have is Yours now
Even my very life

So, this is what it feels like to live life
So, this is breathing air for the very first time
The Son of man, He came here to give life
And in return He asking for mine
Well, I've Been captured by grace
I'm not going away
I'm Yours to take

Your kindness leads me to repentance
Leads me to the cross, which leads me to forgiveness
So, I'm counting it all as lost


So, this is what it feels like to live life
So, this is breathing air for the very first time
The Son of man, He came here to give life
And in return He asking for mine*my will*

So, this is what it feels like to live life
So, this is breathing air for the very first time
The Son of man, He came here to give life
And in return He asking for mine*my will*
I've been captured by grace
I'm not going away
I'm Yours to take


Lord, never let us forget what a miracle it is that you CHOSE us while we were still sinners, and you adopted us as your children. You didn't just mend our hearts, you completely restored them! Thank you for the person who told the person, who told the person, who told the person, who told the person, who told my parents, who shared with Molly the wonder of the cross! May we constantly sing the new song you put in our mouth the day we professed you as our Lord!

The Simple Life

I've been meaning to post this for a long time, but I'm just now getting around to it. In fact, what reminded me about it is I'm listening to Dan talk on the phone to the lady at Cox and explain to her that the reason we are getting rid of our cable is just because we want to live more simply and spend more time together as a family instead of watching tv every night....she's clearly not understanding. But anyways it reminded me of something that happened on our honeymoon that I think about all of the time now. I haven't written anything about our honeymoon on here, so to catch everyone up, Dan and I went to Maui a couple weeks ago and had the most amazing vacation ever!! We stayed at this ridiculously expensive hotel that we would never be able to afford in a million years if Dan's uncle hadn't had connections and gotten us a huge discount. Then Dan's sweet parents ended up paying for our room anyways, which was such a blessing! So anyways we were in this 5 star hotel while they were shooting a movie with Jennifer Aniston, Adam Sandler, Nicole Kidman, and Dave Matthews...all of whom we saw almost every day. It was just such a surreal week. Even though, I was so sad to leave Maui, there was a part of me that was kind of relieved at the same time. It wasn't even that I was ready to sleep in my own bed (considering the one at the hotel was much more comfortable) or that I missed home cooked meals (since everything in Maui is organic and amazing)...really it was just that I noticed myself becoming more desensitized to simple living the longer we were there. The first day we got there it was like everywhere I turned I realized how out of place I was...and it didn't bother me that I would never fit into that glitzy world. Towards the end of the week, though, I started getting used to the high life, and it made me kind of sad to think about going back to a world of cheap shoes and grilled cheese (the only time in my life I've ever questioned life with grilled cheese). I stopped feeling like a visitor in that world and I started feeling like I was one of the regulars staying at the Grand Wailea. Things that originally were so unreal to me the first day were just the norm after a while.

Thankfully we serve a God who is an advocate for the simple life and was all too eager to remind me why it was never a good idea to sacrifice simple for "comfortable." The night before we left Maui Dan and I took one last walk on the beach. Every other night we had done that we were pretty much out there by ourselves. We would just walk up and down the beach talking about life and what the Lord was doing in our hearts. On this night, though, we saw a couple of flashlights down the beach. As we got closer we heard a lot of laughing and little feet running around. When we got close enough, we noticed a dad with his two little kids, all three wearing headlamps, building this amazing sandcastle and cracking up while they did it. If I wouldn't have looked like a huge creeper I would have sat there for a long time and just watched them, because it was such a sweet picture. All week I had watched kids all over the resort throwing huge fits because they got the wrong color of boogie board or because they had to get out of the pool to eat lunch...I'm talking HUGE fits. And then here was this dad who just grabbed a few headlights and probably let his kids stay up way past their bedtime just so they could all spend time together! I just loved it! It made me so ready to get back to my simple life :)! I want my kids to grow up doing things like that! I don't think Dan and I will ever have the money to stay in a place like that ever again...and if we do, I hope we just stay at a Hampton down the road, because I never want to lose appreciation for simple moments like that.