Answered prayers!

Thank you so much for your prayers over "The Journey Deepens" weekend retreat. I could not possibly put into words how amazing it truly was. I feel so encouraged, inspired, challenged, and renewed in the Lord. I made new precious friends who I hope will be a part of my life for a long time to come. It was incredible to be surrounded by people seeking hard after God's heart and sharing a passion to see His name made great among all people in the world. We were able to pray for each other, spur each other on, and pray together for all the unreached and hurting people around the world. We spent powerful time worshipping the Lord and being humbled in His presence. In addition to all that, we were given quiet, alone time with the Lord to just be silent and process what He was showing us and allowing Him to speak new things into our lives. The final activity was quite difficult, but extremely powerful for me. We were told to write down on a small piece of paper things that were holding us back and things we needed to sacrifice to the Lord. We were given a nail and told to hammer those papers in the shape of a cross on an old wooden door. What a freeing, symbolic, and powerful experience this was. I walked away feeling lighter and experiencing such freedom!

Thank you so much for your prayers this weekend. I ask now for your prayers for God to continue the work He began in my life this weekend and to keep me strong in Him, knowing I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me! I am praying for dilligence and faithfulness in fulfilling the commitments and goals I made this weekend, and I am praying for all my new friends who are still unsure of exactly where God is calling them, but continue to have a strong desire to serve Him in missions. I so appreciate your partnership in prayer...so much more than you know!

Weekend prayer request

This weekend (October 25-27) I will be attending "The Journey Deepens," a weekend retreat/conference in Atlanta for those preparing to be missionaries. There will be about forty of us there this weekend who are seeking God's preparation before entering into full-time missions. We will meet in large group and will also divide into smaller groups that are led by a missionary mentor, someone who has already served in missions and can offer invaluable advice and encouragement, as well as answering any questions we may have.

As I prepare to go, I would love to ask for your partnership in the following things:

- Pray for the prospective missionaries coming to connect with the Lord, experienced missionaries, and each other
- Pray for clear minds, open hearts, and physical health and endurance of each participant
- Pray for safe travel for all involved
- Pray for wisdom, grace, and patience for the speakers and staff
- Ask the Lord of the Harvest to send forth workers into His harvest fields

I can't wait to post some amazing praise reports of what God did within me during the weekend. Thank you in advance for your much-appreciated prayers!

Here is a link to a short video showing clips from past retreats:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwwEgs13-SU
Here is the website if you are interested in learning more about the weekend: www.thejourneydeepens.com

October 17th Update

Wow, my friends. God is just overwhelming me with His love and provision right now. He absolutely never ceases to amaze me. I feel my heart just overflowing and can't seem to offer up enough "thank-yous"!

I had such a wonderful time in Maryland and D.C. last week. I was amazed with all the beautiful trees and such great history! I was also tremendously blessed during my time on the airplanes. I met a couple of very interesting women, one who was a Christian from India who shared with me how God is moving powerfully there, and another who is actively involved with missions at her church and has adult children who are pursuing or are already living lives of serving God as missionaries overseas. I enjoyed both conversations so much and feel a renewed excitement to experience just a little of what Jesus is doing in another part of the world.

I found out more about what my duties will be as a boarding mom while in Botswana. I will be in charge of sixteen girls, all between the ages of 14 and 17, and will basically be in charge of making sure they make their beds, keep up with their studies, get to bed on time, etc. I see it as an incredible privilege to have the opportunity to build relationships with young ladies of this age, and I pray that He is able to use me in a powerful way to love on them and disciple them in the Lord.

God is teaching me so much about Himself and I just love my time in His Word. It seems that every time I open it, He has a new gem to show me. I feel His Presence with me so strongly right now. Thank you for your prayers, as I know so much of my joy and strength is coming through them. I hope and pray that you, also, are experiencing the incredible love of Christ that He so generously offers to each of us.

Here is a link to all of the latest updates from Love Botswana Outreach Mission: http://www.lovebotswana.org/fieldnews/currentfieldnews.html#4

October 9th Update

I have just returned from a wonderful vacation with my mom to South Carolina and Georgia to visit my brother and see that beautiful part of the country. I loved it! There is such amazing history there! I am now on my way to Maryland to visit more family and experience more history! I'm so thankful for this time the Lord has provided for me to travel and spend a bit more time with family before leaving.


Time continues to tick away, doesn't it? I have enjoyed this transition time and see how needed it really is. Like so many of us here in America, I have long been caught up in the "rat race" of life and its face-paced schedule. Things in Botswana are just not like that. I feel like God is providing these few months for me to slow down, appreciate each moment, and just enjoy His Presence, which will also help prepare me for the lifestyle shift when I move to Botswana. My life these days is mostly filled with Bible study, reading spiritual books, spending time with friends or in church, or just being still before the Lord. What a difference from where I was a few months ago! I pray to continue to be molded and prepared for the amazing life of service He has prepared for me in Africa.



Thank you for your prayers. God has been answering! My prayer today is that I would be a sponge, soaking up everything God has to show me. Also, that I would be recklessly abandoned to Him and the leading of the Holy Spirit. My I decrease as He increases in my life. (John 3:30)

September 27th Update

I am sitting in awe of our Lord right now. He has truly been overwhelming me with His love and amazing grace. I have been trying to get ahold of exactly who I am in Christ lately. The enemy has been attacking me in this area, especially the past few weeks. I question my abilities and struggle with many insecurities. Jesus amazingly not only accepts me as I am, but He loves me with an uncomparable, indescribable love that no human love could ever compare to. That is quite a humbling thought that just brings me to tears. I hope that you, too, are able to grasp just how much He loves you and all that He sees in you...even if you don't see it for yourself.

As far as updates, there is not much more to report on other than God doing so much in my heart. He never ever ceases to amaze me. I continue to fervently pray for a pure, undivided heart that is fully devoted to Him and His purposes for my life. I read a very true statement in my Beth Moore "Believing God" Bible study this week: "If Satan can't get to me with destruction, he will try to get to me with distraction." May I be completely focused on Him right now and not at all distracted with anything the enemy would try to throw my way.

I am praying for each of you right now and thanking Jesus for every one of you. Thank you for being a part of my life and for your prayers and support. Please keep me updated on how to pray for you, too!

September 18th Update

I have a lot to report on this week!

• I bought my plane ticket!! It's quite a tricky feat to get to Botswana from here, but I have just about accomplished it. I bought the big ticket from Washington D.C. to Johannesburg and the small one from Jo-burg to Botswana. Now I only need to get the ticket from Midland to D.C. and I will be finished! I depart from D.C. on Friday, December 28th. I haven't heard back from the guest house in Jo-burg, so please pray that there is an opening on the 29th.
• I made reservations to attend a weekend-long conference called "The Journey Deepens", which is for those going to the mission field or wanting to find out how to. I am VERY excited about this weekend. It will be in Atlanta the last weekend of October. An added blessing is that I am redeeming a free airline ticket to go and on the way home I get to sit in a first class seat!!
• I have been busy substitute teaching recently and have really, really enjoyed it. It's great because I get to hang out with the kids and teach them without the added work of lesson plans, meetings, etc. If I ever doubted whether God called me to be a teacher, I have definitely been assured of it this past week. It brings more joy to my heart than I could express when I am in a classroom with the opportunity to teach children something new and build relationships with them. I have to admit that I am totally addicted to the smiles and hugs from kiddos. :)
• My car is sold and I am blessed to have another car to drive that is already paid off, so no car payments! It is a standard, but I'm getting better at maneuvering it each day. Also, there is no radio, so my iPod has become even more valuable. And there is no air conditioning, so I have learned to appreciate the feel of the cool breeze coming in from the windows. I actually love my times of driving at night with the windows down and light traffic. I've had some great moments with the Lord during those night-time drives.
• I continue to feel so blessed by the hospitality of those who've opened their homes to me. I don't feel like a visitor, but more like a part of a family. I've come to appreciate the gift of hospitality in a whole new way the past couple of months.
• I have been volunteering up at church a day or two each week and love it! It's been great to have my time be useful to others and I've gotten to know some amazing people in the office.
• I am doing a Bible study called "Believing God" with some other incredible girls and loving every minute of doing the study and getting to discuss it with them. God's doing some great things there!
• I have started the class I am taking this semester called "Encountering the World of Islam" and have already been educated and enlightened so much. It's great to be able to understand and pray more intelligently for Muslims.
• I begin working with two year olds at church this Sunday. I will be doing this twice a month....prayers would be appreciated for this, for sure. ;)

I am so blessed, my friends. The Lord never ceases to amaze me. He has so much more to do in me and teach me and I am really praying for a pure, teachable heart. Thank you so much for your support and prayers. Can you believe it....just a little over three months!

Change, Lessons, Reflections

The past month and a half has held many changes for me. In the last couple of months I have packed up all of my material possessions and given away/sold most of them, I "moved into" two different friends' homes, my cat has been adopted by another family, I became officially unemployed by Leander ISD, and today I sold my my car that I love. I have learned so much already during this time of change and had many priorities shift. One of the more noteworthy changes is in how much I really appreciate being with other people. I used to enjoy going home after work and hanging out with my cat, reading a book, drinking coffee, and just being alone with occasional times of fellowship with others. Things are so different now! Now I can't stand to be by myself for very long. I cherish times of fellowship and have realized a brand new importance for relationships with others. I've learned that complete security and comfort really can't be found in temporal things. I've learned that living with less is actually quite freeing (is there really a need for half of the stuff we have?) and that getting rid of things isn't as hard as it seems. I've seen the beauty of hospitality displayed in others opening their homes to someone else and making them feel like family. I have also become very acquainted with God as Jehovah-Jira, my Provider, as I rely on Him now for everything in a whole new way.

God has also taught me that times of change bring all kinds of different emotions, and that allowing myself to feel those emotions is ok. There is a grieving process when a chapter of life closes. However, where one door closes, another exciting one opens! Times of faith-stretching are painful and uncomfortable, but the end result is well worth it all. When the Lord shaves something out of our lives, He is making room for something else...maybe it looks nothing like the original, but God knows so much more about what we really need.

Jesus amazes me. He amazes me with His unexplainable, incomprehensible love for His children, even when their hearts are nowhere near completely devoted to Him. Why does He love us so much? Why does He pursue us and long for us to know Him more? What have we done or what could we ever do to deserve His precious, incredible love? I find myself more astounded each day that He could love us so completely and elaborately and desire our hearts above all other things. I pray that each of us would take time out to re-evaluate life's priorities and allow Him to show us in new ways the extravagant life of love and purpose He has for each one of us. Is there really any better way to live?