Rest Easy

My Bible Gateway verse of the day today reminded of a great, old Audio Adrenaline song. Back in the day of cassette tapes (yeah, I know it wasn't that long ago), it used to be one of my favorites from their 1993 album Don't Censor Me. If you can actually find the track somewhere, I hold that it's worth a listen.

1 John 4:18

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

"Rest Easy"

One more mile 'til I lay rest

I have put myself through this rigid test

But the mile has never ended, no distance has been gained

I do not see greatness I wanted to obtain

Where is my embrace

from the race that I have run?

I have kept a steady pace

but still I have not won

Rest easy

have no fear

I love you perfectly

love drives out fear

I'll take your burden

you take My grace

Rest easy

in My embrace

I am such a sinner, I fear my evil ways

I fear my imperfection, I fear my final days

I just want to take control and snap this rusty chain

drop my heavy burden, it seems to be in vain

I am not a bold man even though I want to be

I am just a dreamer with a timid history

Scared of confrontations I fume all through the night

the world has it's hold on me and I just want to fly

The sky, the sky is open wide

but I can't fly 'til I step aside

Rest easy

have no fear

I love you perfectly

and perfect love drives out fear

I'll take your burden

you take My grace

Rest easy in My embrace

The Story - Long Version: Chapter 3

Chapter 3: An uncanny connection

Champaign, Illinois...Had you asked me 5 years ago where I would be today, I never, NEVER would have guessed that I would be here. The Midwest. Not that I have anything against the Midwest, I had just never really even given any thought to moving here. But in late August of 2008, I packed up my belongings, put them in a moving truck, loaded my car with the essentials, Birdie (my parakeet), and myself and headed northwest. I arrived, settled in as much as I could having none of my belongings yest (they finally showed up 2 months later) and started work with the Army Corps of Engineers the following week. 

Before leaving Orlando, I had already begun to look up churches in the area and put together a list of churches that I would like to visit in my search for a new church home. I think I had something like twelve churches on my list. Of course, I didn't want to spend twelve weeks visiting different churches. By the time I got to the last one, chances are I wouldn't even remember the first. So started the scheduling puzzle. I looked up service times and geographic locations for all of the churches and, based on these data, began developing what would be my whirlwind, church-filled first 4 weekends in Champaign. It worked out that I could make it to 3 services each Sunday if I timed it right and stayed with churches in the same general vicinity each week. So starting at an early in service in the southwestern most corner of Champaign, First Christian Church received the honor of hosting my first church visit. Little did I know, this visit would not only begin but also end my search for a new church home.

Within the first five minutes of being at FCC, I felt welcomed. I arrived about 10 minutes before the start of the service and made my way to the Connection Point to introduce myself and get some info about the church. I was promptly given a visitor's bag, taken on a quick tour of the facility and comfortably seated just in time for the service to begin. Though I don't remember what the theme of the service was that day, I know that I very much enjoyed the overall feel as well as JP's preaching style. I left in a great mood, ready to head to Windsor Road Christian Church for my next service of the day, but it was pouring rain. I mean torrential downpour. And so by the time I got to my car, I was completely soaked...like the drowned rat, saturated to the bone, just got shoved in the swimming pool kinda soaked. Yeah, I didn't make it to Windsor Road that day.

After I got home, got dried off and changed, I sat down with my visitor's goody bag from FCC and started go through everything. There was info on all of the different ministries that they offer - early childhood, elementary, junior high, high school, adult men, adult women, etc - a pen, a magnet, a water bottle, and... 

Give us this day our daily bread

I'm way overdue for an update, and what I really need to put up is chapter 3 of the long story, but I was writing it the other day and got stuck, so I'm hoping this will hold you over until I get it done (hopefully this evening).

I'm absolutely loving the way that the scriptures that I've read or heard lately all seem to either have direct application to my life currently or to situations that friends are going through, or I get a double dose of the same scripture from different sources. So many times in the past I've read scripture and thought "what in the world does this have to do with me? How can I possibly apply this?" It's really neat to see such a stark difference in the way that I'm reading and interpreting scripture today.

Through BibleGateway (link to the right under my favorites), I get emails daily containing Charles Spurgeon's "Morning and Evening" devotional. I was reading through the morning devotion yesterday and realized that it speaks directly to a situation that a speial friend of mine is facing at the present, and I think it really probably speaks to all of us as I'm pretty sure we all tend to struggle at times with fully trusting God to give us daily provisions that will sustain us without wanting a little extra padding just in case. Getting away from that "just in case" is hard to do. But, as Spurgeon so eloquently puts it, "Enough is not only as good as a feast, but is all that the greatest glutton can truly enjoy. This is all that we should expect; a craving for more than this is ungrateful."

Here is the entire reading:

MORNING AND EVENING: February 14: Morning

"And his allowance was a continual allowance given him of the king, a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life." - 2 Kings 25:30

Jehoiachin was not sent away from the king's palace with a store to last him for months, but his provision was given him as a daily pension. Herein he well pictures the happy position of all the Lord's people. A daily portion is all that a man really wants. We do not need tomorrow's supplies; that day has not yet dawned, and its wants are as yet unborn. The thirst which we may suffer in the month of June does not need to be quenched in February, for we do not feel it yet; if we have enough for each day as the days arrive we shall never know want. Sufficient for the day is all that we can enjoy. We cannot eat or drink or wear more than the day's supply of food and raiment; the surplus gives  us the care of storing it, and the anxiety of watching against a thief. One staff aids a traveller, but a bundle of staves is a heavy burden. Enough is not only as good as a feast, but is all that the greatest glutton can truly enjoy. This is all that we should expect; a craving for more than this is ungrateful. When our Father does not give us more, we should be content with his daily allowance. Jehoiachin's case is ours, we have a sure portion, a portion given us of the king, a gracious portion, and a perpetual portion. Here is surely ground for thankfulness.

Beloved Christian reader, in matters of grace you need a daily supply. You have no store of strength. Day by day must you seek help from above. It is a very sweet assurance that a daily portion is provided for you. In the word, through the ministry, by meditation, in prayer, and waiting upon God you shall receive renewed strength. In Jesus all needful things are laid up for you. Then enjoy your continual allowance. Never go hungry while the daily bread of grace is on the table of mercy.

Lessons from the trash heap

I received a copy of the winter 2011 edition of Compassion Magazine last week and was reading through it today, and from the very first article, "Lessons from the trash heap," I got teary-eyed realizing the impact that Compassion's programs can have on impoverished and hungry children and families across the globe. What an amazing opportunity that lies ahead of me, to be able to work alongside an organization that has had such a tremendous and life-changing impact on so many people! 

For awareness purposes, I am posting that first article and some facts on hunger here, but I also highly encourage you all to check out the rest of the issue for yourselves: Compassion Magazine - Winter 2011

Hunger

"More people in our world are affected by hunger than by AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. Daily, hundreds of millions of children and adults live with the effects of chronic malnutrition, of not having enough food to meet the body's minimum requirements for a healthy, normal life."

The effects of hunger on the body:

• Normal growth is compromised
• Physical activity is difficult
• Resistance to disease is lessened
• Learning ability is diminished

925 million people worldwide are chronically hungry - almost one in seven.

25% of the world's hungry are children.

7.7 million children die each year before age 5. In 53% of these deaths, malnutrition is a factor.

Lessons from the trash heap

The daily grind of relentless, abject poverty damages children’s developing sense of worth, smothers their dreams, and far too often steals their health and life. As you will see in this issue, some children grow up where no child should ever be — near the dangerous environment of big-city garbage dumps, scavenging for survival. But Compassion is there — and so are many of you.   

I once took a group of Compassion supporters to Guatemala. I knew that visiting the capital city’s huge dump would be a tough experience, but I wanted them to have the opportunity to encourage the children who live there every day — the poorest of the poor. 

Our van came to a stop in that miserable wasteland, surrounded by mountains of disgusting debris. The stench was overwhelming in the sweltering heat. Hordes of flies immediately swarmed us, and we could barely hear each other over the roar of the bulldozers. After the visitors had been engaged with the children for a few minutes, I noticed that one person in the group had refused to get out of the van, and he was fuming.    

The Story - Long Version: Chapter 2

Chapter 2: That doesn't even make sense!!!

After slamming into the invisible wall that was separating me from medical school, I stood up, dusted myself off, groped along until I found the edge of said invisible wall, and figured out that there was a way to squeeze past it and continue along the path I had set for myself. This small passageway presented itself in the form of an acceptance letter from Ross Medical School in the Caribbean. Heck, it didn't even take a letter. They guy interviewing me practically told me I was accepted before I left...it just had to be approved by the board (note that he was also baffled by the fact that I had not already been accepted to more than one school, even more that I had not even been granted an interview). Mind you, I only applied to Ross after having already smeared face grease all over the wall. As it follows, I only applied after I had already clearly gotten the message that med school was not where I was supposed to be. 

As I was applying to Last Chance U (Ross), I also applied to a couple of Master's programs. My thought was that I could make my med school application even stronger by adding a graduate degree that included thesis research and by giving myself ample opportunity to retake and boost my score on the MCAT. So I applied to a program in Cytotechnology at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and a program in Forensic Science at the University of Central Florida (UCF). MUSC is notorious for being ridiculously hard to get into if you are an out-of-state applicant. As I am from Florida, I fit the out-of-state category. Yet not more than two weeks after I put my application in the mail for the cytotech program, I had an acceptance letter in hand. Seriously?! Did they even look at my application? How in the world was I accepted to a program at MUSC as an out-of-state applicant so quickly??? That did not make sense. UCF was a bit slower in response, but I finally received an offer letter from them as well. I didn't realize it at the time, but that program was also highly competitive as they only accepted about 5 students per year. 

So I had a choice to make - should I settle for a medical school that I don't really want to go to when I have clearly gotten the message that I'm not meant to be in med school right now, should I do the Cytotech program which would definitely look good on a med school app later, or should I go for the Forensic Science program which would just be more fun and interesting but not so applicable to medicine? I chose the Forensic Science program. And so you say, "well, that doesn't really make sense. If your plan was to strengthen your med school application, why would not go with the Cytotech program?" My answer: look at the chapter title. Hello!!! Choosing the Forensic Science program fit the theme of my life at that point in time. Not that this fact ever crossed my mind in the decision making process. It simply fits in retrospect. Actually, UCF was closer to family, cost quite a bit less since I was an in-state applicant, and I figured if I was going to spend a couple of years doing a grad program simply as an application booster, I may as well choose the one that I thought would be more entertaining. 

For I am convinced...that this must be important

Yesterday I was reading through the devotion that BibleGateway emails me daily and came across what has been my favorite passage of scripture for a number of years. And it struck me that this was the third time in less than a week that this passage has come up. The first time was last Sunday as Brett and Brenden Anderson were giving their testimonies during the worship service at church. Brett read it as a reminder that no matter how difficult as situation is, God will never leave us, and we should be comforted by that fact. Then as I was searching for inserts reminding people to pray that will be included with the support letters that I'll be sending out (oh yes, I said support letters, and, oh yes, support letters = fund raising. You didn't really think I was going to avoid that topic, did you? But I'll at least spare you until I finish the long version of my story...), I came across some bookmarks that included the passage. So after the third time, I thought, “this must be important. Perhaps I should share it.” And so I’m sharing. The portion of the passage that has come up thrice is Romans 8:38-39, but as I love the entire chapter, I'm posting it with my favorite of favorite portions, which include the passage mentioned, highlighted :) Enjoy!

Romans 8 (NIV)

Life Through the Spirit

 ¹ Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ² because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. ³ For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. ⁵ Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. ⁶ The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. ⁸ Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
 ⁹ You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. ¹¹ And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
 ¹² Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. ¹³ For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
 ¹⁴ For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. ¹⁵ The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Present Suffering and Future Glory

 ¹⁸ I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. ¹⁹ For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. ²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³ Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴ For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
 ²⁶ In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. ²⁷ And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
 ²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. ³⁰ And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

More Than Conquerors

 ³¹ What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?³² He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ³³ Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.³⁴ Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶ As it is written:   “For your sake we face death all day long;
   we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
 ³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ 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!

The Story - Long Version: Chapter 1

This is the version of the story that I get so excited to tell because it's full of all of the little details, all of the little ways that God has made His presence known in a BIG way. So to be nice to you guys, I'm going to break it up into chapters which will hopefully be a bit more manageable. Here we go!

Chapter 1: Let's take it back about ten years

In 2001, I had the opportunity to go with my home church on a week-long mission trip to Puerto Lempira, Honduras, to aid in construction of a building that would later be used as a training center for pastors from the coasts of Honduras and Nicaragua. Kinda cool - they actually had a training conference going on while we were there, and we were able to sit in on a couple of their worship sessions. But being an 18 year-old female on a trip with mainly older southern men, there was not much chance that I was really going to get to participate in the construction activities, though that was the main objective of the trip. Even worse, there were five young women, ranging in age from 18 to 20 on this trip, and the biggest tool the men would let us wield was a hammer, so we had the great privilege of making wobbly chairs and tables not so wobbly. 

My sister, Rebekah, and Sarah making a wobbly table not so wobbly.

Woo. I remember being quite frustrated by this. I wanted to get dirty with the rest of them. Looking back on this, it baffles me that the trip made such an impression on my life...until I remember the people...the ones who should have been the REAL focus of the trip in the first place. 

I don't care what they say about me

To steal the words of Hillsong United:

    I don't care what they say about me;
    It's alright, alright.
    I don't care what they think about me;
    It's alright, they'll get it one day.

    'Cause I love You, and I'll follow You;
    You are my life, my life.
    I will read my bible and pray;
    I will follow You all day.

    I don't care what it costs anymore,
    'Cause You gave it all, and I'm following You.
    I don't care what it takes anymore;
    No matter what happens, I'm going Your way.

    'Cause I love You, and I'll follow You;
    You are my life, my life.
    I will read my bible and pray;
    I will follow You all day.

    Anyone around can see
    Just how good You've been to me.
    For all my friends who don't know You,
    I pray that You would save them too.

I heard this today and was like, "Yeah! I don't care what they say about me!" I just wanted to put that out there in case anyone is questioning my sanity at this point :-)

Now, on to the The Story: The Looooong Version...

Come, follow me

I was feeling a bit bummed earlier today, letting my mind dwell on things that are beyond my control (as I do way too often), so I had a good chat with a dear, dear friend and decided that I needed to get into the Word and give my dear, dear friend a chance to chat back. I randomly opened my Bible to Luke 5, looked at the section headers and decided to back up to Luke 4 and then read through Luke 6. Let me just say that I love, LOVE how you can open up randomly and God will put you in a place where He can both comfort your heart, ease your wandering mind and slap you upside the back of the head all at once.

I'm going to start with Luke 5, where I originally opened. In this chapter, we read about Jesus' calling of the first four disciples. I read through the calling of Peter, James and John, and the simplicity of the call both amazed me and made me smile. He simply says, "Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." (Okay, I stole that from Matthew 4:19 just so that it would match the post title. Luke 5:10 actually says, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men.") And they take the boat to shore, leave everything behind and follow him. Next, he comes to Levi. Same deal: Levi is sitting at his tax booth when Jesus walks by and says, "Follow me." So Levi gets up, leaves everything behind and follows.

After I read about Levi, it dawned on me that my call happened with pretty much the same amount of simplicity. In my case, the getting up, leaving everything behind and going part is taking a little longer, but the principle is the same. I felt God call me into service, I questioned whether it was Him calling or me hearing what I wanted to, He very promptly provided the reinforcements I needed to be sure I was being called, and I said:

The Story - Short Version

I promise I'm not crazy! At least, I don't think I am...

As the blog title implies, I'm currently going through a rather drastic transition in career choice - from working as research chemist (though I'm trained as a biologist) with the Army Corps of Engineers to a missionary to Ecuador. And so you ask, 

   "So, you're just going to Ecuador short term and then coming back to your comfortable job with the 

   government, right?" 

The answer: not exactly. I'm in the planning/fund raising stage of what is set to be a two year mission to Ecuador. And so you say,

   "What?! In this economy, you're giving up a secure, career position with the federal government to go to a 

   developing country as a missionary? A position which you have to PAY to take?!"

The answer, again: not exactly. I may have the option the take these two years as a leave of absence and come back and pick up where I left off, but at this point I have no idea where I'll find myself in two years. Besides, I'm not so sure I like the idea of leaving the mission field and then just "picking up where I left off." I can't really wrap my head around that. Somehow, it doesn't make sense. And also, I wouldn't say that I have to pay to go, but I do have a lot of support raising to do (any of you who have experience with this, I could use some pointers...).

Why? And why Ecuador?

The short answer to why I'm going: I feel a strong, clear calling from God to go and serve. I decided ten years ago that I wanted to do missions work as part of my career - medical missions, to be exact. But God had other plans for me at that time, and I followed the paths that he opened up in front of me, and here I find myself, ten years later, staring missions work in the face once again. The difference this time though is that God put me here. Note that I said earlier that ten years ago I wanted to do missions work. This time God wants me to do missions work, and I can't even begin to express just how amazing and exciting it is to know God is calling you to something big!

Why Ecuador? That's where God is leading me. Besides, have you been there or seen pictures? No? Well, you're in luck! I have been there, AND I have pictures! It's an amazingly beautiful country, very diverse, full of beautiful people, beautiful beaches 

Bahía de Caráquez

Click the "read more" link below to expand the post and see more photos!