Coincidences? I think not!

No one is where he is by accident, and chance plays no part in God’s plan.
A Course in Miracles 

When you pray for something: clarity, guidance, understanding, etc. you are looking for answers and a response, right?  I think so!  I hope so! 

Growing up, I remember my mother constantly saying, "There is no such thing as a coincidence!" At the time, I never questioned, doubted, or even wondered what she meant by this.  Now, as an adult I have decided that no, there is in fact no such thing as a coincidence!  

God knows.  He has a plan.  He understands and has paved the way for us and will guide us where He wants us to be, no matter what.  All we have to do is be willing to wait, listen, be patient, and continue to pray!  

This year, we have been praying about something very specific for our family.  The past week or so, it seems that the longer I look, the closer I pay attention, the more open I am to hearing God's answer and not mine...the more I see, the more I hear, and the more I realize!  

I know that this is a vague explanation of my realization that there are in fact no coincidences in life.  I have my reasons for being vague, but here is one example of what I am talking about and I would love to hear what you think!

3 times I have gotten in the car and a certain song was playing on the radio...one that means so very much to my husband and I.  This one song, "Until the Whole Word Hears" by Casting Crowns has played a huge role in our walk through missions and has touched our hearts since our very first trip to Honduras.  No, not a coincidence...but a memory being brought back to the forefront of my mind!  

Here is the video we made back in 2010!



The past 24 days of 2013 have been extremely eye-opening and we are super-excited to see what God has in store for the rest of the year and years to come!

OMGoodness...It has been a while!

I cannot even wrap my head around the time that it has been since my last blog!  I am ready to get back at it and I have made it a personal goal to put my thoughts out there in the "Blogger" world on a more consistent basis!

It seems that I tend to get extremely excited about blogging and about processing my thoughts through blogging when there are major things going on in my head and in our lives!  Crazy how that happens...and no I am not saying that my life has been "boring" for the last year and a half!  Busy...YES!  Are you kidding me, I have 3 boys ages 8, 5, and 3!  Our lives are ANYTHING but boring!

As this new year gets underway, there are so many things weighing our hearts and we feel the comfort of God's calling getting louder and clearer as each day passes.  I am asking a favor of the world right now...please be praying for our family!  Be praying for the excitement that is brewing!  Here are some specific requests:

1. That we continue each day to grow closer to our Lord and Savior!
2. That we grow together and that we are ready and listening as God leads the way and answers prayers daily.
3. That we stay focused on what the end goal is and that each decision and step we make is to glorify Him and to get us where we know He wants us to be.
4. For our boys and that we can guide them and prepare them for the life that God has planned for them!

Adoption - WHAT, WHAT IS THIS!?! I NEED TO ASK BIG!

Brian and I have talked about adoption for a really long time, since we were dating (10 years ago). Then, as I have blogged about in the past, Brian's brother and his wife (famous blogger, Whitney from "Our Hearts are in Ethiopia") adopted our precious nephew last December (2009), this has been something even closer to our hearts. They began their adoption process in January of 2009 and we were fortunate enough to witness their experience first hand! WHAT A BLESSING THAT WAS! On December 19, 2009, I knew for sure that our lives would never be the same! SEE PREVIOUS POST

NOW...
Adoption is definetely weighing heavily on the heart. WHY? I know this isn't something we can do realistically right now...it is so expensive, and we do not have the money for something like this...our children are so young and we have so many bills...what about time off, time for bonding, time for travel...BUT...I KNOW this is something that I feel called to, something that is deep in my heart...so what is it that I REALLY KNOW and what am I going to do about it? (If this seems confusing to you...imagine what it's like in MY head!!!) I can tell you ONE thing I KNOW without a DOUBT. GOD AND ONLY GOD KNOWS.

So I ask myself..."Who are YOU to be questioning what God has put on your heart? Who are you to doubt the timing of anything that God calls you to?" I am but a mere human who is trying desperately to do things right. No, I'm nowhere near where I am striving to be - "CHRIST-LIKE", but the effort is there...so what am I going to do about these emotions and this love for adoption on the forefront of my heart, my soul, my mind?

SO now I ask "WHAT" and "WHY?"

These are the questions of the hour! I've been catching up on reading some blogs and I decided to do some research! I learned that in 2009, only 4 adoptions were completed from Honduras to the United States. In 2008, there were 11 and in 2007 there were 22. Can you believe that??

Of course I feel pulled to Honduras, because I have been called there to serve and do missions. I pray that the opportunities to do this never cease! (A whole different topic to be discussed in a future blog, I'm sure!) BUT, as you can see from the numbers...this isn't a common place for international adoptions. So I am left to pray, to listen, and to study...God will show me when He is ready. God will lead me when it is time. I pray that I am strong enough to hear Him and to Follow Him NO MATTER where He leads me.

Our pastor has been preaching a series titled "ASKING BIG"! It is about how we pray to God, and what we should be praying for. Some questions that we have been asked are:

1. What are you going to spend the rest of your life doing? (your plan?, God's plan?, Are you sure that your plan IS God's plan?)

2. We have been urged to "GET DEEP with GOD!"

3. Are you doing what you were created to do?

4. Are you asking about the BIG things in life?

Luke 11:9-10 say, "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."

So....ASK, SEEK, KNOCK, REPEAT!!!!

I know that there is MUCH rambling taking place here, so in conclusion...I am praying and I am going to be ASKING BIG!!!!!

Good News!

Today I received a message from a friend that brought tears to my eyes!

I've been planning my next trip to Puerto Lempira, Honduras during Thanksgiving break of this year! I mentioned that I wanted to go back to P.L. in November when we were on our way home from our trip this past Spring Break. Brian said that he also wants to go back but that he would have to wait until Spring Break 2011 so I could go in November and March! His only stipulation was that he would rather have a couple of men travel with me.

The difference this next trip is that we are planning to fly the whole way instead of taking a bus from San Pedro Sula to La Ceiba. I started talking about the planning and sharing the idea with people at church. Several families have expressed interest in joining this trip!

I think that the trip should be booked sometime in August to keep the airline prices lower! The farther in advance we book, the lower the prices should be, right!?

Well, my dear friend Holly, who was also a member of TEAM TEXAS to Honduras during Spring Break 2010 called me today and said that she and her two daughters would be joining me for this trip! I heard the message and started crying because it makes me so thankful that God is providing a group to travel in November!

I am so excited and I can't wait to get the plans finalized! Please be praying with me for this trip and for my very special friends, the Waits family as they are packing up to move in 5 more short weeks! They will be moving to La Ceiba on August 6th to attend language school with their 4 children. They will finally arrive in Puerto Lempira in October and then we will bring them some love from "home" in November!

At this time, there are 12 possible travelers! YIPEE!!!!

If you are interested in joining this trip, let me know! To find out more about the efforts being made in Puerto Lempira, please see www.reachouthonduras.org.

Until next time...

Amy

The Goings On of....

There are so many different things going on...why is it that when summer comes and we have the greatest intentions of relaxing, having lots of "doing nothing" days...it turns out to be quite the opposite?

Brian took Brady to his 9 month check up - which was actually when he was already 11 months old, ugh! The doctor had mentioned at the 6 month check up that she was concerned about Braydon's head being tilted slightly to the left. At the "9" month check up his head was still slightly titled. In addition to the concern over his head and neck, she felt that one of his organs might have been swollen in his abdomen.

Following that check-up we went to get a sonogram to see what was going on in his little tummy. Thank goodness the results showed that everything looked normal. He may have just had poop in there...sorry for being so blunt, but it was an EXPENSIVE poop!!!! But, it is also a blessing that everything checked out!

Next stop was to the pediatric opthamologist. The pediatrician thought that maybe he was tilting his head due to an eye development issue so she wanted us to get check out by the specialist. We learned that Brady's head is not tilting due to his eyes! However, he is VERY farsighted and we have to go back in for a check-up on his eyes in December.

So, we start physical therapy on July 1st! We are praying that after the P.T. evaluation we will be told that after some excersizes that he will be cured and his head won't tilt anymore!

God has a plan, he has a reason, and he already knows how this will turn out. We still pray and we put our faith in Him and we turn our troubles over for Him to hold so that we don't have to. He is our Father in Heaven and he loves us...he does these things for us to help us get through trying and frustrating times. In the end, the only thing that will matter is being with Him, our Lord God almighty! Praise God for all of our blessings, and I pray that He continues to give us the strength and peace to get through this little journey, called life!

Planning

I am SUCH A PLANNER!!! A lot of times the actual process of planning is just as much fun to me as whatever it is that I am planning to do!!! I know, WIERD! Whether it's planning out my day with a simple "To-Do" list, a family outing, or a trip to another world, I love every minute of it!

Right now, I am planning so many different things, I am struggling to keep everything straight in my head. Not struggling in a bad way really, because like I said, I love the planning process!!! On Tuesday, I lost my calendar...which with my phone it shouldn't be that big of a deal, but you would have thought that I lost my wedding ring because of how freaked out I was! I realize this is a bit over the top for a calendar, especially when I pretty much had everything electronically saved in the trusty phone, but I LOVE having the calendar in front of me so that I can see the week and the month spread out before my eyes!

The most important and highest priority when planning is to be sure to LEAVE GOD IN CONTROL, even though it's not fun when the plans fall through, the plans as a whole mean nothing without God in the driver's seat! I didn't realize that until about 8 months ago now. December 19th to be exact! I've blogged about the significance of that day before, but that is when I realized that it doesn't matter how badly you want something or how hopeful you are, or how expectant, when it comes down to it...the only PLAN that matters is God's!

One of the things that I am planning right now, that I am overcome with excitement about is....THANKSGIVING MISSION 2010! My friends, Alex and Laura, at www.reachouthonduras.org, even posted an announcement of this event on their organization's website! There are 3 words that go along with the ReachOutHonduras logo...PRAY, GO, GIVE! Whether you have been on a mission trip before or maybe you've never been anywhere on missions, this experience is ABSOLUTELY SURE to make an impact in YOUR life.

If you are at all interested to learn more about this opportunity to serve God by reaching out to the people in Puerto Lempira, Honduras...let me know and I will get you more information!

Until then, I am praying for people to come forward to join this effort, I pray that each and every one of us recognizes who is really large and in charge! It sure isn't us!!! I pray for continued focus and awareness of the priorities and the things that are important to our Lord, not the things that I want. I pray that He gives me the continued sense of peace when I hand over the keys and get in on the passenger side for this journey we call life, because no other way that we could get to our destination is as effective or fulfilling.

MIA

Missing in Action -

When life is going, Going, GOing, GOIng, GOINg, GOING...it seems you can't slow down long enough to even catch your breath, but then God gives you some fresh air and all of a sudden you are able to regain your balance and stand up straight once again. That is where I am right now...standing up on two feet, able to breathe in and out and take in life as it comes with a sense of relaxation. FINALLY, but I am reminded once again how God has given me blessing so amazing and fulfilling that I cannot truly grasp how phenomenal he really is.

I title this entry, MIA, because that is what I have been. BUT, for the next 2 months, I pray that I will once again be able to get my priorities in order. Summer is sure to bring an array of possibilities!!!

And, yes...I have a list of things I need (desire) to accomplish during this resting period of the year that I am grateful to have as an educator! (For those who know me...the list is a product of my personality...I LOVE LISTS!!!)

Summer 2010:
1. BLOGGING - I hope to come back to the blogging world once again. I have so many blogger friends that I need to catch up with and I have many many things that I need to blog about for myself. First and foremost...I need to finish my blogs over the Spring Break trip to Honduras. Oh how I pray that I have not lost the emotional and heart felt words I have tried to engrave in my memory of one of the most impacting and life changing weeks of my life.

2.Bible Study - I definetely need to catch up on and complete the bible study I participated in over Daniel, by Beth Moore. I LOVED it and even though our women's group has completed our meetings, I want to go back to the daily assignments and finish the individual studies. I am looking forward to our next study, hopefully in the near future!!!

3. Organization - As much as I try to keep it all together and fulfill each of the roles I have in life, I just cannot do it all. One of the areas in my life that I need to get back in order is the organization of my home. I pride myself in being able to keep a house, my kids, soccer, church, work, marriage, and my selfish pleasures of reading and writing, but truth be told I can't keep up with it. The things that never fail to get overlooked are my house, my writing, and quality time with each of my boys, including my hubby.

4. Friends - This summer brings about many joyful memories to be had, new friendships to be made, newish friendships to be strengthed, and special special and cherished friends to say good bye to.

5. Travels - Though I do not want to spend a lot on travels this summer, I want to take the boys away for a weekend at Broken Bow for hiking, swimming, fishing, smores, playing, laughing, learning, and fellowship.

6. Saving - SAVING, SAVING, SAVING - I want to get as much money made and saved as possible! I know that money is struggle for many people, but I need to get some control over this area. I am planning TWO (2), yes TWO trips to Honduras in the next 10 months and one the 2nd one Brian and I are planning to take Mason (our 5 year old - then 6 year old) with us. So we need to be thinking passport and shots!!!!

In conclusion, this is going to be a BUSY summer, and I pray I can slow down and enjoy every second that God has granted us with over this break. I am no longer MIA, and until next time, I've missed you and I can't wait to get back in touch with the blogging world!!!

Love,
Amy

Our Journey and Growth as we prepare for Honduras - Spring Break 2010

WOW, our Lord God is almighty! His undying and unconditional love constantly takes my breath away. I have had the privilege to witness God's love in some extremely powerful situations this past year. Through this witness of how miraculous our Lord truly is, my heart has been opened. God has called me to reach out to the Fatherless and the Widows in this world. James 1:27 tells us that "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." I have never felt as pulled towards a cause as I am for this mission.

Once I embraced the fact that God was calling me to serve Him in minstering through missions (even if it is short-term missions, for now...) I knew that I had a lot to do to prepare myself. I decided I needed to study God's word so I could understand more about why he is calling me to Honduras, I had to listen to what He was putting deep into my heart, and I had to be open to the plan that He has for me.

I started by studying 1 Corinthians 12, this is an eye-opening chapter over Spiritual Gifts. Every single child of God has been blessed with a gift from our Lord. 1 Corinthians 12:27-31 spells it out very clearly to the body of Christ: "27 - Now you are the body of Christ, and with each one of you is a part of it. And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers,....those able to help others, those with gifts of administration,....31 - But eagerly desire the greater gifts." Verse 31 has taught me that the greater gifts are those that are more beneficial to the body of Christ. Paul previously made it clear that one gift is not superior to another, but he urges the believers to discover how they can serve Christ's body with the gifts God has given them. Our spiritual gifts are not given to us for our own self-advancement; they were given to us to serve God and to enhance the spiritual growth of the body of believers.

This March 13th-20th, I will be traveling to Puerto Lempira, Honduras on a short-term mission trip. A group of 9+ people including my husband, Brian, and I will go with our friends the Waits family who are moving to Honduras for long-term ministry. During the trip we will visit three children's orphanage homes: Familia Alastero, House of Hope, and Mama Tara's Orphanage.

Among the many goals we hope to reach through this mission trip, we aim to devote ourselves to loving on the children there, we commit to sharing Christ's love with the people in Puerto Lempira, to teach the orphans by reading and doing crafts with them, there will be physical labor in the possible construction of bunk beds for the older children whom dwell in these orphanages, we hope to put on a sort of soccer camp for the children in Puerto Lempira (this is an exciting way that Brian will be able to use the amazing talent and passion that God has given him!) and we promise to do all of these things in service to our Lord God Almighty.

For more information about the ministry, check out the website Reach Out Honduras.

Did you know that Honduras is the 2nd poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, only slightly behind Haiti? The region that we are going to is called the La Moskitia region. This region is considered poor and remote even by Honduran standards. Medical care is close to nonexistent from the country's government and it is left primarily up to charity and missions to care for the people who reside in this region. (Missionary Air Group – Honduras and Reach Out Honduras)

Puerto Lempira is the largest town in the La Moskitia region of eastern Honduras. There are not any paved roads throughout the entire town and there is an overwhelming amount of poverty here. (Reach Out Honduras)

I believe that God is calling me to serve Him on this mission because of the gifts He has given me; I have a talent in teaching, speaking, loving, and sharing with others my passion for Christ. I know I can reach out to the people in the La Moskitia region to show them God's grace, love, and compassion. I pray that I am able to make a difference. I hope that God will work through me to make an impact on even one soul.

I need your help. I need your help in supporting us in prayer, praying us along these next few weeks in preparing our hearts and readying our minds.

There are already SO many ways that we have literally seen God’s work on this journey. Please check back very soon to read more about our testimony in how God has worked in marvelous and phenomenal ways, even to enable us to make this mission trip a reality...in a way that we NEVER imagined would be possible!!!

In Him,

Amy

God is AMAZING

You know, I think to myself how I feel so unworthy of God's love. I am amazed that he wants me as his child. I make so many mistakes, I sin, and I can never thank Him enough for all the blessings and love He has given me. It seems so surreal that He sent His son to die on the cross to save me, and you.

I yearn to dive deeper into my relationship with my Lord. It humbles me to see the miraculous things He has done in my life and in so many others' lives.

I pray that I may serve Him with the gifts and the talents that He has given me. Through prayer, I've learned that God does listen...and my relationship with Him is continuously growing stronger. By strengthening my relationship with God, all the other areas of my life are more complete.

I ask for you to please pray with me. Please pray for a decision that Brian and I are working through together. It's nothing bad, no one is sick, we would just really appreciate some additional prayer to give us guidance and clarity on some things. In addition to that, I am going on my first mission trip EVER in 7 weeks. I am elated that I will get to participate in this to serve the WIDOWS and the ORPHANS! Your prayer for this mission would mean a lot to me and the group going. That we may serve God and help in whatever ways that we can.

I also want to share some scripture that I have been studying:

"Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow." Isaiah 1:17

"He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, loves the alien, giving him food and clothing" Deuteronomy 10:18

"He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God." Proverbs 14:31

"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." James 1:27

Isn't our God almightly, powerful, and absolutely positively AMAZING! Lord, lead me to where you want me to serve YOU.

The Internet, when used as a Tool to SPREAD the WORD! How God can use us to reach others through the web!

WOW, I am BLOWN away! I know that the internet it an amazing tool. I am ADDICTED to it! ANYTHING I want to learn about or read or discuss is out there.

It is no big surprise now that I have been going through some amazing changes in my life and my heart. Life is so joyous when you can actually see things clearly through Christ! The Lord has shown me so many ways that I can reach out to others. First of all, I consider myself to be a pretty passionate person...whatever it is that I am passionate about, becomes a mild obsession. When I say the word obsession, I mean that I don't stop until I can learn as much as possible about it, as fast as possible. The problem I've had in the past is that I haven't turned that "obsession" towards Christ. NOW that I have...man, crazy things are happening!

Okay, so I titled this blog, The Internet, when used as a Tool to SPREAD the WORD! Here's why: there are millions of people just like me in that I search the internet for EVERYTHING. I use it daily for work, email communications, blogging, and research. Just in the blogging alone, I've been able to read the stories of so many Christian men and women and to see the work that God is doing through them is extremely touching and life changing.

Okay, let's switch gears a bit. (Don't worry, there's a point to all this!) Through prayer and study I have been spending a lot of time focused on the orphans of the world. (See my prior posts to read about the journey that I've taken to get to this point.) I have googled and searched youtube for numerous missions and adoptions links. I know that there are so many different areas for Christians to get plugged into. I pray to have my eyes opened to the needs that are right in front of my face every single day. BUT, my heart has already taken a bit of the international need and there is no letting go of that.

So, as I mentioned earlier, you can learn ANYTHING about EVERYTHING through this neat contraption we call the "world wide web." GUESS WHAT: I've seen things, learned things, read about and fallen in love with topics that I was nothing but blind to 6 weeks ago. Here are some things that I found in this bottomless pit of a treasure box, JUST TODAY!

For women: women to go for prayer support, prayer groups, prayer circles, recommended reading lists, we can visit "PRAYERGATES." The idea is based on ACTS chapter 16 when Timothy and Paul visit Philippi while on a missionary journey.
"Outside the city gate...a place of prayer...where women gathered." (Acts 16:13)

For bloggers: Compassion Blogging - This website uses people who blog about the children in poverty around the world to make a difference. Compassion Bloggers are completely different people who lead different lives with a variety of interests, strengths, desires, backgrounds, etc. However, they do have 1 thing in common. They blog to make a difference, a difference for the innocent, unheard children without a voice whom inhabit millions of villages, towns, cities, and countries in this world. Compassion Blogging chooses 4 bloggers and sends them to various orphanages around the world and the bloggers take their experiences, their talent for words, and their love of Christ and they blog about their missions. This gets the word out. Man, to make THAT kind of an impact...WOW.

This next one is not one that I found today, rather one that a friend of mine posted about on her blog a little bit ago. Laura posted a link to this article and I have it saved under my favorites because of how much weight I have on my heart to reach out and to go on missions to help the precious children, God's children in this world. Is God Calling You to Give Your Life for His sake and the Gospel in Missions? By: John Piper

There is a gold mine of resources out there. For me, through prayer and hours of thought and study, I've found that I am being called. I'm being called to help change...help teach...help share God's word with the children in this world. "Learn to do good; Seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow." (Isaiah 1:17, NASB)

I ask for prayers, for me and my family to not only open our eyes to see but to also open our ears to hear the word of God. In a message I heard in church on January 3rd, it was said, "Your vision should be so great that it is doomed for failure unless God is in it." I pray that this is the standard I set myself to, no matter what the final goal is. Everything we commit ourselves to in the works for God should be set this high, this big, the unattainable. We have to remind ourselves that it is only high by our standards, but through God's the boundaries are infinte.

If you don't do anything....NOTHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN. What are you going to do? I know that I am going to continue to listen and follow and study my Lord Jesus Christ. He is all powerful, He is loving, kind, generous, and full of grace.