Enlarged heart

I'm gearing up for my 2nd mission trip. I'll be going with a group from church again, this time to Dominican Republic.  I'm excited to share my love for God with people from another country. Other than ministry our focus will be medical, construction and general skills.  Maybe I'll dodge the first 2 and hang out with kids and babies all day.  ;)

I had a friend from church ask me, "Are you going to go on all our mission trips?"  I laughed and admitted that if I could I would. I'm physically able, my job permits the time away and I have the support of great parents to help with my daughter while I'm gone. My daughter is also supportive of this so she doesn't mind. My goal is to have her go with me in the next few years. She actually had her first experience in missions last week.  Some of the church youth group traveled to Michigan to spend the week working on homes to help build up the neighborhood.  She was also able to work at a homeless shelter for one of those days.  So yes, while I can, I will attend mission trips.  I don't know what next year will bring, let alone tomorrow. So I'm going to grasp the moment while I can.

I'm not sure if any Google searches will support my definition or not, but my idea of missions is using our spiritual gifts to serve others. Doing that doesn't have to take you overseas.  It can be in your own backyard and they can be so simple. If you gift is Mercy, cook a meal for a new mom or for a husband whose wife may be in the hospital...Administration: join one of your church committees, every committee needs at least one member who can keep the others on task and help organize...Evangelism: help others grow and share their faith...Teaching: teach others what you have learned...etc. One of my gifts is Shepherding.  Which boggles my mind.  I have taken some of these test over and over again because I just knew something was wrong and the more I read the description the more I knew I must have misread a few questions in the test to get this result. No matter how many times I took it or how many different ones I took, Shepherding was always in the top 2-3 of my Spiritual Gifts. Jaw dropping, head tilted, wrinkled forehead, confused look...yeah, I know, me too!

When I went to India last fall someone asked me, "Why are you going half-way around the world to do God's work, isn't there enough you could be doing in the United States?"  I have to admit I use to think the same way. Every fall my parents church have a chili supper/auction to raise money for missions.  Usually used to support missionaries overseas.  I used to think that was crazy!  We need the money too, keep it here, spend it on something in our own church community. When I re-committed my life to Christ last year many changes happened in me. I was like the Grinch who stole Christmas, my heart grew, and it grew, and it grew. Not only did it grow, but it opened and boy did it open to global missions.  I'm doing many things here at home, but my heart yearns to work in missions in another country.  God doesn't see borders, so why should we?

Have a fantastic day...Be YOUtiful...Love out LOUD!! :)
Stephanie

My new favorite song!!

Matthew 25:40 (NIV)
"The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'

James 1:27 (NIV) 
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 said it best.... :)

Where have all the good times gone? Where have all the good times gone? Lol... a little Van Halen anyone?  As I'm browsing through Facebook lately those are the words/lyrics that come to my mind.  It seems being sad, depressed and just downright LOST are almost the norm anymore.  So many complaints about everything from a leak in the kitchen sink to a messed up relationship. No matter how much we have it seems complaining is inevitable. Are we looking for something to complain about?  Have we become so spoiled and self-centered that we have to complain to the world every time we get a hang nail?  We all complain at times, that I think is inevitable, but I think we need to be more careful how often we complain.  If it's constant or always about the same thing, it's obviously time for a change.

We need more God in our lives!! Most of the complaints I see on Facebook are about a relationship. At times I have a really hard time biting my tongue, or not typing,  "Go to church, grab your Bible, find a christian friend to talk to, pray!!" Those same friends are the ones that later in the day or later in the week I'll see them talking about going to the bar or posting pictures while they're out drinking with friends, or just drinking at home.  I've been there, I've done that and I still woke up depressed the next morning.

I'm not one to talk on relationships, or maybe I am since I've had so many fail. I know what doesn't work. It's been a year since I've been in a relationship (new record for me, lol), but at the same time, in that year I've been in the best relationship of my life. I've been in a committed relationship with God. He's been holding on to me pretty tight and hasn't wanted to share me.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I believe in loving out LOUD and that includes my faith and my love for our Savior. I realize my post on fb of my faith may also become tiresome for some of my friends, guess that's why there's a "remove from newsfeed," button now.  Even still, I won't quit. It's opened doors that I never thought would have opened, by friends that I never would have expected.  This past week I had a fb friend and I say fb friend because I only know him from fb through mutual friends of ours. He needed to vent about life and complain about God and this isn't this first friend to come to me like this. Thanks to Pastor Mike and our recent message from the book of James I felt I was able to help him. I explained to him that we face trials of all kinds, often to build, strengthen and grow our faith. If life was easy with no storms we'd get through life without relying on God and we'd have no reason to have any faith at all.  When we question God on why we're going through whatever it is we're going through that's when we lose faith, we start to have doubts. Instead we need to persevere through them, face them head on instead of trying to run and hide .  If we don't face them, we'll never grow, we'll never mature spiritually.

Are we drowning in doubt or are we persevering through it with faith? Instead of asking God to take away whatever it is we're going through we need to ask him to help us through it, to face it head on and to learn from it. We've all heard the phrase, "God doesn't give us more then we can handle."  Bull !!  I don't believe that for a minute, BUT if we go through it with Him we can handle it and we will get through it.  Relying on God may not always be easy for an instant gratification society, but when we believe, when we give it all to Him, when we learn to fully trust in Him, then and only then do I believe we will get through it. Without God in our lives it's like giving a pill to treat a disease with no cure. We can mask the illness, but it's still going to be there. We need a cure and that cure is God!!

Till next time...Be great...Be YOUtiful and Love out LOUD!! :)

If you've stuck around to read all this I hope you take an extra few minutes to watch the video.

James 1:4 (NIV)Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.


James 1:12 (NIV):  Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.