Baba Yetu

Good evening! I have a bunch of thoughts whirling about my head right now. Thoughts of Africa, thoughts of Judaism, thoughts of a new house with a jasmine bush, thoughts of singing kids, thoughts of a childhood friend's engagement.

I feel an expectancy again. Something on the rise. Hope. Hope on the rise. My heart is beating fast for East Africa. Uganda, to be specific. I have been connecting with orphanages there, and my heart so longs to see the kids that I have fallen in love with from across the world since I was five. I'll keep you updated on that as things unfold.

Judaism. I am reading the fabulous memoir of Lauren Winner; a brilliant, free thinking Orthodox Jew and her journey in falling in love with Jesus. I think it's absolutely gorgeous how God is in all of the details. Looking into Jewish traditions like the feasts, for instance, they so mirror the coming of Jesus. God knew. He knew, and He cared. I want to celebrate Jewish holidays when I have a family. My friend and I were talking years ago about how we love that about God...how He's so in the details; and that's how He woos our hearts. She had a vision of Jesus taking her on a picnic, simply wanting to be in her presence and her in his. They sat under a tree, and Jesus pulled out of the picnic basket her absolute favorite drinks. I know it sounds silly and petty....but it's stuff like that that make me captivated by my God. He knows what we love, and He loves to bless us.Something as a simple as favorite drinks to openings to travel the nations. This is true too, as scripture is revealed and the glory of Jesus made manifest through the Word. He knows just how to show us His marvelous plans of salvation and His drenching grace. You can't escape the intense love of the Father. And I don't know how you can deny the Truth of the Word. Both are perfect.

A new house with a jasmine bush. Let's just say, I have found my haven. Me and two friends spent a whole saturday house hunting. Throughout it,we were asking the Holy Spirit to guide us to the right place He has for us. After many other finds, we pulled up to this 1950's cottage, with a lush orange tree in the front garden, jasmine crawling up the brick porch, and a retro lemon kitchen to die for. Having heaps of people over is our dream. It was hard to keep from screaming as we walked through this lovely abode. I will keep you updated on this, as well.

Singing kids and a childhood friend's engagement could be taking me back to Indo this summer. Maybe yes, maybe no. Either way, I know God's plan is wonderful. I have ben learning to just go with the flow. It's the best way to do life. Because even when you don't know what the next step is...you enjoy everything along the way.

peace over you, friends.

{tenacious beauty}

About four months ago, the Lord laid on my friend Allie and my hearts to host a girl's retreat. So here I am, the night before...excited, ready for it to happen already, overwhelmed, fulfilled, and hopeful. I really feel like God's going to do some major things in these girls hearts. And I pray that right now. I don't know how God has done it, but what started off as a simple idea, has turned into 80 girls and women attending and helping. God is ridiculous!

I'm finishing the last bits of my teaching, here in the wee small hours of the morning...and wanted to share a bit of what God's been putting on my heart for these girls, and for myself.

As I was thinking about some of the things on teenage girl's minds and what I think society speaks to them about so often is this idea of 'change'. Things like "Be the change". They hear it constantly, and they long for it. As superficial as things around them may feel, they truly long to be a part of something greater than themselves. And this is how God has created us. Whether we realize that it's God or not. God has created us as women with passion and purpose. We long to be a part of something bigger because it's in our make-up. We were not called to the mediocre. We are called to something beautiful. Called to something great. God has formed the heart of a women with three things...beauty, passion, and purpose.

So here we are, ready to let the passion of our heart and purpose of our beauty (that which bears the image of Christ) to be let loose...but for that to happen, there has to be wholeness. What is wholeness? Wholeness is letting Jesus touch every part of you...not holding back. Allowing Him to have everything. Allowing Him in all of the questions of our hearts, our longings, our hurts, our dreams & hopes. Through wholeness in Christ there is a quiet confidence, a freedom to be unique when we are surrounded with a tidal wave of pressures and standards. Freedom to be true. That in our abiding in His love, comes our wholeness.

The constant question of a woman's heart, even from the time we we're little is "Am I lovely? Am I enough?" Most women doubt very much that they have any genuine beauty to unveil. It is our deepest doubt. Beauty is essential to God. Beauty is the essence of God. Stasi Eldredge writes, "Woman is the crown of creation- the most intricate, dazzling creature on earth. She has a crucial role to play, and a destiny of her own. And she too, bears the image of God."

I think about my childhood hero, Amy Charmichael, a revolutionary missionary to India in the late 1800's. She truly lived out of an overflow of wholeness in Christ. Because of this, she was free. She knew that God had clothed her in beauty, driven her with passion, and created her with purpose. It was because of her confidence in the Love of Jesus, and how He had created her, that she went into the world and God used her to change it! How can you tell someone about the love of Christ, if you aren't even confident in it yourself? But when we are clothed in His love, our beauty is released.

The glorious things to which He has called us to are set into action. Dripping with excitement and passion. As we as women walk in this, our hearts bearing the image of God Himself, we live in freedom and become a part of something bigger than ourselves.

Beauty is powerful. It is tenacious. It matters. And you possess it! So what is your passion and what is your purpose, beautiful one?