adventures of a 29 year old

In two hours I will be 29. A number I feared for a long time because it means one last year in my twenties. But as I reflect back on what the Lord has taught me the past year, and really the past two weeks of my life has made turning 29 more of a joy. 

He's ordained our days. Teach us to number our breaths, O Lord. He has allowed me to reach 29. He could have just have easily taken my breath away in an instance. But I must say these last years have been an adventure with God and I look forward to adventuring with Him more. And even if this is my last year of life, I strongly believe it would be enough. He's been so gracious to me. He's showed me wonders, miracles even, and He has spoken to me. He hears me. He sees me. And if He allows me to continue on in life, I pray that He continues to speak. But even if I don't hear Him in the years to come, I pray I'm content in knowing He HAS spoken to me and that that alone would be enough for me to worship Him. But oh, how I pray He doesn't stop. Lord, thank you for bringing me into this year. May it be a year marked with adventures with you. 

It's hard to believe it's been over two years since I updated this blog. So much has happened since then, it's hard to know where to begin. But He has done great things.

I left Branson, Missouri for starters. I know what you're thinking. She said she was going to work for Klife! As it would turn out God would have much different plans.

In Branson, after the Institute, it was the first time in my life I didn't feel like I had clear direction from the Lord as to where to go next or what to do.  Two of my passions are youth and internationals. I debated and cried. I begged God for direction. I knew I just needed to do something. It came down to two choices after rejecting Klife. Do I go back to the Middle East...or do I go to Texas, to pursue a degree in seminary?

I sought counsel. I was scared. He wasn't answering. I knew there was no "wrong choice". But could there have been? I begrudgingly moved to Texas... listening to godly counsel, and gave in to their wisdom. Me of so little faith. Had I known what I knew now...

I came to Texas and walked into an ESL interview to become a teacher thinking all of my college-aged students would be Hispanic (not that there's anything wrong with that). But God knows my heart. He knows what He's called me and gifted me in better than myself. I walked in and the door opened to a young Arab man saying, "Welcome to ----!" The very country in the Middle East I had just rejected. He took me to a place and gave me authority over Arab men, whom had I been in that country, I would never have had the opportunity to look at or speak too, let alone share my life with. From skydiving to bowling to seeing Arab babies born, I am overwhelmed. He is faithful. He is kind.

This summer I was able to go to Lebanon and serve alongside Syrians. I ran along the border of Syria meeting people who would become my brothers and sisters in Christ. I witnessed miracles. I saw healings. I saw salvation. I saw modern day Bible stories being played out in present day time. I was spared being kidnapped. Bombed. I was protected. One mile from a violent group and not a scratch. I am overwhelmed. He is strong. He is mighty. He is faithful. He is kind.

Now I work a job in Texas and using Arabic every single day. I work with Refugees here and get to be the first one to meet them off the plane. I get to be a first friend. I get to pray over their new homes and new lives. I get to enroll their darling children in school. I get to hear their stories and share in their victories and tragedies. I could not have imagined this. The Lord has a plan. Even when I feel as if I can't hear it, He is still working out things for my good.

This is a blog entry just to say Thank you, Lord. In this season of Advent, I sit here in awe. I recognize I was bought with a price, and redeemed for a purpose. Lord, You are faithful. You are good. May this entry serve as an Ebenezer. A reminder of Your mighty love. 

Lamentations 3:21-24

It's amazing how suffering brings out a person's beliefs. It's in those trials that our faith is revealed. We have the option to trust the Lord or turn from Him. No other choice. I'm amazed at my friends' faith. They are giants in the way they trust the Lord. I only hope I can be like them when faced with life's storms. They truly are a testiment to the mighty steadfast love of Christ.

To give you a little background, Walt is one of my brother-in-laws best friends. In his and my sisters wedding, I met him and his wife, Lauren, while attending Ole Miss. They were seniors while I was a lowly freshman. But I looked up to them, but not as much as I do now.

Last week, they had their first child, Mary Elizabeth. They knew she wouldn't live long. God graciously gave them 7 hours with her. But what amazes me is Walt and Lauren's faith. Lauren sent out these prayer requests and verses a week before she gave birth.

The verses are such a testiment to their faith. And encouraged me in mine. I hope they speak to you as much as they did to me. It's kinda long...but so worth it.

Hymn of Trust – Jesus, Lover of my Soul

Jesus, lover of my soul, let me to thy bosom fly,

While the nearer waters roll, while the tempest still is high.

Hide me, O my Savior, hide, till the storm of life is past;

Safe into the haven guide; O receive my soul at last.

Other refuge have I none, hangs my helpless soul on thee;

Leave, ah! leave me not alone, still support and comfort me.

All my trust on thee is stayed, all my help from thee I bring;

Cover my defenseless head with the shadow of thy wing.

Thou, O Christ, art all I want, more than all in thee I find;

Raise the fallen, cheer the faint, heal the sick, and lead the blind.

Just and holy is thy name, I am all unrighteousness;

False and full of sin I am; thou art full of truth and grace.

Plenteous grace with thee is found, grace to cover all my sin;

Let the healing streams abound, make and keep me pure within.

Thou of life the fountain art, freely let me take of thee;

Spring thou up within my heart; rise to all eternity. 

Hymn of Trust – ‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus

'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, just to take Him at His word;

Just to rest upon His promise; just to know, Thus saith the Lord.

O how sweet to trust in Jesus, just to trust His cleansing blood;  Just in simple faith to plunge me, 'Neath the healing, cleansing flood.

REFRAIN

    Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him, How I've proved Him o'er and o'er,

    Jesus, Jesus, Precious Jesus!  O for grace to trust Him more.

Yes, 'tis sweet to trust in Jesus, Just from sin and self to cease;

Just from Jesus simply taking Life, and rest, and joy, and peace.

I'm so glad I learned to trust Thee, Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend;

And I know that Thou art with me, Wilt be with me to the end.

Request One

That all people close to the situation would not miss the real spiritual presence of Jesus.  That all close friends and family present would be comforted and encouraged in new ways to the glory of the Father.

His Presence

Deuteronomy 31:6, 8  Be strong and bold; have no fear or dread of them, because it is the LORD your God who goes with you; he will not fail you or forsake you. It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.

Psalm 139:5, 7  You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?

Psalm 46:1-2, 7  God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear...The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Comfort and Encouragement

Psalm 71:3 Be to me a rock of refuge, to which I may continually come; you have given the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.

Psalm 94:18-19 When I thought, "My foot slips," your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up. ¹⁹ When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.

Request Two

For supernatural strength and stamina for the whole family, for Walt and my parents especially.

2 Corinthians 12:9a  My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness."  

Isaiah 40:28-31  Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.  ²⁹ He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.  ³⁰ Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;  ³¹ but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Request Three

Rest for my mind when thinking about logistics and planning for people coming in town, timing of things etc. Sound sleep.

Psalm 4:8  In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.

Philippians 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:19 And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

Request Four

That God's will would be done with the delivery, either C-section or naturally (won't know until Monday, she is breech at this point.) That he would prepare me for challenges that either delivery brings.

And for physical & emotional healing post delivery.

John 14:27   Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

Psalm 4:8 ...for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.

Isaiah 46:4 ...I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you...

Request Five

For our time with Mary Elizabeth, it could be minutes to hours.

Lamentations 3:21-24 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him."

Isaiah 30:18 Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion.

Matthew 11:28a Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Request Six

For God to continue to bless our marriage during this. (He has so much already!)

Psalm 27:4 One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.

 Psalm 51:8-12 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice.  ⁹ Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.  ¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.  ¹¹ Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.  ¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Request Seven

That in the months to come when dealing with grief, we would trust the lord with the future of our family and receive continued direction on our next steps. 

Job 21:1 Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.

Psalm 107:9 For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.

Psalm 62:5 For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. ⁶ He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. ⁷ On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. ⁸ Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.

2 Samuel 23:5 "For does not my house stand so with God? For he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and secure.

Encouraging words from Elisabeth Elliott:

The message of the cross is transformation.

We bring our sufferings, and Christ gives us joy.

We bring our pains, and He gives us comfort.

We bring our deaths, and He gives us life.

From Corrie Ten Boom:

There is no pit so deep that the love of God is not deeper still.

Hymn seeking his full grace – Be Thou My Vision

Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;

naught be all else to me, save that thou art –

Thou my best thought by day or by night,

waking or sleeping, they presence my light.

Be thou my wisdom, and thou my true word;

I ever with thee and thou with me, Lord;

Thou my great Father, I thy true son;

thou in me dwelling, and I with thee one.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,

thou mine inheritance, now and always;

Thou and thou only, first in my heart,

High King of heaven, my treasure thou art

heroes

you know it's been a while when you can't even remember your blog password. whoops. how have things have changed since my last blogs... but what hasn't changed is that the Lord is the same. He keeps moving and working in my life, and throughout the world.

I watched a few days ago on September 11th as the news was filled with the stories of Egyptians shouting, "Obama, Obama, there are still a billion Osamas" and Libya killed our ambassor and soem Navy seals. and as Iran gets increasingly more crazy.

How sadly deceived they are. Won't someone go and tell them about JC? my heart is heavy for them. especially my Egyptians. Because i know they are right. there are many osamas. people who will give their lives for a lie. simply because no one is brave enough to tell them the truth.

except for some... and these are my heroes.

C was on my team. there were 12 of us. a week ago she was killed. stabbed to death by a 16 year old boy. she lived over 20 years over there. giving her life to tell them the truth. we will miss her. i remember eating thanksgiving in her house. and sponsoring a football game in her city (yes, i actually had an american football game happen there!). many of her students came to participate. we know where she is. but what about the kid? asking for dreams of J for him. dreams of torment, grace, and forgiveness. weird i know. but those things keep me up at night. forgiveness. forgive him. and hope he believes.

D and B are my heroes. wow. they have played such a huge impact on my life. from the time B was my soccer team's physical trainer in high school! little did i know how much they would mean to me and play in my walk. they are my heroes. they have two darling kids and have lived in a VERY remote place for the past 5 years. they were just recently evacuated do to t3rrorists threats brought on by al qu3da. talking it over with D and crying. i know what it's like not to get the chance to say good bye. but not to the scale she does. can't imagine how hard it was and must still be. but the crazy thing is, they are going back. not to that exact place obviously as they were pulled out in the nick of time. but might as well. i love how they listen and walk JC among such a people in such a place.

and there is J. She discipled me while I lived in Egypt. my role model. she's in a country now, that her heart so desperately loves. i love her for it. i want her passion and her heart. i hope i'm her one day. i love that she never gives up. ever.

miracle in Branson :)

I know I already posted something, but I had to share this!

So a month or so ago I prayed over a woman at church here in Branson. She had found out that day that she had a significantly large tumor. We prayed together, in the name of Jesus, that it would disappear.

Two nights ago I saw her at the Branson IMAX. Not sure why I ever doubt... But she ran up to me and said, "Katie! I had to tell you! I went to the doctor yesterday and he couldn't find the tumor. He said there wasn't one!!!"

She told me she asked the doctor if he was sure because she knew it had been large.

He was sure. :)


Thank you, Lord. That Your Name is Power!

In the words of my dad, "Doctors can only treat, Jesus alone can heal".


And if you want another cool story, talk to my lil sis about the dreams she had a week ago. Jesus showed up. :) Love that He works the same here as I saw Him do so many times in the Middle East!

Heart of the Beast

People keep telling me i'm crazy. I probably am. They say this job will be hard. Yeah, it probably will be. But at least I know two things: God didn't design me for easy. and He never promised I would have to do it on my own. So here goes...

I decided to do KLife. It would seem that He's wired me for ministry. Tried to get out of it. Heck I applied for everything other than ministry. But as doors closed He kept bringing me back in my mind to my call when I was 14. Reminding me, albeit unwillingly to listen, that He has called me to a very specific purpose. That purpose is to make Him known. I was terrified to hear His voice then. Still am. But grateful that He speaks all the same. 

That afterall, was the only vision statement I could come up with at Kanakuk. Just repeating Paul in Acts when he basically writes out his vision statement which says, "I count my life NOTHING. No profit to me EXCEPT that I might finish the course of ministry that the Lord has given me, to make known the Gospel of GRACE". so here goes... proclaim til I have no more breath will be the theme of my song. 

So in light of KLife. One of my heroes and mentors wrote this. I found this to fit right into my new job description:

“When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple.” (Acts 9:26)

“As soon as Paul yielded to God’s call, things immediately got worse.” A Work of Heart by Reggie McNeal

The doubt and indecision that immediately filled my heart was almost too overwhelming.  My thoughts were filled with distractions that said,” there is an easier way of going about this and you need to consider other avenues that would be less costly to you and those close to you. Then, this morning in my QT, He made me aware of what the cost would be in agreeing with Him about walking into the, “heart of the beast,” and challenging others to do the same. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that the vision He so graciously gave  me years ago would lead to this. So, my dear brother’s and sister’s let us encourage each other in the days ahead to not be deceived by the evil one’s distractions to take the easy road to lostness, but take on the full armor of God and walk Jesus in the assurance of His presence no matter how dark things may become or seem to be.

Let us respond to His call with obedience knowing that we are in this together with Him.

Walk by the Spirit-Galatians 5:16

“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on things of the Spirit.”-Romans 8:5

This week at the Kanakuk Institute we had the Pastor of Park City Presbyterian in Highland Park come to the Institute to teach us about the Holy Spirit. He taught us a range of lessons ranging from spiritual gifts to the roles of the Holy Spirit. He taught us the importance of relying on the Holy Spirit in our own lives.

Throughout the Bible we see the Holy Spirit move in the lives of believers. One of my favorite stories is that of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch. In Acts 8 we see an Angel of the Lord commanding Philip to go down from Jerusalem towards Gaza taking the desert road. Vs. 29 tells us that the Spirit of the Lord led Philip to go up to a chariot he had spotted on the road. As a result of the Spirit’s prompting and Philip’s obedience to follow through an Ethiopian Eunuch is led to Christ. What’s crazy about this story is that in vs. 39, which says, “when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.” I love this story because it shows us the immeasurable power of the Holy Spirit and how He guides and directs His people for His glory. I love that the Spirit leads Philip to this divine appointment, resulting in a conversation that ultimately leads an Ethiopian to Christ. I have seen in my own life, conversations that I know happened only as a result of the Holy Spirit’s prompting and leading.

Another story in the Bible in which we see the Spirit’s guidance is that of the story of Zerubbabel. In Zechariah 4 we read Zechariah telling us about Zerubbabel. How Zerubbabel was commanded by the Lord to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. Zechariah 4:6 tells us that “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, say the Lord of hosts.” I love this story because it so clearly shows that the Spirit at work in Zerubbabel’s life. That although Zerubbabel may not have known how he would build the Temple of God, God basically says don’t fear...it’ll happen by my SPIRIT. I love this. The Spirit is so clearly seen enabling Zerubbabel to build the Temple as well as putting a passion within his heart to have it completed.

So we see clearly the Spirit directing, instructing, and living within His followers just as He does today. One thing that I loved learning about this week was the Spirit’s personality and how that personality now lives within us. The Spirit can be grieved, angry, patient, loving, caring, insulted, peaceful, full of truth, etc. There are several more characteristics that the Spirit has and as we walk by the Spirit, we carry out His personality and characteristics all the more and at the appropriate times.

My desire is to be full of the Spirit. To walk with ears open to hear His tones and know precisely where He would have me go, and what He would have me do, just as He so clearly spoke to Philip and Zerubbabel. To live a life radically set apart for the use of the Holy Spirit. To live for the beckoning of the Holy Spirit would be a life not built on might, or by power, but an exciting life built solely around the Glory of God. The Spirit will not always lead you to the safest place, but it will always lead you to the advancement behind enemy lines for the advancement of God’s Kingdom. For His joy and for His glory, I’ll strive to walk in the Spirit.