Love Story

I have always had a passion for cross-cultural missions. I've discovered over the years that this passion is rooted in my extreme hatred of injustice imposed on vulnerable people and their lack of hope...of a Rescuer.
I know this passion is created and sustained by God and I have been able to see over the years (and am still discovering these) the various skills/talents/desires He's also granted me to bolster this passion. I've been blessed to be a part of numerous missions opportunities both here and in other countries over the years, each of which provided me with different roles.
The last trip I went on occurred about 6 months before I found out I was pregnant with Lincoln. Jason and I plan on continuing this aspect of ministry when our kids are of an age where they can be somewhat dependent on the trips (I'm thinking about 6-7 years old).

Today I heard a song that is one of my favorites and never fails to flood my mind with memories of one trip I took with my college roomates in 2005 to Ukraine. The trip consisted of our small group living in an orphanage for an entire month under not-so-pretty conditions but with a couple hundred of absolutely beautiful children.

The song is Blessed Be Your Name. You've probably heard it. You probably know it by heart.

The night before we left on the trip, we were all at Rock Harbor Church together and the sermon consisted of God being your number One.

I remember vividly singing those lyrics and their impact on me at that time.


Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be'
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name



The concept is so simple. Praise God through the good times/praise God through the bad times. Seems easy, right?



Easy to say, maybe. But I find this to be one of the hardest things to live out on a day-to-day basis and I find it rarely seen.

I think this was easier to live-out before I got married...

"God, what will I do if something happens to my husband!!!"


And not to even mention adding kids to the mix!!!! How often do we cling to our kids like they're ours, or make them the very foundation by which we stand on?


I praise God for the people I know in my life who are such sweet examples of this song:


**the mother and father who recently lost their only child in a random car accident one night yet still praise their SAVIOR because they know their citizenship is in heaven? All of this to a point where the mother can stand at her daughter's funeral and WITNESS to the thousands who are in attendance of the love of Christ?

**or the husband who's wife has terminal cancer and was not expected to live past a few months, yet is going on year #2, all the while dedicated every hour to full-time ministry and making Jesus Christ known - still praising Him every step of the way

**Or the four families here in NWA who all quit their jobs, sold their houses, and moved their families overseas to an area of the world that is 99.9% Muslim for the sake of making Jesus known?


Their foundation is clearly Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection! The only thing worth boasting about!


You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will chose to say
"Lord, blessed be your name!!"


It's easy to bless His name when He gives. But why do we bless when He takes away? Because He will never take away the one thing we would die without - Him. How amazing that Christ gives us Himself...that He secures our citizenship in Heaven when we abandon all and follow Him.

For me, I am in the ever-circulating process of discovering what the "abandon all (take up your cross) and follow Him" means in a practical manner.

I think in the past I've assumed it just means "believing" in Him...going to church...praying...doing some good deeds for people every now and then...avoiding what's "bad"...

And what I'm learning is it's so much more.

My desire is to truly fall madly in love every day all over again with my Savior (that's my favorite name for Jesus if you haven't noticed!).

The kind of love where He can take EVERYTHING away from me and I'll still rejoice in Him claiming:

"Blessed be your name!"