Beautifully Made is authored by Chrystan Ferrell. A believer in God, a passionate Wife and Mother of 3 boys. Join in on this journey through the laughter and tears on Ferrell Farms.
This past week I celebrated 35 years of life. My people rallied and gave me a great week with cards, gifts, notes and acts of kindness. My husband sent me out of town with my some dear friends and we had a weekend away that included a lot of laughter, a Branson Christmas Variety show, shopping, Christmas lights, chips and queso and lots of girl talk. It made me so thankful for my TRIBE. Let me tell you about my people.
Years ago I prayed. I prayed for God to send me authentic women. I longed for deep friendships in my local community. I have lots of friends spread out all over the country (and world) and I cherish them dearly. What I was longing for was people here where I live, to do life together. A connection deeper than the glaze over of "how are you" "I'm fine". Though I was surrounded by people all the time, I still felt lonely. So I prayed.
Then came one friend. Then came two. Then three. Today I can say I have a tribe of women who are fierce for me.
Through what I will call tribal living I have seen change in my life. I have been and am being refined. I have been cared for and comforted. I have learned more, I have lingered longer. My walk with God has been so sweet and so good. I have leaned in to prayer and study more than ever. These women, this tribe, they have set me free from perfection and performance. They meet me where I am and lift me up when I need lifted. God has used these authentic relationships to reveal pieces of me that need mending, shaping and refinement. God has shown me his grace, love and provision through these women. He has taught me how to love outside my comfort zone and how to say I'm sorry even when it was really hard to do.
My willingness to open myself up to authenticity has allowed for some of the best years in my life. Not because they have been free from hurts, difficulties and trials. Definitely not! These last few years have been trial, after trial, after trial. God provided helpmates for me, to be real with, to hold fast to truth with, to hold me accountable and encourage me to seek first the kingdom for all things. Not to seek them, but to seek the kingdom.
Tribal living has become life for us. We do life together. We feed each other when life gets crazy. We unpack boxes for each other. We take each others kids when we need date nights. We break bread and drink wine around tables in our homes. We hug and we cry. We worship and we pray. We are fierce for each other and do life together in abundant grace not in judgment.
We also open ourselves up to be the tribe for others. Beth Moore reminded us in one of her studies that you can't be turned inward with your people all the time, we must not be shut off to the other people out there. So, we turn outward, we care for others, we bring others in and teach them how to be authentic. We cannot be an elite club of women, we have to be inclusive, as women we should always be working on this.
This weekend and recently, my eyes have been opened to see that this is the exception not the rule. It seems that women think that they have to have it all together. It seems that we have a hard time being friends with each other. It seems to be that we would rather compete than cheer-lead. Ladies, there is enough for everyone. There is also enough competition out there in the world, let's not compete with each other. Let's hold each other up to success. Let's choose authenticity over fake. Living authentically with each other, doing life together, cheering each other on and offering one another all the grace. This is where it's at girls. I promise once you break down those walls you will never want to build them up again, not ever.
May I encourage you right where you are to begin praying for authentic relationships with other women. To break down walls with each other and do life together. It may hurt sometimes. It may not be easy. You may not always agree. But if you fight for it it will become some of the most beautiful things about your life here on earth. Community, unity and tribal living has offered some of the best moments of my life. I pray that you will find the same. I have so much more to say on this topic, maybe a study of community will be in order here. Until then, who can you build an authentic relationship with in the new year. How can you break down the walls and reveal true pieces of yourself to help another woman struggling? Maybe it's as simple as asking someone to coffee and truly getting to know here or maybe it's taking a leap of faith and starting a prayer group. I can't wait to hear how this changes your life! Keep me updated!!!!
You are worthy of really good people in your life, who see you as a woman who is fearfully and wonderfully made in His beautiful image.
Much Love,
Chrystan
PS- Pray hard ladies, you will have to fight for this at every turn because UNITY in women is so very glorifying to God and feels impossible at times! Pray harder, fight for each other it is worth it! I promise...
PPS- please share this, like this, subscribe and let's be in a tribe together!
If you are a church goer then it is likely you have a Pastor. If you have a Pastor then it is likely that sitting in the front pew of your church (or close) is a Pastor's wife. She's probably smiling. She's probably looking all put together and calm. You may look at her and think she is a picture of perfection. The ladies of your church may put her just under the pedestal that they place her husband on each week, which is scary for her because it's a long frightening fall down off of a pedestal that high. Because guess what, she is a human person. A human person with all the feels, with the anxieties of expectations not met, with the fear of letting someone down in her humanness, walking around with the weight of the expectation that goes with her title, she is a real girl with a big calling. Can you walk with me into this for a little while? Are you loving on your Pastor's wife? Have you gotten to know her? Have you placed her on a high pedestal of unattainable expectations? Let's chat.
Think about getting to church events. You mommas with babies, isn't it the HARDEST feat ever to get your kids up, fed, dressed decently, PLUS getting yourself ready and all out the door in time for church. I mean, exhausting just typing about it right? Imagine doing that by yourself every single Sunday morning. Along with Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Easter and all the church events in between. When your husband is called to Pastor, you are called to support. When your husband is at deacons meetings, hospital visits, weddings, funerals, church services, evening service, business meetings, southern baptist convention, pastoral leadership meetings and all the things in between that leaves you running the home. Imagine doing all that and breezing into the doors on Sunday morning looking perfectly put together like a pastor's wife should. Then jumping into the role of greeter, counselor and even sometimes mediator. Imagine all the pressure to attain perfection in this, as the people all watch you waiting for you to slip up.
So, can we just love on these women girls. Can we give them safe places? So many Pastors' wives are told to live lonely lives, because people are not safe for them. Because the women in the church expect perfection from their pastors wife and will not give them safe places to be real, and let me just say, how un-biblical is that. How can we expect perfection for our members in ministry? That's not biblical at all! No one is perfect! No one can have it all together all the time. We need ugly cries and real hugs. We all have hard days, and weaknesses and imperfections of course. Guess what, our Pastor and his wife are not exempt from that. They are chasing after grace just as we are. They are called to lead but not to perfection. They are called to serve but will not always do it perfectly. Have you hugged your Pastor's wife lately? She needs a real, honest hug. One that she can sink into and breathe out the weight of perfection laid on her by the world, by the church. It's harder than you think.
Ruth Graham is maybe not a well known name in your house. Maybe you don't know anything about this woman, but she was mighty. I don't know her personally, but I've heard she was amazing. I don't know her inner self, but I've heard of her great heart in a life lived serving alongside her husband in ministry. It's funny to say serving alongside, because really she was an extremely important player in the Billy Graham ministry but she was completely behind the scenes. In order for a Pastor to serve and have a family it seems common that the Pastor's wife takes on a huge support role. Billy Graham's ministry called him out of their home with 5 children for many days, many months and many years. Ruth lived out her ministry role by running their household and supporting her husbands call to Pastor. Lives, so many lives, have been changed because of the role that she filled. It was a hard, lonely, long role at times. But she served in mighty ways.
Decision Magazine wrote these things about Ruth Bell-Graham:
Ruth’s rock-solid support of Billy’s ministry and her ability to manage their household on her own earned the respect of his Team. “There would have been no Billy Graham as we know him today had it not been for Ruth,” said Billy’s longtime assistant, T.W. Wilson. ' “What I missed!” he wrote in “Just As I Am,” his autobiography, “And what Ruth missed by not having me to help her. Whenever I did get home, I got a crash course in the agony and ecstasy of parenting. If Ruth had not been convinced that God had called her to fulfill that side of our partnership and had not resorted constantly to God’s Word for instruction and to His grace for strength, I don’t see how she could have survived.”
Our Pastor's have amazing, God honoring, exhausted, poured out women serving alongside them. Helping them get up to the pulpit each Sunday. Praying for them, lifting them up, and walking through the messy of ministry because lets face it they work directly with humans and we are messy. Let us love our Pastor by loving his wife like Jesus does, fiercely and with abundant grace. Let's let them be real people doing real life things for we are all FEARFULLY and WONDERFULLY made in his BEAUTIFUL image. Grace upon grace abounds... Go hug a Pastor's wife this week!
Much Love,
Chrystan
PS- More than 80% of Pastor's wives feel unsupported, burnt out and unappreciated by their Church. Here is a great little blog that tells you how you can support and care for your pastor's wife.
http://www.charismamag.com/life/women/23209-7-ways-to-support-your-pastor-s-wife
and also here is a 30 days of praying scripture for your pastor's wife:
https://www.reviveourhearts.com/articles/30-day-praying-for-your-pastors-wife/
Service. Serving. To serve.
What does that mean to you? Do
you think of a waiter? Do you think of a
service member? Do you think of the self-serve buffet? Serving those around you is maybe not the
first thing that comes to mind. Maybe it
is. Serving ones tribe can be tricky. Being called to be of service, to serve
lovingly and without bitterness can feel impossible at times. I struggle here in the very strangest of
ways. Let me explain…
I passionately serve people in my community, in my church
and even strangers I don’t know. I want
to help them, I want to feed them, I want to do the things they need done. I serve on boards, committees and teams. I’ll feed you, clothe you, plan for you, pray
for you. I'll fill a box full of toys and goodies for you. I’ll help you find a job, connect you with a new friend, bake for you,
cook for you and maybe even clean for you.
But when it comes to serving within my own home…now that’s just a whole
thing.
It’s hard to serve your family with a joyful heart day in
and day out. It takes a lot of prayer
and commitment to stay the course. To
give of oneself when oneself is poured out and worn out. I get it.
Dear laundry, I hate you all the time!
Dear dishes, you pile up on purpose I think sometimes! Dear children, didn’t I just feed you! Dear Husband, why do you need a cup of water
in every room! Dear house, please put
yourself on self-clean and move on with it!
I mean it’s constant acts of service around here. The feeding, the toileting, the providing
for. I mean wash, rinse, repeat right?
Well I’m here to say I am guilty of the bitterness of the act of service
for my family. Something that comes so
naturally to me outside of these walls is such a struggle here when it should
be an out pouring of love on the people needing so much of me.
Needing so much of me, this is maybe where the rubber meets the road. It’s because there is so much need, so much
pouring out, so many things for all the persons at Ferrell Farms. And so it becomes a heart issue. If I love God, then I am to serve joyfully,
here’s the word…
Colossians
3:23-24 “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for
men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your
reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.”
I am serving the LORD in what I do! This should spur me on while I fold the laundry
or stay up late working to keep up.
Philippians 2:5-7 “Have
this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was
in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be
grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born
in the likeness of men.”
I love this verse because it reminds me that Jesus
served us by being emptied out and taking the form of a servant. I mean no clearer picture here of how I
should live. To be emptied out of myself and filled up with the goodness of a
serving heart and mindset. Also, I can
take away from this that GOD will fill me up on those days where I am
completely emptied. He will provide.
Mark 10:45 “For even
the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a
ransom for many.”
Jesus came to serve and to show us how to serve in selfless
love. I want that. I am determined to serve my sick husband
(he’s the worst sick person of ever) with a happy heart tonight. I am determined to serve these exhausting
little people with the pouring out of myself, in the knowledge that God will
fill me back up again. I am praying this over my life.
Imagine a fountain.
The top tier, pours into the bottom tier, pours into the big basin which
goes back up and starts again. I pour
out only to be re-filled through the act of service. We do not serve alone, the Father is with us
pouring back in as we go. Thank you Lord for that.
FEARFULLY WONDERFULLY and BEAUTIFULLY MADE in his image
girl, that is what you are. Serve your
guts out, to God by the glory! Let us be joyful in our service this week
sisters!
There’s enough. Did you know there’s enough to go
around? There’s enough space, there’s
enough topics to cover, there’s enough room for blogs and articles on news feeds.
There’s enough speaking podiums and passionate stances to be shared. There’s enough words for compliments. There’s just enough for all. We don’t have to compete for air time, Facebook
reads, blog post views, who is the prettiest, who wore it best, who sung it better.
I mean there’s just enough.
I have a group of girls.
We champion for each other. We
each have different God calls that focus on different areas of life and you
know what we do, we hoist each other up each ladder rung. Sometimes one girl is shining in the light
and sometimes none of us are. Sometimes one of us makes a HUGE break through
and sometimes 2 of us do and 1 doesn’t.
I mean who stinkin’ cares. The
gospel is being shared, the love is being poured and Jesus wins.
Ladies let us stop. Can
you just HALT this with me? The girl
next to you who is shining in her role on this earth, can you champion for her
please? Can you lift her up so high
today? Cause you know what, she needs it because this world is harsh.
I am a boot girl. I
loves me some cowboy boots. Not just any cowboy boots but Old Corral CowboyBoots (yes maybe I am a boot snob, I’m working on it). I love beautiful boots on my feet. I save and hoard gift cards and gift money to
buy a pair of boots. I love my light
brown lace style boots, it’s rare I see them on anyone else and I get
compliments on them all the time. Love
them. The other day I was at an event
and someone else had the same boots on.
So instead of being snotty about it, as if I wear them better, I walked
over and told her she was rocking those boots. We laughed about being boot
twins and it was so fun. Girls, ladies,
women of the world we can celebrate each other today. If a girl is rocking an outfit I could never
wear, I want to be the first to go to her and say dang girl you look gorgeous
today! If I see someone shying back and
looking less confident I want to go and give her a compliment, tell her she’s
looking lovely, tell her she has a great smile.
Let us be only for each other all the time. There is no time to sit back and be
harsh. There is no room for pushing and
shoving and holding down each other. Let us be FIERCELY for each other!
Believe me, I’ve been mean, caddy, unkind, snobby and
self-centered (I can maybe still be all those things in my head). This is a newer me. A me that has seen and felt the support of
what real women do. Real women champion
each other. Real women lift up not pull
down. Let us all be REAL women. The kind of women that support each other in
all the things, that will sit down so someone else can shine. I am learning to shine the light outwardly
instead of on myself. There is no perfection here, but I will seek this with my
days. I will be FIERCELY for you!
Ephesians 4:31-32
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and
slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you.
You are God’s girls, he looks on you with abundant love each
day, let us do the same for others.
Treat yourself as if you BEAUTIFULLY, FEARFULLY and WONDERFULLY MADE in
his image, because that is truth.
Have you ever missed the bus, taken a wrong turn or had a flight cancelled? Did you praise God for that event...hmmm...probably not. This morning I went to the pharmacy to pick up my prescription. You see here at Ferrell Farms we don't live right in town, it's a little bit of a jaunt to get to the grocery store and the pharmacy. So, when I go into town I am intentional with my errands. This morning I had 4 tasks; kids to daycare, Pharmacy, UPS and coffee. When I arrived at the pharmacy the drive through window was still closed, 30 minutes after their opening time. I called them as I sat there and the manager informed me they had a sub coming in, he wouldn't arrive for another hour. Bummer. Remember, jaunt and to do list. As I drove away I began to be frustrated, this was not part of the plan this morning. I need to get home, now I have to come back! Then I had a sweet reminder of my study of the book of Ruth. I was reminded of God's perfect timing and I smiled.
In Ruth chapter one we meet Ruth and her mother-in-law Naomi after great tragedy has struck their family. Three women were left to fend for themselves. Orpah, Ruth's sister-in-law, has left the picture. Ruth has insisted Naomi let her stay by her side, no matter what. Chapter one closes with a very BIG detail that we as readers can easily gloss over:
"So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning."
God has brought these two women back just in time! There were two harvest times, spring and fall. The women were returning during the spring barley harvest, which was a time of hope and plenty. Bethlehem was a farming community and because it was the time of the harvest there was plenty of leftover grain in the fields. This grain was left out for the poor of the community to collect (glean) which they then made into food. Do you see how God is providing? Do you see here how his timing is so perfect!? It get's better... (read Chapter 2 of Ruth)
In chapter two we meet a man, a good man name Boaz. Ruth goes to glean in his field for her and Naomi. She is such a hard worker she caught the eye of this great man. Exhibiting admirable qualities in our lives is so important, we never know who is watching and who is taking notes. Boaz saw these great qualities in our girl Ruth and he admired her from a far. Because of the qualities of Ruth and because God is so good, Boaz found favor in her and began to give her a little extra throughout the remainder of the barley harvest. Let's walk away from today with two great take homes:
1. God's timing is perfect and way better than ours! Even though there was tragedy. Even though they had to leave Moab and journey into the unknown, God provided much more than these two ladies could have ever dreamed! He continues to provide for them greatly, he remembers Ruth and finds favor with her. You sweet girls are no different. He remembers you. Continue to seek him, follow hard after his ways and walk his path. There is blessing in that, I promise!
2. Good character and reputation go far.Chapter one showed us Ruth was loyal. Chapter 2 showed us Ruth was hard working on top of being loving, kind, faithful and brave. Ruth's life exhibited admirable qualities consistently and it was noticed. It turned the head of a good man and played a part in how God moved and worked in her life. Boaz is going to change Ruth's life and redeem her. The story gets pretty exciting!
Ruth's life was changed by God. His timing was perfect, her qualities were more than admirable. Let us all rejoice this week in God's perfect timing for our lives and thank him for always having our best interest in mind. His ways, not ours, are the very best! I pray this week that each of us reflect on the qualities we are exhibiting and adjust accordingly. Strangers, friends, boyfriends, husbands and our children are watching us to see what our character is. Let it be said of us that we are loyal, hard working, loving, kind, faithful and brave....and don't forget FEARFULLY and WONDERFULLY MADE in our good God's image!
Much Love,
Chrystan
PS- Chapter 3 gets good...more coming soon!
Let's face it family can be complicated. Mostly made up of a group of people randomly thrown together through marriage and the unlikely combination of DNA and genes that intertwine them. Family, it's a whole thing right? My family has some very interesting dynamics. I have the Fuller side who are pretty much all extroverted (except my step-mom bless her heart she's stuck with all of us) and some of whom are extroverted introverts which is like a real thing and very complicated. The Fuller side brought me to Jesus. Then I have the Foster side, which is my mom's side. We are all pretty much sassy in our own right over on the Foster fence. Full of strong, fierce women, the Foster side has fought hard to get their family where it is today. They have taught me how to be strong, stand up and stand in for my family. The Foster side also brings in my Grandaddy who passed away this year. He was one of my favorite people. The Foster side taught me that family is a person who walks in the front door. There are no thick blood lines there are no walls up, just a welcome hug and sweet tea in your hand. This is why I would say that my family has become more of a tribe than a family. We are missed matched, some are here by marriage, some are here because they don't have a family so they have ours, some are here through a series of strange happenings that I don't even know the details to but I still call them aunts, uncles or grannies. The Ferrell's bring a beautiful dynamic of a more quiet, serving support which has taught me so much. I wouldn't have my family any other way.
This is where we find Ruth in the Old Testament of the Bible as we launch into our 2 week study of our sister Ruth (take a minute to read Ruth Chapter 1). A brief intro of Ruth will tell us that she basically enters the story a destitute widow of the wrong kind of people. Ruth was a Moabite and had married outside of her tribe. When we meet her we are walking into her tragedy immediately. She has lost her father in law, brother in law and husband one right after the other. Leaving the women with no men, which back in these days was a really big deal. Through this tragedy we meet Ruth's mother in law, Naomi. Naomi really has taken the hardest blow here. She has basically had to walk through the death of her entire family at this point. Shes in a foreign country with two sad, scared little girls Ruth and Orpah. This is where we see Ruth make family her tribe. In verses 10-14 we hear Naomi telling the girls she basically has nothing to offer them and she urges them to go back to their people. Which really would leave Naomi completely alone, but she is wanting the best for them. Right here is where we find some of the most beautiful verses in the Old Testament (personal opinion)
16 But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me"
She is pledging her life to Naomi no matter what that means to her! In our society mother in laws get such a bad wrap. Ladies, I love my mother in law. Linda Ferrell is the kindest most loving woman. I am so blessed and happy to be in her tribe. Here we see, Ruth pledging to leave all opportunity to re-marry and to have safety and provision in order to stay with Naomi. We also just saw a HUGE thing happen to Ruth. She pledges her life to God, even though she doesn't know yet exactly what that means at this time. When she pledges her life to Naomi she also chooses to follow her God, which just so happens to be the God of the Universe. Coincidence, I think not. This decision will not only change Ruth's life on Earth for the better, which we will see play out through the next few chapters, but her name ends up in the lineage of Jesus and she gets to spend eternity in Heaven. Huge decision here for her.
Family, it's a whole thing right? I didn't get to talk about the Jacobs side of my family. Grandma Nancy is my sons grandma. She loves him with the fire of a thousand suns, rightfully so, he is her grandson. The flip side of that coin is she loves me and my boys and my husband. She treats us as her family and she doesn't have to. She gives my kids baths, she buys us Christmas presents, she feeds us and sometimes we stay at her house and her at ours. She is in our tribe by choice.
You see family is who you fight for. It's who you stick with. Naomi and Ruth maybe didn't see eye to eye on all the things. They probably voted for different presidents in the last election. Naomi likely wanted Ruth to have some babies, maybe that was sore spot. However, here in just the first chapter we see them choose each other no matter what. They became for each other and because of that love relationship God was glorified and their lives were blessed.
What's your tribe look like? Are you harboring bad feelings for your mother-in-law or that brother that stepped on your toes the last family gathering? Let's decide that we are going to fight for the family unit again. Let's fight for our tribes and stop letting the world break them apart over silly things like who makes the jello mold this year at Thanksgiving. Satan hates family. He was to destroy it. Lets shout out loud, where you go I will go, your people will be my people. Love on your mother in law today and that tricky brother. Grow your tribe in love!
Today is a beautiful day for restoration, go restore those hurts so you can walk together down the road to the next chapter, BEAUTIFULLY MADE and all!
Much Love,
Chrystan
See you in a few days for Ruth Chapter 2, where we meet Ruth's new man!!!
Today I am Charlie Brown. Today I am gloomy. Today I am Bah-Humbug. I don't know what my problem is this Christmas season. I just can't seem to get into the Holiday mood. I've done all the things. I've attended Christmas events that usually have me leaving ready to go out and decorate the world. I've played Christmas music (some playing in my office right now as I type) which usually really gets me in the spirit. I've gone Christmas shopping and even decorated my little rental house, but still there is no spark. There's something different this year, I haven't been able to put my finger on it, but it's different. Last year was a weird Christmas, as we were still trying to survive having an infant and a 2 year old and life was just not normal. This year though, I have all the reasons to be prancing around proclaiming the name of Jesus, singing Joy to the World and decorating anything that will stand still, yet there's been a silence in my heart. Today, I think I've got it figured out. Honestly ya'll I am just heartbroken this year. The Lord has given me a year full of seeing the heart break in this world. Not by my own life's happenings but in the world around me. This year I have had the opportunity to actually complete reading 2 books (this is a big deal in this mommies world). Both were written by Jen Hatmaker, both books turned my world upside down. Hatmaker's recently revised book Interrupted shook me to my core. I read the following information from that book on an airplane flying home from Texas this November:
Facts:
* Of the six billion people on Earth, about 1.2 billion live in 23 cents a day.
* Half of the world lives on less than $2.50 a day
* The wealthiest one billion people average $70 a day
* If you make $35,000 annually, you are in the top 4%
* Someone dies of hunger every 3.6 seconds
*27 million children and adults are trapped in slavery (sex slaves, labor slaves, child soldiers, and child slaves) because of economic crisis. More slaves exist today than EVER before in human history.
* In the last hour: Over 1,625 children were forced to the streets by death or abuse of an adult, over 115 children became prostitutes
This information I read over and over again. I sobbed sitting in the middle seat in between two people I didn't know (awkward for all i'm sure). The heart break is real. So, here is my problem; I am caught between my Jesus complex (i have a strong irrational desire to save everyone of these impoverished, hurting people listed above today this very hour) and the reality of my life here in Kearney, MO. My poor husband has to deal with a wife that reads this and literally wants to give the contents of our home away immediately, ya'lll bless him just bless him. So my depressed Eyore like state comes from the knowledge of the poverty and depravity and the state of the world today and feeling hopeless to not be able to do anything. I have sat in that depressed state all week. Feeling helpless and unhelpful.
God gave me this to lift me up today:
Isaiah 58:10
If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the
desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your
gloom be as the noonday.
All I can do is act. Act on their behalf. Respond to the leading of the Holy Spirit in my life. I cannot change the world as Gandhi did, or Mother Theresa or even Jen Hatmaker. I can only do what I am called to do, I cannot dwell on what I cannot change but I can "Be the Change I Wish to See in the World" (Gandhi). This year you will see me stopping on the side of the road to hand a homeless person socks and a bag of food that will be kept in my car. This year I will give more and buy less. This year I will invest myself in a ministry that is involved with sex trafficking and prostitution rehab. This year I will pray for the least of these, I will pray for those around me afflicted by addictions of all kinds, I will pray, I will pray hard. This year I will not just holiday give out of guilt, but I will GIVE out of LOVE all year round. I will fill my news feed with ways you can help those in poverty and I will shop in ways that benefit the needy worldwide.
I am so in love with the Lord. This season of my life should be filled with the joy of the celebration of the King. The King who came down to earth to hang out with the spiritually, financially, and emotionally impoverished. He walked among the least of these and died for us all to save of us from an eternity separated from him. This Christmas I will sing the songs with joy, I will praise the Savior and I will give to those around me. After Christmas I will sing the songs with joy, I will praise the Savior and I will give LOVE and of myself ALL YEAR ROUND.
Let us meet the King with Joy in our hearts knowing that as we pour ourselves out for the afflicted our light with rise so there will be no more darkness!
Don't be a bench warmer or a pew-sitter this year. Here are ways and places to give of yourself, your resources and shop for those in great need:
Aggressively fights human sex trafficking through raising awareness, advocating for and rehabbing those who have been saved. You can buy products here for gifts to help raise funding for this program based here in Kansas City.
Donate your clothes, bedding and toiletries to a local non-profit. Here in KC we have a great program for women and children fleeing domestic violence. They leave with nothing and have nothing. Donating here helps someone who literally has nothing.
You can do so much through Compassion. Sponsor a child, sponsor and mother & baby, shop to give through Amazon, pray, attend an event, raise awareness through participating in
Be made aware of what's going on in this world. Above is a link regarding human trafficking awareness day coming January 11th. Find things around you that stir you up and get involved in making a change.
This is not your normal Christmas post full of Ho Ho Ho and Happy Holidays. This is a call to celebrate the love of the King ALL YEAR ROUND! Do it, I DARE You! Imagine what a change we would see if we started loving and stopped judging. We are ALL Beautifully, Wonderfully and Fearfully Made in HIS amazing image. Sending all my love and prayers this Christmas. May you feel immeasurably blessed!
