In Everything

"As a Christian everything I do, say, write, and how I live has one specific purpose, above any other - to honor and glorify my Savior, Jesus Christ..." 

Market day in Chichicastenango, Guatemala

Henry, Gloria, Rachel -
my awesome 'Bethany' coworkers

September 2013 -
Almost a year ago, I sat down to write a 'profile introduction' for this blog. I had been working for several days on setting up the blog spot and choosing the theme, name, color scheme, etc.

As my hands poised over the computer keyboard, I realized that I didn't know exactly what to write. So I prayed. I asked God to give me the words to write - and as I prayed I realized how slightly over-whelming the task was that I had taken on in starting a blog. You see, I'm not a writer - seriously. My sister is the one with the writing talent. Want proof? All you need to do is compare our stack of journals! Hers can be considered an actual stack while mine consists of less than a handful of paperback notebooks, each one containing dates to entries from several different years! I write sporadically if I journal at all while my sister goes through at least one journal a year.

Me and one of our 'Bethany' families

She's the one who has aspirations of becoming an author one day - not me! People have told me that I have a gift for writing, just as they have told me that I have a gift for teaching. In reality, they both lean towards the side of being a chore that I know I'm required to do. As I prayed that September day, God reminded me of why He had impressed it on my heart to start blogging in the first place - to share stories. Stories that go beyond words. Stories that make a soul impact. While I was contemplating the fact that blogging and sharing stories would require writing and

Maddie, Rachel, Me - sistas at heart

putting into words thoughts and ideas that were usually just left swimming around in my head, I realized that there was no way I could do it on my own. The hardest part of writing is narrowing down into sentences what I usually see in pictures. Sharing stories would also mean that I would have to try to snap pictures with a camera and hope that I could use them in relation to the stories I would be telling. Picture-taking is even harder for me than writing! Most of all, if I would be writing stories that made a soul impact, it meant that I would have to write it out like a teacher would - in a form easy to grasp. Teaching is one of the hardest

Me and some of the kiddos at a
feeding program

things for me to do if I don't have some kind of guideline to follow. It then hit me that blogging would be a combination of three areas in which I consider myself as weak. "God," I prayed, "this is gonna have to be Your blog, not mine. You're gonna have to write these stories, not me." In which He gently reminded me, isn't that supposed to be a truth in my entire life, not just in the areas that I'm the weakest?

August 2014 -
Recently, I've been tossing around new ideas for the blog. I want to change the look of it in celebration of making it through the first year of blogging! Hopefully, there will be a new color scheme, a new background, new pictures on the 'My Family' tab, and just a general overhaul coming next month! This morning, I was browsing through the

A tienda (store) that we helped
jumpstart last week for
one of our 'Bethany' families

different tabs and making mental notes of what to change when I read my profile introduction. I had been thinking about updating that too, but when I read it, I was reminded again of why this blog is even here in the first place. As I scan through all the stories - all the little 'life updates', all the 'profound thoughts', all the 'not too impressive' pictures - and as I back-track through the journey of my own life this past year, I am reminded of how good God is. He has proven over an over how He cares for His own. The stories you read remind me of so many that I will probably never get the chance to write down but have changed my life. They remind me of how God took even the weak things in me and made something good out of it. What you read on here is genuine

Visiting beautiful Lake Atitlan
and the volcanoes
with a group this week

proof of 2 Corinthians 12:9: But He says, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness." In everything - word, deed, thought; work, play, quietness; visiting families, working with my peeps, hanging out with "the minions, sistas, and co.", taking hikes, going to feeding programs, playing with kids, going to Lake Atitlan with a group - in absolutely everything, my life is not mine but Christ in me.
In conclusion, please be encouraged in your own journey. Whatever seems too big or too hard right now is only an opportunity for Christ to shine in your life in ways you can't begin to imagine! In the weak and strong areas, in the good and bad times, in everything - absolutely everything - this journey is worth it and so much better with Christ in you. 

At one of our three feeding programs -
A portion of your funds, when you come on a mission trip
to serve with Manos de Jesus/Pray America, helps feed a child for a year.

"...This journey called life is only worth traveling because of the Life He has given. I hope that reading this blog will give you a small glimpse into how wonderful God is and how He proves it in my own life and in the lives of each of His children."