God will provide.

As many of you know, I am returning to Uganda February 1st! God put it on my heart to purchase the ticket in faith even though I am no where near fully funded. If I'm honest, I probably would have ignored his nudging to step out in faith had He not provided the money for the ticket in such an awesome way. 

Long story short, my sweet friend Emily felt called to give to me and in a step of obedience wrote me a check for exactly the amout I lacked for a plane ticket. Oh by the way, Emily is a college student and will be working at a full time unpaid internship next semester. This is huge!! I cannot tell you what this courageous act of obedience did for my heart. I could just hear God saying, "Trust me baby girl. I did not bring you this far to leave you stranded!" 

So even though it took every ounce of faith I have, I bought my plane ticket!!! While I KNOW that God is going to provide, I also know it is going to take many more people listening to the voice of God telling them to step out in faith and give. 

I want you to know a few things... 

I know giving monthly isn't easy. I know a lot of people don't have a whole lot of wiggle room in their budgets these days. I know that if you hear "it's only one less night out a month!" one more time you will want to punch someone. 

I also know that God is a big God. God knows it isn't easy, the wiggle room is sparce, and you hate hearing that line. But he is greater than all of it. If you think you hear the voice of God asking you to give, to anyone, listen and obey. See what he will do with your courageous act of obedience! Maybe there won't be some immediate gratification. I would go as far as to say there won't be. But God will provide. And even if the only reward you ever get for your obedience comes in the form of hearing "well done good and faithful servant" when you reach heavens gates, it will be worth it! Obedience to God is always worth the cost. You can never lose when you say yes to what The Lord is asking you to do. 

My challenge for you right now:

Ask him if he is calling you to support me monthly with an honest and open heart. If he says no, leave it at that in peace. If he says yes, take that step of faith and obey! It would be a tremendous blessing to me. I can't fund myself. It is going to take The Lord working in all of you to make this happen. God will provide. Will you be a part of it? 

My sweet friend Kayla

I have amazing friends both in America and Uganda. They are always so encouraging and bless me beyond measure. Today I want to tell you about my friend Kayla.

Kayla is a rockstar! Kayla lives in Mbale, Uganda with her husband Matt and her two beautiful children Micah and Julia. Kayla is a fairly new friend, but she was a fast friend. When she realized I would be leaving for the holidays and was in need of someone to help me keep things running smoothly while I was gone, she offered her service immediately. 

I can't even begin to tell you how thankful I am for this lady!!! Before she offered to keep things going for me I was having nightmares of all the crazy things that could happen while I was gone and trying to figure out what I would do about it. God is good. He brought her to us at just the right time! 

I have been able to breathe easy and enjoy my time at home knowing that she is there to keep things going and handle anything that may come up. She has been so wonderful and I can tell from the pictures that the women love her just as much as I do! 

What a blessing. What a blessing to know that business is happening as usual. What a blessing to know that the women I love are getting to know Kayla, be blessed by her, and bless her too. What a blessing to be able to know what is going on! What a blessing to have such a wonderful friend. 

God is good friends! 

A few thoughts (aka a rant) on Happily Ever After

I read something online today and it got me thinking about the term "happily ever after." 

We have all heard it, and possibly even fallen for it.

She met the perfect man and lived happily ever after...

He got the perfect job/promotion and lived happily ever after...

They finally got pregnant and lived happily ever after...

The adoption was finalized and they lived happily ever after...

They bought a huge home, nice car, sweet boat, (fill in the blank) and lived happily ever after...

You get the idea. And most likely, you relate to one of those statements. But if you're human, which I'm hoping you are, you're probably wondering what happened to happily ever after. 

I've fallen for it. I tend to fall into the category of waiting for my happily ever after. IF I could just (fill in the blank) I would live happily ever after. But there are a couple happily ever afters I seem to have misplaced. 

I would like to tell you a little bit about one of my misplaced happily ever afters...

I first went to Uganda in 2011. Honestly, I had zero expectations of ever wanting to go back, let alone live there before I went the first time. It was just going to be a neat experience and a check off of a bucket list. Then God moved. Big time. Long story short, a year and a half later I found myself at a board meeting asking permission to work for ichooseyou in Uganda for at least 6 months. They agreed! By the grace of God I was going. THIS was going to be my happily ever after. Ha...

This is what happily ever after really looks like:

Cold feet. About a month or so before I was supposed to leave for Uganda I started getting cold feet. I would worry about being homesick, not making any friends, not knowing what to do, how to get around town, how to communicate, etc. I was one big worry. It wasn't my proudest moment. 

Homesickness and literall sickness. For the first month or so in Uganda I was unbelievably homesick. Looking back, I wasn't willing to loosen my grip on my fears enough to let God take them away. So instead I was just miserable and feeling like I had made a huge mistake. Thank God for his sweet mercy and grace in the form of Malaria when my homesickness was at its worst! I know that sounds crazy. It sort of is. Don't get me wrong, malaria is awful, but I did it! I survived my first battle with malaria. And in the midst of it all, God have me the sweet gift of friendship. I realized through my physical illness that I had a lot of people around me that were trying to be my friends. A couple people in particular helped to turn things around for me. One of my Ugandan friends was constantly encouraging me to go to The Lord when I felt bad. A couple sweet Mzungu girls were reaching out to me and inviting me in. (One of them literally invited me into her home. Now she can't get rid of me! Haha) I don't know what I would have done without those friends! 

Inadequacy. I hope I'm not the only one that struggles with this, but there it is. I said it. I fall short in every area of life you could imagine. 

Language learning. Why is it so hard?!?! Where do I even start?!! Do I have to?

Starting a business. Haha. Enough said?

Learning to communicate in a new culture without offending people every other second. Who knew it would be so easy to offend people?!

Maintaining relationships back home. I'm awful at this. It is a miracle that my friends and family still talk to me and love me. Thank you. 

I think you get the picture again. I fall short. Every time.

Then there are the day to day things...

Falling off the boda boda on my first attempt at sitting side saddle. (Go ahead, laugh. I do too now.)

Getting peed on in church.

Getting peed on in namatala.

Eating rice and one small piece of meat every night for 6 weeks. 

Cleaning wounds every day. So. Many. Wounds.

Learning appropriate boda prices and realizing I've been cheated in the process.

Malnutrition everywhere and not enough money to help everyone. 

Finding poop on your bedroom floor because your baby girl is too thin to keep a diaper up.

Having to clean up poop at the local hotel because your baby girl had a bit of a poop explosion by the pool.

Power outtages. Every day.

One very long power outtage and 4 kerosene lamps that don't work. 

Rain, rain, and more rain.

Having to leave your babies.

Again, you get the idea. 

Happily ever after is a very wonderful thought, but highly unrealistic. 

Crazily ever after with a whole lot of fun and happy and unfortunately a little bit of sad in between might be a little more realistic. I think we tell the happily ever after stories as a way of maintaining hope. The problem is that it is false hope. 

What we should really be doing is telling stories to maintain true hope. Hope in Jesus. Hope for eternity! 

What if we were honest about it? Sure, I'm going to live happily ever after. When I reach heavens gates! Until then, I will live my own special version of ever after that is quite a bit more messy than the fairy tales. It will be worth it. And I will be grateful for what I'm given and hold onto the hope of heaven when things get hard. 

My point?

Encourage eternal hope in someone today. Fill you children's minds with hope that lasts instead of unrealistic expectations of happily ever after. Live out your own hope for eternity when your happily ever after seems to be misplaced. 

Thanks for reading. If you made not all the way to here you are a champ. Rant over. 

The same grace...

I know that Jesus died on the cross for everyone.

I know that passage in the bible that says it is the sick who need a doctor not the healthy. Yet somehow I manage to continue to categorize sins subconsciously.

I don't think I'm alone in this. You know, that line we all draw for ourselves where we decide, "That. That sin is the one that pushes a person out of the reach of God's grace." For some its divorce, for others murder. For some infidelity, for others abuse. For some it's sexual impurity, for others it's addiction. We have all drawn that invisible line at some point or another. But the line is a lie. The truth is that we can never out-sin God's grace.

This whole thought process got shoved in my face during worship tonight. For the past week I have held anger and bitterness towards Ana's parents for allowing the situation to get to the point it is at. I have thought to myself, "who does that? Who allows their children to go through things like that? Who neglects their kids like that?" etc. Tonight it hit me...

We were singing something, I cant even remember what it was, and all the sudden it was as if Jesus himself were speaking saying "I died for them too!" It's such a basic concept of our faith and yet it hit me like a ton of bricks. Jesus died for Chede and Ana's parents too. It doesn't matter how many horrible things they have done, He CAN redeem them and draw them into His love and a life of freedom. Then something else got me...

My job as a Christian is not to fix them, or teach them better parenting skills. My job is to show them Jesus. The best thing I could ever do for my sweet baby girls is to show them and their parents who Jesus is and the life of love and freedom they could have in Him.

Am I doing that? Or am I judging them in anger? I want to display Christ's love for them. I want to tell them about Jesus so that they can first be set free in Him and learn to grow in Him and live and love like him. The grace God has for me is the same grace he has for them. There is nothing out of the reach of His grace. My sins are just as disgusting and filthy as theirs. I'm deceiving myself if I think any different. Praise God for his grace! The same grace...

When Oceans Rise

"Your grace abounds in deepest waters
Your sovereign hand will be my guide
Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me
You've never failed, and You won't start now

I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours, and You are mine

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Savior"

(Oceans by Hillsong United)

"When oceans rise"... 

I was sitting at a stop light today listening to this song and thought to myself, "what is my ocean rising?" I think if someone asked me this 6 months - a year ago I would have said that my ocean rising was fear of the unknown and this huge leap of faith I was about to take by going to Uganda. 

My ocean has changed. 

In this very moment my ocean rising is a skin infection of my sweet baby girl that I can do nothing about. It's a fear that I left her when she was the most vulnerable and now when she "needs me" I can't be there. It's a realization that I actually have to be able to stand on what I believe in order to survive this. It's a fear that I won't make it...

I guess my ocean really hasn't changed that much. It's still fear. 

Praise God that His grace abounds in deepest water. Praise him for holding me in His embrace when oceans are rising. Praise Him.

"This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. For who is God, but the Lord ? And who is a rock, except our God?— the God who equipped me with strength and made my way blameless."

(Psalm 18:30-32 ESV)

This Saturday!

This Saturday I Choose You will be hosting our annual benefit. This is our biggest event of the year. It's where we tell you exactly what we do, why we do it, and how you can help. If you have ever wondered about I Choose You or felt the need to get involved, this is the best place to get started. 

Now I won't lie, this is a benefit. Some might call it a "fundraiser." I am aware that times aren't the greatest and money is always a touchy subject, but the event is free! The only cost you would incur aside from a donation IF you so choose to do so, is $5 per plate for a Ugandan meal. But the meal is optional! So in theory you could come and not spend a penny. 

Let's get down to what I'm asking for. I'm asking for your time. I'm asking for you to come with open ears and an open heart. I'm asking for you to pray about whether or not God wants you to be involved with I Choose You and if so, what that involvement is. I'm asking you to tell your friends and bring them with you! 

I'm not asking for you to donate half of your paycheck. I'm just asking for you to come and be open to what you hear and to giving if you are able and feel called to do so. 

I would absolutely LOVE to see all of you there Saturday. It would mean the world to me and really show me that you care about me. 

The benefit is from 5-7pm at Cypress Creek Church in Wimberley, Texas. 

The address is:

211 Stillwater 

Wimberley, TX 78676

If you have prior engagements but would like to learn more about us, sponsor a child, or give a one time donation you can visit our website:

www.ichooseyou.org 

On a much lighter note... TIA!!

 

 

What? You've never seen 20 chickens tied to the back of a motorcycle?!

 

The boda umbrella is a fantastic invention!

 

 No clothes, but he made sure to have his red rain boots on!

 

Playing in Karamoja!

 

Yes, this is a bridge in need of a bridge. Yes, we did drive over it.

 

 

New do! Get it girl.

 

Priceless.