Puppy Missionary

It's pretty much impossible for you not to know by now that I have a puppy.  His overall cuteness overwhelms me on a regular basis and I can't help but share that cuteness with the world!

This dog has been an absolute blessing to me in so many ways and I felt it necessary to devote an entire blog post to describing the blessing that is Caspian Carl McCarthy.  It may be easy to assume that because I have a dog, I spend all my time with him and don't do anything else (especially ministry-related things).  Let me assure you, that's not the case at all!  

Here are the top 4 ways he has blessed me.

4. Caspian has given me the opportunity to look beyond myself.  As a single woman with no children, I have been able to concentrate fully on my own needs/desires for 24 years!  Having someone who relies on me fully for every need has changed the way I look at friends who are parents or are in a relationship that requires constant attention.  I find myself giving much more grace to mom/wife friends as they interrupt our conversations to get gum out of their child's hair or to answer their husband's phone call.  Never realized how self-centered I was until I had to put someone's needs before my own.  So important.

3. He is my companion, my cuddle mate, my best pal.  Can't tell you how good it feels to come home to a smiling face and wagging tail, to learn the discipline of training a puppy well, to feel him put his head on my leg and fall asleep, and to anticipate doing ministry with him (and having him protect me) over in Togo.

2. Having a dog has allowed me to relate to a whole new population of people.  Pet lovers make up a whole community of people I had no idea existed!  Pet stores, farmer's markets, dog parks, and even my own neighborhood have been great places to meet new people.  Having an adorable puppy just draws people to me like I've never experienced before, and I love the new relationships that are coming out of it.  For instance, I have lived in my dad's house for over a year now and have never had great relationships with our neighbors.  Caspian comes along and all of a sudden, our neighbors are coming over to say hi and I'm getting to know them and their families.  Puppy magic! ;)

1. Because of Caspian, I have had countless opportunities to be bold in my faith and to tell complete strangers about the ministry I'm called to in Togo.  Like I said, having a puppy just draws people over that probably wouldn't normally talk to me otherwise.  I cannot tell you how many times I've been able to tell people the reasoning behind getting Caspian - to protect me while I work with and empower the vulnerable populations in Togo, West Africa.  From a critic's perspective looking in at my constant social media footage of Caspian, it may look like I spend all my days just hanging out with him and not anything ministry-related, but let me tell you - socializing Caspian with other dogs and humans presents opportunity after opportunity to invite people to join me in supporting the ministry that God is calling me to.  How awesome is that?!

#puppymissionary
#blessed

CAR Recap!

Most of you know already that I just got back from a trip to Central African Republic.  I am so grateful for the relationships I've built at Jonathan's House for Orphans and in the community of Sibut.  To be clear, at this time I am not pursuing full time ministry in Central African Republic, but I will continue to maintain the relationships that have been built.  Here are just a couple of pictures to show you what kinds of things we were up to over there!

Here's our whole team in our "Sunday Best," about to leave for church.  The children were so proud to wear their donated outfits!  Some of them had never worn brand new clothing before.  Some even kept the tags on the clothes until they fell off ;).  

Our team was very diverse when it came to our abilities, passions, and reasons for coming on the trip.  Several people were able to tell some of the children that they would be adopting them (we now have SEVEN families who have started the adoption process through Jonathan's House, with at least ELEVEN children being adopted in total!!!!!), one spoke fluent French and helped us communicate with the children and staff, one led a class about caring for people who have experienced trauma, some helped work on a new water system for the orphanage, two were there to create a short film to promote the orphanage and CAR as a whole, and I was able to have counseling sessions with each of the children and staff members!  It was a great trip.

One day we had "Christmas in July," and gave all of the children backpacks full of donated gifts from their sponsors.  We wanted to show all of the children just how loved they are by their sponsor families!  I got to tell Sacre Coeur (pictured above) that I am his sponsor and gave him a picture of me to keep.

God laid it on my heart about a month ago to lead a devotional on John 13, when Jesus washed the disciples' feet.  We were able to follow Jesus' call by washing the feet of every child and staff member at the orphanage.  This was an incredibly humbling and precious moment for our team.

I was able to reconnect with Modeste, who is a disabled man I met for the first time last August.  He continues to repair bicycles at a shop in the community.  A couple of teammates and I were very passionate about advocating for his continued work in the community, as this is uncommon among the disabled in the Majority World (unemployment among the disabled is as high as 85% in developing countries).  Ultimately, we would love to empower the local church to take charge of advocating for this man, so please be praying about this.

Our team was also able to provide worms medicine and bread to over 1,000 children in the community of Sibut.  Not only were the children given medicine and bread, but they were given the opportunity to accept Jesus into their heart - some for the first time.  This was a chaotic, yet incredible experience for our team members.

Thank you all so much for your prayers leading up to this trip and for your prayers while we were over in CAR.  

Into the Darkness

I love reading through the Old Testament of the bible.  It has taken many years of God shaping my heart to get me to this point of actually longing to read the first 39 books of His Word.  I used to hate it...  I found it dry, dark, violent, and cruel.  

But reading the Old Testament has dramatically broadened and deepened my view of the LORD.  I realize now, more than ever, that God is full of both grace AND truth (John 1:14).  Previous to delving into the Old Testament, I only wanted to see grace...  He has revealed to me the importance of truth and justice as well.  Moreover, He has shown me that to truly live in the Light, we need to be willing to acknowledge - and even enter into - the darkness.

Exodus chapter 20 describes the moment when the LORD revealed the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai.  Verse 18 presents an image of God's Presence on the mountain and Israel's reaction to this Presence:  "Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off..."

On the other hand, here is Moses's reaction in verse 21: "The people stood far off, while  Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was."

I'm also reading through the book of Acts, where Paul and other disciples of Christ intentionally put themselves into dangerous positions, knowing full well that: 1) They could be hurt or killed, but more importantly, 2) That's where God was and that's where He needed them to be at that moment.

All over the bible - Old Testament and New - we see people cowering in fear when the LORD reveals Himself to them.  This is partially good, because it's actually important to have a healthy fear of, and reverence to, God.  But I think that sometimes this fear goes too far and keeps us from entering into the places in which He is present.  I can't tell you how many times I have declined from participating in some activity because it was out of my comfort zone or dangerous.  There have been so many times in which I have said "no" before ever consulting the LORD to see if that's where He needed me to be at that particular time.

I believe that our Father is calling ALL of us into the darkness to bring Light.  Sure, this looks different for all of us.  For some, it means physically uprooting and moving into the darkest corners of the world.  For them, it may mean losing their lives to bring Him glory.  For others, it may be to reach out to a neighbor or co-worker, or doing something they normally wouldn't do but SHOULD do, because the God of the universe is calling them to do it.  

So are we going to be the people that cower at a distance, while some other "Moses" enters into the darkness where God is and wants us to be?  I won't lie to you - I may take this option sometimes, but I am vowing to pray for opportunities to enter in to this darkness and for the boldness of God in me to go when I am called.  Will you join me?

Psych!

I'm reading through the book of Acts right now and one particular story has been challenging me.  In Acts 3:1-10, Luke writes about a beggar who has been lame since birth.  Every day he was carried to the temple to ask people for money.  The disciples John and Peter walked up to him and, like he did to everyone else that walked by the temple, the beggar asked for money.  Instead of giving him money, John and Peter healed him in the name of Jesus Christ and just like that he was able to walk, run, and jump for the first time in his life.

It made me wonder... How many times have I asked God for "money" when in all reality I needed "healing"?  Of course, I am speaking figuratively here...  But how many times have I asked for something futile when I know full well that God is capable of doing "immeasurably more than all we ask or think" (Ephesians 3:20)?

I wanted to give you a quick update on the "immeasurably more" that God has been working as of late, specifically in the missionary segment of my life.

For several months now I have been partnering with a missions agency called Converge Worldwide.  Together we had decided back in October that I would pursue a 1-2 year internship in Nigeria to give me full-time missions experience so that someday I would work to create my own ministry caring for vulnerable populations in the world; namely orphans and people with disabilities.  I had a "vision" trip planned to visit Nigeria this month and couldn't wait to start fundraising so I could move over there.  I kept asking God for safety while traveling to Nigeria and clarity on what His plan was for me over there.  After much struggle with getting my visa processed in time to go to Nigeria, the trip has been cancelled. So that's where the "psych" comes in.  [A few days ago I was reflecting on the past 10 months of my life and realized that God has opened and closed the doors (essentially saying "psych!" to me) to FIVE different ministry opportunities.  That's a lot of "psych's" in such a short period of time.]

Instead, an opportunity has come up to travel to Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) from February 15-20 to see if this might be a good place to do an internship instead.  

I have absolutely no idea what God has in store for this trip or for my future.  I have been learning through this process not to be defeated when plans change, because these changes always happen for good reason.  I prayed for "money" like the beggar and, like the beggar, I was given "healing" instead.  Continuously learning to trust in the Lord's sovereignty, providence, and provision through times of triumph and times of defeat.

Thank you for your continued prayers as I attempt (and often fail) to navigate God's will for full-time ministry.

Fair-Weather Fan

Most of us saw the Rosebowl (or "Roseblow") game on New Year's Day, right?  One thing that my family talked about as we cringed on behalf of our Hawkeyes was how quickly many of the fans were to jump off the bandwagon and disown a team they had previously been so proud of, once they saw how badly the game was going.  I saw countless Facebook posts defaming the team and I know that a lot of people quit watching the game after the first half went so horribly for us.

The next day I saw a news piece interviewing Rosebowl attendees from Iowa, asking the fans, "What went wrong in this game?"  Various answers sprung forth trying to put words to the horrific defeat by Stanford University.  Throughout the news piece I noticed that none of the people who were interviewed felt that their trip to California was a waste of time.  They remained faithful to their Hawkeyes.

I think we all know the term "Fair-Weather Fan," which insinuates that when games are being won, records are being made, etc., we are quick to hop on board and become a fan, but once the "weather" turns for the worse, we are just as quick to jump ship.  The first group of people I mentioned would be considered Fair-Weather Fans, while the latter example proved to be faithful fans. I admit that I have fallen into the Fair-Weather category more than once before.

Not to be cliche, but this idea of being a Fair-Weather Fan can easily be connected to our devotion to our churches or even to Jesus.  When we love a pastor, a worship leader, or a staff at a church, it is easy to be devoted fully, without hesitation.  But as soon as something changes within the structure of the church, we often start to question whether or not we want to be associated with it anymore.  Now, don't get me wrong, sometimes there are significant changes or struggles in a church that may cause you to leave.  I get that.  

But think also about our walk with the Lord.  When life is going smoothly, we have enough money in our bank account, and we have a good support system among family and friends, we are usually quick to praise God.  However, as soon as the trials come and the blessings cease, questions and doubts begin to flood our heart and mind.  

Jesus has called us to a radical and even scandalous life when we chose to follow Him.  When He called His disciples to follow Him, He didn't merely say, "say a prayer and follow me," or "follow me and everything will be peachy," but rather He said things like, "deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me" (Matt.16:24), "sell all your possessions and follow me" (Matt. 19:21), and "don't attend your father's funeral but follow me" (Luke 9:60).  He interrupted people while they were working and told them to quit their job to follow Him, without even saying goodbye to their families.  He told people that when they follow Him, they may be homeless and they may even die for their faith.  He asked people to follow Him without any hesitation.

I don't know about you, but my life doesn't look that radical.  I like to be comfortable and the cost that Jesus talks about to follow Him doesn't appeal much to me.  I'm fine following Him when I'm also allowed to have financial security, good health, and a place to lay my head at night.  I am a Fair Weather Follower of Jesus and that is not okay with me.

I don't know where you are in your walk with Jesus, but I encourage you to examine yourself in this moment and ask the Lord what you can do to live the life that HE wants you to live, rather than the one YOU want to live.  Let's be on fire, rather than lukewarm.  Let's abandon our Fair-Weather tendencies, because Jesus also tells us that it is WORTH IT to live completely abandoned and surrendered to Him.

Will you join me in being radially committed to the only One worth following?