News
44 days until our family and 4 other families head to Guatemala on what we are calling a “Relationship Build”
What is a “relationship build”??
Glad you asked…
We look forward to “blogging” our experiences and sharing with you the relationships we are building….
For everyone who has been given MUCH
- MUCH will be demanded -
AND
From the one who has been
entrusted with MUCH -
MUCH more will be askedLUKE 12:48
Per Merriam Webster - ENTRUST - means “to deliver something in trust to”
DELIVERED IN TRUST…
We are ALL given and entrusted to this world by an all powerful and providential God.
This all powerful and providential God was “delivered in trust” into this world by a simple sinless woman who was not even by her own societal expectations, in a position to have a baby. In fact, she could have been killed just for being pregnant out of a marriage. And in the society, Joseph could have been the one to have her killed! Can you imagine???
He was DELIVERED IN TRUST to the world
HE entrusted Mary and also Joseph with HIS life
in order to save ours.
Can you imagine the trust HE provided by grace to Mary and especially to Joseph to carry out this humble plan of saving the world? They were radical in their time. Jesus was radical.
He continues to entrust us today…
He entrusts us to play a vital role in HIS plan for the world, just like he did to Mary and Joseph. He entrusts us to share his vision and h(e)arts to make a difference in the world. He entrusts us to listen to his promptings, whispers, “god-incidences”, and seemingly chaotic happenings to guide us to the path that He destines for each of us. And each path is unique, different, and purposeful, and not a promise of prosperity. It comes with a promise of suffering. Entrusting us with redemptive suffering to be drawn closer to Him
If you had told me years ago that this was the path our life would take - and that we would be living a type of “distance-learning missionary life” - I would have thought you were nuts. But God’s plan is infinitely more amazing that I could have hoped or even come up with as an option to even pray for!
He turned infertility into a gift and a great lesson in faith. Infertility grew our respect and dependance on the teachings and importance of the Church that has stood the test of time. Our Church family has lead to deeper and more authentic friendships than I have ever experienced. He turned our path to parenthood into a story of joy, redeeming relationships, and the greatest gift we could have ever been given. He turned trying to grow our family, heartbreak, and a very traumatic failed adoption, into a clear path to having a large spiritual family in 2 different counties.
He entrusted us with it all - heartbreak, joy, suffering, healing, friendships, loneliness, doubt, trust, - all of it. He demands that we continue to seek Him, and we look forward to anything more that He asks of us.
When I sat down to write the last post about "taking one step at a time" and "doing the next right thing" - I had no idea of what was coming just a few days later. I had no idea, that looking ahead one step at a time was exactly what was coming. Not just for me, but for many families in Guatemala...
Each time we are in Guatemala, the volcanoes are always part of the beauty and magic of the land. They circle Lake Atitlan like they are dancing around her beauty and they hover in the background of our photos like they are photo-bombing us. Heck, we even climbed one to roast marshmallows on the hot lava and our dog in now named Pacaya! The volcanoes enthrall us...and they are a part of everyday life for Guatemalans. Every. day. life.
On Sunday, June 3rd - El Fuego (FIRE) Volcano erupted like it has not ever before. This volcano that hovered in the background was now exploding with little warning and with a fierceness that had never been seen. Hundreds are dead or missing, and thousands have lost everything. A pyroclastic flow of hot lava and gases engulfed the villages surrounding this giant volcano - photos coming out of the area are reminiscent of scenes similar to Pompeii.
The need on a normal day in Guatemala is overwhelming. The needs after this eruption are enormous. And we still don't even know the extent of the damage and loss of life. We are reaching out in all the ways we can to try to help, alleviate the suffering of one family, or one person at a time.
Recently, It is these words from scripture that have stood out to me when thinking about this journey we have been on and praying about where we go from here. I was listening to a podcast this week from Blessed is She and something she said struck my heart...
"If we are using a lamp at our feet, we can only see one step ahead"
What? Only one step?
Wait...what??? Mind. Blown.
She is 100% correct.
All these years - from when I first learned that song as a little girl until this very Tuesday - I always thought of "the lamp" as lighting the whole path, seeing everything clearly, God revealing his whole plan for us. One light to illuminate all the questions, make every decision easy, every path well defined - and yet - I struggled because I feel like it is never that clear to me. Why didn't I seem to get straight answers??
But with "the lamp at my feet" - I can literally only see one step in front of me.
One Step. One little step at a time. What a relief!
We often cannot see the whole plan, and can only pray and follow the next right step.
Quickly looking back at our journey to this mission, I can see the lamp of God guiding and showing us His plan, one step at a time. There were moments as we were trying to have a family that I was overwhelmingly sad and distrustful, angry and envious. I could not see even see the light at all and did trust how it would happen. In my pain, God used this time for His good - growing my faith, refining my marriage, and planting seeds that still have so much sowing to be done to them - but they were started.
Looking back - at both the prayers I had at the time and the both joyous and deeply painful answers that I received - I can see that our lives were and are still being woven together both in love and tragedy. Adoption is not without pain and loss. My biggest joy is another women's greatest loss and that is not lost on me and I don't have the answers for that. I can't fix it but I am praying that by taking one step at a time, lighted by a mighty lamp, that we can make a small difference in the world. We do this to continue to honor her and help to show solidarity with those is this world suffering from crushing poverty. This woven family has great purpose.
He has so much more in store for us than our human brains can even fathom and He does use ALL things for His good - both the joyous and the tragic (but don't think I won't have some questions when I get up there)! I dreamed of a big family and boy did I get one - and it spans international borders, but not the borders of my h(e)art which are always growing.
So if you ask me - "do you have 1 child" - I will answer "Yes, one child, or 3 or 25 or a whole school of 125 - it depends on how you look at it"!
