Love is the Mission

"Do for one what you wish you could do for everyone”.  This was part of what I heard from our pastor on Sunday. Mother Teresa said, “If you can't feed one hundred people then feed one”.  This takes so much pressure off because I don't have to try to change the world, but it causes me to know that I do have to move.  Do something for someone.  There are no more excuses.   We have so many distractions in our lives: jobs to go to, meals to prepare, children or elderly parents to care for and marriages to build. As well as the things we don't necessarily need to do but spend hours on like social media, movies, television and video games.  We can feel like we don't have time to visit the neighbor, bake the load of bread for the friend or invite the overwhelmed family of young children over for supper.   I am in the midst of struggling to find balance.  I want to love my family, friends, coworkers and neighbors well but as an...

As Americans, we take so much for granted.  The car we drive to the job we get paid for. The cup of coffee we enjoy in a heated coffee shop on a cold day. The store we go to to purchase anything from clothes, to food, to towels or home decor. The food we have on our tables each day (many times being thrown out because we don't like leftovers). The clean water we drink. The schools our children attend beginning at the age of 5 through 18 at no cost, where teachers are paid to invest in our children, nurses are there to take care of our children, cooks are there to feed our children. That may be the normal in the United States but it's not in many other areas of our world.  If we own a car we are in the top 30% of the wealthiest people in the world.  If we can purchase a cup of specialty coffee or tea, we are spending what some people earn in one week. One week! While we sit in a warm shop or our homes, an estimated 79% of people have no electricity and rely on wood or...

I used to believe that the things I did on earth were simply to get me to Heaven, to His Kingdom.  As a child I feared hell so I desperately wanted God to live in my heart and did what was right because of my childish thoughts. The joy I have now is because I know we are living in His Kingdom now.  We have the ability to talk with God, hear His voice, be His hands and feet.  We not only hear stories from the past but are living them every day of our lives.  How amazing is that? I know our daily lives can seem very ordinary.  We go to work to pay our bills.  We get groceries to feed our family.  We do laundry, clean our homes, wash our cars, mow our lawn.  It all can at times take the wind out of our sails.  But what if our outlook changed?  We go to work to invest in those we work beside, we pray for them, love on them, invest in them.   We get groceries at a store where we care for those that check us out.  We do the daily...

     The last year of our family's lives have been all the things: new, scary, terrifying, fun, unsettling, but also amazing.  Everyone of us has transitioned in some way or another:      The marriage of our daughter and gaining a new son.      Moving to a smaller home in the country.      Adding bees and chickens to our little settlement.      Skin cancer diagnoses.      Surgeries.      Moving our elderly mom with Alzheimers in with us permanently.      Starting an Airbnb.      Having our grown children move in with us for several months while in      transition to Sweden.      Our son and his wife moving to Sweden.      Hearing the call of God on Village to Village and moving forward with      some huge unknowns.      Hosting the largest event in five years th...

This is Chalito.   He was born with many disabilities and has lived most of his life in a home for special needs kids.   He is in his twenties in these pictures and can not do anything by himself.   In spite of this hard life he has a love for Jesus that is huge!   Insisting on being carried to church on Sundays because he simply wants to worship.   He smiles ALL the time.   Though he can not communicate like we do, you know the minute you see him he has Joy.   I can learn so much from his life.   I struggle with joy and am healthy, have a home, family, a job that I love, food on my table and everything I need.   Chalito is one of my heroes.   He is no longer on this earth which means he is no longer suffering but is with the God that he loves so deeply.   I can’t wait to see him again one day.

Could you live on $2 a day? You are probably laughing at such a ridiculous question but half the global population do just that.   If you make $35,000 a year you are in the top 4 percent of the worlds wealthiest people.   And we seem to go in debt living on that and more.   How do we impact those that live on $2 a day   and change our lifestyle so that we live on what we make?      We do not buy into our country’s consumerism mind set.                 Choose to buy only what we need.                 Shop smarter.                 Do not use credit cards.                 Create a new mind set.   When I am wanting items I do not need I have begun to think about the child in the village I met on my last trip that did not have shoes, cl...

Today is quiet, unusually quiet.   The last few weeks have been filled with fittings, appointments,   weddings, fundraisers, launches of new ministries and lots of people.   I am an introvert so it’s all been a bit stressful.   To many people cause me to want to shut down.   I should be cherishing a quiet day yet my heart is unsettled.   God has always come through for our family and for Village to Village.   Always.   Yet I can not get away from fear.   Fundraising is hard, speaking is hard, planning is time consuming yet the mission is always the same.   Love.   Why do I fear Love?   Because I am not releasing it to God.   Parts of it I am, parts of it are easy to give to Him but when it comes to financial things at times I think I know what is best.   I want the answer now.   I want the growth now.   But growth does not come immediately.   It’s like a child learning to walk. ...