Truly Loved + Wholly Surrendered

This entire mission trip was covered in abundance of prayer, for which I'm very grateful. I sit here at home after a somewhat chaotic trip, and I'm just blown away by the way God has worked in our time in Poland.  There were many refugees that were already believers, yet there were also many that have not yet received the Messiah as their personal Lord and Savior. The last three days were packed with camp activities and we had many opportunities to talk to the refugees and meet them where they are. For me, personally, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to allow God to work and to trust Him for the words to say. Because many were open to conversation and hearing about the Gospel, I was able to jump right into spiritual things with some of them. While it was also important to know where they came from or what they believe, the Lord showed me how I can simply ask someone if they know the Lord or what they think of the Lord. I'm grateful for these two weeks because it

Whew, it’s been a whirlwind of a week already and yesterday we visited Auschwitz, which will have its own post at some point, but I wanted to share some of the things that have been happening, both within the L.I.F.E. Ministry  and in my own life.  A couple days ago, when we were prepping with L.I.F.E. Poland  and Oasis , I was talking to a leader from the Poland team, and through that conversation, the Lord reminded me that I am to not discredit the presence of God in my life. I asked Natasha what her favorite part of ministry is, and she said it’s the people—and she’s right: the people are who we are trying to reach. Natasha was explaining that when people visit the office, they feel a good “aura,” which we both knew is the presence of God. Out that simple phrase, the Lord reminded me that  I have the presence of God within me,  wherever I go. From that renewed sense of purpose and knowing and feeling the love and presence of my King, this came to me and the Lord reminded me: Be ca

Since getting involved with  L.I.F.E. Ministry , I've been given the opportunity to go to Kraków, Poland, with them. While I'm very excited for this trip and have been looking forward to going and seeing what God will do during our time there, I also know and am very aware of the spiritual preparation that needs to take place, even now, just about a month before I fly out. When I was first given this opportunity, I had prayed and asked God if He wanted me to go and if so, to prepare the way.  and the Lord answered. Not only did He make a way financially and with my schedule, He also prepared my heart. When I heard a “yes” from Him, I asked Him to break my heart for what breaks His, especially since we'll be ministering to war-weary refugees, as well as those who live in Poland. Knowing that there will be numerous children as well already broke my heart. They  need  to know Yeshua! They  need  hope — and it needs to be the hope that the Messiah offers. When I responded to Go

Thanks for joining me on my life journey, even if my posts are inconsistent, at the moment, anyway. And so, my life continues. In my last post , I talked about how it's important to find rest and refocus on God, and for this post, I want to encourage you that time is a gift from God that's to be treasured. I came to this a renewed realization a couple weeks ago or so, that time is a gift. I was thinking about how I kept desiring to find time, more time for God, for my friendships, and how to handle or juggle all the things that were happening in just the first four months of 2023. And the Lord revealed to me that we all have the same 24 hours. The question is: What are we doing with it?  And, I realized, time is lost on social media, on mindless scrolling, on shows and movies, on all these things that are not productive or edifying. Well, that's how we rest, right? That's definitely how the world rests, but what if your rest was in the Lord, during your time with God in

I went to type the title of this blog and I accidentally typed, “Reset.” But then, after I thought about it, resetting is just as important as resting.  If you know me, you know my life is a little hectic, especially lately, as I’ve entered into a season of busy-ness with a lot on my plate: investing my time and energy into different projects, getting more involved with various ministries, strengthening my friendships and relationships, serving at congregation, working, and spending time with God and His Word.  Yet, God is calling me to rest. Rest?  I don't have time to rest. That's where reset comes in. What am I giving too much focus and attention to? Where am I lacking? Where and how do my priorities lie?  I find that when my mind is too consumed with the things of this world, it's hard to rest. But, when I focus on the Lord (again and again, over and over I have to remind myself), everything truly does fall into place (see Matthew 6:33 ). Rest comes. Yes, we're supp

The next set of the “Do Not Fear” series is the times the Lord gave the command in the midst of different circumstances and situations, whether it be in times of war, or famine, or persecution. There are numerous stories in the Bible where someone was facing fear because of the situation they found themselves in. However, God wants us to walk in His love and be fearless in the face of life’s circumstances, and He gives us the command personally.  If you’re familiar with the story of Israel and the nations, you’ll kno w that God commanded the Israelites to wipe out various pagan nations. During these times of war, and later on, even when different kings had reigned over Israel and Judah, God commanded His people to not fear the impending task in front of them. However, I find it interesting that of these instances, He personally delivers the command. In Numbers 21, Moses was getting ready to cross through the land of the Amorites, but the king wouldn’t allow Israel to pass through the l