Scarves for Service is a non-profit micro-business with the purpose of empowering underprivileged children and sharing God's love with the poor. All proceeds support Compassion International sponsor sisters, Maria in Honduras and Gloria in Colombia. Thanks for following along with my journey!
"As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace." 1 Peter 4:10
Judah nearly lost his life when he was born. Thanks to his families access to medical care, he is alive, healthy, and energetic today. However, many babies around the world don't have the resources Judah's family does, although many of their conditions are preventable.
'With God Through the Shadow of the Valley of Death'
Professor Christina Lee Kim
A couple weeks ago, I was watching an online chapel message by a professor from Biola University. She was talking about identity in Christ. Throughout the talk she had the students in the audience write out three things on note cards about what they find identity in. This could be a hobby, quality, goal, career choice, position, etc. She also had them write on the fourth card their identity in Christ as His daughter/son.
In my head, all I could think of was my identity in missions.
Ever since I became involved in service and missions, it's been my biggest passion and something that I express my faith through. It brings me joy and purpose, and humility that the Lord could use even an imperfect sinner like me to serve Him. However, I do see evidence in my life of making this somewhat of an idol and something that defines me over how God defines me.
Towards the end of the message, the professor asked the students in the audience to rip up their three cards that shaped their identity. She asked them to imagine their lives without those things, without those qualities, without those dreams. As I began to imagine my life without missions, I came to the realization that it's not something I would ever want to give up. I think that I've come to a place in my heart where I feel like I know that the Lord is calling my to become a missionary. I feel that if I weren't a missionary, how could He use me? But, I realize this is not the mentality that He calls me to have.
He wants us to trust in Him, because His will for our lives transcends ours.
The Lord wants us to have goals for the future, but it's so important for us to remember to put His will first and surrender those dreams to Him, for His glory and not our own.
In this season, my Father is showing me each day that my life is not my own, but I belong to Him. (crazy!! Christ lives in and through our lives!)
'However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me--the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace.' Acts 20:24
I know that my selfish desires and stubbornness to only become a missionary and nothing else is not what God wants for me. It's hard for me to be open to another calling He might have for me, but...
He calls us, as His children to follow Him. Wholeheartedly, follow Him. He doesn't call us to make our own plans and hope He's on board with them. He doesn't call us to claim to be following His calling but not pray and go to Him before making decisions. No, He calls us to surrender our lives to His will, whatever that may look like.
And hey, 100% of the time, His will is way better than anything we could have ever imagined!
So Lord, I surrender. I surrender my hopes and dreams and plans. I surrender my future to Your cause, not for my glory, but for Yours. You alone know the plans you have for me. You are the potter, I am the clay. I am nothing without You.
I refuse to let Satan justify my passion for missions as prior to my identity in Christ. If God leads me away from missions, I will follow with an open heart, reassured that He is in control, not me. What a relief to rest in His love and care for us!
Have you ever been so hungry you're stomach growls and all you can think about it food? Have you ever claimed you're going to 'die of starvation!' I know I have. But the more I think about it, I've never actually felt true starvation and hunger to the point of malnutrition. But guess what? Millions of children and people in general don't have enough food. 19,000 children under the age of 5 years old die EVERY DAY due to malnutrition. That's 30 U.S. school's worth of kids dead every day.
It's crazy to think about. It's devastating that people go hungry when in our first world communities, we have food to waste. We have more than enough, and so many have nothing.
Malnutrition affects children in some of the worst ways possible. It can be the difference between them living or dying, receiving an education, and actually living out their intended purpose and not just struggling to survive.
Although famine is a serious issue, there is hope! Thanks to World Vision, we have the opportunity to provide kids with food, and underprivileged families with the tools and support they need to cultivate their own food through agriculture and farming. How awesome is that?
My school is taking part in WV's '30 Hr. Famine' project because we refuse to sit back while thousands of children and their families suffer on a daily basis to to this crisis. We're raising awareness and funds to help these people get the nutrition they so desperately need and deserve. At the end of the month, we're fasting for 30 hours to experience going without food as so many do.
Will you join us in making a difference for people that need our help? Real people that matter, God's children! If you'd like to make a donation, follow this link: http://support.worldvision.org/site/TR?fr_id=2540&pg=personal&px=1457415&captid=1119406
Every dollar counts, and $35 dollars provides a child with food for 1 whole month!
Share the link with friends and help us spread the word! We need all the help we can get! Making a difference is a group effort, right?
Also, will you pray for my school as we fast?! It's a challenge, but one worth taking!
A powerful video about the affects of the food crisis on a child. (Puts things into perspective!)
I'm finding myself at a loss for words trying to write this post. I just can't seem to sum it all up, all of the blessings my team and I experienced this year in Cambodia.
Stepping out into the familiar burst of hot air as we left Phnom Penh International Airport, I felt like I was finally home. I felt like I'd been waiting so long to just be back, and it felt amazing. I felt like I was finally back where He really wants me.
We set out to the S21 Prison our first day, where prisoners were detained, tortured, and murdered. It broke my heart the first time I toured this place, however this year it hit much harder. After last year I developed relationships with the Cambodian people, and a love for this nation. This connection brought me to tears thinking about how much devastation the Khmer Rouge has cost this country, and how broken it still is.
Up until now, I've always thought that the Lord would send me somewhere in Latin America because I speak fluent spanish. However, during the tour, I felt Him opening my heart to the possibility of returning to Cambodia in the future. WOW. Never in all my wildest dreams could I have ever imagined this possibility. As much as I fell in love with this country last year, I thought that God was preparing me for a life serving elsewhere.
Philippians 4:19 tells us, 'And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.' I am submitting my life into His hands because His plans are so much greater than my own. It's crazy to think that He would care enough about me to plan out my life and guide me down the path he Has prepared for me. Whether he leads me to Cambodia or not, I will follow.
One of my favorite memories from this week, among to many to count, was with one of the mothers who cooked for us during our time in the village. I had shared smiles and hugs with her for only about two days, and she told me through a translator that when she dies, she wants me to take care of her two young daughters.
My heart was touched and I was shocked that this woman I had just met would say something like this to me. I later learned that her husband is sometimes abusive and she's been married three times. Though her story is one of hardship, she's always smiling and so full of hope.
As for the physical aspect of our trip, our team built two houses and a fence surrounding the villages' elementary school, Glory International. We also painted a mural on the side of the school and put the team's handprints so that the kids can always remember us.
Our team learned so much from spending time with the villagers and loving on the children. Their hope and joy inspired us and taught us that materialistic items don't bring true happiness; God does. Once again, I'm amazed at how much God blessed our team!
Thanks so much to everyone who prayed for our team and supported us in any way; we were truly blessed and we're so thankful to have such great support! We're currently praying about the possibility of returning next year!
As much as I wish I were back in Cambodia right now, and as much as I would be content to never leave, I'm learning to accept the fact that that's not God's plan, yet. I still have a lot to learn, a lot to experience, and a whole lot of time to serve where He leads me before life as a missionary. I'm learning to consider myself a missionary for Christ now, not just on the mission field.
'Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.' Matthew 16:24-27
Hey friends and family! Lately, I have been very involved in World Vision Youth, as I am one of 60 WV Youth Communicators around the world! Right now, we're in the process of a project called #dreamshare, where we share our dreams on a global platform, and there will be one winner that will be supported by World Vision through launching a global youth campaign for their cause!
I was blessed to be nominated as one of these 5 candidates, and now we're in the voting process to choose on campaign. This is my campaign idea:
Voting starts now and continues until November 4th. I would really appreciate it if you'd click the link below and vote for my dream or any other dream you support! Also, feel free to share this link with your friends and encourage them to vote! All 5 dreams are equally amazing, and I'd be happy with any of them winning!
A couple weeks ago was my third annual Scarves for Service sale! I sold approximately 70 scarves, and raised over $1000, more than ever before! God provided again this year, as he always does. This was almost exactly all I need to pay for Gloria and Maria's sponsorship for the year! I'm in awe of how God works...
When God puts something on my heart, it's like a recording that plays over and over again in my mind until I realize that it is a direct message from Him. That's what happened recently when I decided to sponsor another child through Compassion International. I started to think about the young girl in Guatemala that we've been sponsoring since 2002 and that my 15 year old daughter Emily has recently committed to sponsoring two girls on her own. It struck me that my husband and I are sponsoring one child and we have a steady income and that our teenage daughter is sponsoring two girls without a consistent income to support her commitment. Emily stepped out in faith to sponsor these two girls because her heart could not handle the fact that children all over the world were in need. In need of love, support, financial help, and someone who was going to love and pray for them regularly, even from continents away.
So, she vowed to support them financially with no concrete means to pay for it. She decided as she sponsored her second girl that she would use all of the proceeds from her "Scarves for Service" non-profit micro-business to pay the monthly fees required to provide for these two sweet girls. Emily spends months knitting scarves for a November community sale where she believes by faith that God will provide the money she needs for the year to support these girls, which is about $940. The thing that amazes me the most is that Emily knows without a shadow of a doubt that God will provide the money. If she is faithful to do the work of knitting the scarves, God will provide the money to buy the yarn, the people to buy the scarves, and the venue to sell them.
So, as I thought about the meager one sponsorship that we had, and that our daughter had two, I felt the pang of conviction that there was more that we could be doing. That there was more that we should be doing. God's word spoke loud and clear to my heart that day. "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." Luke 12:48b (NIV)
Thank you Lord for using my daughter to move me to action. Thank you Lord for using your Word to confirm that call.
