Home Sweet Home

The past couple of weeks have been a scramble (on more than one occasion) pulling all-nighters finishing papers, working on projects and trying to get everything done that I needed to before heading home.  Long hours and five finals later, I am done!  Yet another semester is done and I now have a few weeks to rest.  All I have to say is praise the Lord!


Today has been a traveling day finally getting to come home.  I woke up early this morning to a beautiful snowy and frigid morning in Virginia.  I had to work my way through delays and missed connecting flights but I finally made it home and here I sit on my couch loving that I am able to write to you in relaxation!


In the midst of all the craziness God has just been so faithful.  I am reminded time and time again that my too-often failure to stop and see God move doesn't change the very nature of God to be everything we need.  His ways and his timing are not understandable but they are so amazingly key!  Throughout this process I have to meet various goals in which I need to have a certain portion of my financial support in.  I struggled to make the first couple of deadlines because the support just wasn't coming in.  But God in his ways purposed the exact timing and  the exact people through which he is sending the support for India.  God has so provided through you to enable me to catch up so that I am currently on track.  My biggest message...THANK YOU for letting God use you thus far!  I have been so blessed by your sacrifice and your support.

When I was home a couple of weeks ago for Thankgiving I was asked to share a little bit about India and some of their beliefs with a local church during their missions conference.  I get really excited at the idea of trying new and sometimes challenging things but then the closer the time comes to actually do it, the more nervous I get.  This was one of those events haha. I really wanted to share my heart for India with them but as most of you can relate, I really don't like public speaking.  I knew this before I committed but I guess some part of me wanted to believe I wasn't like that anymore.  I nerved my way through speech class my first semester of college and thought I was done.  Little did I know that I would be standing in front of over a hundred people that I didn't know and work my way through my oh-so-detailed notecards.  Obviously, I survived.

I realize that that was probably only the first of many times when I will be asked to speak in front of people.  I suppose that is another area that I am being challenged in and I'm excited about that (at least for now).  I look forward to keeping you updated whether through this blog or public speaking. 

Happy 9 days till Christmas! 

The White Space

As we are approaching Thanksgiving in just over a week I am reminded of all the things I have to be thankful for.  Not the least of which has been the awesome response that you have given by visiting this blog!  I am so encouraged each and every day as I see that you are taking the time to care about something that I care about.  I have sent out letters and emails and all with the hope that they would lead you to this site to really see what the Lord is doing and the real heart of my trip in May.  


To be honest, starting this process and knowing that I would be telling people about this trip across the country had me on edge because I wasn't sure of the reaction.  I've never raised money or prayer support like this and my worrisome little self expected alot of critics and not alot of support.  While some may be those critics without voicing it, I have so much peace about the steps I continue to prayerfully take.  The Lord has overwhelmingly blessed my heart with your encouraging emails and support of going on this trip!


I have seen God in a whole new light this past month.  I don't know if you've ever had those seasons where God is trying to teach you something but you can't quite figure it out, but I know that I have been in that boat over the past month.  I am just now beginning to see the peaks of that pursuit as the essence of who the Lord is and His promises have had to swallow my need for constantly needing His affirmation.  Realizing and resting firm in those promises has shown me more of the sovreignty of His plan and the provision of His hand.


With Thanksgiving comes a time of hopefully reflecting on all that God has blessed us with and provided for us.  Whether it be friends, family, a home, food, a job, school, or finances, everything in our lives was given to us from the hand of the very one who fashioned the universe!  The Lord who provides, Jehovah Jireh is His name!   

My missions team leader was sharing an illustration that she had heard about a pastor who had given his congregation each a big white piece of paper with a tiny black dot in the middle.  When asked what they saw, the congregation responded, "We see a black dot!"  The pastor asked, "Did no one see all the white space!?"  Everyone was so focused on the tiny black dot that no one saw the rest. Just the same, we can get so focused on that black dot in our life when we "feel" God wasn't listening or unfairly let us go through a trial that we forget all that He is and this blessed life He has given us!  It is when we stop taking God for all that He is and focus on the places that we are uncomfortable  that we fall into the trap of viewing the "Christian life" as a burden.  My friends, I encourage you to count the cost of following Christ, both the riches and the struggles!  I urge you to take God for who He really is and not for who you want Him to be.


Our God is the God who:

• Supplies all our needs (in His timing and in His way) Philippian 4:19
• He is unchanging- Hebrews 13:8, James 1:17
• He is all knowing- Romans 11:33-36
• He is holy (meaning perfect, set apart, unlike any other) Revelation 4:8
• He is truth- John 14:6
• He is full of love, compassion, and goodness Psalms 145:8-9, Psalms 147:3
• He is in control- Job 42:2, Psalms 145:13-14

Take time to focus on the white space of all the God is and has blessed you with.  Our God is so good!

Jivita!

So why name this blog Jivita?  Jivita is the Hindi word for alive!  Jesus' mission on this earth was to bring life!  John 10:10b says " I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."  In going to India my biggest mission is to show them true life through Christ.  To show these "religious" people true salvation and hope.  My biggest desire is that their eyes will be opened and their hearts ripened for peace unobtainable by river water, but by Christ alone.

Pray that the people of India experience being "Jivita" in Christ! 

Why India?

I'm sitting here trying to write the very first post to my very first blog and I have already deleted the first sentence about a dozen times.  I've written support letters, hosted bake sales, and talked to so many people yet I can't even think of where to start sharing my heart with you on this blog.  As scatterbrained as it may sound, know that my purpose in writing is to give you a glimpse into this new journey the Lord has allowed me to take.

In a later post I will include a video sharing my heart for India and why I am going.  In watching the video, consider it my one-on-one, heart-to-heart conversation with you.  While I can't sit and have coffee with each and every one of you, I hope that you will find the video to be just as if I was.

My goal is to update this blog at least once a week with praises, needs, or more information about India.  I encourage you to bookmark the site, share it with friends and even subscribe to it so that you can stay up to date with anything new about the trip and to join along with me in seeing how God is working through this process.  I am so excited about India and so excited about how we are going to see God work.