the game i love

with club volleyball season around the corner. i can't wait to see all what is to come. it's amazing to me the community of people that surround a court, watching a white ball being volleyed back and forth between two different teams. it's a game of strategy. of desire. of passion. of discipline. of sacrifice. of respect. of determination. it's a game i love to watch and coach. and one of my best friends says it just right...

"i want them to want to compete each time they step between the lines. not for me. not even for their teammates. for themselves. to prove they can do it. to instill confidence in themselves as athletes and young women. that's why i coach. volleyball is just a blip on the radar of life. but the character you develop on the roller coaster ride this sport takes you on, is irreplaceable....so, here's to another great season. and by great, i mean frustrating, yet so rewarding. here's to making a difference in the character development of 15 year old girls through the shared love of a little white ball...Game on."


let the training. practice. and competition begin...

disturbed.

my heart aches. my spirit is stirred. my soul cries out. i wish i could fix the horrific situations around the world. it brings tears to my eyes when i read or hear about people sufferring. whether it's from poverty. from disease. from starvation. from child trafficking. from natural disasters. from wild spreading water-borne sickness. i am moved and disturbed to my core.

wednesday night at church we had a guest speaker. he began the night by saying, "i want you to be disturbed to your very core about the injustice around the world. we should be so messed up about it that it forces us to do something." he was adding on to what he discussed last week. we were studying the scripture in Luke 9:23-24. it's a piece of God's Word that is heavy. it's hard to wrap your mind around what Jesus is truly calling us to do. i spoke with him afterwards and he said "i wanted to bring this scripture close enough to us all that it rubbed us like sandpaper". and it did.

he spoke about the horrible and heartbreaking situation in Haiti right now. i knew about the cholera but i didn't know the chaos the country was in. the people are in such need for medical supplies. food. shelter. clean water. but its become a survival of the fittest. there are riots happening. buildings being burned that are full of supplies. and on top of that, they are suspending international help because of the rioting. my heart broke. and all i could say or feel was "God help them!"

found this verse and thought it was appropriate for the situation in Haiti...

"He brought them out of the darkness and the 

deepest gloom and broke away their chains." 

Ps. 107:14

here is article i found on the top 10 poorest countries in the world. interestingly enough, 9 out 10 countries are in africa. click the link below to read more...

http://www.financialjesus.com/interesting-economics/top-10-poorest-countries-in-the-world-2010/

not mine to know.

"The will of God is for you and me to give our lives urgently and recklessly to making the gospel and the glory of God known among all peoples...The question, therefore, is not, 'Can we find God's will?' The question is 'Will we obey God's will?'

"Will we refuse to sit back and wait for some tingly feeling to go down our spines before we rise up and do what we have already been commanded to do?"

"God knows every detail of our lives, and when we step out in faith to follow him, he will show us that our greatest security is not found in the comforts we can manufacture in this world but in the faithful provision of the only one who knows our needs and the only one who is able to meet our needs in every way."

-Radical, by David Platt

as i was trying to find words to share i looked back through a book i recently finished. if you haven't had the chance or time to read Radical, please do so. it will challenge you and move you. anyways, what i stumbled upon were the quotes above. they certainly relate to where i am. 

every season of life i go through is different. challenging. and a time i gain more knowledge of the Lord and my place in His plan. at the end of one season i begin to wonder what is next. i question. i doubt. i become anxious. i wonder if God will show me. or do i begin pursuing something. i become overwhelmed with knowing my purpose. my giftings. i get frustrated because i don't know. and as long as i am trying to know, i will fail. it's not mine to know. but it's for me to trust. to trust my God. to believe in His ways. to choose to rely on His guidance. to recognize that where i am right now is where i am suppose to be for this season of my life. it may be short. it may be long. but no matter the length of time, i am here. and when He is done using me here, He will move me somewhere else. i want to be a vessel for God use to further the kingdom. that is the purpose for which we are called. to love our heavenly Father, our Creator God. to love people. to pour our lives out and into others. to make disciples. and to reach those who are unreached. it is one beautiful story of God loving His people. 

as i continue to ask the Lord to lead me to the next stepping stone. He continues to place things in my lap that i wouldn't probably see as what i think i should do. but it makes me stop. it causes me to smile. to look up and say 'ok. i have to trust you more than what i know'. 

and a quote that is absolute relevant to my current season is the one that follows..."those who continue to seek the will of God will be run over by those doing the will of God. If you seek nothing but the will of God, He will always put you in the right place at the right time."

so this is where i am...i am thankful for the uncertainty -- even though it's scary. i am thankful for the unknown -- even though i question. i am thankful -- even though it's difficult. for HE is worthy. 

"Seek His kingdom first and His righteousness, 

and all these things will be given to you as well." (mt 6:33)

crossing paths

there are moments where you can't rightly explained how it happened. times that you want to say "that was a coincidence, ironic, or by chance". however. when we view those moments from God's perspective. it completely takes out the "coincidences" and makes them 'divine appointments'. the exact path God wanted you to cross with that person. i have had many of those "divine appointments" throughout my life and i am blessed beyond words with the precious friends i have in my life. one that is most recent is when i met my friend Kelsey Young. i actually met her in Uganda. she is an american living in kampala, uganda. and i still am amazed on how we met. but God had it planned that he would allow our paths to cross and knit us together as friends. from the 2000 people who attend the Watoto Church in Kampala, she was one of them.

we became fast friends sharing our stories and how God brought us to Uganda. i was inspired and encouraged in many ways by her and what she is doing. to sum up her story, over the past 8 trips she has made to Uganda she and her team have developed a new ministry called ROWAN. which means..Rural Orphans and Widows Aids Network. she is spending all her energies and time getting this organization going. she spends most of it in the villages with the people in the Mawanga area. she and her team work with the woman and children by putting on food programs, activities, dramas, educational seminars over HIV/AIDS, and much more. i could go on and on about it all. every time i talk with her i always here the latest story of what God has done today to continue to show His hand in the ministry. it blows me away. the stories she tells me are undeniably the Lord's doing.

you should check out ROWAN at www.loverowan.com and her blog at www.kelseyyoung.wordpress.com

looking back to that day we met neither one of us knew the purpose of our paths crossing, but one thing we do know...God sure has a purpose for it! i am thankful for my new friend. she has challenged me so much and continues to do so. she is simply an ordinary woman, loving the Lord, and being a tool for Him to use.