Loving the Unlovable

"Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. 

Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you." 

Luke 6:27-28 (NLT)

I'm sure that without exception, we all have at least one person in our lives that is, well, unlovable. Or at the very least, extremely hard to love. I have someone like that in my life. 

While my natural, human inclination is to want to fire-back or defend myself, I know that that's not what honors God. Oh, believe me, you have no idea how tough it can be at times! I often find myself asking God what He could possibly be teaching me by having such a hurtful person in my life. Someone who is so cruel and cunning. Someone who lies and deceives. How can I keep loving someone like this? How am I supposed to love my enemy? On my own, I can't. But with Him, I can.

What if I were able to see this person through His eyes and not my own? What if I were able to see beyond the tough exterior, harsh language and see the heart of this person? If I closed my eyes for just a moment and saw this person as they really are: Broken. Hurt. Alone. Scared. Insecure. Sad. Lost. In need of a Savior. 

And with that, I am very quickly humbled in realizing just how unlovable I am, too. We love and continue to love, without exception, because He loved us first. We love even those who are unlovable, because most often, those are the ones who need it the most. 

"Here am I. Send me!" Isaiah 6:8

I'm going to Africa. Wow! I had absolutely no idea that when I said "yes" to whatever or wherever God had for me, it would mean half a world away.

During October 3-14, I will be traveling with a team from my church to share the Gospel in Uganda. We've partnered with an organization called Arise Africa in the village of Jinja, about an hour outside the capital city of Kampala. During our stay, we'll spend mornings ministering to the children in the village through songs and crafts, and just loving on them. Afternoons will be spent in the neighborhoods doing Hut-to-hut ministry, sharing the Gospel. And perhaps where my heart is most gripped, we'll spend a few days in a local orphanage.

All because I said yes, God wants to use me. Me. A broken women with a closed womb will go across the world to hold and love little ones with no mommy or daddy. Do you think God is stretching me? Do you think He's preparing my heart for His ways and not my own? Do you think that He has a greater plan than I could ever imagine on my own? That would be a resounding "Yes!"

While there is a financial need aspect to me going on this trip (like raising $2,500 by mid-September), even greater is the need for prayer. I am asking those out there in the blog-world to pray for me and this trip. Please pray for our team for travel mercies. Please pray that God will prepare my heart for the mission at hand, that is, sharing the Gospel with people who may have never even heard the name Jesus. Please pray that His ways will be my ways. Please pray that I will be open to everything and more that God needs for me to be available to do. Please pray His will be done.

God DOES have a sense of humor!

Around 6 weeks ago we noticed that one of our furry boys, Grant, wasn't looking so hot. He's on the smallish side as it is, but he was really dropping weight and he didn't have his usual "oomph".  He was also having issues with depth-perception. He's usually like a panther, but he'd go to jump to the counter and then to above the cabinets and literally wouldn't be able to make it. Something was definitely wrong.

Come to find out that our sweet kitty has diabetes. After 4 days at the vet, antibiotics and insulin, he finally was able to come home and we began a new normal for one of our cats. Scheduled feedings, glucose checks and.... twice daily insulin shots! Yep, I've gone from injecting myself to injecting my cat! I think it's hilarious!

I'll never forget when the Vet was getting ready to discharge him and wanted to have us give him a shot before we left, just to make sure that we could do it. Which of course, I had no problem doing! She also looked a little perplexed that I knew what an IU was.

So I'm convinced that God really does have a sense of humor. And for that, I am very thankful.

One Minute Sermon

I'm loving this One Minute Sermon by Tamara Lowe! What's even funnier is that this was taped at my old home church, Christ Fellowship, in Palm Beach Gardens, FL!

Your Mission, Should You Choose To Accept It

I think it's fair to say that my new favorite, two-word catch phrase is "radical obedience." Or maybe my life phrase? Or better yet, my God phrase. But what exactly does radical obedience mean? Sounds a little scary, a little "radical"?

In her book, What Happens When Women Say Yes to God, author Lysa Terkeurst describes radical obedience as this - "Obedience becomes radical when we say, "Yes, God, whatever You want," and mean it. We release our grip on all we love and offer it back to Him, who loves us more. And it is into these upturned hands that God will pour out His blessings- His abundant, unexpected, radical blessings. Soon, saying yes to God will no longer be a discipline of your heart but rather the delight of your life." (Terkeurst, 53) Can I get an Amen! Wow! Can you even begin to imagine what a life of radical obedience looks like? Can you begin to get a glimpse of all that Christ wants for us when we simply admit that it's all His? Everything! Our  spouse, our kids, our time, our resources, our money, the big decisions, the small decisions, the mundane. Everything!

And while the very idea of radical obedience may seem foreign to so many, it should not be to followers of Jesus. When we chose to die to self and follow Him, our decision included surrender. And now from the love we have for all that He has done for us, the natural, overflow response of our hearts should be radical obedience. It should be.

But what keeps us from true surrender and radical obedience? You name it: selfishness, pride, control, bitterness, self-righteousness, etc. And the list goes on. The bottom line for all of us is sin. Uh-oh! There she goes using that sin word again. And while I realize that that word makes many people uncomfortable, that's the only word for it. We are sinners. But do you know the good news? The incredible awesome news that changes hearts and lives? Jesus! Through Him and Him alone, I can be radically obedient. After all, radical obedience has nothing at all to do with me and everything to do with Him.

Radical Obedience is not for the faint of heart. Saying "Yes" to God in everything and in all situations will promise to take you to a new level with God; a level where you've never been before. He'll stretch you. He'll challenge you. He'll ask you to do things that are contrary to your humanness and sinful nature. Are you ready? This is most likely where He'll lose many people. And for a long time, this is where He lost me.

I'm a Christ-follower. I believe that Jesus is who He says He is. I'm a member of Journey Church. I serve. I tithe. I strive to live a life pleasing to God. But when it came down to it, I still wasn't in complete surrender in all things at all times. I still wanted control. As they say, this journey is a marathon, not a sprint. And during this process, God has been working on me in ways that I never could have fathomed.

Canceling IVF was only the beginning. God's challenging Bob and I with how we spend our money. He's challenging us with how we spend our time. He's challenging us with our families and friendships and neighbors. He's challenging us to have an eternal perspective and vision.

"Our life will follow where we choose to focus our vision. If we are serious about radical obedience, about having having a vision that's God inspired, then we must keep our focus on Christ. When Christ speaks, me must listen. When He compels us to give, we must do so freely. When He reminds us to get past trivial matters, we must let our pride fall away. When He invites us to leave the world behind, we must follow Him." (Terkeurst, 119-120)

Are you willing to take on God's vision? Are you willing to say "Yes" to God?

IVF: A privilege or a right?

I thought many of you may be interested in a Newsweek article out last week, Should IVF Be Affordable for All? Although I'm not a fan of Newsweek AT ALL, I do think that this article poses some very interesting questions and concerns that many of us in the Infertility Community have been contemplating for years.


So after reading this article this morning, it definitely got my blood boiling. This paragraph in particular did it for me:


"David Fleming, director of the Center for Health Ethics at the University of Missouri, says the main concern with making fertilization affordable for more people is the risk of “commoditization” of babies. “The more you have access, the more people will do it,” says Fleming. “The concern is that we are placing these little humans in danger,” he says. “IVF, with all due respect—is it a question of need or a question of want?”" (Skoch, Iva; http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/20/should-ivf-be-affordable-for-all.html)


Is is a question of want or need? Are you kidding me? Is he actually implying that I'm making a choice to have children like I would if I were deciding on a new pair of boobs? And I'm sorry buddy, but it's the  Doctors, NOT the patients, that have turned the idea of having babies into a commodity and business by charging astronomical amounts of money for IVF or other fertility treatments. 


So, what are your thoughts on this article on this lovely Monday morning?

One of those weeks

"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; He rescues those whose spirits are crushed." Psalm 34:18 (NLT)

I admit that it's been a tough week for me. I'm just not myself. I've cried a lot more in the last week than I have in months. I think that one of the unfortunate downsides of always being the encourager is that people have the misconception that you always have it together, which I clearly don't.

I'm really missing Robert right now. August is creeping up on me and it's amazing to me how quickly all those memories and the pain come crashing down on you when you least expect it. Maybe it's that AF reared her ugly head and I've been a raging lunatic. Maybe I'm still emotional that Mason has started Kindergarten. Or maybe I'm just a heartbroken momma who misses her son.