Ethiopia 2012!

Hello Family, Friends, and Readers!

I would like to share with you about a wonderful opportunity that I have to go to Ethiopia for a mission/service trip.  My friend Mekdes who is originally from Ethiopia is planning this trip for 10 of us who are planning to head to Ethiopia in July 2012 for a 10-day service trip.  During this trip, we will be staying and working in Ethiopia’s capital; Addis Ababa. 

It is my prayer that as you read this you will consider partnering with me/us as we minister in an area where physical, emotional and spiritual needs are great. Our team will be working on several projects supporting sex trafficking victims who now live in a shelter operated by www.agarethiopia.com.  Our team will be the 3^rd group to go from http://www.engageinlives.org.

• Physical, emotional, medical and spiritual care for trafficked women in Addis Ababa – Many women leave their home countries in Africa and move to other countries in order to seek opportunity.  Because of Ethiopia’s northern location and its international airport, it is a common exit and entry point for trafficked individuals.  Many African women exit Ethiopia and go to the Middle East through Yemen.  They are promised lives as nannies, cleaners, and cooks, but many end up abused and forced into prostitution.  If they are lucky enough to escape and return, these women don’t have any family or material possessions to return to.  They are ashamed, abused, mentally unstable, and confused.  Agar, the sister organization to EngageInLives, collects these women from the airport and provides them with shelter, food, psychological & medical assistance, and job skills.  We are taking a diverse team of ministers, doctors, and professionals to help minister to these women, provide clothing and other items to the shelter, and provide job training to the women who need it most. 
• Continued support of our past projects in Addis Ababa – We have a number of projects that need continued support through our sister organization, Agar Ethiopia located in Addis.  Our team in Addis will be working on maintenance of a reintegration facility for trafficked women, continue setting up systems and procedures for the Agar organization. We will also be ministering to the women who live in this facility.

I'm writing this to ask for your support in two ways. First, I ask that you would be willing to partner with me in prayer for this venture, and that God’s will be done through my hands and those of my teammates, for His glory. There is such a great need for God in this country and we are praying that the name of God will be declared mightily in this country. Secondly, if God leads you to contribute monetarily to this cause, I would be beyond blessed. Each person needs to raise approximately $2,500 that will go towards travel expenses and supplies for the three projects that we will be working on.  If you would like to contribute financially, we have two options available:

• Donate online ETHIOPIA 2012 – Please access our donation webpage at:

http://www.engageinlives.org/Donations.html

• When you review your donation, please add a memo with my name on it.
• Donate via Check - Please place a check made payable to “Engage in Lives, Inc.” with “Ethiopia 2012” in the memo line.  Donations can be mailed to:

Engage In Lives, Inc.

1301 Stone Meadow Way

Vienna, VA 22182

All contributions are tax deductible (FEIN 26-4791465).  If our team is successful in reaching our financial goal, all excess funds will be applied to either the additional needs of this trip or to furthering the programs we will be working on in Ethiopia. 

Thank you for prayerfully considering joining us in this opportunity to reach out to those who need to know that God is real and that He loves them.  If now isn’t a good time for you to give financially, we completely understand.  Knowing that you are praying for us as we seek to raise our funds and as we journey to Ethiopia is a wonderful encouragement.  We are so excited for this trip and promise to send a full report when we return!  Don’t forget to check our website for up to date information on the trip! https://sites.google.com/site/ethophia2012mission/

As you can see, we have a very large scope of work to get done in 10 days so we need your help!  Would you consider supporting me both in prayer and by giving financially to enable us to provide for the world’s most destitute? You can also view pictures from past trips to Ethiopia from the following link--> <http://www.engageinlives.org/Home.html> Slide presentations are under Ethiopia 2009 and 2011.

If you happen to want to read more about this here is a link from the Human Rights Watch which can give you greater insight to the situation http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/lebanon0910webwcover.pdf 

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. God Bless.

Song of the week!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao1iaIxRAA8

To new beginnings...

Phil 3:12-14

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

The Lord gave me this verse just before the New Year arrived … sometimes we can be deceived in thinking that we’ve “arrived” but that will only happen when we are standing in the presence of our maker. But throughout the trials and temptations, the moments of joy and laughter, may we continue to press on to the prize of spending eternity with our Savior.

To those of you who read this, I wanted to share this devotional for January 1.

". . . my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death" —Philippians 1:20

My Utmost for His Highest. “. . . my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed . . . .” We will all feel very much ashamed if we do not yield to Jesus the areas of our lives He has asked us to yield to Him. It’s as if Paul were saying, “My determined purpose is to be my utmost for His highest— my best for His glory.” To reach that level of determination is a matter of the will, not of debate or of reasoning. It is absolute and irrevocable surrender of the will at that point. An undue amount of thought and consideration for ourselves is what keeps us from making that decision, although we cover it up with the pretense that it is others we are considering. When we think seriously about what it will cost others if we obey the call of Jesus, we tell God He doesn’t know what our obedience will mean. Keep to the point— He does know. Shut out every other thought and keep yourself before God in this one thing only— my utmost for His highest. I am determined to be absolutely and entirely for Him and Him alone.

My Unstoppable Determination for His Holiness. “Whether it means life or death-it makes no difference!” (see Philippians 1:21). Paul was determined that nothing would stop him from doing exactly what God wanted. But before we choose to follow God’s will, a crisis must develop in our lives. This happens because we tend to be unresponsive to God’s gentler nudges. He brings us to the place where He asks us to be our utmost for Him and we begin to debate. He then providentially produces a crisis where we have to decide— for or against. That moment becomes a great crossroads in our lives. If a crisis has come to you on any front, surrender your will to Jesus absolutely and irrevocably.

This spoke to me immensely as I have been taking “inventory” on the past year and the Lord was been revealing to me areas in my life where I still need to yield to Him and I know this but yet I continue to not surrender those areas to the Lord. Christ cannot be fully magnified in my body and through my life if I am not fully yielding every area to Him.  I don’t know how it is that I sometimes get to the conclusion that God could use my help and at the end of that I have to humble myself and repent my lack of trust in the almighty and sovereign Savior. He has brought me thus far and He will continue to lead and guide me each step of the way as I continue to fully yield to His will and His calling. I pray that you are yielding to the His calling in your life as well. Happy 2012!

Dec 19 at Dixie Caverns with Tiana and Eric. We were in awe of God creativity!

A time to give thanks~

• I’m thankful that the Lord has found me worthy of his love. Thankful that his mercies are new every morning and that He will never leave or forsake me!!!
• Thankful for the family that God has given to me and for the latest 3 little additions to my family and so thankful to have been able to see so many of my family members this year.
• I’m thankful to have some of the best friends the world could offer. Friend who are so persistent and faithful. Friends who have been such an encouragement, who are always there when things are tough and when things are great. Thankful to have the love of such a wonderful group of people and thankful to feel that love even as we continue to become more spread out across this world.
• Thankful for the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of teenager and to invest in America’s future leaders.
• Thankful for a job, a roof over my head, food, clothing.
• Thankful to have the ability to love.
• Thankful that the Lord always provides and makes a way.
• Thankful for situations that have taken me out of my comfort zone and challenged me to grow.
• Thankful for sunrises, sunsets, coffee, books, an education, road trips and so many random things.
• I’m especially thankful for my health. It’s been a year of some health issues so I’m thankful that my body is functioning again.
• Thankful for the times of trial that help build my faith.
• Thankful for the many moments that have made me smile; getting unexpected letters/packages in the mail, random text messages that just make my day, that e-mail from someone I miss, running without any knee pain.
• I’m thankful for each morning that I get to wake up and live another day.

~May I never forget all that the Lord has done and continues to do for me. :)~

The will of God

I’m at a crossroad. Which way do I go? I desire to be obedient to the call of God in my life but which way is he directing me. My planning and scheduling nature has to yield to the will of God and remember that God is not on my schedule. By now I should have learned that a lot of things don’t go according to the way I planned them or at the time I planned them. Apparently I haven’t learned that lesson yet. One thing I know is that the promises of the Lord are true and sure. What He has promised he will see come to pass, even if its way off my schedule. I struggle to be patient and wait on the Lord and in the process I grow weary. Isaiah 43 says “but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

I continue to learn that the will of God will never take you where the grace of God cannot keep you. I have heard that quote over and over but in the past 2 and ½ years I have seen the Lord do just that in my life. So in my struggle to be patient and wait on the Lord I must continue to seek His face and trust that He will guide me even when I cannot see. For I know that I can trust Him fully above all else. In seeking his will, I have to let go of my will and deal with my selfishness to want to have things my way.  I’m at a crossroad, but I know the Lord will direct me and will make my steps sure.

Healer

He is my healer in so many ways and He has healed this broken heart and made it whole and complete. One of the definitions of healer is to “correct or put right” and I know that my life is “correct” and “right” with the Lord. There have been various hurts or wounds that I tried to deal with on my own but the Lord shows that only He can completely heal. Some wounds are old ones that keep getting reopened. Being home this summer was tough because I really felt the absence of my dad. I know it’s been 5 years but everything was just different. My siblings and I were all missing him and imagining how different things would have been if my dad had been around. But the Lord says He is a father to the fatherless and I’m thankful because He is the perfect father who continues to heal the broken heart. Sometimes in life we face hurts that don’t make sense. You analyze the situation to see what you could have done differently but come up empty. It took time to come to the acceptance that there was nothing I could change but instead just allow God to teach me whatever lesson there was to be learned and allow Him to help me heal. Physically, I pray I will one day be able to run again. This was a tough one for me and I’ve had many a crying session with the Lord and let Him know exactly how I felt. I had come to love my running time so much and maybe too much. I continue to pray for total healing from the great physician but must also remember that sometimes God uses doctors

I have seen the healing hand of God in my life and in the lives of those around me. By His stripes our spirit is renewed. He can heal the deepest hurts and the confusing hurts and I am so thankful that this has been a time where the Lord has been teaching me about his healing power. A dear friend of mine passed away yesterday but in the midst of the grieving there is so much peace in knowing where he is and knowing that God still holds all things together and that God will heal the emptiness that has been left behind. It’s a wonderful thing to sense the peace that surpasses all understanding in these situations.

As the Lord heals us, He also uses us as a vessel to those who are hurting around us. I know I can say that all the hurt and healing I have faced has allowed God to use me and speak through me. Again, He is before all things and everything that happens in our life has its purpose.