Angels along the way...

Amazingly, we never had to stay in a hotel or a hostel in our ten days of exploring England and Scotland... several generous friends and friends of friends opened their homes to us, and BLESSED us so much!! We got to reunite with Grace (above), a nurse friend from Mercy Ships who lives in Birmingham, and while we were at her place, several of the other girls from the Ship who live in the area came for dinner and we had a little reunion~! It was great to laugh and to tell stories, and just to feel so at home being around them again. I love you guys!

We also reconnected with my friend Rebekah, who was truly a God-send last year on my way through London. She is a friend of my friend Rachel from the Ship, but I am convinced God meant for our paths to cross and I am so glad we are friends now! Once again, she opened her home to us, ate greek food with us, and we laughed lots and got reconnected! THANKS Rebekah!!

Yea for Scotland!

Hello London...and Karen and Heather!

A warm welcome to London!

It was such a blessing to be greeted by this beautiful face at the London Gatwick Airport!! Only true friends are willing to brave massive luggage-lugging trips together:). Most definitely could not have done it without you, HP :).

What He Has done

This is the scripture that was on my pillow upon arriving at Ellel today. I can't read it without tearing up. This is what He has done for me.

"I'll go ahead of you, clearing and paving the road. I'll break down bronze city gates, smash padlocks, kick down barred entrances. I'll lead you to buried treasures, secret caches of valuables-- Confirmations that it is, in fact, I, God, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name."
Isaiah 45:2-3 (the message)

More than probably any other moment in my life, I feel aware of the way God has cleared for me. He has crushed fears, trampled lies, lifted burdens, broken chains, and cleared confusions. I think I am now being led to the treasure stores and my feet can't go fast enough. Yes, God, this is You!

ok, well...

didn't sort out, but it lets me post now, despite big red warning signs. so we will proceed:).

Hello, .....hello?? is this thing still on? I have been the world's WORST blogger, but i am still hanging on by a thread, so I can't let this thing die.

The last few weeks have been nothing but a blur. I left Africa on October 1st. My last week in Africa was a whirlwind of packing, goodbyes, sweaty hugs, lots of closure and precious moments with friends from the ship and the girls at the orphanage and translators on the ward and dear life-long friends. There are too many emotions to try to capture, but I left feeling filled. Feeling loved. Feeling like I had loved the people God gave me and that the work I had been brought to do was complete. And that the work that God had done in me was beyond what I would have asked or imagined. He is Good. And while I so desired to be a part of God's gift of hope and healing to the beautiful people in Liberia, I left knowing I myself had received of the overflow. I have more hope. I myself have received healing. It's for all of us, I guess:)

I feel I have hardly had time to absorb all of that because I flew from Liberia straight to England where I was met by my two beautiful friends, Heather and Karen. What a provision to see familiar and much loved faces on the other end of that journey! So my whirlwind in Liberia just kept spinning as we touched down in England and spent the next 10 days trying to take as many trains as humanly possible around England and Scotland. (You girls are troopers!!!) What a gift to get to see some of the beautiful UK and to have that precious time with dear friends.

And today I find myself in Frensham, Farnham... about an hour train ride out of London. I am starting Term 1 of a (potentially) year long course in healing and discipleship ministry. The school is called NETS (Luke 9:11 training school) and it is offered through Ellel Ministries (ellelministries.org). I have many many friends who are "curious" what this is all about. So while I don't want to make any dashing blog promises, I do want to aim to share a bit of what I am learning. I am eager and anticipating that this is going to be rich and an amazing time to go deeper with God and His heart for bringing healing to the lives of His people. Wow. How blessed I am to be here.

OK...there it is. I love you all. And I really love you if you are still checking this abandoned blog. God bless you dear friends, all around the world. I can hardly comprehend how many precious people God has given to me to call 'friend' in this world...and the next:) May He bless and keep you.

this blog is experiencing

technical difficulties, and i can't write more than one line. trying to sort out...

HAPPY 60th BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!!

Happy Birthday Dad!!!! I wish I could be there to CELEBRATE your birthday with you... but know that we are all celebrating here in Liberia!! You are amazing and I love you and thank God for you.... be so BLESSED today!!

I Heart the Guitar Club!!!!!!!

Every Sunday, a group of friends gets together to play guitar and to worship together.... we have lately been growing in numbers!!  But this week, we are losing two of our key members... Josh and Annie...  Guitar club will never be the same.  I love you guys.  Thanks so much for the beautiful music (wink) and more importantly the beautiful friendships and most importantly for loving to worship our Great God.  

Bendu is Back...

Dr. Gary, our beloved maxillo-facial surgeon, is back on board after being away on holiday for a couple of months.  Now that he is back, we are also having the joy of some of our patients returning for follow-up surgeries or procedures.  And my dear Bendu is BACK.....  

I heart Bendu.

A timely reminder...

I just read this this morning... and then headed into work which seemed quite a bit like controlled chaos....minus the control.  It kept coming to mind... definitely blog-worthy.  

"Frustration is not the will of God.  Of that we can be quite certain.  There is time to do anything and everything that God wants us to do.  Obedience fits smoothly into His given framework.  One thing that most certainly will not fit into it is worry."

 --E. Elliot

Amen.

Kossi is WALKING!!!!!!

Pictures of my little buddy, Kossi, before his surgery a few months ago....

Picture of Kossi during the loooonnng healing process.... 

two long leg casts and a wheelchair...

Casts OFF!!!!!!!

And THIS WEEK...............................WALKING!!!!!!!!!

Social Committee Strikes Again....

This post is really just for my mom:)...  A couple months back, two of my friends, Karoline and Steph and myself joined forces to take over as the "social committee" for the ward nurses on the ship.  Nurses are always coming and going here, and so it is really nice to plan a little get together every month or so, just so we can all have some time together away from work to get to know each other a bit more.   Much to our surprise, our first two events have turned out even better than we thought... turns out our gifts work well together:  Steph does about 80% of the baking... I do about 20% of the baking.... and Karoline pulls together all of the rest of the logistics (the part of the job that Steph and I hate....).  Our first event was a coffee house night, and the second was a brunch.... So, Mom, here's some of the pics to give you a little idea:)...........

Bible Study Girls Visit Ship

Yep, it is that time again:)... that time that seems to roll around every month or so, when I realize I have not blogged in WAY too long!!  Sorry-o.  I don't know how time passes so very quickly. Last month was full of so many special things...  amongst them was a visit to the ship from our Bible Study girls.  They came out on a Sunday afternoon and had a tour of the ship, saw our rooms, where we work, and stayed for dinner.  They all came dressed in some of their nicest clothes and giggled and laughed their way through the whole afternoon.  I think they really love to be on the ship with us and to see a bit of this world.  What a blessing it has been to have these girls in our lives during this time.  I love them so much.  Here are some pictures from our time...

From S. Korea to Liberia... with love...

Last month, a package arrived from my sister.  In it there were some small cars and some other small toys to give to the kids on the hospital ward.  It just happened that our census was down, and there were only three children in the hospital at the time, and they were three of my favorites~!  So, I thought that these little boys would like the cars, but I had no idea just what a hit it would make.  For the next few days, there were car races down the hallway, the construction of ramps and other things for the cars to go flying down, and all sorts of fun with the little cars.  Two of the boys have now gone home, but Kossi is still here with us.  And when I see him, he STILL says, "How is your sista??  Tell her tank you!  I love the car."  And he really does.  He is always in his wheelchair, and the car is always tucked in beside him.  A small gift has gone a very long way...:)  Thank you to my nieces Ella and Maija, and Caleb for sharing your toys, and thank you to my sister, Julie, who now has a big fan in Liberia:)!!!

Prince and Kossi

James, Prince, and Kossi with their cars!

O PRAISE Him...

Today I went to a dress ceremony on the ward.  I have been working with our patients who have come to have fistula repairs that cause them to leak urine.  The hope is that the surgery will result in these ladies no longer leaking urine.  And when the surgery is a success, we have a celebration!  I love these women.  And my heart swelled today as I watched five of them... five women who have lived with embarrassment, with shame, with ridicule, with separation from family and friends... today stand and give their testimony of HEALING....  One of them had had this problem for 21 years.  I cannot comprehend.  Our God has done a most precious and intimate thing for these women.  So today I stand in awe of a God who is committed to our healing.  His timing is different than ours... but He does not give up on us.  He is patient beyond our understanding.  He is UNDERSTANDING beyond our understanding.  Today I am reminded that He DOES heal.  He will HEAL.  Wait for Him.  Be strong, and take heart, and WAIT FOR THE LORD...

Mbinty

These pictures are old... but had to add them.  

Just because she is so darn cute!

It's 4 AM...

And I am blogging about all my secrets.  

Last year when I was in Africa, I tried to blog weekly.  This year, I am barely making it a monthly event, much to my dismay.  So when I finally get around to blogging, (usually in the wee hours of the night) it turns into a blogging spree of sorts.  

I went on a small holiday a couple weeks ago with my friend, Karoline.  We got off the ship for five whole days and stayed across town at the home of a friend who lives near the beach.  We did a whole lot of nothing, and it was fabulous.  We ate, and sat, and read, and talked, and walked on the beach, and napped.  

Sometimes you need a vacation after a vacation.  But this vacation was truly restful, and so I came back to the ship more rejuvenated than I would have even imagined.  It is amazing what a time of rest can do!  

"Godliness with contentment is great gain..."  

How often in life do we really feel content?  When Paul wrote of learning the "secret of being content in all circumstances," I wonder what he meant?  I wonder if I am learning the secret, at least in part...  Learning to be filled and satisfied by Christ alone.  Learning to look to Him in all things.  Learning that He gives richly of Himself.  Learning that His grace is sufficient.  Learning that if I am filled completely by Him, that the rest is just overflow. 

Perhaps this is life abundantly?  To always be filled, and to quite often be overflowing....

"Not that I have already obtained all of this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me..."  

There is a secret to that whole "life abundantly" that Christ spoke about when He walked on this earth.  Surely He saw the pain.  Surely he knew suffering.  And yet He spoke about life in abundance.  An abundance, that evidently sorrow doesn't deplete.  An abundance that evidently doesn't depend on things turning out right all the time.  Life from a Source that doesn't run dry. Life that even death can't steal away. Christ came, He lived, He suffered...He died.  And so, what "life" did he mean... if that is what His life on earth was like?  

And as we face suffering, and pain, and poverty and loss here... how do we point to a God who is Good?  How do we, with sincerity, testify of a God who is loving?  Perhaps part of the secret is in the pain.  Perhaps, God, in His infinite wisdom knows that we will never look up, if we are never in need.  So while I do not believe He sends the pain, perhaps He does allow it. And He meets us there.  In death.  In pain.  In loss.  In disappointment. 

At the end of ourselves, stands the cross.  

And a Savior.  

He died, and so we must too.  But He rose.  "The thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy, but I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly."  And so life is available to us, as well.  So look for Him there.  Where there is lack, where there is loss, where there is a void.  Please know there is One... and only One... who can meet you there.  

His name is Jesus.  

He lived, He suffered, He died.  He rose, He lives, He knows... you.  He loves you.  

"The Lord confides in those who fear Him..." 

There is a secret to contentment. There is a secret to life in abundance.  

And those the Lord loves are let in on the secret. 

He is the secret.

  

"Be still and know that I am God."

Receiving Rain

“It is a Spiritual rain that this song is singing about,” Cynthia, one of our ward translators, said to me.

Every Sunday, we gather in one of the hospital wards for church.  Patients, medical staff, translators, and anyone from the ship who wants to attend can come.  The ward was clearing out now after church, but the singing continued on:  

“It is raining, all around me....”

I have a plant back at home.  I left it with my mom when I left for Africa last fall.  It was a smaller plant, with cactus-like qualities.  Cactus-like in the sense of not needing much watering or tending to.  The perfect plant for me... I had kept it alive for two years already.  I was gone for about four months in total when I came back home and back to a house plant I hardly recognized.  Its thick round leaves were plump and green.  The plant overall was taller, which I found near miraculous since I don't think it had changed in height the entire two years that I had cared for it.  And here, just a few months had gone by, and it looked so... different.  So healthy.  So green.  

Clearly the plant did nothing different to itself in those few months.  Except receive the “rain” that was showered upon it (courtesy of mom and a watering can).  It took in what was poured out upon it. The result?  More life.  Fuller life.  Health.  Growth. 

When Cynthia made a point to tell me this song was about a Spiritual rain, I couldn't help but appreciate the picture that it gave me.  I thought of my little plant.  And I thought of my heart.  My plant received what was given to it, and it grew.  I sense a pouring out from the Lord right now... here in Liberia... in the heart of rainy season.  A Spiritual rain.

The way I see it, there is a lot of sowing, a lot of reaping, and a lot of roots in the soil of our hearts. 

What will we plant?

What will we uproot?  

And maybe, most importantly ... will we receive the rain?

It is raining

all around me

I can feel it

It's a lot of rain

I asked Jesus to send us more rain

Until we are filled

Until we are filled 

With a lot of rain

“For the soil which has drunk the rain that repeatedly falls upon it and produces vegetation useful to those for whose benefit it is cultivated and partakes of a blessing from God.  But if [that same soil] persistently bears thorns and thistles, it is considered worthless and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.”  Hebrews 6:7-8

You Are Not Alone

Sometimes life has themes.  I find myself saying a couple of phrases lately.  

To my patients:  "Don't be afraid."  

To some of my crew mates, a different phrase:  "You are not alone."  

People have said these things to me before when I really needed to hear them.  Jesus said them to people a lot. 

We need to hear them, because they are true, and we need to speak and hear the truth from each other.  

So if you need to hear today that you don't need to fear, and that you are truly not alone, here is one of my favorite reminders...

You Are Not Alone

Sometimes you get so weary

You run to forget

Keep yourself so busy 

Anything to cover up that

Sometimes life just don't make sense

And the reason for your running

Is a longing to be known

Someone who says your life is worth it

Someone captured by your heart

Someone you gave up on long ago

You are not alone

You are not alone

His love is all around

And He holds you even now

You are not alone

He will not leave you orphaned

That's a promise He has made

When others leave you empty 

When the world has left you broken

Still He will not walk away

So come and lay down all your questions

Lay down your striving to be free

He has loved you since you've breathed

He will love you for forever

Really what more do you need

--Kate Hurley

**Picture by Alirae:).  Steph, thank you for sharing truth with me.  Let's keep standing.