Gifts of Grace

Today we had a missions event at my church (Edenton Street UMC) called Gifts of Grace. It is an awesome thing that Renae (our missions coordinator) and her team have done for the past three years where different ministries and non-profits can come and tell their stories and then people can give Christmas donations to one of their choosing in honor of someone as gift! My grandparents have done this in their community every year and it is always one of my favorite presents to get that card that says "a child will have shoes this year in honor of my love for you"!! It's a gift and an idea that sticks with me long after the other presents have lost their shine!

I was invited to be a part of Gifts of Grace this year and it was such an incredible experience! First of all, being in the room with people around Raleigh who have such a vision for what it means to be the hands and feet of Christ in our world is humbling and encouraging!! Then also getting to talk to people I have grown up with and share the story God has written in my life for this season is such a gift. There is nothing more encouraging to me than to be able to share the story of what God is doing in Eleuthera with someone and have their face light up and them get excited about what is happening the same way I do!! For our table this morning, Martha Roberts put together gift cards that people could give for gifts for the holidays and we have plenty so if that is something you would be interested in, send me an email and I will get some of the cards to you!

On a similar note, I am finding that, though the processing of fundraising can be trying at times, the blessings that come out of it are absolutely beyond worth it: Today I came out of this event and opened an envelope from a friend that has helped me through this fundraising process and immediately dissolved into tears. It was an extremely generous donation, which was overwhelming in itself, but even more so because I know it was a gift of sacrifice from this friend because he believes in God's vision for this place and He feels called to be a part of it!

It's in those moments that I know that God has a far bigger plan than I could ever imagine for this island and it stretches way beyond what I, Sarah, can do. This is a picture of the body of Christ and what it looks like to walk into His will together, some being on the island, some being prayer warriors for the kids, and some giving sacrificially to make it possible. All parts are necessary and my friend's gift was a amazing reminder that we aren't doing this alone!!

Catching up!

It has been quite a while since my last blog post! I was going to wait to start updating this until I was actually on the island but as I am learning more and more what an adventure this stateside process is, I wanted to go ahead and get started now!!

In the seven months since I first posted, much has happened! May 8th I graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and moved back home to be with my family until I leave. Through August I worked as a nanny full-time for four wonderful kids and in September when they started school, I switched to working for a family closer to my house keeping a precious little now 8 month old 3 full days a week, leaving me two workdays for Young Life! The summer was such a sweet time for me to get to spend time with my family, Ben and my friends before the world got crazy again! We spent time up at the lake with family and weekends going to more weddings than I thought possible! I was in two beautiful weddings this summer for two of my best friends, Heather Stemler and Juliana Lipetzky. Ben and I even made some trips to Atlanta to catch up with some of my family and to see our Braves play!

Though this time has been sweet it has also been busy and a challenge. Right after graduation I went into the final staff application stage for Young Life staff which took about three months and then straight into my fundraising training with took about two months (we had to take a break while I was in the islands helping to organize relief after Hurricane Irene). This 5 month process brought us to the end of September when I got to take my first “Young Life” trip down to Eleuthera.

Scott, my regional director, has a close friend, who loves Spanish Wells (part of Eleuthera) and loves Young Life! Joe Eckman was generous enough to want to take us there to explore the idea of what Young Life could look like on the Island. It was a GREAT trip! There were many emotions and thoughts running around on the trip but none more wonderful than seeing my friends light up at the idea that this ministry was finally on the way to getting to their island!! At one point Scott looked at me and said that when he first saw this place he was like “there is no way we are sending her here by herself” and then to have him meet my friends and family on the island and see the ways the Lord has already gone before us in this and to look at me, know I’m not alone and say, “let’s get you here girl”…that was really an amazing turning point for all of us with this.

The biggest thing that Scott said, the same thing that Justin Morgan and many of my friends have said is “Why Eleuthera?” This season of discernment has given me the courage to answer that question: All I ever wanted when I grew up was to be a youth minister in Raleigh and to get married and have a family…my dreams really ended there. Now at this current crossroads guess what? It is all sitting right there on a silver platter: the perfect ministry job in Raleigh, my family all being around, the boy that I love and want a life with here and all of that is very good, I’ve realized that there is nothing bad about wanting all of those things. But here’s the thing…I know, clearer than I know anything, that God is calling me to bring this ministry to the youth on the island and not accepting that and living into that call is not an option for me. These kids need what the ministry of Young Life will bring them and I am constantly reminded of what a privilege it is for the Lord to allow us to be a part of His will there!

When we got back from the trip I began the fundraising ministry in full-force! This has been the biggest challenge yet, but it has been an awesome one as well. It is not everyday that you get to invite someone to join you in planting and supporting a ministry that will change hearts and lives (and the world) for Christ!

And that is the update, what we did over the summer, what we have begun this fall and what we are continuing now. In my next post I am going to share our vision and goals for the ministry with you, so make sure you check for it!

As always I cherish your prayers and I would love to hear from you if you want to know a bit more about what is going on and how you can get involved. My info is on the side of this page, feel free to contact me whenever and I look forward to talking to you!!