Never too late for Thanks!!

          In the craziness of November I never got the chance to write down all the things I am thankful for, so despite the fact that we are well into the Christmas season, I’m going to rewind for a bit!

          I love the end of the year -and the beginning and middle :) - but I really love the end because it gives me a chance to look around, reflect on the happenings of the past year and spend some time with the Lord-thanking Him for all the provisions and blessings He laid upon me that I would never have given thought to if I didn’t take a moment to stop running.

          2012 has been quite the year. That is an understatement, it has been the best and hardest and most wonderful year of my life. It started with the loss of my special grandmother, included some humbling provision of the Lord through all of you, the birth of a sweet niece, a proposal by the man I love, the realization of an incredible dream of loving kids on Eleuthera, the ups and downs of life as a missionary, storms, parties, struggles, joys and about a million other amazing things that God has blessed me with this year! They are not all the most fun thing, in fact some were horrible…but they all worked together to create the year where I have had to hold close to Jesus in a way I never understood before…and in that, He who works all things to the good of those who love Him, did just that!

          I am thankful for the births and deaths this year because it reminds me of the gift my life is and that when this one ends the next will be even better!! I’m thankful for times when God released an overflow of provision and times when the money wasn’t there because it reminds me that He is all I need and all I need He will provide! I’m thankful for times where I was lonelier than I thought possible and time when I felt more loved than ever because it reminds me that God is both always enough and created us for intimate relationships which He, in His grace, brings us to and blesses! I’m thankful for my new Bahamian friends and the kids I get to share life with here-I have never been more humbled by my inadequacy to love them as they deserve to be loved nor by how far that simple broken love can go when the Lord uses it!!

          Everyday, the rest of our lives, Ben and I will be thankful for the fact that God has allowed us, along with many of you, to be a part of His very special plan for the people of Eleuthera! That He gave us the chance to depend on each other and Him in a way we’ve never had to do before…and that above all else He came at Christmas time because He loves us desperately and was willing to give His life away so that we (a broken people) could have the privilege of an intimate relationship with our Lord. Thankful doesn't even begin to cover it!

          If you are like me and haven’t taken a real timeout to reflect and thank God for his hand in your life this year…take some time today or tomorrow to do it! You may just find the Christmas season a little sweeter because of it!

Messy, Crazy, Beautiful Life!

The Lord is good!...and faithful, and merciful and loving and about a million other truly wonderful things! I am so thankful for the prayers ya’ll have been lifting up on our island’s account – He has heard them and honored them…let me tell you how!!

Last week we began leader training at Windemere High School (insert loud cheers here!) with two teachers that are going to be leading Campaigners next semester for their high school! I am sooooo excited to watch the Lord’s faithfulness in this. Pray that we have awesome training time and that this couple falls more in love with the Lord through their own involvement with Young Life- that they will then have more to share with kids!

Last week we also had our first club time at the school! Because of the distance between the settlements and the fact that the kids don’t have much mobility outside of the school bus, we have decided to do Campaigners (small groups) by settlement (so 6 different Campaigner’s groups for Central High School) and club during lunchtime at the school! The club situation has been one we have been praying for and studying and trying to figure out the best way to arrange it so the maximum number of kids would have the option to come. Then two Mondays ago at my girls’ choir performance I met a teacher, Shalini, who is very passionate about these kids and loves the Lord. She offered to let us meet in her room (Room 11) on Fridays to have club! I think she would make an incredible leader, pray that she gets a great introduction to Young Life and that as we get to know each other better, I would know that she’s a good fit and she would see the Lord in what we’re doing and be open to being even more involved with it!

I also got to brave my first hurricane on the island the week before last-my kids say I’ve got my “Storm-cred” now, haha! It was just Allie and I in the back room of my house and, while it was not an experience I really want to repeat again, there is something beautiful about knowing that the only thing there was to do was snuggle up with Allie in the dark and pray my heart out. There in an intimacy with the Father that only comes when you feel a desperate, tangible need for Him and His power and comfort-what a blessing for me to be allowed to see my need for Him this way! In the midst of the storm (literally) I found peace the only place it really exists, with Him! Pray with me this week for that same peace to make the way into the hearts of our brothers and sisters up north that are still dealing with the aftermath of that same storm!

Also hurricanes have an effect on the bonding of people, when there’s no power, people don’t go to school or work, everyone sits outside and visits. I met more new people after the hurricane than in the past four months combined!!! You guys had been praying for real friends for me and that is one of the ways I see the Lord answering prayers distinctly right now! I have a family that I am real true friends with on Spanish Wells! Amy and Michael have four adorable kids, and are here working with the Haitian Refugee camps. They get it. It is such a blessing to be with them, their sweet love and trust in the Lord shines in their life and their familiar culture makes their home a restful place when I get to make it over there. Also I have gotten to spend some time with Pam and Gregory’s daughter, Amy. She and her husband Paul are just a couple years older than Ben and I and are Bahamian, but feel very familiar from their extensive time in American culture. Amy is funny, funny, funny and I am so excited to get to know them better!!

God is good to me beyond all I could ask or imagine. We still have struggles, I have a lot of fundraising to do this December before I can come back and continue the work we have begun here, it’s still hard to be away from my fiancé at this point in our lives, and I am still being humbled everyday by how much I still have yet to learn about life here…but it’s not overwhelming. When God is in the center of all of it, the struggles mix in with the blessings and what comes out is a messy, crazy, beautiful life that we are learning to love more and more everyday. Thank you for praying with us, for loving us, for loving this island and walking with us as we continually build this ministry and attempt to create a “life-well lived” among the people we’re here to serve! 

September Updates!!

This post starts the beginning of a new blogger!! One who posts alot, shares more about her life and ministry, and attempts to share this journey with you guys on a more regular basis...hold me to it!!

This past month started with a visit from my husband-to-be. And it was wonderful! Everyone knew he was coming and people stopped us all over to meet him! His birthday was Sunday and we celebrated with a 3 hour back-to-school church service and a thunderstorm that kept us in, instead of the birthday dinner plans I had (no worries the storm cleared a couple days later and an awesome dinner out happened!)

We planned his coming with the start of school so he got to go with me to meet with teachers, administration and welcome the students to school with brownies...brownies that we made at 4am so they'd be warm, yum!!

The rest of the week included lunch with a friend and her son, spending time with a missionary family on Spanish wells who is here working with the Haitian refugee camps, introducing Ben to the people and places he hadn't gotten to visit when he moved me in and figuring out yet more of the logistics of our new life!

At the risk of being ridiculous, I have to take a moment to say, life is better with Ben here. Not only does he solve the loneliness factor, but it is just easier to deal with life here when there is someone to tackle it with. I knew that would be true in my head but it is really something to see God's faithfulness in this area play out. I knew I loved that man but I didn't realize how perfectly God designed us to fit together so that we do His will with more ease, effectiveness and grace...I can't wait to share my life with him!

The next week I was stateside for a Staff Conference in Virginia. While all of the training and information was really helpful, what moved me to tears was the worship. And then it hit me...that was the only time since I left and probably the only time til I come home for the holidays that I would get to  worship the Lord in a room of believer's that had a faith that looked like mine. Now don't get me wrong, my church here is amazing and their worship is powerful, but it's still foreign and there is something sweetly comforting and moving about a roomful of people singing praise songs you grew up with in an accent and manner that you share. A later blogpost will be needed to explain those thoughts, but for now all that needs to be said it that is was exactly what I needed!

I got to finish the time stateside with Ben and our families, a touch of wedding planning and surprise appearance at one of my best friend's engagement party. Thank you Lord for sweet time at home!

The next few days were a whirlwind of getting my long-awaited work visa, visiting with our Young Life group in Freeport and a first meeting with a couple of rockstars in Nassau that are going to begin a Young Lives ministry . The Lord is moving!

The couple of weeks I have been back on island have been full steam ahead! Between opening the new ministry in Nassau, settling into a school routine and continuing to get the leadership on Eleuthera together, there hasn't been much time to sit and catch up.

Some big things that the Lord put on my heart this month were following through doors that He opens and creating a life well lived outside of ministry (sustainability).

Being sensitive to the Lord's direction is something I have had on our prayer requests for a while and I can tell you guys are placing that before the Lord because He is working on me. Ministry flows better when I don't blunder ahead but take time to stop and pray and listen. Many of you may be like "duh Sarah", but I can tell you honestly I am STILL learning this DAILY. Is a frustrating process but the Lord is using it to refine me for His work and for that I am very grateful.

As far as creating a life well lived: Alot of people that I trust and admire have sought out time to ask me what life outside of ministry looks like...almost as if they already know my answer. For now there isn't really such a thing. I am struggling to put up good boundaries and find genuine friends, things that are necessary for sustainability in ministry and frankly, peace and joy in daily life. This is a huge part of what God and I are working through in my time with Him and your prayers on it will be much appreciated. Specific things to pray for would be one or two friends that are in the same stage in life as me with the same faith...its amazing what you can conquer when you have someone to share it with and that is something I am realizing I definitely need here.

With that life-well-lived, I have also been advised to not discount the toll that being engaged while in two separate countries/cultures with a sketchy skype connection can be having, whether I want to admit it or not. Please pray with Ben and I as we do our best to honor God's call to each other and this huge step of marriage in the same way that we are honoring this difficult call to ministry here! That I don't ever put the second above the first, which has been a tendency, but to seek God's directing in our engagement and marriage the same way I would in ministry, knowing that family comes first and then we approach this call to ministry together. Pray that priorities and practicalities line up with the Lord's will for us this year!!

Whew, a whirlwind view of ministry and life which reflects the whirlwind of things in my heart right now. Ben and I loved walking through the good, bad and crazy parts of life and ministry with you guys and we are more thankful for your prayers and support than you would ever know.

This ministry would not be possible without the part each of you play in it and I can't think of people I am more excited to be in it with than you guys surrounding us now!

A Different Way to Battle!

You know those days when you feel like everything is a battle? Everyone knows what I mean, the weeks when you've had everything pile up and you feel like a very, very tired little warrior? Well this is where I woke up today. The battles I'm fighting now include still working carefully with immigration, the appropriate responses to hurricane season both for ministry and safety, a budget reevaluation that leaves me needing to raise about double what we're working with and missing Ben, my family and all of you that I love! 

The kids are pretty much all off-island getting school stuff together and ready, leaving me with a week to do some much needed cleaning, laundry and catching up on emails!! Great right...no, it's been a looooooong week encountering and uncovering each of the battles I told you about above. I finally woke up this morning, stressed and heavy from a week of trying to figure out how to beat all of these things, knowing that something had to give...

Today I choose to battle a new way-by praising Him! Yep that right...by laying down my armor and worshiping my Savior!! Let me explain:

I have found a church that I love, mainly because it is made up of broken people like me trying to do the best they can with what they have been given. When I'm there I'm not the new, young, sort-of-different white girl that I feel like alot of the time. When I'm there I'm just a broken girl with a love for her Lord, and impossible dreams to change the world for Him, and I'm in the company of others who want the same thing. Our pastor is very real with us and calls us to impossible things, recently those have included praising Him when you're broken and battling and don't really feel like it.

Well today I switched from my battle stance and gave this a try instead...and I can't stop!!

It doesn't matter that immigration doesn't want to make it easy for me to be here...Jesus fought death for my sake.

It doesn't matter that the storms will come and we have to deal with them as they do..."Who is this man that even the winds and the waves obey Him?"

It doesn't matter that we have more fundraising to do than I know what to do with...God provides all our needs in His own way and His own timing, "God himself will provide the lamb"

As soon as I turned my heart to praise Him, things change, mountains of stress and anxiety are moved, and all that's left is this girl with her arms open wide, loving Him and loving these people He has called me to!

Try it...right where you are, take a break from the battle, remember the Gospel-the victory that is already ours, remember how loved you are by the One that matters most...remember why we're here-to praise Him!!!

...you may just find that when the battle picks back up, you have the strength and confidence you need to face it head on!!!

Beautiful Promises

“Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah was He had promised.” ~Genesis 21:1

Ben and I are reading through Genesis right now and one of the things that we are noticing most is that God is always faithful to his promises, and in Genesis He makes a lot of them! Almost all the stories we are reading are about God calling people, people trusting Him in really hard things and God doing great things in and through their lives.

We have a chance to live this now. We really believed God has called us to this, He has promised us great things- that kids here will get to know and love Him in a new beautiful way- if we will lay down our lives and let Him work…and we’re trusting Him because we know His promises are good. It’s not adequate but I want to thank all of you for your prayers and support and walking with us as we follow Him!

Some updates:

The last couple weeks with the Raleigh girls here have been wonderful! Hope and McRae left about 2 weeks ago and Anna left Tuesday. They not only were a familiar comfort to me as I am meeting people and settling in here but they were a wonderful reminder of what it looks like to love people across age, racial, cultural and economic boundaries. We met tons of friends and everyone was sad to see them go because they had loved so well. We were at a bonfire Monday (Anna’s last night) and my friend Tammy looked at her and said to me, “I didn’t think it was possible but I think she may fit in as well or better than you even did when you first came here!!” I love watching these girls that I have seen grow up embrace the idea that God loves all and watch as they live that out in where ever He places them, our God is a global God and I think we are understanding that better than ever now!

I want ya’ll to know people here, so I decided I would give you a couple of my new friends each week to be praying for and this week there is a group of 5 girls going into grade 9 that I can’t wait for ya’ll to meet! They are all amazing girls, and I've only just scratched the surface of knowing the incredible young women that they are and will be! We come from different cultures and different places but we laugh at the same things and most days that's what friendship looks like!! So without further ado:

Keitra is my neighbor across the street. She loves me well and has come to hang with me and check on me every day! I prayed for a friend here and she has really become that! She’s seen my tears when friends leave, laughed with (and at) me as I fumble through life here, and met all of my family and some friends over skype. She is also coming to my wedding (and helping plan it), we’re already looking at plane tickets! Her grammy owns the ice cream shop in the settlement that has the best Rum Raisin ice cream ever!

Nija lives a couple houses behind me, on the way to the cliffs behind my house. She works for my friend (her aunt) Pam and is one of the most adventurous girls I have met here. She and Anna were two peas in a pod, jumping from the tallest cliffs, swimming til they were exhausted and laughing through it all. For all of my friends from college who know what I mean what when I say that she has my “scream” down pat…you should hear it, it’s uncanny!

                                          (No picture yet!)

Nell is my next door neighbor, her mom Rebecca is another friend of mine. Nell has actually been in Nassau the last couple months that I have been here so I haven’t met her in person yet, but our facebook chats lead me to believe that we will be great friends. I mean, she likes Say Yes to the Dress and that may or may not have been all that my roommates and I watched our junior year of college!!

Lisa is actually the only one that doesn’t live in our settlement, she lives about 30 minutes away in JC. But she is actually the reason I was introduced to the other four in the first place! She is spunky and loves to listen to music. She is off island now til school starts and I miss her! Her cousin is dating one of my closest friends down here, Valencia and that’s how we met in the first place.

And finally, Ashley is Lisa’s best friend and a beautiful girl inside and out! She likes to laugh and is very sweet to be around. She is involved with the Catholic church here and her relationship with her big sister Travante reminds me a lot of me and Emily growing up. Her boyfriend Shawnie is also in high school with them and they are so stinkin cute/fun together!

A couple weeks ago I was broken up thinking about the work permit trouble (which is being processed as we speak, yayyy) and all these plans unraveling, now looking back and spending time with these friends and others, I can’t believe I ever doubted God’s hand in this timing. I’m holding my time, relationships, finances, plans and heart in open outstretched hands and God is putting them together in a way I could never have planned for or dreamed of…what an incredible God we serve-I trust His promises!!

Roses and Thorns

As of today I have officially been in Eleuthera for one month! I have been so blessed during that month to meet incredible people and learn many things about life and ministry on this island.

This month has been wonderfully hard, and there’s no better way to put it. Wonderful because through all the really, really hard facts of living life and doing ministry here, God is breaking my heart and my plans and drawing me closer to Him and His.

As I was preparing for what to share with ya’ll today, my amazing fiancé called me out on being genuine. After having walked through this month with me and seen the many thorns among the roses, he challenged me to be genuine with those people that have loved and supported me the most, so here it goes.

I love meeting people here, they are so friendly and kind and willing to hang out with me…yet at the same time I’m realizing that I haven’t earned the right to scratch beneath the surface yet. A few friends that I’ve had for a long time are praying with me here and coaching me through it but this part is hard. Like in any community across the world, people want to know that you care and are invested in them before they let you in, and that is going to take a lot longer than a month or so here.

I’ve gotten to meet girls that I absolutely adore, that I want to love and be friends with and walk to Christ with, but for some right now I am no more than a comfortable house, with food and wifi-a place to hangout in! And that’s ok. I am learning what it means to set boundaries for things I thought were a given and what it means to form friendships across cultures. I am also learning to laugh at new jokes, not squint my eyes in pain when they plait my hair and brave new adventures that I never even imagined! God gave me a heart for these high school kids a long time ago and I am loving getting to know their names and their stories.

I am here to love and serve a country and people that I adore, but we have run into a few road blocks. We are still in the process of getting a work visa for me to be here, a process that I’m told takes two months each time you resend everything. August 7^th the man who is handling my visa stuff will send all the new forms in and we will wait. Now that didn’t not seem to be a problem at first because they have been very willing to allow me to stay by extending my “trip” time each month until it comes in and just continuing our work until then. However, when I went there yesterday I was told that without a work visa I cannot legally start ministry with Young Life.

Of all the hard things and the setbacks up til now, this was the most crushing of all. In order to not put myself or the ministry in jeopardy, this means no Young Life Camp, this means no Campaigners, this means no Club or YL leadership training or any form of Young Life Ministry meeting or work until they give me permission to start.

I came home and cried my eyes out, talked to Ben, my family and advisors and finally realized that though I am not accepted, not allowed to plant “Young Life” yet, not able to put on this incredible camp that I and so many others have prayed for and worked so hard on.. it’s not illegal for me to love people, and that’s all I really came here to do anyways.

So til the government sees fit to let me work, that’s what I am going to do. I am going to hang out with these high school friends I’ve met and meet new ones. I am going to dive into my church here and become an integral part of the work God is doing in that place. I am going to get to know people my age and learn what life here is really like for Bahamians, life behind the postcards and even behind the short mission trips.

And I am going to love, fiercely and unconditionally every moment they let me stay on this island.

I think it goes without saying that Ben, my family, my directors and I covet your prayers as we walk this new road that God has brought us to. We will be faithful and we know, without a doubt, that God always is.

And so it begins...

Wow...That's the only word I can think of to sum up these last couple week, and it's completely inadequate.

I had a great last month in the states! First there was a week of incredible Cross-cultural training in Colorado Springs with Young Life staff heading all over the world! 

Next came time at home with friends and family and our annual "big" family beach trip (think 50 ppl, 20 kids under 10 and a whole whole lotta love in one house)!

Then, BIGGEST NEWS OF ALL, two weeks ago yesterday my best friend and the love of my life asked me to be his wife...and I said yes! Yep that's right folks- next summer I am going to be Mrs. Sarah Starr!

My family threw me an incredible going away party where I was overwhelmed with love and support...what a humbling feeling to be surrounded by people that have loved you, thrown in their lot with you and walked with unshaking faith towards this vision God's given us...I really am so thankful for each and every one of you!

Last Wednesday morning I said goodbye to three of the people I love most in this world: Emily, John Michael and Anna. I have no words for that except that I love them more than they know.

 

Then my parents, Cameron and I flew out of Louisburg and headed for Nassau where we spent two days car shopping, getting insurance, my phone set up, etc. Let's just say that we were in the whirlwind of "big city" life...and we were all ready to get to Eleuthera!

Friday we picked Ben up from the airport in Nassau, my parents took the car over on the boat, and we all met that afternoon on this little island that I love! As soon as we got to my place, mom took over and we had everything wiped down, contacted-papered, unpacked and feeling more like home by 10 that night. In Gregory Town, the settlement that I live in, there is a celebration called the pineapple festival. It was that weekend so we went down to the dock and got some dinner from one of the booths and enjoyed the live Reggae music. It was a beautiful but overwhelming experience for my parents and Ben who were seeing everything for the first time.

The next couple of days til my parents and Cameron left Tuesday were spent introducing them to the people and island that I love and watching them recognize the hard parts, but come to love it just the same. Probably one of the best moments of the whole time was when we were riding in Pat's (the ferry driver) old pickup truck on Current island after just visiting the children's home mom was up front hanging on to Pat's every word about the history of the island and dad had his head thrown back laughing at one of the guys tell him about building on the island and Ben and I were just happily taking it all in...thank you Lord for preparing our hearts for Your goodness!

Tuesday I had to say good bye to my parents, I won't talk about it or I'll lose it but all I need to say is that I there could be no better two people to love and raise me in the world that the two that God gave me to!

Ben and I spent the next two days playing, dreaming about all the God is calling us to on the island and praying that we never forget how loved and blessed we are. Putting him on the plane yesterday was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. Though I know the year apart will be long, we both know our calling is first to the Lord and then to each other and that these plans he's given us will be perfect.

This morning I woke up and looked over at our puppy Allie and realized that we are making a home here. I ate pineapple from my neighbors garden, visited with Crystal the shop clerk and spent some much needed time with the Lord. These next three years are going to be quite the adventure and I am so excited to share this breathtakingly beautiful ride with every one of you!

What is impossible with God?

This blog post is long overdue, but since we’ve finished fundraising I have been sort of at a loss for the words to communicate all of the emotions that have come with it.

I have never been so overwhelmed with God’s goodness and faithfulness, and never been more grateful for the body of Christ-my family, friends and brothers/sisters in the faith-who have taken this mission as their own and laid down pieces of their lives for it…that kind of overpowering, humbling thankfulness is just really hard to communicate!

The best I can do is copy part of my journal that I wrote right after I got the news. We had just landed back in the States and I turned my phone on and got the email with the pledge that made us reach our goal! What does it feel like to be called by God to do something impossible, to be completely broken over how inadequate you are to do it and then to watch in complete amazement as the Lord does miracles and the very thing you called impossible isn’t any more? How do you respond to that? I’ll tell you- it includes lots of tears and phone calls and a whole lot of praising God in a way that makes the people around you think twice about getting on an airplane with you!!

           

May 12, 2012,

“Thankful, overwhelmed, joyful, disbelieving, in awe, fearful, excited, loved, supported, strengthened, humbled, broken, inspired-these are just a few of the things I am feeling right now.

In the last 48 hours I’ve found out that we have raised almost $170,000 in gifts and pledges, traveled to the island and back in a plane the size of my car, hugged old friends and met new ones, begun relationships with each of the three high schools, and I have once again fallen in love with this place and these people! God is good beyond all we imagine or deserve and I am willing to stand by and let God lead and change me every day of the rest of my life if it means being allowed to see God’s glory and faithfulness displayed in such a breathtaking way!

'Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?' –John 11:40

Now this doesn’t mean that this next part of the adventure is going to be easy, it’s going to be really, really hard. I am going to miss my family and friends more than I can imagine and desperately ache to be with Ben. But what it does mean is that God will meet me in that, the way he has done in the things I’ve described to you so far, and for all of my life! And that’s worth it…

This next month of preparation and goodbyes is going to be hard, but sitting here right now I know it is going to be nothing compared to the joy of walking side by side with the Bahamian youth into the arms of Jesus…I absolutely cannot wait!!”

A little of what we're learning :)

The Lord has been teaching us some really cool stuff and I just wanted to share!!

Ben and I are reading through Matthew right now and I feel like, though it is stuff I have read a million times, the Lord is showing it to me in a whole new light! The other night we were talking about Matthew 4, which could be an entire year of study in itself, but we really focused in on the part where Jesus calls his first disciples. We were drawn to it for obvious reasons but what stuck out to us the most was actually not the “Come, follow me” part, although no one can overlook that. What we were captivated by was how Jesus called them. The passage first tells us that the men were fishermen and then that Jesus calls them and tell them that he is going to teach them how to fish for men. He doesn’t tell them that he is going to rework their DNA and turn them into doctors to heal the sick, or lawyers to defend the unjust or even rabbi’s to teach the Scriptures, though he could have. No the God of the universe goes to these men, calls them to follow him and teaches them how to do that in their own language using their own profession.

And guess what…God still does this! Think about your gifts, your vocations. Are you the doctor at heart, maybe Jesus calls you to heal the physically sick and in addition teaches you to heal the spiritually sick you encounter. Are you the lawyer? Maybe Jesus calls you to defend the orphans and widows and at the same time to seek out injustice in your community and do something about it! Are you a teacher, do you love to see students learn? God might just be calling you to extend that passion into his work, the work of teaching people about himself and His goodness!

This gets me so excited!! How awesome that we have a God that doesn’t need us to accomplish anything, but chooses to bless us with strengths and gifts so that we CAN be a part of His work here on earth…what a privilege!!

Earlier this week we got to visit Ben’s parent’s small group as they were studying chapter 4 in the book Radical by David Platt (if you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it!). The point of this chapter is to remind us that we are called to a global purpose, to glorify God in all of the nations. I can’t sum it up better than he does in the chapter but basically the idea is that wherever you are, whatever you do, God commands us to think about the entire world and how you can extend His glory in it using the gifts, strengths and circumstances that He has given you. I love it because it wasn’t all, or even mostly, about people who picked up and moved internationally to share the gospel…it was about people who recognized that taking the gospel to the nations is not a calling for a few, but a commandment for all, and are reordering their lives, wherever they are, to obey Jesus.

This week I am really going to begin to check out what this can look like in every aspect of my life. From how I treat my family to the way I care for the physical world God has given us, from the way I relate to those in my immediate community to the way I can have an impact on the starving children of the world- there is a lot to do! How awesome that God gives us all the privilege and responsibility to be a part of it!!

As always I am praying and thanking God for each and every one of you! I’d love to be able to pray specifically for you all, email me at sarah.stewart89@gmail.com and let me know how I can do that!!

4 months to go!!

I am so blessed to share some exciting news with you...I have set a moving date!!!

I will be officially moving to the Island of Eleuthera on July 1st 2012....just over 4 months, woohooo! There are many reasons for this date but mainly it gives me the most time left to fundraise while still getting there in time to get on top of things for our first official Young Life camp the last week in August!!

Whew, how did we get here?!! God, that's how!! I have come to the realization (a couple of times actually) that I am in no way in control of what is happening here. Every time I think "oh, ok here's how we do this" the Lord smiles his all-knowing smile and takes me down a path of breath-taking, awe-inspiring wonder and I am left again wondering how I could ever think it would be in my own wisdom or strength that this would get done. Such is the season I am currently in.

After months of fundraising and careful thinking and planning of the future, I felt very convicted that I was not stepping out in faith as the Lord calls me to. Yes I had plans to, yes I was working on being able to, but somewhere deep down inside me I heard this voice saying, "Just trust me". Well I did, I prayed and listened and finally bought the ticket...and promptly freaked out!! In looking at my finances and where I am in my fundraising, you would have too! What a crazy thought that in 4 short months I would have the remaining $3200/month pledged and be ready to take the plunge of moving to this foreign country on my own...

The beautiful thing is that it is!! It is crazy! It's everything the world says is impossible but my bible is a much more precious source of wisdom to me and it says "NOTHING is impossible with God." (Luke 1:37) I am more sure that this mission is the Lord's than I have ever been of anything in my life. "If God be for us, who then can be against us?" (Romans 8:31). Since I set the date last Wednesday, the amount left has gone from $3200/left to $2650 left in five days...if that isn't the work of the Lord through His people...I don't know what is!

So as I am sitting here thinking about the future, I'm not worrying about getting there and not being able to eat or pay rent, I'm not worrying about how to get everything done. Instead I am sitting in complete awe of the Lord and the amazing adventure that He is calling all of us too!! I am humbled to walk in faithfulness and watch the Lord bring us all into His own story on Eleuthera!!

Galatians 5:6

As New Staff Training winds down and we begin the transition to the All-Staff Conference, I want to take a moment and just say “Wow” and tell you what an incredible God we serve and what an incredible ministry that He is using to further His Kingdom!

An explanation: New Staff Training is a two week (well 8 days this year) conference in which all the new staff nationally and internationally meet and are poured into and trained in the basics of Young Life. We have had some amazing men and women share their stories with us and tonight as we listened to our president Denny speak I realized what a rich, beautiful tradition the ministry of Young Life has. The temptation with this could be to claim this as our identity and ride on the coattails of those that have gone before us…but over and over again this week we got to see men and women who claim their identity, not in Young life but instead only in that they are a beloved of Christ. They “resolved to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2) and it is a beautiful and convicting thing to behold. Jim Rayburn, founder of Young Life, put it so perfectly when he said, “Jesus is not just what we’re about; He is ALL we’re about.”

One of the biggest things that the Lord has laid on my heart over and over again this week is the idea of "trust" and what that looks like in its purest form. I think I am incredibly guilty of trusting God as a means to an end, instead of simply resting in the arms of my Savior and allowing His love and peace to fill and lead me. In one of our seminary classes we talked about how Spiritual Disciplines are not the ways by which we make our faith and ministries work, instead they are the natural responses to a love so overwhelming that the worship and prayer and study just gush out of you without you being able to contain it! What a joy to live this way! Not to count your quiet times, or have a designated amount of time in the Word but instead to be so captivated by Jesus that we cannot help needing our daily dose or more of prayer, study, etc. Galatians 5:6 says “The only thing that counts is trust expressing itself through love”, and I want to claim this Truth in my own life.

As we’re given time to reflect on our call first to Christ and then to ministry I am again humbled by how trustworthy the Lord is and yet how untrusting my human heart is. I have been officially fundraising for three and a half months now and have one hundred percent of my start-up costs and about twenty five percent of my monthly budget raised…this is huge and means that God has showed up in some pretty incredible ways, through the hearts of many of you for this mission!

Before I can deploy (officially move down there) I have to have one hundred percent of my monthly budget pledged, which leaves me with about $3,000/month left. Before these past couple of days it was my tendency to approach this from a purely strategic viewpoint, for example find 30 people who can give $100/month, 15 people to give $200/month, 6 people who can give $500/month or some combination thereof. This sounds reasonable right, a very smart and resourceful way of thinking. Well I am here to tell you that the Lord cares neither for intelligence nor resourcefulness in this journey of fundraising. He is calling me to complete and utter abandonment of my own strength, pride and ideas and to have a complete trust in His perfect timing and way!

So tonight my plea is simple, please join me in setting this ministry before the very throne of God and trusting Him in a way that believes in big things. Prayer is a form of battle and I am asking you all to join me in it as we fight to trust God for this last $3,000/month. I have seen what prayer can do and I am so excited to see what the Lord does as we all battle and take up arms for the chance to have these broken and unloved kids to know the perfect love of Jesus! “That’s not just what we’re about, that’s ALL we’re about”.

Please shoot me an email (sarah.stewart89@gmail.com) and let me know how I can be praying for each of you! And if you are reading this and want to get involved as a part of my financial team, send me an email and we can find a time to talk about it!!

To end with, a verse my mom loves to share with me. “I thank my God every time I remember you!” Philippians 1:3. I do thank Him for each of you and the special part you have in building His kingdom!

The Passing of a Saint and the Start of a New Year

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6

I want to begin this by thanking you all for the incredible love and support that you have covered my family with these past couple of months. My sweet grandmother left us for the strong arms of Jesus the last day of 2011 and, as my dad and his brother and sister put it, “had the best New Years ever”. Though the past couple months have been a struggle, I am reminded of the promise and blessing we have in our Lord who is always and forever faithful. As David Beck, the pastor for her funeral, looked through her bible he uncovered the faith of this beautiful woman who knew that her place would be with Jesus forever, and she was ready!

One thing I will never forget is the morning we went to view my grandmother’s body, as the rest of it would be a closed casket. I can remember standing between Ben and Emily and really not wanting to go up there. As we came up to say our goodbyes to this woman who left us a legacy of laughs, basketball competitions and loving her family, my whole attitude changed…you see…that was not my grandmother in that casket! When we face death, I think we are so emotional that we forget the facts of our faith and simply try to cling desperately to any hope or comfort we can. That morning I can remember turning to Ben and saying, “oh yea…that’s not her is it?” it was like a light bulb clicked. My grandmother loved her Lord, our Lord, and because of God’s redemptive work, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Granny was with Him that very day in Paradise. Amen.

In our own understanding, death does not seem to make any sense. Why would a God who is so good and loves us so much allow something that causes such pain? In that moment I am realizing how small my faith is. How often do I cling with a vise-like grip to the shadow of living that this world consists of? The bible tells us that when our earthly lives are over, and we trust Jesus as our Lord, we get to come into His kingdom…and how much sweeter and more wonderful must be the Kingdom of God than the Kingdom of this earth? Lord give me a heart not to fear it, but to long for it!

So coming into a New Year I want to claim this verse for myself and those of you that wish to join me in it. My own understanding has failed and the Lord has shown me Grace and Love when those were the only things that made sense. There is much to be done in 2012, it is a year of mission and hope and great expectations! As we start the journey this year will take us on, I want profess my lack of understanding and claim the Truth that as we acknowledge the Lord in all our ways, He will provide the knowledge we lack and the Light for our path!