for nothing is impossible with God

I was recently challenged to step out in faith in the midst of fear. I’d been accepted into a 2-week, 80-hour intensive course (how to coach language learners) that would be taking place away from home. The Lord had prompted me to apply and then He quickly provided the funds. I knew I was supposed to attend the course, but I became terrified when I saw the actual schedule. I didn’t believe that there was any way I’d be able physically survive the two weeks of 12+ hour days! However, someone from my house church encouraged me with something the Lord had told him when he was anxious, “You’re afraid because you’re imagining your future with Me.” This strengthened my resolve and confidence! I didn’t have to be able to do this on my own – if the Lord had called me to it, He would equip me with the energy I needed.

There were some hard moments and I definitely felt pretty tired at times, but the Lord gave me the grace, energy, and sleep that I needed to successfully complete the two weeks! I am overwhelmed with gratitude to have yet another example of His faithfulness in my life. “For nothing is impossible with God. (Luke 1:37)”

a quick update/letter to my brothers and sisters in Christ

I had the privilege of starting the year 2020 on the lovely beaches of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico as a part of the family reunion for my mom's side of the family. This was a really special gathering of the 15 siblings (my mom is the youngest) and their respective families. Our last reunion had been in December 2009, so this gathering was long overdue! It was wonderful to see family who live in MX who I hadn't seen since the last reunion. I even met a few of my youngest first cousins for the first time. There were 103 of us at the reunion - this isn't even the whole family!

To be honest, I don't know everyone on my mom's side of the family (so many family members in remote parts of Mexico). This has made me reflect upon the even bigger Kingdom family that you and I are a part of. I haven't had the pleasure of meeting all of you, but I want you to know that I am so grateful that you are a part of my global family. I am thankful for you and for the lives you are impacting, in your home and in your communities. So, may you begin this new year and decade knowing that you are loved and appreciated by me and especially by Him who created you.

South Africa reflection

I just returned to Kansas City from Cape Town, South Africa. It was so special to me to be able to meet many of the workers that I've corresponded with for 3+ years for the first time and to reconnect with others who I hadn't seen in a while. I'm still just in awe of the way that God answers our prayers. I had asked people to pray that I would have the stamina to make it through the travel and the long days; I did take one morning off to rest, but I made it! What a good Father! He gave me a supernatural measure of grace to make it through 12+ hour days when I often struggle to make it through my 7 or 8 hour days here.

On a deeper level, the Lord also reminded me about my absolute need to rely on Him, that I don't always need to be in control. I realized that I had been trying so hard to "recover" in my own strength and that it's okay and even good for me to not be able to do everything. This has been a challenging lesson for me to learn, especially since I'm a (recovering) perfectionist and tend to hold myself to unrealistic standards.

40 day wilderness fast

This is a busy time for most of my office as we prepare for our gathering in South Africa as well as for the training we'll be holding almost immediately upon our return in October. It has been especially exciting for me to watch how God has provided the finances for me to be able to go to South Africa, often from the most surprising sources! During this time of preparation, I've found it easy to get lost in the busyness, but I've chosen to join my church as they go through a 40-day "wilderness fast," to surrender distractions, comforts, and conveniences in order to experience a greater hunger and thirst for God's presence.

I've chosen to fast from social media (Instagram & Facebook), games on my smartphone, all streaming shows, and purchasing anything that I don't need. I didn't realize how distracted I'd allowed myself to become until I removed these distractions. The timing of this fast seems to be providential, as I can imagine that I'd be relying on distractions instead of prayer to help me get through the stress of preparing for this trip, which will be my first significant international trip in over 10 years! Without these distractions and conveniences, I have enjoyed being mindful and intentional in how I spend my time: reading books, journaling, and pausing before purchasing something. I've found peace in having more time to mentally and spiritually prepare for each day, and I've even been sleeping better (most nights). I'm so grateful that I've had the opportunity to do another season similar to Lent earlier this year. I'm realizing that I would like to incorporate fasting on a more regular basis in order to realign my actions with my desired priorities.

I hope that your habits are aligned with your priorities and if not, that you have a chance to make the needed changes.

progress

Many of you have asked for updates on my health. My most recent MRI in June was "stable" again, not showing any areas for concern. This means that I will continue to have my MRI appointments every four months for now. I have also recently tapered off a medication that I had taken for two years, so that's progress!

I am in a good place in life right now, full of hope and joy. This past month I had a chance to go to Half Moon Bay, California for several days to meet up with seven of my college girlfriends (and some of their spouses and children!). The eight of us hadn't all been together in ten years! It was a healing experience for me because I had felt like I was missing out on so many opportunities over the past several years due to health limitations (not being able to travel, limited income, other uncertainties). I'm even looking forward to gathering with some of my organization's worldwide friends later this year in South Africa! I couldn't have even considered this two years ago when I was doing monthly chemotherapy treatments. I'm so grateful for the progress and the Lord's goodness every step of the way!

Thanks for following along on my journey. I hope that you've also taken the time to witness the Lord's care and goodness in your own story.

photo highlights from august & september!

Labor Day weekend: I went out to Sacramento/Santa Rosa for my cousin's wedding. Horacio is one of the cousins I'm closer to on my mom's side (out of the 36 cousins). He's the one who came to my college graduation and my brother Michael's high school graduation. In this pic, I'm about to read 1 John 4:7-19 in Spanish! (this was funny because my cousin, Javi, read this in English even though he grew up speaking Spanish)

Because my work is awesome and gave everyone a free week of vacation for meeting our fundraising goal, I took off straight from Cali to visit my good old friends in Arizona. It was a great week of relaxing, going to the lake, hiking in Sedona, going spelunking for the first time ever, and hiking a bit of the Grand Canyon (pictured above). I've been friends with Lauren and Vicki since 2nd grade!

The very next weekend, Lauren flew out to KC for something that fell through, so she ended up spending most of the weekend with me, even though we had just spent the previous week together in AZ. Photo: we are eating breakfast together on the Plaza.

The following weekend my roommate and I finally hosted our Housewarming Fiesta, only four months after we had moved in! We had some really crazy weather, so it was not as well attended as we had hoped, but at least we finished decorating our home!

Kansas and Missouri are looking beautiful and the weather is getting crisp. I've been obsessed with all things autumn, so I convinced my brother, Joseph, to come do a corn maze with me a couple weekends ago. It was pretty amazing!

Last week I had the wonderful opportunity to take these lovely ladies that I tutor to their first ever Royals' game. We didn't really care about the baseball being played and instead talked about which players were cute and took a bunch of silly pictures.

On Saturday, I spent the whole day with my Little Sister. We made a pizza from scratch (the first time either of us had done this), baked chocolate chip pumpkin muffins (picture above), and watched the Princess Diaries. We also had some great conversations about love, her pregnancy, and even faith. I love her!