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Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Equipped by God

As I sit in the quiet, I cannot help but notice the deafening tick of the clock on the wall. I sit here writing, just ten short days from departing on an adventure to Australia for a month. An adventure I am hardly prepared for. To get to Australia I have to raise some crazy amount of dollars that hits right above five thousand. I have half of that. But hey, God provides and I fully trust that I will get there. (Though, even in my trust, my stomach aches a little every time I think about it because I am human…) What I am really thinking about, though, is how prepared I am spiritually for this missionary journey. My mind tells me that I haven’t read my bible enough, I’ve worked the last three Sunday mornings, and that I am generally underprepared to sit with someone and share with them how Jesus changed my life and how He should change theirs. I feel unimpressive and underprepared. To be honest with you, I feel a little useless…

But in the midst of these emotions, as the clock ticks away the moments until my adventure begins, I am reminded that this is not a trip about me. This is a trip about the 1.8 million people living in Perth, Australia. It is about the college students there that have never really had God explained to them. It is about opening myself up to be used and equipped by the Spirit. You see, God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called. What I mean by that, is that I wasn’t called because I am anything spectacular. I was called because I am open and desire to be used in ways that are spectacular. So when I feel useless, I remember that it’s not about me. It’s about God and what He can do. I am merely a vessel. If I believe one thing about my God it is that He is capable of doing unprecedented things. He is miraculous. He is awe-inspiring. He is big, and He will do big things through my team and I if we simply ask Him to. I want students to come to Christ so much, and God wants that for His lost children even more. 

So who am I to let myself believe I am useless? If I have faith in the God I am going to tell about, then I have faith that He will use me in exactly the way He desires. 


“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Psalm 139:14


“Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me, ‘Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.’” Jeremiah 1:9

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

He First Loved Us

I work at Elmbrook Church and I was reading through some of our new material that we are using in our Life Group Bible Studies. While I was reading from our new “Rooted and Released Study Guide,” I read this passage:

In 1990, Robertson McQuilkin, the president of Columbia Bible College, knew he needed to make a decision about his career. The school needed him 100 percent, and his wife, Muriel, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease almost ten years earlier, now needed him 100 percent. In the end, Robertson said, “The choice to step down from my position was an easy one for me to make.” Perhaps the best explanation can be found in the letter he wrote to the Columbia Bible College constituency to explain his decision:
...recently it has become apparent that Muriel is contented most of the time she is with me and almost none of the time I am away from her. It is not just “discontent.” She is filled with fear—even terror—that she has lost me and always goes in search of me when I leave home. So it is clear to me that she needs me now, full-time...
The decision was made, in a way, 42 years ago when I promised to care for Muriel “in sickness and in health…till death do us part.” So, as I told the students and faculty, as a man of my word, integrity has something to do with it. But so does fairness. She has cared for me fully and sacrificially all these years; if I cared for her for the next 40 years I would not be out of her debt.
Duty, however, can be grim and stoic. But there is more: I love Muriel. She is a delight to me—her childlike dependence and confidence in me, her warm love, occasional flashes of what wit I used to relish so, her happy spirit and tough resilience in the face of her continual distressing frustration. I don’t have to care for her. I get to! It is a high honor to care for so wonderful a person.

What an amazing thing to do for someone else: to sacrifice yourself and your desires to better love someone else. Robertson gave up his career to care for his wife and with a joyful attitude about it to boot! Robertson said that this decision was an easy one to make. If I were to put myself in his shoes and were faced with the decision to care for a person I love dearly as they slowly regress into oblivion or to distance myself and focus my mind elsewhere, I must say that some distance from that pain would be easier. So why is it that Robertson said caring for his wife would be easier?

1 John 4:16 says, “God is love.” 1 John 4:19 says, “We love because He first loved us.” These passages ensure that we are capable of love because God’s love preceded us. Before iPhones, before ice cream, before social media, before your boyfriend/girlfriend/best friend, before you or me, before the world… God loved. He created us with the ability to love Him in return, which made Him love us exponentially more than He already did (which was already more than you or I could ever imagine). If that’s hard to comprehend, think about it this way… I love my dog and I love my mom. My dog arguably loves me, but she will also wag her tail and get excited for any random stranger with a working hand to pet her and a treat in hand. My mom on the other hand, loves my sisters and I with a completely different love. Yes, she loves her friends, but given the choice between all her friends or me, I know she would choose me every time. So even though I love my dog, Bella, a ton, I would pick my mom over her because my mom can express her love to me in a multitude of ways and I can do the same for her. It is a love without conditions. Now imagine that in the context of God. Our love cannot even compare to the unique love He feels for each an every person. In fact, He loves us so much that He sent His only Son to die for us in the most painful way possible. That day on the cross is when sacrificial love began. That is why Robertson could say with utmost confidence that caring for his wife was the easier choice…because his life was rooted in the One who gave him the capability to love sacrificially in the first place. God.


As Elmbrook Church begins our series entitled “Rooted and Released,” I am reminded of how much fuller my life is when I root myself in God first and foremost. When I allow myself to be in awe daily of his goodness, I allow myself the desire to be more like Him…the desire to root myself in Him first and let everything else come second. Twelve days into the New Year of 2016, I have decided on a resolution that I know I can complete: to daily root myself in the Lord. Whether that be through worship or reading my Bible or listening and reflecting on a sermon, I choose to daily be rooted in Him.

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Fields of Grace

How does one combat the struggles and trials of life with hope all of the time? I mean I am a pretty optimistic person, but there comes a point. Especially in a relationship when you shove two different people together and tell them to make it work and love each other and never fight or struggle. As a young twenty something girl with many boys that have entered and exited my life without sticking around for long, it just doesn’t add up. How are you supposed to trust that a relationship will last forever? How do you put all your eggs in one basket and believe in love till death does you part? I can’t seem to wrap my head around it. Some would say it’s because I’ve never loved someone like that. I disagree. As a girl that loves with a Christ-like love, and human ferocity I can certainly tell you love isn’t hard for me. It’s keeping that same love around for a lifetime that boggles my mind. I mean look at the divorce rate and all the struggling marriages out there. I’m sure plenty of people reading this can relate to the fact that their parents’ marriage is not always a happy one. All parents have to fight or struggle at some point. We’re human. It’s inevitable. This is how my brain operated, until a week ago. I viewed marriage as a lasting, but kind of unrealistic commitment. Then I wrote this article…

“Elmbrook Church has been a real blessing to us,” said Jarett Fields who has been attending Elmbrook with his wife, Kisa, and two children for about two years. The couple began attending after an invite from a friend, but no one could have foreseen the amazing work of the Holy Spirit occur within them and their marriage through this church and staff. 
The Fields were married three years ago, and began life together. The roads of married life are not always smooth, though, and Kisa “knew that we needed help. And I felt that it needed to be Christian-based.” She sought advice through the Counseling Referral Line on the Elmbrook website. She was put in touch with a couple that began helping them work through the problems within their marriage. Kisa found Christian guidance through the prayers and weekly meetings with a woman, Sue, which allowed her to work through Christ-centered solutions. Jarett found healing in the weekend services and began to “separate the difference between what I think of marriage, as a husband, and what God thinks of marriage, as our Father.” 
A few weeks after they sought counsel, the Fields sat in the pews on a Sunday morning listening to Pastor Jason speak. Kisa was moved to approach the front when the call for prayer was made. “I remember grabbing Jarett’s hand and walking forward and it was Shanthini Baskaran and her husband, Vinod, that prayed for us. After that, it seemed like every subsequent message had something appropriate to help us get stronger.” This furthered the healing process in the marriage of the Fields, having gone through a lot in the three years of their marriage. Jarett “delved into the Word to really think about the unconditional love that I am supposed to have for God’s daughter, who is Kisa.” That was a big turning point for Jarett as he realized this and began an intentional move to work as a team with Kisa. “A marriage in my eyes was the man is the head of the house financially. When I read the Word, the man is the head of the household spiritually. It’s easy to get caught up in what the world demands and forget about the piece that you are supposed to be leading the family in a Christian way.”
The Fields began to grow together and grow spiritually. Kisa decided she wanted to be baptized, and when Jarett asked how he could support her, Kisa replied that he could get baptized with her. After praying about it, Jarett agreed and they experienced Baptism in the Pond together. “When your marriage is falling apart and you have kids relying on you, then you need to have something that can help be the glue to keep you together. We needed to be intentional about serving the Lord, and focusing on the marriage, and communicating every single day… The baptism represented a fresh start,” Kisa said. It was not only a fresh start for their relationship with the Lord, but a new commitment to marriage focused on God first. “You try to handle everything on your own, and not bring God into your marriage… We understand now that we don’t have to have it all solved. We can pray and ask for God’s help. God will help us. God will handle it,” Jarett concluded. 
As the Fields come out of these experiences and move into a new chapter, they strive to be intentional, to do things together, to commit to devotionals and daily Bible reading. “You have to be purposeful. You have to make time for each other,” Kisa stated. God was at work in this couple as everything came together at the perfect moments. “Elmbrook has been a real blessing to us. Without the relationships that we’ve built there, without attending and having an impetus to embrace the Word of God in our lives… You never know.” 

Philippians 2:13 says, “for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”


After I wrote this, I was seriously befuddled. It didn’t compute that a couple who experienced a hard marriage and was on the verge of divorce, just decided not to. It gave me a realistic perspective on the fact that marriage can and does last despite the trials because love, even though its hard sometimes, can always endure. But why? Why is love the one thing that lasts through everything? That is the heart of the matter. I know that God’s heart is love. God created us solely with the intent to love us. He demonstrated and continues the demonstrate His love for us. So if we are a being created out of love, then love should be the strongest part of us. We desire love, search for love, love others, love ourselves, hopefully figure out how to love God in return for loving us. Our whole existence is based on love. We wouldn’t exist without it. We run on love. 

“If I… do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.” 1 Corinthians 13:1


Without love, I am inanimate, unliving, unfeeling. Without love, I am not who God created me to be. Without love, we are nothing. As beings who run on love, when it gets tough we are set to this auto pilot mode of fight or flight. When fight doesn’t work we just flee. But God loves me in spite of all the wrongs I do. If He loves me through all of that, then shouldn’t I be able to love someone else that same way? It doesn’t need to always be easy to love someone, but we are called to endure through it. He promises help and guidance. I can confidently enter a relationship and know it won’t be rainbows and sunshine every day. But I know He will be there and will help me find the one who strives to make me happy every day and I will want to make happy every day too. How blessed are we to have a God that wants us to be happy and feel loved each and every day. Thank you to the Fields for helping me, and hundreds of others see how struggling marriage can make you stronger and actually bring you closer together if you let it.

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Speak Up, Speak Out

Psalm 89:14: Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; 
love and faithfulness go before you.



Speak up speak out. What exactly does that mean? God’s heart for justice… Sounds nice, but what do you want me to do with that, exactly? 


Hey friends! My apologies for not writing more. I’m going to try to start blogging regularly again. We’ll see how it goes. Anyways, I was approached over a month ago to partake in an event with the tag line “Speak up, speak out,” an event to convey God’s heart for justice. I was asked to create a sculpture that pertained to the event in a live setting. Essentially, they want me to sit in a room where everyone can see me and make something beautiful and powerful… I’ll let you in on a secret. I’m terrified. How am I supposed to do that when I have no clue what God’s heart for justice even means? But I agreed and the event is now two days away and I have exactly zero good ideas for what I want to do. Great planning, right? So I did what any good Christian would do in this situation. I googled it. And this is what I found. God’s justice is one of His many attributes that the Bible mentions. God’s heart for justice has to do with His intention for us as humans to help other humans that have not what we have. We are called to equate the gap of the poor in wealth, spirit, love, hope, holiness… The Bible commands us to care about the poor saying, “The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.” (Psalm 29:7) But here’s the clincher. We’re not supposed to just care. We’re called to act. A man can say to himself, “it’s so sad there’s poor people” but if he does nothing, he is just as wicked as the man who has no concern at all. If you lost your cell phone, you’d be concerned, right? I would. That thing has my whole life on it. And what do you do when you lose your phone? I know I, at least, run around frantically searching until I find it. I’m concerned, so I take action. If I am babysitting and one of the kids gets hurt, I panic a little on the inside. But I put on a brave face, clean up the scrapes and blood, bandage it up, and send the child off to take on the world again. I’m concerned and I take action. If the lost phone wasn’t my own or the child was fifteen years old and able to put a bandage on their own knee, I wouldn’t be that concerned and therefore not do anything about it. So you see, when I say that a man that expresses concern for the poor but does nothing is just as wicked as the man that expresses no concern at all, I am implying that real concern would invoke real action. A sin of omission, not doing anything, is just as serious as sins of commission, such as being an oppressor of the poor. So what does this mean for believers? We understand now that it means we have to act, but what exactly does that look like? I don’t think there is any perfect answer to that question, but it could mean going on a mission trip. It could look like a food drive in your community or a clothing donation box at your school. Or it could be learning more about this topic at an event like the one I will be sculpting at and helping to raise awareness for this calling on our lives as believers. This idea of God wanting His creation to achieve justice will only happen if we take action. Today’s blog comes with a challenge: speak up about this desire of God’s and speak out about what you are going to do about it. 

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Kings Become Fools

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to go to a Gungor concert. It was a pretty chill concert which really allowed you to appreciate the music. Being a bit behind on my bands, I did not know many of their songs. I am really glad I didn't though. You know when you listen to a song for the first time and you actually listen to it instead of just hearing the noise it creates? Then add in the fact that it was a live concert and you have an audience waiting on every word. That's got to be a pretty cool experience for the band. I am particularly grateful for one song in particular. It has been on my mind and heart every day since then. The lyrics go like this...

Oh the vapor of it all
It's a chasing of the wind
The powers of the earth so pale and thin
We will set our hearts on you again
Heaven taunts the hearts of men
We can feel it from within
The beauty of it all
The mystery
The swelling of a voice
A rising sea
Holy
You oh God are Holy
Trees clap their hands for you
Oceans they dance for you
You are holy 
Oh the mystery of it all
I can never peer within
I'll never find the words or understand
The fullness of a God
Become a man
Holy
You oh God are Holy
Trees clap their hands for you
Oceans they dance for you
You are holy
Infinite and holy
A billion suns rise for you
Clouds paint the skies for you
Mountains stand tall for you
Valleys bow down to you
Everything rising to
Sing all our songs for you
Holy
The impossible and holy
Kings become fools for you
Kingdoms to ruins for you
Vapor finds ground in you
Music finds sound for you
Everything rising
Everything rising 
Come like dawn
Like waves
Like sunlight
Bring this world to life 
Come like rain
Like breath
Like springtime
Bring this world to life

What incredible words. "A billion suns rise for you, clouds paint the skies for you, mountains stand tall for you, valleys bow down to you." And then, "kings become fools for you, kingdoms to ruins for you." What an incredible God we serve. He created every minute detail of this universe. The earth bends to His will, and yearns to praise His name. It's funny to think that His most beloved creations are the ones who forget His existence most readily. We have the most knowledge, the highest capacity for love and emotion, and the ability to form the strongest connections. These are true gifts from our Father, but they also can be our biggest downfalls. We get so distracted with the amazing things God created, that we often forget who wrote it all into being. This song is a daily reminder to me to slow down, take a breath, and recenter my heart on the Lord. "The powers of the earth so pale and thin..." The beauty of the earth has the ability to mask our perceptions of the true beauties of things that go beyond our planet. God not only created a home for humanity, but a home for our home within our galaxy, and hundreds of thousands of neighbors for us to explore. Complexity creates a desire for answers. I don't think God gave us this incredible residence just because. He knew we would want answers. He created us and knew we would long for the solutions to the problems He created. And the answers lie in Him. How incredible! Trees clap their hands, oceans dance, and everything we know will one day praise the name of God with everything within.

Thursday, October 16, 2014

6 Two Step DIYs

Alright, you busy bees, here's a list of DIYs that are a sweet and simple two steps. From hair pins to trinket holders, you can do it all in fifteen minutes or less!

1) Bobby Pin Holder















These mini Altoid boxes are available at most stores. All you have to do for this DIY is eat the Altoids and then replace them with your bobby pins. A delicious project that will put some organisation back into that messy hair accessory drawer.


2) Garland











Okay, for this one you'll need a shape hole punch and paint chips (the free ones from your nearest home improvement store are perfect). I went with a flower like the one pictured above but stars are cute too. Any shape you like works. Now, take the paint chips and punch out a bunch of shapes. How many you punch depends on how long you want your garland to be. Now take a needle and thread and string the punch outs on. You can string them on with one hole for the shapes to be parallel or you can use two holes and the shapes will hang horizontally.


3) Photo Wall















Gather up all those old photographs and a roll of tape and get to getting! You can leave gaps like I did or make a solid wall. Try using plaques like the one of the Eiffel Tower in mine or paintings or framed photos to break it up and make it more interesting. (Tip: The Walgreens app allows you to print photos right from Facebook or Instagram, and if you print from Instagram they'll print as 4x4's) Check out my DIY Bunting post to learn how to make bunting like mine!


4) Signature Book



















Alright, you all are so crafty that a lame notebook is definitely not cool enough for people to sign at graduations or goodbye parties. Pick up one of these books and have your friends and family sign it for you when you leave high school, go to study abroad, move away, or embark on any new chapter of life.


5) Travel Tracking Board















This one is for all who have the travel bug. My best friend bought me a large world map and a bulletin board (same size or larger than the map). All I did from there was tape the map on, grab some pins and put one colour pin in the places I have been, and another colour in the places I still want to go. Hang it on your wall and all your friends will be so impressed with how cultured you are.


6) Trinket Holder













Soup can plus twine or lace or paper or duct tape or decoupaged magazine clippings equals one cool pencil holder. Or tooth brush holder or paper clip holder or...well you get the gist.


I hope you enjoyed these! Leave questions or comments below. If you're looking for other DIY projects, check out the others on my DIY page.

Friday, October 10, 2014

Photo Gallery

Horses at the ruins

 Outreach Team

 Christmas Banquet

 Christmas Banquet 

 Christmas Banquet

 Christmas Banquet

  Christmas Banquet

  Christmas Banquet

  Christmas Banquet

  Christmas Banquet

 Christmas Banquet

 Christmas Banquet

 Christmas Banquet

  Christmas Banquet

Wimbledon Centre Court

 Seville, Spain

 Seville, Spain

 Seville, Spain: Bullfighting Ring

  Seville, Spain

Cordoba, Spain: Flamenco 
La Sagrada Familia

Cordoba, Spain

 London, England: High Tea
 London, England
  London, England: Big Ben

  London, England: Westminster Abbey

 Capernwray Hall

 Capernwray Hall

  Capernwray Hall

 Premier Football League

 Capernwray Hall

Edinburgh, Scotland

Edinburgh, Scotland

Edinburgh, Scotland

 Edinburgh, Scotland

 Edinburgh, Scotland: Arthur's Seat

 Capernwray Hall

Windsor Great Park

Windsor Great Park

 Capernwray Hall

 Capernwray Hall

 Capernwray Hall

  Capernwray Hall

 Capernwray Hall

 Capernwray Hall

Provence, France

 Dubrovnik, Croatia

 Cassis, France

 Venice, Italy

 Venice, Italy

London, England: Harrods 
 London, England

 Naples, Italy

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Rome, Italy: Colosseum 

Rome, Italy: Vatican

 Rome, Italy: Vatican

 Rome, Italy: Vatican

 Venice, Italy: Murano glass blowing island
Venice, Italy: Grand Canal

London, England

 Chattenuef du Pape, France

  Chattenuef du Pape, France

 Roussilon, France

  Isle sur la Sorge, France

Aix en Provance, France 

 Cruise ship somewhere in the Mediterranean 

 Dubrovnik, Croatia

 Dubrovnik, Croatia

 Cruise ship somewhere in the Mediterranean 

 Venice, Italy

 Venice, Italy: nightly gelato run

 Provence, France

Capernwray Hall

Capernwray Hall: Valentine's dinner

 Capernwray Hall

 Capernwray Hall

 Capernwray Hall

 Capernwray Hall

Train to Glasgow, Scotland

Glasgow, Scotland: Rend Collective Concert 
Capernwray Hall

 Capernwray Hall

 Capernwray Hall

 Capernwray Hall

Capernwray Hall

Capernwray Hall

Cassis, France

Cassis, France

Cassis, France: calanques

Cassis, France: calanques

 Genoa, Italy

 Genoa, Italy

Valletta, Malta

 Valletta, Malta

  Valletta, Malta

  Valletta, Malta

 Athens, Greece: Parthenon
  Athens, Greece

  Athens, Greece

 Corfu, Greece

 Dubrovnik, Croatia

Venice, Italy: Grand Canal

 Rome, Italy: Trevi Fountain

Capernwray Hall: Spring Banquet

Capernwray Hall: Spring Banquet 

 Capernwray Hall: Spring Banquet 

 Capernwray Hall: Spring Banquet 

 Capernwray Hall: Spring Banquet 

Capernwray Hall: Spring Banquet 

 Capernwray Hall: Spring Banquet 

Capernwray Hall: Spring Banquet 

 Capernwray Hall: Spring Banquet 

Capernwray Hall: Spring Banquet 

Capernwray Hall: Spring Banquet 

Lakes District, England

Lakes District, England

Lakes District, England

Edinburgh, Scotland

 Edinburgh, Scotland

Edinburgh, Scotland