Ways That God is Bringing Me to Life

This list was originally going to be part of my April e-mail update. God did ALL OF THIS in the last month! Can you believe it!?!? These are experiences when I could say, "This is totally me! This is who I am! I feel so alive!" I remember getting excited about feeling that alive feeling two or three times while I was in Peru during the summer of 2007 teaching English and working in orphanages...and that being WAY more than "normal" at that time in my life. Man, God sure is moving!!! I'm like 500% more alive than I was then! (3 times vs. 16 times in a month)


Ways That God is Bringing Me to Life
1. Helen and I spontaneously made homemade bubbles. Then we used drinking straws to invent various bubble wand prototypes and tried to convince several others on campus to join the fun. I love doing silly, kid-related things!

2. Laura, Kyle, Helen, and I went on a prayer walk around our neighborhood and used sidewalk chalk to write “Jesus Loves You!” and “There’s Hope!” on corners where prostitutes usually stand. I love prayer walking! And I love sidewalk chalk! And I love writing with fun lettering!

3. Jazzy (5 years old, family going through COAT training program here to serve in Ecuador) and I played beach volleyball in my office one morning before work started. Then she did some creative, interpretive dancing and had me copy her for a good half hour. I love how she’s not afraid of her beauty or afraid of how much she loves me!

4. There have been a few times when my housemates and I have read bedtime stories from the Jesus Storybook Bible. I love reading children’s books to other people! I love it when I get the feeling that, “this is exactly how things are supposed to be!” One time we read a passage that said,

“I can’t stop loving you. You are my heart’s treasure. But I lost you. Now I am coming back for you. I am like the sun that gently shines on you, chasing away darkness and fear and death. You’ll be so happy—you’ll be like little caves running free in an open field. I am going to send my Messenger—The Promised One. The One you have been waiting for. The Rescuer. He is coming. So, get ready!”

We acted out the part about the calves running free in an open field with me. We were down on all fours and it was really funny! I love it when people do silly things with me! I love being joyful!

5. Ezra (7 year old whose family is going through the COAT training program here) sought me out to play games with him. I love how kids are really obvious about who they love. His mom invited me to invest in him regularly and be a prayer warrior for her kids. I can’t believe that our friendship just started in the last month! I love to encourage kids, play with them, listen to their stories, ask them questions, invest in them…that makes me feel so alive!

6. Helen came into my office to celebrate about a conversation she’d just had with her father and I had her wear a feathery, purple boa (that was in the package of joy that my church sent me a while back). Then we praised God together, literally praying to Him and telling Him we were super-excited! I got to pray with four or five people that day and it was another one of those, “this is exactly how it’s supposed to be!” feelings. Some of the praying was about sad things, but all of it was looking to God. I love it when he reminds me to do that and I obey him!

7. My friends, the Inchausteguis, are preparing to go to Mexico as missionaries. While Shawn was out of town support-raising for a few weeks, I got to help Susan out with the kids once in a while, which really solidified my friendship with their family. One day I was helping Isabel (5) with her spelling words while Susan gave Isaac (8 months) and Kaleb (3) a bath. Then I read a book to Kaleb while Isabel took a bath. I love teaching! I love remembering games that I used to play with my kindergarten kids (with Word Wall words in this case)! I love reading to kids! I love seeing kids looking all cute in their pajamas! I love it when kids cuddle with me on the couch!

8. I was playing with the Inchaustegui kids in the backyard by myself and felt very responsible, trustworthy, and like I could be a mom. It did made me miss the other kids I had in kindergarten, though.

9. On my birthday I was taking a shipment of newsletters to the Bulk Mail on the other side of town. I didn’t realize how much I miss driving in the car and singing loudly!

10. Helen, Laura, and I had a picnic outside and tried to eat donuts without using our hands, just diving right into the plate mouth-first. I love doing common things in silly ways! I love laughing! I love party games (this event was inspired by a Jell-O eating contest for Little-K in college)!

11. We made a care package to send a few people in the COAT program after they’d moved away to support raise (This session of COAT is over now and the next session starts at the end of May). I love thinking of ways to make people smile! I love thinking of funny reasons why to include each item in the package. I love using post-it notes!

12. My friend Sarah is doing an apprenticeship with YouthHope (a ministry of NMSI that is working to impact global youth and train global youth leaders) and recently finished writing some papers for a college class that she is taking. We celebrated with spontaneous bubble blowing in the office (from the wonderful package from my home church…did you know there are smelly bubbles!?!? These were grape.) I love celebrating with people! I love reminding people that little victories are a big deal! I love it that they share their victories with me!

13. I’ve found some fun clothes on the free table lately, one of which is a pair of bright green pants with thinner pink and brown stripes down them. I like to call them my watermelon pants. I wore them the next day! I love free things! I love silly things! I love that Tera, Ezra’s mom, said, “those are totally you!” (Sorry, Kris, I haven't gotten a picture of them yet.)

14. One day it was really windy and I made a kite out of a paper bag, some sticks, tape, and string during lunch. Susan, Helen, and Laura really enjoyed watching me try to “fly” it! I love being resourceful and spontaneous! God keeps giving me ideas of fun things to do! They just happen! God keeps giving me fun ideas about how to love people! They just happen! Because they’re coming from Him, I don’t have to worry about running out of them! How freeing!

15. About fifty of us gather together to have devotions every morning at the office. Once a week we sing instead of doing Bible study. This was the case on my birthday and all the songs were about God loving us incredibly much. I love worshiping! I love singing! I love connecting to God like that! I love it when I know some of the words to the songs! (There are a lot of new songs here, so that was a special gift. I really miss worship at Rooftop!)

16. On my birthday people were asking me random questions to get to know me better. One of them was, “If you could have any three pets and not have to take care of them, which pets would you want?” My response was, “Can I have kids instead of pets?” I named a few of my favorite kids. That led to, “What was your favorite thing to do with your kindergarteners?” That was a really hard question because I LOVED teaching a TON! I listed a few things, one of which was “sing silly songs with them.” I asked my friends if they wanted to sing a silly song with me, and then they all got up and we sang the “Tutti Tah” by Dr. Jean. It’s a culminating song, like Father Abraham, that ends with you spinning around in a circle and singing with your tongue out and your bottom up in the air. I love singing silly songs! I love songs with hand motions! I love introducing people to fun that they didn’t know about before!