Pressed down, shaken together, and running over

In an earlier post, I mentioned the book "The Circle Maker" by Mark Batterson.  One chapter of it challenges the reader to make a list of God-sized life goals.  Not just easily attainable, average 5-year-plan goals.  Huge, irrational, God-glorifying goals that just aren't humanly possible.  The author had a few examples, such as his goals of writing a book by age 35 (which he did), hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu with his son (done), and making a movie (still working on it).  He included his entire list at the end of that chapter, 115-goals long.

I started working on my life goal list, but it's only 3 long right now:
1.)  Have my finances in order to sponsor a child through Compassion International by age 29
2.)  Be debt-free by age 32
3.)  Live in Africa (preferably Kenya) a minimum of 2 years by age 40

Goals 1 & 3 seemed pretty possible to me, and goal 2 seems downright outrageous (especially considering that my student loans alone aren't scheduled to be paid off until I'm 40), but I'm trusting that God gave me these goals, and he'll help me achieve them.

Regarding goal #1, I'd like to introduce you to Jane, a beautiful, 7-year-old girl living in rural Kenya:

I sat down to adjust my budget this weekend based on the blessing God has given me in the past few months as far as income goes (hear me talk about it in the link from this post, and I've also started teaching 2 more students since then--praise God!), and had to add my numbers up three times because I thought for sure I was making a mistake.  But I wasn't, because Jesus tells us that "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”  (Luke 6:38)  My tithing had allowed God to bless me with more, so I can bless others with more.  I reached goal #1 only 2 months after setting it, and 3 years ahead of schedule.  Now I'm able to provide Jane with her basic needs, education, and even education for her guardian.  

Jane lives with her grandmother and 5 siblings, which is what drew me to her as I was looking through Compassion's list of children waiting for sponsors.  I've heard so much about and even met some children in developing countries whose parents, unable to care for them, left them with a grandparent and disappeared.  These grandparents are not always even well enough to care for themselves, and the children are left to run the household:  fixing meals, fetching water (sometimes from miles away), cleaning, and mending.  This doesn't leave much time for education, which I believe is the biggest thing that will help these children to break the cycle of poverty, and to help stop corruption by raising up good, honest leaders in Kenya.  I am so thankful to be able to play a part in providing Jane the opportunity to get an education without worrying about where her food is coming from, who will take the jerry cans to get the water, and where her school fees will come from.


I'm so excited that God is showing up in these big ways.  If he helped me reach this goal 3 years early, what is he going to do to help me reach goals #2 and 3?  I can't wait to find out!

Turning wine into water

This post is in honor of World Water Day, coming up on Thursday, March 22:

One of my favorite non-profits is one I first heard about when I was in college called blood:water mission.  They work with local people in villages in East Africa to build wells to give people access to clean water, and they also work to combat HIV & AIDS. 

Last year, blood:water mission started an annual campaign called 40 Days of Water.  They ask people to give up all beverages but tap water for Lent, and to donate the money they save to blood:water to help build wells in East Africa.  It might be one of the best ideas for Lent that I've heard:  it's an actual sacrifice (40 days with no wine or Diet Pepsi is pretty bad), but it helps people, too.

Here's the promo video about 40 Days of Water:

And here's a video showing some of the results of their work in a village named Kodhok in western Kenya:

It astounds me that, in the age of iPads and self-driving cars, there are still so many people without access to clean water.  How dehumanizing must it be to be forced to drink water filled with frog eggs, cholera, and typhoid, from a pond covered in green scum?

I'm thankful for the opportunity to take my wine and turn it into water for people like Monica, and for children like Jennifer who now spend their time in school rather than walking for hours to fetch water.  The more barriers to education that we can eliminate, the more hope there is for the future of East Africa.

Making a Difference

I had the opportunity today to speak at my church about my dreams for going to Kenya, what God's doing in my life about it now, and what I'm doing about it now.  Two of my friends also got to speak, so be sure to listen to their stories, too!  The audio of the service is here, and my section starts at about 4:18.  According to a friend, I gave a sermon on tithing there in the middle of my story, which is something huge God's been working on in me.  (Side note:  it's strange to listen to your own voice.  Do I really sound like that?)

I really love sharing the great things God does in my life, so I'd love it if you could take a listen!