12-19-08
a letter to the elizabeth of 2009
dear elizabeth of 2009,
remember this. remember the anticipation you wake with every morning. remember how you have to tell yourself, “youcandoit…5 more days [of work], 4 more days, 3 more days. youcandoit.” then you go home for a week. then africa.
…africa. the word even sounds different to you now. it rolls off your tongue gently, with the knowledge that you’ll be there soon. it swirls in your brain multiple times a day. it is a word that – for now – represents waiting, planning, a culmination of faith, big visions coming into fruition. it will sound different to you in january when you are there, and it is a word that will represent hope and joy and change for the rest of your life.
remember the lists you make as if you can really prepare yourself for this. remember the multiple phone calls with your partner in all things adventurous about the millions of small details that you get to take care of. remember the way you started packing 3 weeks before you leave, because you are just that excited.
remember the people who contributed their time, money, and prayers to make this happen. remember the first check you got in july from someone who believes in you – before you even bought your plane ticket . remember the girl who met you, heard about your trip, and wrote you a check all within 15 minutes because she has a heart for orphans. remember how you got a check in the mail from family friend, and the next day your sister – in – law asked if you could find people to help her pay for the shoes she found wholesale. remember how every child you meet in africa will have a pair of shoes because of a check and a phone call. remember the little girl who is already wearing her red wristband and prays for your safety [from wasps and bees!] every night. remember the sweet woman from church who doesn’t know you very well but still handed you cash in an envelope, and remember your friend from church who dropped a check in the mail just this week and is now paying for your expenses in country. remember there are more stories than you can even begin write down.
most of all, remember the One who made you for this. who chose you for this. remember that He designed you . remember that He has given you everything you need. remember that He deserves ALL of the credit, ALL of the glory, ALL of the fame. remember that He loves you and that sumission to authority=a lifetime of mind blowing adventures.
love,
elizabeth of 2008
12-15-08
advent.
i wish i could take credit for this but i can’t.
my friend ellie of merry everyday fame, as well as my partner in all things adventurous, wrote about advent on gloryology the other day, and it was so good i wanted to share.
(i apologize in advance if it makes you cry, because it makes me cry every time i read it!)
I’ve stopped several times over the past couple of weeks in an attempt to gather and form these thoughts into words. The season of Advent is unfamiliar territory to me (I admit I’m a tad ashamed). I remember lighting the candles each Sunday leading up to Christmas; I’ve heard the term Advent; but I can’t confirm that I’ve ever really grasped the larger concept or how it applies to daily living. So this Advent season I’ve been reading a book called Watch for the Light—I highly recommend it!
When I first started reading the book, I looked up the word advent and this is what my dashboard dictionary told me: advent, the arrival of a notable person, thing, or event. (Now that sounds like something I want to celebrate—how royal and noteworthy, and to think its something I believe!)
That suffices as a functional summary—in the least a foundation on which God has gradually been building the concept of Advent for me. Here is where I’ve been:
1. We annually celebrate Advent as the season leading up to Christmas, the birth of Jesus, the arrival of our Saviour, the reminder that He will come again.
2. Advent is largely a season of waiting. A season leading up to the arrival of something or someone constitutes waiting and likely for an unknown time. Sometimes we know what we’re waiting for, sometimes we don’t though it does seem we’re always waiting for something. So Advent happens over and over again in our lifetime.
3. How we wait is important and fairly indicative of our faith (see Luke 1, Zechariah vs. Mary).
4. Jesus is coming continually into our hearts and lives. He came from the womb of Mary. He arrives in our hearts when we begin our personal relationship with God. He graciously reveals Himself daily if we are diligent to watch for Him and sometimes even when we’re not. And I believe He beckons us out of our commercial holiday, not to refuse the celebration, but to acknowledge His presence, to behold His power, to give thanks for His grace, to be mindful of Him, to have our priorities reorganized, to prepare our hearts to receive more, to give us a glimpse of what is to come, the list goes on.
5. We wait for Him still.
I will fail to capture in this small space my witness to His coming. But I’ll try. We began our season of waiting earlier this year. There were highs and lows, but by far we refused to make M.E. happen on our own accord. We waited for God to unveil His marked path and determined the course accordingly. Had I thought to watch earlier I would have taken better notes.
I’ve seen Jesus come…in the first excited donation we received months ago before a stocking was ever mentioned, in the lady who even in a struggling economy staring job loss in the face has purchased more stockings for us with the arrival of each paycheck, in the family praying diligently for our trip while wishing with broken hearts that their own Ethiopian baby was home with them, in the family who not only opened up their hearts and home to their own adopted children but send a family’s worth of stockings to those who remain in orphanages, in the ones who give though they live on their own raised support, in the loyal friends who have followed the blog and participated though we haven’t communicated in months, in the couple who gave big not knowing the need, in the one who turned that gift into four boxes of shoes and then some, in the tiny church community who so generously gave us a place to lay our heads in Africa, in the youth groups and family and corporations and non-profits, and in the ones who used their spare change to buy my junk. Oh, I’ve seen Jesus! And there are others to whom I’m grateful. There are people on this continent I’ve never met who are wearing a red wristband and praying. And I am truly awestruck that this is only the beginning. Because it is not about the gifts or the stuff or the money or the givers or the planners or the go-ers. This all simply rests on the arrival of Jesus, His faithfulness to show Himself to those who believe, and His love extended to us even when we don’t.
So more than I want to offer a meager thank you (and we do Thank You), I just want to encourage you to watch for the Light.
12-14-08
AFRICA!
check me out at gloryology.com today!
12-05-08
8675309 JENNY!
i’m back from my self – imposed – not – on – purpose blogging hiatus…after posting 23 DAYS IN A ROW i guess i needed a small break.
i’m breaking the silence to introduce you, my billions of readers (read: ten) to one of my favorite people in the whole world. ever.
jenny wyatt gearhart has started a blog. and y’all, she is one of the funniest people i’ve ever met. just check out her gynecologist story!
jenny and i have known each other pretty much our whole lives – we grew up together, our moms are friends, etc. but we were in the same sorority in college and because of that special sisterhood (please click that link so you know why i’m being sarcastic) we became really close friends (read: i basically moved in with her and her parents for 2 years…her mom did my laundry!)
i love jenny for so many reasons, and i’m glad that she is choosing to share herself with the internets. i promise, you will be glad too, so go say hi!