Fullness...


At the start of last week, I was somewhat in panic mode. I really had no idea how we were going to pull off our Ethiopian Fundraiser Dinner, I wasn't sure I had the help I needed, I wasn't sure a lot of people were coming, and I just somewhat felt discouraged. Last Tuesday, I was "venting" to my friend and secretary, Janey, about all of this anxiety. She is one of the biggest prayer warriors I know and has become such a great friend. She said to me, "Pastor Andrea...what do you need? Let me help you. Do you need dessert? Do you need pasta?" I sheepishly said, "Well...I could about 10 some desserts." To which she answered, "Ok...I have four boxes of cake mix at my house. I will provide 4 desserts for you." I was thrilled about that. Well, I came back several hours later, and she said, "Pastor Andrea, I have great news! I have 10 desserts coming this Saturday for you. I just called all of my friends and said, 'You know that family we pray for? The ones who are adopting? Well, they need some desserts and we are going to provide them. Can you help?" They wound up having a dessert making party Friday night for us and brought a bunch of beautiful cakes!

I tell that story, because as I have woken up this Monday morning, I still feel like my heart is overflowing from the weekend. I think sometimes we allow the discouragement in our lives to over take all of God's blessings. We focus so much on what is not happening, what we are worried about, and on all of the brokenness that surrounds our life. And often, we allow those things to cloud the most important thing...we are deeply loved by God.

On November 28, 2011, after we had made the decision not to pursue the "new adoption in a new country (read earlier post)," I re-wrote Ephesians 3:16-21 for myself...from God. This is what it said, "My prayer for you, Ang is this....God will strengthen you, His spirit will work in the deepest parts of your soul...by faith you will feel God's love for you. By his love, you will stay grounded in your faith...that you would know just how hugely wide, long, high, and deep God's love for you really is (even on the days you question it...that his love is bigger than knowledge...it makes you FULL. He can do ANYTHING and EVERYTHING, God can! He can do more than we could ever imagine."

"His love is bigger than knowledge...it makes you FULL!" This Monday morning, I am overflowing with FULLNESS that only comes from God's love, that has been shown through his people this week. You know, Saturday night, as I was thanking my Ethiopian friend Aster, for like the 18th billion time, I said to her, "I owe you big time!" She hugged me shaking her finger at me and said this that will stick with me forever, "No, no, Andrea...in Ethiopia we don't say "owe." We don't "owe" anyone anything. We do, because we are Family. You are now my family forever!"

Wow! I am so incredibly grateful (I know that I say that a lot on here, but I really am), that God fills our hearts with his love through his people...because we are all family and that is enough.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Donut Story

Image
When I was about five years into being a Youth Pastor, I met a group of kids that changed my life.  Many of you reading this, who know me personally, have probably heard me talk about them numerous times.  Nate and I happened to live in the parsonage next door to the church I was serving at at the time, and would routinely come home to a group of boys that I would have described then as "rough around the edges."   They dressed mostly in black, had long hair, and sometimes even had black painted fingernails.  They loved to smoke, and they loved to skateboard.  After a few days of watching them through our window, Nate and I went outside and brought them some sodas.  We introduced ourselves, told them I was the Youth Pastor at the church, and invited them to come to youth group.  While they politely declined our invitation, we continued to invite them over and over again, attempted to skate with them, and fill them with snacks.  Until one day, ...
Read more

A Mother's Heart...

Image
It was the night before we were ready to leave for Ethiopia that it dawned on me. We hadn’t given the necklace to Biruk yet. When we had exchanged necklaces with his birth mom ten years prior at the orphanage, we had no idea when we would give it to him. We just knew that we wanted him to be old enough to appreciate it, as it would be the only thing he would have from her. We had no idea if we would ever see her again.  There have been several moments in our journey where I’ve had to pinch myself, because it has felt like I was dreaming. That night as we put our final things in our suitcases, took a deep breath, and came to the realization that we were not only taking our kids to Ethiopia, but that Biruk would in fact meet his birth mom…well, you had to pinch me, because it felt like I was dreaming. It also felt like the perfect moment to share this gift that we had been holding onto for 10 years. So we pulled out the necklace and gave it to Biruk. While words can be few and...
Read more

Stories Matter

Image
Yesterday, my family and I found ourselves at a local elementary school’s culture club, presenting about our trip to Ethiopia. Even as I write those words, it kind of blows my mind how God has continued to use our story in unexpected places. When the kids were old enough to understand, we began to talk about taking them back to their birth country when they turned 10. We figured at 10, they would be old enough to be pretty good travelers, but still approach the adventure with a childlike wonder. What we didn’t plan on, was that the year Biruk turned 10 would come on the heels of me taking a brand new job, our family moving to a new state, and buying our very first house, in an economy that felt as though it was tanking!  I remember talking to my counselor one day and sharing with him that while we had always promised this trip to our kids, it just didn’t seem to make financial sense. After all, last time I checked, Southwest Airlines does not travel to Africa. He said someth...
Read more