Zambia 2018 Recap

This is going to seriously alternate between content and process, events and feelings, hope and frustration, peace and irritation, and everything else. It’s scattered, I am scattered. I haven’t had time to really formulate a good outline or rough draft and I don’t think that would really even help at this point. I’m just going to go for it.

The players: My supervisor Emilie DeYoung (her sixth trip, she has been the one heading the partnership between Winning at Home and the Jubilee Centre which is a non-government organization that supports over 200 churches in Ndola and Lusaka), her husband John (his first time in Zambia), myself (fourth trip to Zambia), my husband Pierce (also first trip to Zambia), Jill Nagelkirk (child counselor, first time to Zambia) and Sarah Ingram (child counselor, previous experience as a missionary, first time to Zambia).

The plan: A group of six (four child counselors and two spouses) will spend time assisting the Jubilee Centre in Ndola and Lusaka. A training will be put on in Ndola and Lusaka that will host first-time attendees and veteran attendees to be trained on trauma and child counseling. In Ndola, another day will be dedicated to meeting with veteran child counseling trainees who have come to anywhere between one and five of the trainings Emilie DeYoung and Catherine Mueller-Bell have put on in previous years. This small cohort will go on to become trainers of this material and put on other trainings in country year round to continue to pass along this information and create more child counselors. There will also be a day set aside for team building for the Jubilee Centre staff (13 members total). The staff include social workers, pastors, drivers, financial advisors and many others—we wanted a time for staff to have fun and grow together as a team and also to learn more about different ways to show appreciation for one another. The spouses (John and Pierce) will spend some time in the community and with the youth building a wall around a health clinic in Kawama community. Spend some other time seeing the other programs Jubilee is involved in such as feeding programs (churches identify children in the community who are malnourished and create ways to feed them as a congregation through donations and volunteers- set scheduled times for children to come and be fed a meal-sometimes once or three times a week per church), compassion and justice program (volunteers who do home visits and bring food/medications to bed ridden patients), visit health clinics, meet young adults from an awesome program that Jubilee created called Junior Parliament (it is sort of like a debate/united nations hybrid team that hosts debates on critical topics such as access to education. They invite a representative to come from the government and the whole community shows up--- it’s an amazing thing that allows for more unity and advocacy among communities and their relationship with the government.), and finish up our time with two days in Livingstone for a safari and to see Victoria falls.

The impact: This is where it gets messy, bear with me. It sort of feels like my heart has an infection that has continued to fester, but I haven’t had time to open it up to do any sort of surgery yet. Last year I had the luxury of spending a month in Zambia, doing life day-to-day vs cramming everything into an eight day program. There was a constant hum of activity and when it would start to die down around 8pm every day I think I unconsciously made my own external racket so I wouldn’t have to sit in silence and think or feel. My fear is always that if I feel I will lose it and just give up and will be an ineffective presenter the rest of the time in country, so I just stuff and wash it all down with some Cadbury and peanut M&Ms every night until I get home.

We had some absolutely amazing days of training. We had open dialogue about many hot button topics, had opportunities to present new information about trauma, the impact on the brain, how our body works in a fight/flight/freeze response and so much more. And it was SO well received. SO well that we even had some teachers tell us how passionate they were about this new information that they would vow to teach all their other teachers and volunteers this information, especially when we talked about helpful discipline in a classroom. Schools in Zambia come in three types—private, government, and community. The private are for the wealth and expats, the government schools require a uniform, shoes and dues (many can’t afford this and there are way too few schools to host all the children), and community schools which are comprised of volunteer teachers with little training, overcrowded classrooms, and children who struggle to get their daily needs met. As a whole, there are some struggles with physical punishment/abuse in schools and homes across all realms as a means to control a classroom/teach a child a lesson. After discussing some of the harm that comes from this sort of classroom management, we had so many teachers vow to never again cane a child (hit a child with a cane). When I think about the multiplication effect of just once nugget of information being taken into school systems all around Ndola and Lusaka I get chills. They’re multiplying, it’s electrifying (that’s my joyful song response inspired by the movie Grease…I tend to sing when I am excited).

We also had an awesome day with the Jubilee Centre staff doing team building. Sarah Ingram and Jill Nagelkirk led the day, teaching on the five languages of appreciation and pairing them with some stellar minute to win-it games. I stinking love each member of the staff- they each have their own strengths. A few new members joined the team since last year and we are so excited to see the increase in impact that will be made with more fearless leaders. We laughed and laughed and laughed. It was a wonderful time together, especially as things in the last few months have been difficult with the leaders, Pastor Lawrence and Martha Temfwe, away for medical care. Lawrence is receiving care in South Africa for stomach cancer; he had surgery earlier this year and is now alternating between chemotherapy and radiation. Typically when we are in Zambia we spend hours of time with this incredible couple so it was different for us as well without Lawrence’s contagious laugh and Martha’s amazing prayers. We had the blessing on the way back to the states to see them at the Johannesburg airport for a quick dinner, complete with strawberry milkshakes.

We spent most of our time in Ndola (“large” city but with much rural surrounding areas and communities), a day and a half in Lusaka (capital city) and two days in Livingstone to decompress. Even with “fun” time at the end of the trip, we didn’t really have much time to breathe. Spending some time today to reflect has been an answer to prayer and just re-energizes me about how much I love everything going on in this partnership.

The best part of all of the trip for me was sharing the experience with my husband. I am aware I am a highly emotional and passionate person and Pierce always has told me his favorite thing about me is my heart for people. I am so thankful for the way he appreciates me, but it isn’t always easy when I am more of a dreamer and he is more logical and fact based. I was so nervous for Pierce to come because I had no idea what he would think or how he would react. He has had such an open heart to the experience, even to the hard and heavy stuff, and it has helped him to understand me more than I thought would be possible. God is sooooo good. I knew this wouldn’t be my last trip and now I am confident it won’t be his last either. My cup overflows. There are just no words for how thankful I am to have a husband who is willing to meet me in hard places and provide constant support, encouragement, and love. The kids loved him and his muscles and he was called “John Cena” the whole time.

I loved our team this year, I always do, but this year was extra awesome. Pierce and John had a great time together and I so enjoyed being able to go with Jill and Sarah for their first trips- they both bring such unique light and peace to the whole thing. I can’t imagine not going with Emilie at this point- again, I never ever would have imagined having a boss and supervisor who gets me, supports me, and challenges me in all the best ways. I am inspired by each team member in different ways, the recipe for the team was spot on.

Another highlight—last year I spend extended time with two trained counselors, both named Royah. I got to see them again this year and check in – those ladies and their love for children is incredible. They just rock. I continue to be amazed by the number of volunteers who are so passionate about children and spend the majority of their days leaning in and loving them, without any sort of compensation or recognition. The have such a fire and desire to learn more about development, trauma, and anything at all that will help them become even better mentors. These people are Jesus.

Okay. There is still so much more I want to share, but I think this will suffice for now. It’s much more of a concentration on the hope, which I am aware of, which highlights where I think I am in the processing stage. I’ve got a wall protecting some of the hurt publically for now, but that’s okay. It’s definitely brewing internally and if you see me weepy and cranky or distant please don’t take it personally and just give me some space. My introvert needs are dangerously high after almost three weeks without any alone time.

Thank you, whoever you are and wherever you are, for reading this. For following and supporting the journey, for leaning in. For hopefully not judging my terrible grammar, tense usage, and comma/running sentence usage—or you can judge away, as long as you don’t miss the point of this.

I am so thankful. So glad. So blessed.

Blessings,

Mavis

FUN-draising :)

My dreams are coming true in 2018-my husband Pierce is joining the Zambia 2018 service trip and I could not be more excited to share this experience with him! We will be traveling with four others (Emilie DeYoung and her husband John, Jill Nagelkirk, and Sarah Ingram-- all staff from Winning at Home) from April 12th-April 25th. We plan to make stops in Ndola, Lusaka, and Livingstone to continue building the relationships we have already made and to create more. We will spend our time continuing the child counseling program and possibly helping rebuild part of an OVC sponsor child's roof. 

And now for the FUN part ;) fundraising! Que the awkward turtles and jazz hands.

Last year I had the amazing privilege of spending the whole month of June in Zambia. During my time, I focused primarily on how Winning At Home could continue to support a newly developing counseling center and finished revising the Child Counseling Manual for Zambia written by Emilie DeYoung and Catherine Mueller-Bell with an emphasis of what I learned culturally.  I spent my time in Ndola and Lusaka with the Jubilee Center, founded by Pastor Lawrence and Martha Temfwe. For the final week, I met up with my supervisor, Dr. Emilie DeYoung and Dr. Catherine Mueller-Bell and helped provide updated child counseling training for volunteers (well, I tried to, I was sick most of the last week. I will NOT make the mistake of drinking any unbottled water this time.). This year will be more of a condensed version with the main focus on training a new group of volunteers. 

While a door has been opened for Pierce and I to develop a greater heart of compassion for God’s people around the world, the exciting part is that you will be able to share in this journey with us. We will need many prayers for this trip- prayers for courage, peace, wisdom, health, travel; and prayers for the impact on our hearts and on Zambia. I am SO curious to see how this will impact our marriage- what a gift to share this experience! 

We are also seeking financial support for the travel as well as for the Zambia partnership with the Jubilee Centre in general as we hope and pray to be able to build and open two counseling centers (one in Ndola and one in Lusaka) in the future. If you are able to give financially, please make checks payable to Winning At Home and send to:

ATTN: Mavis Winning at Home

 300 S State Street Suite 13

Zeeland, MI 49464

Please add a sticky note onto the check (NOTE: NOT in the memo field***) that says “Mavis and Pierce-Zambia.” Please send in your donations by March 30^th. You will receive a tax deduction letter from WAH for 2018. 

We are so grateful for your prayers and if you feel led to contribute financially, your support will be greatly appreciated as well. We are so thankful and excited for this opportunity to love on God’s children and so many other incredible people.

Ignited

It’s January. It’s sunny and almost fifty degrees. And I have a plane ticket back to ZAAAAMBIA!

Part of me feels like I can just skip over the who, what, where, and why of this trip because it will be trip four for me to my favorite place. But…I know that it’s just as important to explain the logistics if you don’t know what’s up, and even if you do, it might just refresh your memory for my passion ;)  

-So here goes-

In 2011 I went to Zambia with a group of some of my closest friends for Habitat for Humanity. We traveled there at the same time as three members from Ridgepoint church who were checking in to see how their partnership organization, the Jubilee Centre, was doing. At the end of each day, we all got together at our lodge and processed what we saw, did, and how the Lord was working. The sparks started flying and I have burned ever since for the land of Zed.

In 2014, I had a chance to return (okay, I had other opportunities to return before that and after that- but financially and logistically I couldn’t always say yes even though it killed me. God has his own time). I went with a group from Ridgepoint going to specifically bring child counselors to teach pastors and volunteers from the church about emotional and child development as well as how to interact with and properly care for a child’s physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional well-being. Flames growing.

In 2017, I packed my bags for the whole month of June. I stayed with an amazing couple who is so close to my heart- learned a million new things- and grew so much in my faith, as a counselor, and as a human being. The first three weeks I was on my own- flying and traveling- all by myself. Never, ever, ever did I think I would skip town, my husband, my family, my friends, my work (my tortilla chips!!) - for a whole month. Red, hot fire.

With fire comes risk and burns. Unlike a sharp burn that makes you jump back and scream and say “never again,” the heartache that can come with the experiences in Zambia or anywhere really can have a dulling sensation over time. I was quite surprised that while I was there I only cried a handful of times- in fact I would say I only “felt” a handful of times. My wall was up, and it was helping me to do my job. I was in “go” mode—how can we streamline this counseling process in Zambia, what do I need to add to the counseling manual, how can we change the country, oh wait that’s not helpful cultural or ethical thinking, oh but people are hurting, blah. blah. blah. Scrambled eggs, furry of feelings, steps of my soul. blank.

 And I went “offline.” As you can see, the blog stopped in July. My passion hasn’t, nor has my processing, but it’s tough to put into words and to push it out for public consumption. I don’t want to roll out any certain expectations for myself this round either, but I do really want to share my heart and this fire. I want others to find theirs- to be ignited. It awakens an entirely different piece of my being, no matter how tired I am.

I just can’t even wait. We are going with such a precious group too--well, okay, we always do—but I am so over joyed to be able to finally share this experience with my husband. He is my die hard supporter and fan and I can’t wait to show him this land that I love so much. The people, the relationships, the faith, the encouragement, the humanity.

Thank you for your prayers and support. Thank you for being on the journey.

Blessings,

Ms Mavis

lessons

I have had the greatest 8 weeks. Preparing for the trip, the 30 days there, and the time I have been home. Wonderful. Certainly not absent of pain or struggles, but wonderful. I am so thankful for the extended time in Zambia- I have learned so much. I can appreciate the people and the culture in an entirely different, more complex and authentic way.

I have learned about me. I have learned about my marriage, the ways I depend on others, the ways God crafted us for vulnerable relationship. I have a new appreciate for vulnerability and how hard, how wonderful it is. I have a renewed appreciation for my clients and families and the trust that they place in me and our relationships.

I have learned about grace. I have learned more about shame and how to expose it to light, how to snuff it out with whispers from the Lord about who I am and who I am created to be. I have learned the devil is never going to disappear, but I am getting better at catching his lies and calling him out for the liar he is.

I have learned about my habits, my comforts, my patterns in behavior. I love walks. I love, love tortilla chips. I love reading and going to bed early. I really surprised myself when I found I enjoyed aerobics classes- especially considering the crammed space and lack of air conditioning (but people were supportive and fun and we listened to killer 90s hits). I run off music and sunshine. I really appreciate the smell of candles and a hot shower. I rekindled my desire to cook and eat fresh foods. And I love snapping my fingers and busting out some dance moves and random song notes during the workday.

I learned about how to fuel my holy discontent instead of how to burn out from it. I learned about Moses and how God creates us, shapes us, and uses our feelings for good- for motivation, for His will.

I came home and instead of having a tough time being angry at the world and materialism and the “no one gets it” attitude, I had so much grace. Grace for myself, our fallen world, and other people. My heart still broke in many ways, but I don’t feel as helpless or empty. I treasure my relationship with my husband. TREASURE it. I am thankful for deep, strong friendships and a tribe that loves me.

We’re all a part of the same culture at the end of the day. A human culture where we all long to be loved, appreciated, respected, and heard. I pray for more chances to make sure people know to their core who they are, in whose image they are made and that they are so worth it and treasured. And that’s a message that can be sent in every area code, every day.

It’s good to be home, but I’ll be back soon. 

home.sick

This is extra short- I apologize I have been neglecting my blog!

I arrived back home on Friday June 30th and have spent some amazing days with family and friends. I will certainly be posting more later- there are SO many experiences I want to share with you. However, for now it will be just a slow trickle.

My colleagues Emilie and Catherine met me in Lusaka on Wednesday June 21st. We led a conference  on counseling children on Thursday in Lusaka and again on Tuesday in Ndola. Unfortunately, I also got pretty sick from Saturday June 24th-Saturday July 1st. Like, unable to participate sick. I had made the mistake of drinking the water and was fine for the first four weeks, but I must have gotten into something bad at the tail end of the trip and wound up in the clinic making sure I didn't have malaria.

Thankfully I am doing much better and have made my way back into the office. I am so, so thankful for the smooth adjustment and for health and delicious food! Thank you for all of your prayers, I will continue to post as I process.

I think part of the illness was God forcing me to give up some control and just trust him. It also made the thought of coming home much easier- I think if I hadn't gotten sick it would have been much more difficult to leave. I didn't realize how much I missed home until I got home and then it hit me like a ton of bricks. Oh, I am so thankful for my loving husband and family and friends!

And (Lord willing) I am planning on heading back next year, with Pierce. And I cannot wait!

More later :)

stuck in sap

YIKES. I’m about to get political here friends. I fully understand that this is not my intention of this blog, but I just can't not talk about this for the sake of trying to avoid offending someone. You most certainly do not have to agree with me, I only pray that you can hear my heart in this and respect my own perspective. I am thankful that God creates us each with our own perspectives and I pray we can carefully hear one another and work together for the sake of humanity. 

............

I am here, in another country, trying to encourage people here to become advocates to things that are happening in their own nation that are unjust. There is so much corruption in the government and services here, and children are not properly cared for. And then nothing happens most of the time. I’m over here, half amped and half beyond frustrated and then I realize—many of the people in this country are doing the same thing I do back home. Turning off the news, pretending I can’t do a thing about the state of our government and leadership, and hiding in a book or trying to drown my feelings in music and tortilla chips and chocolate.

Shut the front door. Oh Jesus, how you hold me accountable today. 

I went to a large community this week called Chifubu. They are very poor. There is one clinic that serves thousands of people. People wait for hours to be seen. And I hear a statistic, that I don’t know if is correct/if I understood it correctly, that 75% of the children in this community are affected by HIV- they are either positive themselves or have a caregiver who is positive. I can’t believe that. I want to scream, and heave, and wail. I tried to check that fact with others from Jubilee and are still wanting to confirm it for sure- my mind is arguing that this can’t be true, maybe they were saying that out of the people who come in for testing (which is not everyone in the community and more likely to be people who are sick and already experiencing symptoms) that 75% are them are affected by a positive status- themselves or a parent? I asked Martha to call the clinic and verify the parameters of this statistic, and her response was that "what it actually means is that 75% of the children who are tested at the clinic are HIV positive. So, I am not sure, there isn't clear data. But the idea that it could be any percent at all just gets me furious. And then there is everything else they face- malaria and tuberculosis are practically regarded as the common cold. Everything is covered in poverty; the children can’t even afford to go to school. Also, often children will be HIV positive, their parents don’t tell them, and so when they are taking their ARV meds they have no idea what it is or why they are taking it. People don’t talk about it. Fear- the sticky, sap-like substance that makes gravity ten times it's actual pull. And it spreads like wildfire. Adults are unfaithful to their spouses and are unwilling to tell their own spouse their status for fear of being left. Often older men will have many young girlfriends in the community and still be married.

There is a type of alcoholic drink called chibuku that is sold in giant cartons for 2 or 5 kwatcha, aka 20 or 50 cents. It contains the filling substance of mealie meal so it is basically a very filling drink you can get drunk off for pennies. Sounds like their own "tortilla chips and chocolate" to me- can I be surprised that they want to drown out the pain of their circumstances? 

I am scratching my own head wallowing in my own realization of how complacent I have become in my own country’s happenings because the majority of things that take place in government have almost no effect on me. But they affect my friends, my colleagues, my kids who I see for counseling. Education budget cuts affect ALL children- why the heck do I pretend it isn’t happening? They children in the US can’t do anything to advocate for these things- who will do it? Why don’t I? Here I am praying and expecting people in Zambia to be moved to advocate for injustice, but what does my own record show in my own country? 

I am asked day in and day out about American politics and what I think about this and what I think about that. I am hearing that Trump is trying to deport Christian Iraqis to the Middle East, where death is almost certain. I see that they have committed past crimes, some decades ago. But I also see it was decades ago, some of these infractions are quite minute and they have already paid their debts under Obama, and that many are now in Christ and have families here and many are in process to legal citizenship. What is the current threat? What about our education budget cuts- so many crucial programs being ripped out of the hands of our youth? 

How does this serve us? Fear. Accountability. What will be done, who will stand up? Who feels stuck in sap? What makes your blood cry out for Jesus and justice?

After two weeks of pretty much no chocolate and certainly no tortilla chips, I have actually lost weight. And last night I was so fed up that we drove to pick n pay so I could pick up some white bread, peanut butter, mango jam and juice, cadbury chocolate, and some very salty peanuts. SAP. I confess my sap. I don't want to do anything about it, I just want to sit and wallow, but I know I have to. 

What is your sap? Why are you in it? 

shine bright like a diamond

 (Okay, so this first part will be content-based to give you an update of some day-by-day things and the second part will be process-based about where my heart is.)

I spent the rest of last week at another “transit” home called The Adoption Society. At the moment, there are 8 children living there- 5 boys and 3 girls. There are only three caregivers on staff at this time- that means there is either one or two women working per shift; in charge of supervising the children, doing the laundry by hand, cooking the food (which often takes hours), bathing the children, and everything else. This organization is presently only funded by “well-wishers” but in the past they were supported by a church in the Netherlands. I am not completely certain why this partnership ended, but it seems that it had been going on for many years and I suspect that the Netherlands was hoping that the Zambians would do more to become self-sustaining and keep consistent reports on how they were using their funds. Again, just my suspicions. 

Initially, my hope was to work with the caregivers to love on them and encourage them, but also to help educate them about how to best care for the children’s psychological needs. I did spend some time doing this, but it became apparent that they have already been stretched so thin and their focus seemed to continually gravitate back toward "we need money." So, instead, we were able to come up with a plan for a few of the women who have been trained by the Jubilee Centre in counseling children to stop by once or twice a week to provide this type of service for the children.

 I spent some time with each of these counselors (both named Rhoida ;) ) in order to check-in on how their practices are going and educate them on a few more strategies and techniques I might use in counseling. They were so receptive and hungry for more information! I plan on meeting with each of them again this week at their own clinics to see what a typical day looks like for them. They were so energized for the Lord and so thankful for some additional suggestions; it inspired me!

There have been so many pieces this time around. I am so, so thankful for more time here to see more and to listen more. In the same breath- wow- so many feelings. There are absolutely incredible people here doing amazing things in the name of Christ, yet there is so much that works against them. And then there are many churches and people who believe they are doing the work of God, but it is driven out of fear and judgement. And then there are massive barriers born out of corruption and desire for control. It’s insanity- it’s everywhere; in the government, in social services, in churches- everywhere. And it just seems to continue on, people know it’s there and they don’t like it, but it’s like they see no other way. It seems “thinking outside the box” is almost a sin here- children are taught to be respectful and do as they are told, to not ask questions or wonder. People continue to do the same thing day after day, generation after generation, because it would be disrespectful not to. This message is also weaved into many of the churches and what it means to be seen as a Christian- if you suffer you are not supposed to tell anyone about it- you will either be ridiculed for having such little faith or people will tell you to get over it. I believe there are good intentions, and I also believe that many people are in their own survival mode. 

So these are some of my own interpretations thus far- they cannot be written in stone. I am one person with one view and I may be wrong in how I see this. There are others who I have processed with who see these things as well, but I am certain that some other Zambians could read this and become very angry. I mean no disrespect; I am simply trying to make sense of it in order to see the big picture of connections that allow things to run the way they run.

For example: the majority of the children who are in the transit home are not actually in transit. They are not available for adoption. Two of the boys are there because their mothers are mentally ill. One of them was actually in process of being adopted and had met with his prospective adoptive parents many times, but the government worker said that because the mother was mentally ill, she was not capable of giving consent to sign off her rights of him. So the process stopped. He has been in the transit home since he was only a year old, now he is four. What is his story going to be? If the adoptive parents had paid off the government worker, bribing, would the process have been completed? I don’t know, I don’t know what his fate will look like. But I am irritated- this means he will be in limbo? He can’t live with his mother, but he can’t be adopted- so he has to live at a transit home for the rest of his childhood without an understanding of family? And there is no caseworker or anything assigned to him who is working to get him into a family or find a solution for him. The social worker, Nissi, from Jubilee Centre has noticed a change in his disposition- he knows that something has happened; he knows he hasn’t seen those prospective parents anymore, but he doesn’t know why. He appears to be quite ambivalent, but by the end of the first day I spent with him he would take my hand and lead me to the swings for me to push him. This sweet little heart, trying to make sense of a world that even to an adult, just doesn't make sense. 

This is just one example out of what seems like endless examples of frustration. And in the midst of all of this frustration, I am reminded why I am here. I spent a good deal of time on Saturday sitting outside in the sun reading the book Holy Discontent by Bill Hybels of Willow Creek. The Lord orchestrates perfect timing- I could feel my heart resting in his hands. This book talks about how to lean in to the things that you just can’t stand- how to be empowered to do something about it and to continually seek God’s grace and mercy in the process. I know what my discontent is- oppression and children being maltreated, however I can get so wrapped up in my own feelings that I just get stuck and overwhelmed in anger or I try to numb the feelings myself instead of surrendering it to the Lord.

            Here are a few excerpts from the book:

“If you expose yourself to all that’s broken in our world but neglect to view the brokenness from Heaven’s perspective (which promises that everything is in the process of being restored) then you’ll get sucked into an impossible downward spiral of aggravation and anger. Things will seem so bleak that you’ll wind up taking up residence inside your firestorm or frustration instead of allowing it to propel you toward positive action.”

“I think it’s entirely possible for us to rest in God’s promise for a better day-one in which there will be no compassion fatigue, no antidepressant pills, and no grumbling bellies in Southern Asian kids- while we work our tails off to usher it in! In fact, when you live out of the energy of holy discontent – elbowing your way past the troubles and struggles and injustices surrounding you in determined pursuit of the “better things” God has promised in his restoration plan-all of heaven will rejoice!”

Amen!

Ephesians 1: 8-10

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

What are the works that God is calling you to? What is something that you can’t stand? How can you lean into it, instead of away, allowing yourself to be transformed by God’s peace? I am truly feeling a peace and at the same time a conviction to press into this feeling, to surrender it to God and follow where he leads. How else would anything get done- if not you, who? How is the Lord training us in the same ways he trained Moses- to be a defender of our freedoms in Christ? 

It's hard. But it's so good. This is what we are created for. 

...................................................

And now it's time for Illustrative songs with Mavis, the part of the blog where Mavis comes out and sings an illustrative song (Yes folks, this is my take on Veggie Tales). 

Here and now I'm in the fire,
In above my head
Oh, oh, oh oh, oh, oh
Being held under the pressure,
Don't know what'll be left
Oh, oh, oh oh, oh, oh
But it's here in the ashes
I'm finding treasure

He's making diamonds, diamonds
Making diamonds out of dust
He is refining in his timing
He's making diamonds out of us

I'll surrender to the power
Of being crushed by love
Oh, oh, oh oh, oh, oh
Till the beauty that was hidden
Isn't covered up
Oh, oh, oh oh, oh, oh
Oh it's not what I hoped for
It's something much better

He's making diamonds, diamonds
Making diamonds out of dust
He is refining in his timing
He's making diamonds out of us

Oh the joy of the Lord
It will be my strength
When the pressure is on
He's making diamonds

Oh the joy of the Lord
It will be my strength
When the pressure is on
He's making, he's making

He's making diamonds, diamonds
Making us rise up from the dust
He is refining in his timing
He's making diamonds out of dust
Making diamonds out of us

I won't be afraid to shine
I won't be afraid to shine
I won't be afraid to shine
Cause he's making diamonds out of dust
Making diamonds out of us