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THE BLOG |
I am an eyelash lover. Like hardcore, to the end, forever and ever eyelash lover, I love them more than a person should love eyelashes.
But, the joy of my life, my beloved lash extensions, gave me an eye infection. Basically the ultimate betrayal. For a few weeks, it's been an eyelash horror movie over here. I finally woke up the other day with my eyes swollen shut and I decided that is was maybe a good time to see a doctor so I could do things I enjoy doing again, like opening my eyes. It was a long day at the doctor's office, and it just turned into one of those days . I had work I needed to do, some prep for some upcoming events, and I had just gotten back the day before from a trip, so I was not a happy camper. Amidst Pinteresting [and worrying about the work I wasn't doing because I was on Pinterest], the thought occurred to me that maybe I should pray since I'm so stressed, Three seconds later I thought, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, I am way too busy. Too much on my brain. Seriously, there is so much going on and I need to pin these vegan cupcakes on my cupcake board, despite the fact I'm not vegan. No thanks Jesus, I don't have time in my stressful rage, thank you very much. The little boy in the next room just dropped his sucker and he sounds pretty upset, so, maybe you should go check up on him." Let's rewind to two days before this when me, in all my wisdom about prayerfulness, had been giving one of my friends advice about prayer I whipped out all the fancy Christian vocabulary on her I included was how important fellowshipping with God was, how it's impactful to your Christian walk to have real time with Jesus, the whole nine Jesus-loving yards. So after I had a little reality check for Carl time, it made a bit more sense that God who holds the universe and the perfect will of all humanity in his hands, would probably be able to help me out with some swollen eyes and a big to-do list. Prayer is one of those things needs to be everyone's first resort whenever anything happens, but it's usually the thing that we all save until the end when nothing else works out. And then we go through the, "well, I guess I'll pray then since you didn't give me what I want Jesus. And Pinterest-ing my future wedding didn't solve my problems so. Let's talk I guess." thing. But there never is really a "good" excuse for not praying. It's something you can literally do anytime anywhere at any point. It's talking directly to God. When you think about it, it's a no-brainer why we should do it all the day long, but it's a struggle for everyone. You can't be too busy to pray, and thank God He is so loving that He's never too busy to hear you. Matthew 26:41, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Mark 11:24, "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." Luke 6:12, "One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God." April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. In honor of that, Waking up to Real is going to be starting a project that I am so excited about. It's called The Real Truth Project. Because of my own story, God has really been challenging me with finding a way to share it. I've also been looking to figure out a way to better equip the church with a way to help those who have been hurt by sexual abuse, so I thought of an idea to start The Real Truth Project. There are so many people who have been hurt by sexual abuse. I want people to hear the real stories and learn how to help other people through hearing. Who better to learn from than the actual people who have walked through it? This project will be real stories, written by the real women who survived. At the end of the month, all of the stories will be shared together here on the blog. There will be a separate page and sub-page for everyone's story. I know that God can use anything to glorify Himself, and I pray that this project can be used to comfort those hurting, empower those who don't have a voice, and educate those who don' t know. Even if it is just a little post on a little blog, I pray that even just one person feels encouraged and not alone. Keep the Real Truth Project in your prayers and check back on April 30th to see the Real Truth Project Published. ❤ Today, I had the wonderful opportunity today to hear the stories of refugees from all over the Middle East through an organization called Voices of Refugees. VOR is an organization that provides services to refugees when they arrive in the U.S. They teach ESL, provide transportation, education, job services, and assist in many other helpful and important ways to provide their needs. If you aren't sure about what's been happening in the Middle East, this is a great, comprehensive timeline that helped me understand: http://www.historyguy.com/list_of_wars_middle_east.html Basically, since 2006, there has been a war in the Middle East which had affected a multitude of countries. Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Pakistan, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, and other surrounding areas. A lot of countries are affected, not just from the war but other issues politically, economically, and religiously. So, for the past ten years and previous to that, refugees are and have been seeking a safe place to move. A large population have traveled, and continues to travel, to/through Europe and to North America. The stories I heard are incredible. Everyone we had the opportunity to speak to came to America after the war started. They all came here with no knowledge of English and no international licenses. They all had no idea if the family and friends they were leaving in their home countries would even be alive when they reached America. Two of the four refugees we spoke to now work for VOR. It was so helpful to hear people's stories first hand, personally from them, because of all of the misinformation and assumptions the media makes. The first man we talked to gave us incredible advice. He told us "When you meet these people, offer to help them and be there for them. If you are rude and selfish then they will say 'I don't want the Jesus they have if He's anything like that. "You can't teach people to love. There is no class to take to learn how to love people". Let me tell you, I did not know I was going to church today 🙌So. Good.You can't just take a class and learn how to be a model of Jesus's love. It's a lifestyle. It's a choice you make everyday. It's so important for us to learn who Jesus is so we can imitate his love. And the first step to that is crossing the cultural, societal, religious, bridges and hearing people's stories. We have to listen, learn, and see people for ourselves, not make assumptions and judgements about people we don't even know. You can't love people from the other side of the bridge. The rest of the stories we heard were heartbreaking. The devastation and loss was immense. I heard things I would have never known if I wasn't there, sharing a meal, sitting across the table with my new friends. Being there gave me an empathy I could have never gotten from watching the news or reading a paper. When you cross the bridge, you say no to fear. You stop allowing Satan to distance you from people because you are afraid of the unknown. You stop letting labels and differences separate you from people who are just like you. You start to realize that God's love is for everyone, and you can only deliver it once you get to the other side of the bridge. This past Friday, I had the great experience of visiting a mosque. I didn't know really what to expect [it was my first day as an intern for a new Church] but it was a very special and eye-opening day.
I went with a group, and we showed up for an afternoon service. The mosque has a dress code, so the women have to cover their arms, legs, and heads, and the men are required to wear pants and sleeves. The women don't enter through the main doors, so we entered through a door in the side that took us up to a room upstairs. There's a little area to take your shoes off in, and then all of the women and children sit in a smaller, carpeted balcony area. There was a screen so they could watch the Imam teach downstairs and there was a glass on one side that overlooked the men sitting downstairs. The floor in the service areas was just like a normal carpet but, but lines that form a little carpet square for each person to sit and pray at, that all together sort of make a giant grid. Muslims pray in the direction of Mecca, so the carpet squares were all at an angle facing in that direction. Upstairs where we sat, the women sat in the front, closest to the screen that was streaming the sermon downstairs, in an area that was roped off. Behind the roped area sat young boys from a Muslim school that came for the service, and behind them sat the little girls. I'll be honest, I made a lot of assumptions and judgements before I got there, that really had no basis, so I thought everyone would be really standoffish to our group. But God used the kindness of those around me to remind me the dangers of assuming and judging people I've never even met. Everyone was so kind to us and super welcoming. A really nice woman welcomed us showed us where to sit, and she sat with us and explained the prayers to us. Everyone invited us to ask any questions we had. I had a lot of ideas, that I really just made up in my head, about what the inside of the mosque would look like, but the inside was actually really similar to a non-denominational Christian church. The walls were a tan color and besides the windows and chandeliers, the only things that was really inside were some bookcases, chairs, and a prayer clock. After the service the Imam was very kind and gave us a tour. He answered all of our questions and encouraged us to ask more. It was interesting to hear his story and hear how he got where he is today. It was so important for me to see how dangerous it is to make decisions and assumptions based off of the fear of the unknown. Jesus wasn't afraid of the people who were unlike Him; He crossed the cultural bridges and ignored the labels that society gave to others. He met those people where they were to love them. Jesus got to know people, he sat with them, ate with them, listened to their stories. That is the kind of ministry we need to lead as Christians. We need to cross the bridges. We need to meet people where they are, hear their stories, learn about their cultures, appreciate them. We need ignore the lies the world tells about people without even getting to them and get to know people for ourselves. If you have questions about any group of people, talk to them, visit them, become friends with them. You can't love people who you haven't met.. |