Encouragement – Page 3 – Wide Awake International

Category: Encouragement

EncouragementThe Move

A Christmas Miracle: Part 2

To fully grasp the awesomeness, read Part 1 here.

On Christmas morning Jed and our friend Oleg headed over to Pastor Pavel’s office to start working on the invitation letter. The goal was to get that letter written and submitted to the Ministry of Culture before December 31st so our letter *hopefully* wouldn’t end up on the bottom of someone’s stack once the offices opened back up after the New Year. Like I said before, the Ministry of Culture “generally” takes about 3-4 weeks to write their letter of approval, and January is FULL of holidays in Ukraine. New Year is the big deal here, then they celebrate Christmas on January 7th, then there is some other kind of celebration on the 13th…so time was not really on our side.

Havalah turned 5! (She liked her present) 🙂

Jed and Oleg sat down with Pavel and got started on the letter. Then Pavel remembered he had a friend at the Ministry of Culture. “Let’s call him and make sure we’re doing this right.”

Well, he called up his friend and the friend told them to just come on over right then and he would help with the letter. In Ukraine, if you get an invite from a government office to “just come on over” you better snatch it right up because it might never come again! 😉

Christmas Eve program at a church in Zhitomir

They got in the car right then and drove over to the office. Remember this is the office where our invitation letter would be submitted for approval (which could then take several weeks). Pavel’s friend proceeded to help them rewrite the letter to make it worded the best way possible and then decided to just write the approval letter right there and then. I mean, they were sitting right there…why not? HA! He wanted to make sure he got it all right so he called in the man who provides policy clarification for the Zhitomir region. Every region interprets the laws differently here, so this guy is key to our visa success. Policy-clarification guy comes over and helps them finish the letter of approval. While that’s being written he suggests they just write all the letters we’ll need when we come back from getting our visas. Remember once we leave the country to get our visas and return to Ukraine we have 45 days to “register” with the local offices. That registration includes lotsandlotsandlots of documents. Well, Pavel’s friend just sat right down and proceeded to write every single document for our registration that could be made ahead of time. WHAT THE WHAT??????????? I’m gonna estimate that that act right there saved us approximately 57 trips to the office + 58 hours of headache. Jed was sitting in that office holding back tears, astounded at the goodness of God.

Once all the letters were written and stamped Pavel’s friend said he would hand-deliver them to the lady in the office who gives the final approval. “Otherwise it may take weeks. I’ll just ask her to approve them today.” He walked out of the room to her office, but she wasn’t available. No worries, he left the papers with her with her word that she would inform us as soon as they were signed.

All of this took several hours and several cups of tea and coffee in the government office. Four people spent their whole day going above and beyond to help us. Our friend Oleg told Jed “This just does not happen. All the right people being available and in the same place, willing to help is like a one in a million chance in Ukraine.”

Our biggest blessings

Two days later we got a call that ALL the letters were signed, stamped, approved, and ready to be picked up. A process that should have taken 3-4 weeks took exactly 3 days. Not to mention all the documents we’ll need later on that are already done. That will help us tremendously when we return with our visas! God’s care for us is astounding. I don’t even know why we were shocked by this, I mean this has been His way with us along this whole journey. He has been over-the-top faithful at every point.

This miracle has a second part that is just icing on the cake. So, way back when, in like August of 2012 some friends and I were advocating for an orphan here in Ukraine named “Heath”. Remember that? Heath is now home with his family in Texas (AND I got to meet him in person in Kiev last month!) but during that advocating time I “met” another woman, Sandra, who was fiercely advocating for Heath. Funny thing is, she was advocating for him all the way over in Switzerland at the same time as us in Oregon. We became online friends bound by our mutual love for Heath and the fatherless. Sandra has been a big encourager to us as we prepared and moved to Ukraine. One time she mentioned how awesome it would be if we would come to Switzerland at some point to share about Wide Awake at her church. I thought “Oh yeah, that would be cool, but it’s not like we’d ever just randomly be able to pop on over to Switzerland!

Heath (now named Boden) and me. This cuddle was one of the highlights of my year…maybe of my life.

Fast forward to this past fall. Sandra emailed and said that she talked with her pastor, and the leadership of the church was interested in hearing more about Wide Awake and they would pray about supporting us as a church! We gave them letters describing Wide Awake and they voted to take us on as a ministry to support! Well, guess what just happens to be in the same city in Switzerland as Sandra and her church? A UKRAINIAN CONSULATE! Soooooo, with documents and passports in hand we will head to Switzerland in a couple of weeks to obtain our visas, visit Sandra, and share Wide Awake at her church! Are you kidding me???? God, you are too ridiculously amazing. Why are we your favorites????? 😉

Excited to receive our first piece of mail from dear friends

Did you know that you’re His favorite too? My dad taught us that we are each God’s favorite. If there was no one else in the entire world He still would have sent His Son JUST FOR YOU. Maybe 2013 was a really hard, painful, and trying year for you. Maybe you ended 2013 feeling forgotten by your Father in Heaven. Maybe you have no clue what I’m talking about. Let me just tell you that 2014 is a time for you to discover or re-discover God’s great love for you. You are His favorite! You are not forgotten. Consider the children in Ukraine that He sent us to love. They lay in cribs, limbs stiff and contorted, lame from lack of use. Some have never felt the grass on their feet, never felt the sun on their face. By all appearances, they have been completely forgotten by God. How could a good God allow that kind of suffering? Guess what? He’s not allowing it. He loves them and cares for them so deeply that He uprooted our family, comfy in our middle-class wealth, and planted us right here to devote our lives to their care. We are no great gift. I’m not saying we’re are the answer or that we’re super special, I’m just sharing how we get to be a part of God’s demonstration of love to them. Each of those is His favorite- NOT forgotten.

You are not forgotten. God has good plans for you. All you have to do is say Yes to Him. Living for yourself will only bring disappointment. Let 2014 be a year of YES. You will not regret it.

kimnjed January 1, 2014 9

EncouragementFamilyThe MoveWide Awake InternationalYes

How it Went Down

We are here! We are here! Holy, moly, the outpouring of support has blown us away. We feel so loved and spoiled! Our friends and family rock. So many Viber messages, so much facebook encouragement, so many emails. Thank you all for loving us so well.

Here’s how it went down.

Portland:

We said goodbye to my family and it was p-a-i-n-f-u-l. Picture Addy clinging to the window, sobbing as our family walked away and you’ll be able to picture the level of sadness. Our family has so fully released us to this and we know it is hard. I can’t imagine how we could even do this if they didn’t let us know that they are behind this 100%. Thank you dear fam for letting us go. WE LOVE YOU!

We were feeling rather pathetic, so we hurried off to distract ourselves with a long security line. That line made us want to poke our eyes out, so the other sadness was forgotten for a bit. It felt like all we had ever known was that line and our 4 roller carry-ons + 5 backpacks + 1 guitar. All time stopped and we were lost in the vortex of shoe-taking off, pocket-emptying, luggage-heaving, and luggage-scanning and re-scanning. Did I mention the miracle that we got to check all 12 bags ALL THE WAY to Kiev, and 7 of them were a couple pounds overweight and they made us pay nothing? Oh the cheering that rang out at the American Airlines ticket counter!! Did I also mention that TSA officers have a knack for opening the bags stuffed with loose legos? Yep, they chose the lego bags without fail. Hehe…it was like an explosion of legos every time. Annnnnd it never stopped being funny.

Flight #1

This flight was pretty uneventful. As we were heading down the runway I explained to Havalah that we have to go really fast before we go up in the air. She said “Oh, when we start to drive really fast will our hair blow back?” 🙂

Chicago:

TSA really had a ball with our luggage this time. They must have scanned Ezra’s backpack 4 times. I think the nerf gun bullets were the culprit…or maybe the scary shark toy? I guess it will always remain a mystery.

We ate some yummy food, took a train, changed terminals and we were off again!

Flight #2

This was the biggie. We were flying from Chicago to Istanbul and it was a 10 hour doozy. The kids did AWESOME!!!! They really couldn’t have done better. We watched movies, ate, and slept. I won’t bore you with all the details…

Istanbul:

Before we arrived in Istanbul we explained to the kids that when we got off that plane we wouldn’t be in America anymore, so they needed to expect things to be different. The first sign of different was when we went through the security check. O.M.G. As Havalah went through the x-ray scanner deal-io the TSA officer (a woman) grabbed Havalah and started smothering her face with kisses. HAHAHA!!! It was so awesome. She was going on and on in Turkish, grabbing, kissing, talking, more kissing. At that point we were certain we weren’t in Oregon anymore. Seth got the same smooch treatment and we were on our way. I’m not sure they took note of anything in our bags, they were just too enamored with our kids. I loved every second of it, and Hava and Seth didn’t seem to mind it much either. 🙂

Flight #3:

This flight was less than 2 hours long, so I don’t have much to say about it. Quick and painless, and before we knew it we were in Kiev! The feelings as we touched down in Ukraine were like nothing I’ve ever felt before. Jed and I met eyes and were like “Holy cow. We did it. We made it. God did this. After 3 years of dreaming, we are here- with our kids. WOW.”

Kiev:

Once we got down to baggage claim in Kiev we were in good hands. We looked out the glass doors and could see a group of our dear friends from the Kiev Vineyard waiting for us, waving and smiling. YES!!! All we had to do was get our bags from the carousel to the door and then we had many hands hugging us and helping us. Praise God for the Body of Christ. Praise God for family in Kiev. We love them so much!

Want to know the biggest miracle of all? ALL 12 BAGS MADE IT TO KIEV. Jed and I were literally whooping with joy when we grabbed the last bag off the carousel. It was definitely a moment to celebrate. 🙂

Our friends helped us to the van we had hired and we were off on the road to Zhitomir! All the kids except Seth fell asleep on the two-hour drive, so that was easy peasy. When we arrived at the house our friend Oleg was waiting with keys to let us right in. He even brought food for breakfast this morning! All our friends here made us feel so loved and welcome. Then we logged in online and all our friends from the US were cheering us on like crazy! It’s like one ginormous hug fest and we are loving every second of it. Thank you, dear ones, both near and far.

All in all, the travel couldn’t have been more perfect. Tomorrow I’ll show you pictures of the house, so stay tuned! Woot! 😉

We are so unbelievably thankful that God has brought us this far. He has covered every single detail. It just goes to show you that the children we’ve come to serve are so stinkin’ dear to His heart. He will stop at nothing to have His way. He will stop at nothing to bring light into darkness. All of this is for His glory. He continues to pave the way and we simply can not wait to see what He has in store next. He is changing the atmosphere and softening hearts. He is opening eyes and we are humbled to be His hands and feet in this place.

To God be ALL the glory for the great, amazing, fantastic, unbelievably good things He has done.

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kimnjed November 14, 2013 7

EncouragementWide Awake International

Keeping up with the Joneses

Photo Credit

Do you live in one of those neighborhoods where it seems like each guy is trying to outdo the rest of the block with his lawn care?

You know what I mean.

“I noticed Jim and Nancy put in some fresh bark chips and a row of boxwoods. I think I better go ahead and put the lighted fountain in that I was planning to do last year.” “Honey, make sure to use solar powered lighting like Russ and Deb have. We want people to know we care…. well, about the environment and all.”

As I fell asleep a couple nights ago, I distinctly heard God ask me to study Nehemiah. Not read it, not skim through and look for “life verse” to put on the fridge. STUDY Nehemiah.

Photo Credit

I’ll get back to that.

The Johnson clan has been on the road for the last couple of weeks, sharing the vision of Wide Awake International.

I left Kim and the kids in Montana, with my sister, and took a little jaunt to Colorado Springs to share with our dear friends at New Life Downtown and to attend a Missional Leaders Meeting with our group of churches.

I have been surrounded by beauty all week near the Garden of the Gods.

I have truly met some amazing heroes. One couple, named Paul and Kristen, have been loving orphans with special needs in Bolivia. They take them into their home, get them medical care, and love them. They have been doing this for years, under the radar. Absolute heroes.

Another woman has been taking physical therapists and piles of wheelchairs into Kazakhstan, outfitting people with wheelchairs that fit their bodies and help them be mobile. Fantastic!

While we have known Tri and Nancy Robinson with i-61 Ministries, I have had the joy of meeting Sergio and Michael, who tirelessly work to mobilize people, passion, resources, and the education needed to address injustice across the world. Intensity!

I wish I would have taken a picture of these folks and so many more. I want you to see the fire in their eyes. These people have given up everything to bring Dignity, Hope, and Love to the marginalized, counted out, and the broken. Heroic!

Photo Credit

Well back to Nehemiah and the Landscaping.

On my first read through the book, I wondered if all the different families were just trying to keep up with the Joneses as they started to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem.

“Did you see Eliakim and his kids out there this morning? I can’t leave my section of the wall all torn down if they are gonna build their section. What will the neighbors think?”

Photo Credit

Who knows? That is why I am studying the book, I guess.

All I know is that as I have been meeting all these amazing people, I have realized there are many people like Kim and I who have sold everything to address the inhumanity that spans the globe. There are people, just like us, who won’t wait another minute to do something about the injustice that breaks the heart of God.

I have met the “Joneses” that I want to try to keep up with. I have seen the hands of Jesus in the hearts of great people who are loving their neighbor. They are heroes, each one.

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kimnjed October 3, 2013 0

EncouragementHomeschooling

A Little Slice of Heaven

Yesterday was perfection. Yesterday was one of those days where you look around and wonder how in the world you got to where you are and try really, really hard to take in every single moment so you can treasure it forever.

Yesterday we, and the couple who are hosting us spent the day waaaaaay out in the boonies of Idaho at Tri and Nancy Robinson’s ranch, Timber Butte. Tri was the founding pastor of Boise Vineyard back in 1989, and he had Nancy are ranchers extraordinaire. Tri is also the founder of I-61 ministries, a part of Vineyard Missions.

Homemade ice cream!

“The ministry of i-61 is a highway to do the ministry of Isaiah 61, fulfilling this commission to care for the broken, the oppressed, the captive and the extreme poor under the promised anointing of the Holy Spirit. It is an organized effort to train and send authentic disciples to those Jesus referred to as ‘the least of these’.”

Addy could have stayed in that little spot all day!

When I met Tri at the Vineyard Conference in Anaheim I quickly saw that I-61 is where Wide Awake International and the Johnson family fit within the Vineyard Missions family. These are our peeps. Tri and Nancy are all about justice, mercy, compassion, and going to the forgotten. Not only that, but they were homeschooling in California back in the day when some people didn’t even think it was legal, and started a homeschool co-op to try to help other parents, raised their kids an hour out of town with no electricity, packed their kids out on horses and homeschooled in tents. Oh man, I think I found my heroes. 🙂

We spent the day with great people, eating great food, and having great conversations. Not to mention my kids thought they’d died and gone to heaven. Thank you Tri, Nancy, Rand, Lori, Gary, and Lynette for such a perfect and special day! We will never forget our time together.

The Guest House

I big boy! I feed the sheep!

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kimnjed September 17, 2013 0

EncouragementThe Move

Saying Yes is so Fun.

We are alive! We really are!

I have been a bit of a blog slacker lately, it’s true. It’s not because I have nothing to say…we all know that would never be the case! 😉 It’s just that we’ve been go, go, going like crazy and I simply haven’t had the time to tell you all about it.

Delicious stop along the way

I’m a broken record, but I really can’t believe how good God is. Every time we have a worry He covers it. A couple weeks ago we were worried about how we would be able to get the word out further than just the people we know right now. We didn’t have speaking engagements lined up, though we’d put the word out to many, many pastors. We just weren’t getting a response. Oh dear, how we love to just hop in and take matters into our own hands. All the while God just watches us with a little smirk on His face like “Oh this’ll be rich. I can’t wait to see what they do.” And all the while He KNOWS exactly what HE wants to do, and if we’ll be still enough to give Him the right of way things turn out so much better. Whew. Still learning that one…obviously.

Tongue of concentration

We were worried about getting the chance to share and then when we had nothing left to do but sit and wait God had His way. BAM. We’ve been busier than ever sharing the word about Wide Awake and it couldn’t be more awesome.

A couple weeks ago we got to share about Wide Awake with a church on the coast. The people were so welcoming, so warm, almost giddy with excitement to hear what God is doing. Awesome.

Then this past weekend we got the extreme honor to share Wide Awake and our story of “Yes” with the Vineyard youth of the NW at “Anthem”, the NW regional youth conference. Oh man, so stinkin’ fun.

We stood in awe as many young men and women said yes to Jesus. We got to pray over them, encourage them, cheer them on in following Jesus one step at a time. We cried tears of joy as one girl said yes to Jesus for the very first time. The Vineyard youth of the NW are AWESOME. We made many new friends and hopefully, we’ll see many of them in Ukraine some day sayin’ yes to Jesus. 🙂

A big bonus of the trip was that several pastors who were there with their youth got to hear about Wide Awake and we’ve been invited to share at 4 more churches! Praise God for that big answer to prayer! The visions and dreams God has given us are too big for our church to support on its own. Many, many hearts must get behind this thing. We are thankful for the opportunity to share with whoever will listen!

What’s up next
-The Wide Awake website should be up and running THIS WEEK! Be on the lookout! That webpage will be a great place to direct your friends who need to hear about Wide Awake. It will also have easy ways to give financial support online.

-This blog will soon be moved to a WordPress site. I’ll let you know when that happens, but just be forewarned…changes are a’comin!

-We’ll be traveling almost every weekend between now and October, sharing Wide Awake at churches, saying goodbye to faraway family, and spending precious time with dear friends.

-This is Jed’s last week of full-time work as he transitions out of his job. His last day of work at his current job is September 12th. (just typing that gives me goosebumps on my arms and butterflies in my stomach simultaneously)

If things go as planned we’ll be making our big move in approximately 14 weeks. Good gravy.

PS: Although we have a lot of speaking dates lined up we are not too busy to share with you and your friends! We would love to come to your home or your small group to share about Wide Awake. We have all the time in the world to answer questions and meet with those who want to hear. Bring it!

kimnjed September 3, 2013 0

EncouragementWide Awake InternationalYes

Good Gifts

“The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save.

He will take great delight in you,

he will quiet you with his love,

he will rejoice over you with singing.”

Zephaniah 3:17

You know that feeling when you’re about to surprise your kids with something they really love? I don’t know about you, but when I know I’m about to bring my kids joy I can hardly contain myself. I get so excited, looking forward to their reaction- the squeals (or screams) of joy, the huge smiles, the knocking-over-with-force hugs. The fun things in life are that much more fun when I get to watch my kids enjoy them. I delight in my children. Greatly.

Yesterday I learned that no matter if my kids are small or grown, that delight in watching their joy won’t end. The same with our God. He delights in us, His kids. He LOVES bringing us joy and giving us good gifts.

So, I’m here in Anaheim for the National Vineyard Conference. When my dad heard I was heading to Anaheim for this thing and we would be arriving a couple days early, he asked the burning question, “Are you going to Disneyland?” Well, if you know me at all you know that I absolutely ADORE Disneyland. I can’t even adequately describe to you my love for all things Disneyland. I love everything about it. It’s my most favorite place ever. But, we were just given a trip to Disneyland in March and we’re trying to pinch every penny to save for our big move, so I didn’t think I could justify spending the money for a day in Disneyland. My dad, delighting in his grown-up daughter simply replied, “Oh, you’re going to Disneyland!” He said if I could find a way to get there he would pay my way to spend the day. You should have seen the grin on his face when he saw my joy. Dad’s love giving good gifts to their kids.

So, the question remained, “How would I get to Disneyland?” I was coming to the conference with our pastor (Lanny), his wife (Anne), and their two grown daughters (Christen and Abby). I knew I wouldn’t have a car, so I would just have to wait and see if it worked out. We arrived in Anaheim and realized the little condo we were staying in was literally RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET from Disneyland!!!! Shut the front door!!! Case closed. Disneyland was definitely happening on Sunday. (Plus the wifi password at the condo is “TO DISNEYLAND”. I took that as another sign.) 😉

On Saturday night as I prepared for Disney I was super excited, but a tad bummed that I was going by myself. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I could enjoy Disneyland alone- no problem. But, I did realize it’s much more fun to share your joy with someone else. Annnnddddd the love of parents stepped in again. Abby, Christen, and I were in the bedroom chatting and Anne walked in and asked the girls “Do you guys want to go to Disneyland with Kim in the morning?” You should have seen the looks on their faces. “Ummm OF COURSE!” Anne let the girls know they would pay for them to go to Disneyland in the morning. No matter what the age, parents love delighting in their children and giving them good gifts. (I may, or may not have been jumping on the bed with joy…)

I know you might find it cheesy for me to use Disneyland to talk about the Father God’s love for His kids, but if you do, you don’t know me well enough, or understand the extent of my love for Disneyland. 🙂 When we were on Space Mountain I was just laughing- out loud! I could not believe God gave me that opportunity before we head to Ukraine. Before heading to Anaheim I actually had quite a bit of nervousness and anxiety about attending the conference. I felt like “Who am I? What business do I have attending this conference and chatting with other missions folks? What makes me think they’ll be interested in what we’re doing?” Well, Jed put me in my place about that. He reminded me again that it’s not about us or our abilities. It’s about obedience to The Lord. All we have to do is say yes and tell our story. The rest is up to Him! This has never been about our abilities or lack thereof. This is about what God is doing and His ability.

When I was on Space Mountain I felt like God was saying, “Look at what I’ve given you today! I am taking care of every single detail. I love you and I love delighting in you and watching you laugh. I delight just as much in my children in Ukraine in their cribs. I’m their Father and I want to give them good gifts. You don’t worry. No one will stand in my way. I’m gonna give my babies good gifts and delight over them with singing- and I’m going to love every minute of it. The joy you feel right now is just a glimpse of the joy that’s on its way.” Oh my word. It brought me to tears. I don’t care how cheesy it sounds, God spoke to me on Space Mountain in a big way and I won’t be the same.

Today, wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, know that YOUR Father in heaven delights in you. He loves you. He rejoices over you with singing. Maybe things are rough for you. Maybe you feel like you have nothing to be joyful about. Maybe you think “Easy for you to say, Kim. You don’t know hardship!” Maybe I don’t know your hardship. Maybe I’ve never experienced the pain you’ve experienced, but I’ve experienced the delight of the Father- and He is your Father too. I know His Word is true. If He can bring joy and delight to children wasting away in cribs, and He promises to do that, He can bring joy and delight to you. Fix your eyes on Him and allow Him to father you. This is not about your ability. This is about God’s ability and His great, never-stopping, overflowing, abounding love for you. I see Him with a big ol’ grin on His face. That grin is for you just as much as it’s for me.

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

James 1:17

kimnjed July 15, 2013 9

EncouragementYes

Stirrings.

Something’s stirring.

We only have one chance at this thing called life.

We have one chance to live- truly LIVE.

The things of this world will pass away.

What if we gave our lives away? What if we stopped grasping for what our society, our neighbors, our friends, or even our family tells us is important?

What if we gave our lives away- all the way?

What if we spent our lives completely on Him?

It’s His breath in our lungs- there for purpose- to live this life for Him alone.

“For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.“

-Luke 9:24

There’s something new stirring in me. Something more radical than before. What do I hold on to that doesn’t really matter? What do I worry about for my kids that is of no eternal importance?

I want to live radically for Him. I want to give my whole life away- holding nothing back.
Why would we not? That’s what we were created for!

My world is turning upside down again and I’m not sure what that means, but I’m pretty sure it needed to happen.

He is worth it. He is worth giving our lives away. He is why we were created. He is why.

kimnjed July 3, 2013 2

EncouragementWide Awake International

Our Baby

Our hearts are full to bursting!

My view from here

Our Wide Awake event happened on Friday night and I’m not sure I’ve stopped smiling since.

Jed and I were talking afterward about how we felt. The best way I could think to describe my feelings was like one of the feelings you get when you have your first baby. Of course when Addy was born I thought she was the cutest newborn ever (don’t even try to argue with me, I’ll win). But there was a special feeling that filled my heart when other people oooo’d and ahhhh’d over her. I would think she was cute regardless of other opinions, but when other people loved my baby it felt like a different kind of amazing. “They love my baby! They think she’s something special!”

That’s totally how Friday night felt for us, x 100.

Wide Awake is like our baby. Wide Awake represents all the forgotten babies on the other side of the world who have captured our hearts. Of course, we think Wide Awake is something special (we better or else we have no business selling all our stuff and moving to Ukraine!), of course, we think the plight of the disabled orphans is something big and important, of course, we think those faces in our video and our PowerPoint are beautiful and valuable, regardless of what others may think. God put that love in our hearts! It all comes from Him.

Perty yard

BUT, on Friday night people oooo’d and ahhhh’d over our babies. People were loving our babies and it felt amazing. “They love our baby! They think it’s something special!” 🙂

When you see people valuing what you value it brings hope.

When you see people sharing your event with all their friends and asking thoughtful questions you feel thankful.

When you see people driving 3 hours because they love you and they are excited about what God is doing it makes you cry.

We had a fantastic turnout on Friday and we could not be more humbled and thankful.

Thank you a million times over to every single person who came!

Thank you to those who invited a friend!

Thank you to those of you who gave generously of your time to drive over mountains to get there.

Thank you to those who gave generous donations! Blown away. Woohooooooo!

God is so faithful. His love NEVER fails.


Happy Father’s Day to Jed! He is seriously amazing. Yes, I’m biased, and yes, I’m right.

kimnjed June 16, 2013 3

EncouragementLoss

Pain:

From Jed

After leaving MTU today, I just had to walk.

My brain was going a mile a minute.

I just finished teaching a seminar on Vicarious Trauma (the cumulative impact of hearing many traumatic events in the lives of the people you help). It is a serious issue for those who work in the Helping Profession.

I also attended the funeral of a deeply loved pastor who was integral in the work MTU started throughout the Zhitomir region.

As I walked through my new city, the place we will call home for at least the first year of our lives in Ukraine,
I was trying to reconcile a part of the training I deliberately skipped over.

I hadn’t planned to skip this part, in fact, I intended to spend some time on this theme. But as I looked out at the teachers, counselors, therapists, nurses, and staff I could not tell them that a sign of Vicarious Trauma was connected to their ability to see the world as a good and safe place for themselves and those they love.

Now, before I get too far down this road, I believe this world is full of amazingly good things and good people and safe families and safe environments.

In the US, our biggest business is pain avoidance. We prescribe, self-medicate, anesthetize and pasteurize our lives from as many problems and as much pain as possible.

At the drop of a hat we start to blame God, country and anything around us when our lives become anything less than ideal. I’m speaking at myself here.

How could I tell these people, who not only see so much suffering, but experience it too, that the world is a good and safe place and you have a serious problem if you think otherwise? They would laugh me out of the room.

I wasn’t ready to talk about this part of Compassion Fatigue (aka, Vicarious Trauma).

I needed to go for a walk and think about all I have been experiencing on this trip to Ukraine.

“God, help me to understand this culture and people. Help me to see the world through their eyes and support them as they work with the most vulnerable in their community.”

After a cup of coffee and some quiet time I had a clear thought. A sign of Vicarious Trauma fatigue is the inability to see the good that is around us and trust people in our lives. It’s a slight change from the “everything’s coming up roses” worldview that is easy to have when you are hiding behind a shit-ton of missiles and medication.

Jesus came announcing the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand. The right to rule over sickness, death, sin and darkness had begun its reign on earth.

He didn’t stand afar off and point at all that was wrong, Christ came and made wrong things right. He became one of us and took the full weight of all our bad so we could walk in freedom and goodness and life. See Isaiah 53:5.

As helpers, our job is to be like Jesus. To stand in the places where the pain is most severe and cry out for God’s Kingdom to come and when we see healing and wholeness and life and freedom we celebrate it as a sign of God’s Kingdom here on earth.

We must take care of ourselves so we can serve from the overflow of God’s presence and power in our lives.

I had the honor of speaking at MTU’s morning devotions and I shared from Mark 7:31-37 as model of care for those who work in the helps field.

Read the passage and think of Jesus’ actions more like sign language than a mystical ritual.

Jesus honors this man by taking him aside. He tells him, through sign language, that he is going to heal his ears and speaking. He looks up to the Father, so the deaf man would know where the healing was coming from.

When it’s all said and done the entire community said, “Jesus does all things well!” Or translate, He does all things completely.

Our work as helpers is usually partial healing: bandaging, counseling, listening, soothing, containing, informing and befriending. But, as Christ followers, we can appeal to His finishing work and say;

“Father in Heaven, make your name great!

Just like it is in Heaven, let it be here on earth; In my life and in the families and people I serve.

Give us this day, everything we need to live lives of freedom in you.

Let us be forgivers, people who give out love and kindness freely and without reservation, as we have been forgiven and loved much.

Papa, let me learn the lessons I need to learn without going through the fires of temptation. Don’t let me be so self-focused that I miss your sweet comfort that guides me in the way of peace.

You take all the glory today and I will bathe in the warmth of I life lived near your heart.

Amen.”

kimnjed May 24, 2013 4

EncouragementThe MoveYes

Pass the Tissues…

So last night I laid in bed awake till almost 1:00am with a brain that wouldn’t shut off. What was I thinking about, you ask?

-What will we do tomorrow?

-I have to take advantage of every moment. What if none of my contact hopes work out for tomorrow? Will it be a “wasted” day?

-Is Mission to Ukraine (MTU) expecting me to come in tomorrow? Hmmm…I better check in with them first thing.

-There sure are a lot of dogs barking. Kinda makes me feel like I’m in Kosovo. 🙂

-I hope Jed gets to Zhitomir okay on Thursday. He won’t have a phone…how will I know when to meet him at the city center?

-How will I fit all my kids on the tiny marshrutkas they have here in Zhitomir?

-I kind of wish I had ice cream right now.

-How will my kids make friends here?

-Will we be lonely?

-What will we do tomorrow????? Surely God has a plan, right?

Yeah, my mind was spinning and I was kind of worrying…about everything. People tell me all the time that they could never do what we are doing, or getting ready to do. How do we do it? How are we so brave? Hahahahaha! Now you see. 🙂 We are nothing special. Sometimes we look like deer in headlights. We cry (well, not so much “we”, more “me”). We fret. We keep ourselves awake worrying about things we can’t do anything about. But, in the end, we just put one foot in front of the other and praise God He’s not afraid to use cracked, imperfect vessels like you and me to be His hands and feet.

It kind of reminds me of our time fostering. People would always say they could never foster; that it would be too hard to let the babies go after you start to get attached. Let me tell ya, it was too hard. It was impossibly hard. But, God called us to it and He gave us grace for what He called us to. It doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt like crazy. It doesn’t mean we didn’t ever cry ourselves to sleep at night because of the heartache. It just means that when He calls you HE gives you every single thing you need to accomplish His purposes. And because of that, I would do it all over again in a second.

This is scary. This is wonderful. This is exciting. But trust me; we are not anything special. Talk to our close friends and family. Pass the tissues, ’cause we all got issues. We worry about all the same things you would worry about if you were in our shoes, but we know He will give us every single thing we need to accomplish His purposes. We just need reminders of that every 5 minutes or so.

That truth is not only for us! I don’t know who all is reading this, but I know that God wants to remind someone about this truth today.

He is enough. He will make the way. He will smooth the path. His word does what it sets out to accomplish. He doesn’t expect you to be super strong or super brave or even a little bit perfect. He asks you to be willing, and the rest is up to Him.

Step out! Act on the dreams God has planted in your heart. Tell Him you are willing and watch what He does. Don’t let fear hold you back. Love fully. Live fully. Trust. (I’m preaching to myself today too!)

Isaiah 55:10-13 rocks my world:

“For your thoughts are not my thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares The Lord.

As the heavens are higher than then the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

Oh, but it gets better. Listen to what happens when we trust! This is the best:

“You will go out in joy and be led out in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you and all the trees of the fields will clap their hands.

Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree (Ha!!! Yesssss!) and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.

This will be for the Lord’s renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed,”

It is my joy; it is your joy to partner with The Lord in His work.
Trees clapping, hills singing…bring it.

It was sunny, but consider yourself winked at. 🙂

kimnjed May 14, 2013 5