Why I Can Be Brave This Year

“God calls me out of my cave, out of my tent, to remind me that HE is still certain.”

By Fiona Koefoed-Jespersen | Twitter: @fiona_lynne

My One Word for the year is “BRAVE.” I decided I was lacking some courage, and thought maybe declaring it over myself each morning would help me step outside my comfort zone a little more often.

Just three months ago, I moved to a new city in a new country. I come from England and since I left home at 18, I have lived in Scotland, California and South Africa. The last four years I’ve lived in Brussels–where I met my husband–and at the end of November, we packed up our things and moved a few hours down the road to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Despite having moved around so much, the change was much harder than I had anticipated.

We moved for my husband’s career in a global technology corporation. I’d been working as a lobbyist for a development NGO and although I am still passionate about the issues, I was fed up with the politics and beaurocratic wrangling and happy to be moving on. But my own next steps in work are still unclear.

And so moving has brought a dozen questions crowding to the forefront of my mind:

-Who am I? What is my purpose?

- What am I supposed to be doing with my days?

- Where should I be serving? What about church? Will there be a role for me there? Will I be able to find strong women mentors to stretch and challenge me again?

- Who will be my friends to share my dreams and struggles with? What do I say when people ask, “So, what do you do?”

With the uncertainty and questions have come an element of pride and stubbornness. I miss the role I had in my previous church. I miss being known by everyone. I miss the job I had that allowed me to mingle with CEOs and directors and politicians. Many days I find I have lost the sense of being worth something.

Anchors

At the beginning of the year, I exchanged some emails with an e-friend I got to know through blogging.Through our conversation, I rediscovered two scenes in the Bible that have helped anchor me in the storm of emotions.

1. Get out of your cave

The first picture is of Elijah, standing at the entrance to a cave, high up in the mountains. He’d just had a battle of supernatural proportions against the prophets of Baal, and Elijah’s God, the one true God of Israel, had shown his glory and splendour! This made Elijah rather unpopular, so he’d fled into the mountains, fearful for his life, doubting himself and his mission.

God asked Elijah: What are you doing here?–and Elijah poured out his frustration and despair to him. The Lord told him: Go out of the cave and stand on the mountain in my presence.

Get out of your cave. It may feel like the safest place to be right now, but that is not where I am. I am out here, on the mountain, waiting to speak to you …

2. Come out of your tent

A few hundred years earlier, another doubting man lay in his tent, fearful and wondering. He poured out his heart to God: You have made me so many promises. You told me not to fear, that you are my shield and my great reward, but all I know is that my wife Sarah and I are still childless and I do not understand what’s happening to us.

Then God took him outside his tent and said, Look up! While you lie in your tent you see only your own circumstances, your own abilities and your own strength. But I, your God, am bigger and stronger. Try and count the stars. You can’t! But this is how many your descendants will be. If I can throw the stars into their orbits, I can give you a child. Trust me.

These two pictures continue to speak to me. Two men, doubting the promises made to them, doubting the mission given to them, doubting their ability to fulfil their calling. Lacking courage.

And God spoke to them where they were and said, Come out! See how much bigger, mightier, more faithful and more loving I am than you had imagined.

On Being Brave

It was easier for me to be brave when I had a good job, many local friends, a recognised role at church, a community to be part of. It is harder to be brave when all that seems uncertain.

But this is why I can be brave this year, in this new city and country: Because God calls me out of my cave, out of my tent, to remind me that HE is still certain.

- I can be brave to step out and meet new people, knowing that my closest friend will never leave me nor forsake me.

- I can be brave to go out and ask for work, learn a new language and seek out new opportunities in my career, being confident that he who began a good work in me will bring it to completion.

- I can be brave to explore new ministry opportunities in the church here because I know I am surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses to inspire and encourage me.

- I can be brave about getting to know a new neighbourhood, a new culture, a new way of life, because I know that my God, who is enthroned from of old, does not change.

_________________________

About Fiona: 

I’m an event planner, living in Luxembourg with my Danish husband. I love throwing parties and dinners, gathering people together, seeing the new friendships and plans that emerge. I love seeing people find their role in God’s big story. I like to bake and travel and pick up new traditions.

My word for the year is “brave,” because I don’t want to let fear be the reason I miss out on all God has for me. I blog at fionalynne.com/blog and tweet at @fiona_lynne.

Image credit: Brave butterfly via BraveGirlsClub.com

A Love Letter to my Sisters

On Valentine’s Day and for every day.

For my sisters in Berlin and Bubanza, Taipei and Toronto. For my sisters on facebook and twitter, email and pinterest. For my sisters at Christmas and my sisters on couches. For my sisters in cars and cafes. For the sisters I have met and for those whose stories I have only ever carried in my heart … With Love xo

By Idelette McVicker | Twitter: @idelette

My dear Sister,

I want to be birthed with you

From this big belly of

Sisterhood.

I want to be birthed with you

into our most beautiful, imagined

mirror

of Heaven’s Glory.

I want to be birthed with you

our heads held high

our faces lifted

and shining,

speaking the language of

Dignity, Freedom, Worth.

I want to be birthed with you

So we may belt out the

full range of our voices,

giving expression to the north and south octaves of our lives.

O, imagine the beat

of our hearts together,

sounding a symphony of

Beauty and Grace.

Speaking of Grace,

our beloved sister,

who opened up

the dark closet of

her story and allowed us in.

Then, as we held her precious in the Light and loved off the shame—

she, too, was birthed

into the runner and singer and proclaimer

she had always been.

I want to be birthed with you

So together

we may stand and assist

push and pray

lean in and loosen

one more woman,

into the Light of

her Freedom.

I want to be birthed with you

from this womb made for Goodness and Abundance—

where aches and laughs and hugs grow and bear fruit in our together garden.

Carrying and praying each others’ stories from here to there

and to the ends of the earth.

I want to be birthed with you,

As you birth me.

Together, we are a story that Love makes.

_______________________________

Please consider giving an ID card to our sisters in Bubanza this Valentine’s Day. You can read the original post here.

PURCHASE AN ID CARD HERE:

Please ENTER THE AMOUNT $ you want to donate into the white box HERE and then click “Donate”: 

IMPORTANT:
- Once inside the donation page, please select “No Shipping” and “No State/Province” to avoid extra charges.
- Relate Church is kindly processing the donations.
- Every cent of your donation is going towards identity cards for our sisters in Burundi.

Download this Valentine’s card as a PDF here  and print to give to your Valentine.

Please also SHARE this project with your world, because: 

- This Valentine’s Day, we want to give something that will last long after the roses have wilted and dried.
- This Valentine’s Day, we want to taste the sweet taste of Justice on our tongues.
- This Valentine’s Day, we ask for Dignity for our sisters in Bubanza.

Thank you so much–no, really, thank you–for doing your part, so together we can make a difference.

_____________________________________________________

About Idelette:
I like soggy cereal and I would like to go to every spot on the map of the earth to meet our world’s women.

I dream of a world where no women or girls are for sale. I dream of a world where women and men are partners in doing the work that brings down a new Heaven on earth.

My word for the year is “Roar,” but I have learned it’s not about my voice rising as much as it is about our collective voices rising in unison to bring down walls of injustice.

I have three children and this place–right here, called shelovesmagazine.com–is my fourth baby. I am African, although my skin colour doesn’t tell you that story. I am also a little bit Chinese, because my heart lives there amongst the tall skyscrapers of Taipei and the mountains of Chiufen. Give me sweet chai and I think I’m in heaven. I live in Vancouver, Canada and I pledged my heart to Scott 11 years ago.

I believe in kindness and calling out the song in each other’s hearts. I also believe that Love covers–my gaps, my mistakes and the distances between us. I blog at idelette.com and tweet@idelette.

ShePonders: Abundant Life

“When we have enough human dignity, enough freedom, enough food we actually come to see that we already live a life of abundance.”

By Kelley Johnson-Nikondeha | Twitter: @kelljnik

So often I hear people speaking of  ”abundant life”–wanting it, claiming it as the right of every Christian. In a world that seems to exist in a straightjacket of scarcity, the notion of abundance sounds like a longed for oasis. The potential problem is that if we do not achieve the ideal of abundance, is the promise of Jesus a mere mirage in sands of our desert wandering?

What is Abundant Life–and can we have it?

We hear about the abundant life from the lips of John, the beloved disciple of Jesus. In John 10:10 we learn: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly.” There it is–Jesus came so that we can have abundant life. Boom!

A bit of context is in order here, so let’s widen our lens a bit. Okay, let’s widen the lens a lot, back to chapter nine and the story of the man born blind. The long and the short of it is that Jesus mixed mud and spit, smeared it on his eyes, and when the blind man washed his eyes, he could see. All this happened on Sabbath, which further raised the ire of the already hostile Pharisees. The next 29 verses relay the story of their investigation into the healing. John goes to great length to make clear that the Pharisees can’t believe, are unable to imagine or refuse to accept the reports that Jesus healed a blind man. By the end of the chapter, Jesus basically had turned the tables so the blind can see and the sighted can’t.

I am the Gate.

It is to these sighted-yet-blinded Pharisees that Jesus tells a parable. He talks of sheep, bandits and shepherds. He says the sheep know the voice of their shepherd. But the Pharisees still didn’t get the gist of the story. So Jesus says “I am the gate for the sheep … I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.”  And in his further explanation of the parable we come to John 10:10 … “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly.” The thieves in the parable come to harm the sheep. But Jesus comes to give the sheep abundant life.

Now we can tighten our lens to this set of verses and get a closer look.

First, notice the way abundant life functions in this parable: It is the sheep that are the recipients of abundant life. Interesting.

In the parable the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. He wants to take the sheep away from the shepherd, kill the woolen animals and destroy the entire sheepfold.

Access

The gate, however, allows access. Those sheep that come through the gate will be saved. How are sheep saved? They are saved from peril like wild animals and, to the point of this parable, they are saved from thieves who mean them harm. Also we are told that the sheep are able to come and go through this gate. They are free to find pasture. So the gate allows the sheep to be saved from physical danger, to have freedom of movement and ample food.

This sounds like a good life for a sheep! You might even say that from the vantage point of the sheep this is abundant life. The gatekeeper, the gate, the shepherd ensures they have all they need. The fold is safe, free and fed.

[Abundance = Access to enough.]

Let’s not forget that Jesus was telling this story before a crowd of Palestinian Jews in the first century. As he explained the parable to them, it became evident he was talking about more than just sheep.  They were the sheep. He was the gate. The religious elites (among others) were the thieves. He was talking about them!

And if you were a peasant living under the occupation of the Roman Empire, if you were a good Jew trying to keep up with mounting temple taxes-–how would you hear this parable? You might think Jesus is saying there is salvation from the current oppressive regimes. You might hear that you can come and go freely without fear of colliding with a tax collector or a soldier who might enlist you to go a mile carrying his luggage. You might hear there will be ample food for you and your family. That would be a good gate … an entrance into abundant living.

First mention

Before we leave the text, there is one more question I want to ask: Where have we seen abundance in the Bible before? I go back to the beginning–to the garden. The creation story bursts at the seems: “plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind on earth … swarms of living creatures … sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm and every winged bird of every kind … cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind …”  I am out of breath with the sheer abundance from just a few days of created goodness.  Wow!

Garden

According to the story, God created a lush garden as our point of origin. He intended us to live in a place of safety, a place where we could come and go, a place with ample food and so much more! Eden is our first glimpse at what abundance looks like. And as we recall, due to our over-reach, we were banned from the garden. That gate was closed to us … until Jesus comes and says that he is the gate, implying that he is the new gate back to creation goodness, perhaps?  I think there is a hint of that in John’s gospel. Jesus is the gate back to garden goodness; back to the abundant life we were designed to live with God and all of creation.

Maybe the story nudges us to see that the abundant life is not so much about getting everything we want, but about accessing everything God intended for us from the beginning. Simply put–we, like sheep, need freedom and food for abundant life.

Viable + vibrant

When sheep live under threat from thieves–safety, freedom and food look like abundant living by comparison. When Palestinian peasants eek out a living on the underside of the economy and brutal regime–freedom and food look like abundant life by comparison. Abundance equals access to enough. When we have enough human dignity, enough freedom, enough food we actually come to see that we already live a life of abundance.

Abundance is not having more wealth and more belongings; it is having enough to live a viable and vibrant life. We can come very close to the plight of the sighted yet blind Pharisees when we look for the abundant life without realizing that we are already living it!

There are, however, many around the globe that do live under constant threat, those who lack freedom and food. Jesus came that they, too, might have abundant life. When our blindness is cured, we can see our own abundance and see those who need us to be like Jesus, a gate to the abundant life.

______________________________

Audio: Abundant Life

Click on the link above for an audio experience of Kelley’s post.

______________________________

About Kelley:

Kelley Johnson Nikondeha is co-director of Amahoro Africa and international staff member of Community of Faith with her husband Claude. She’s a thinker, connector, advocate, avid reader and mother of two beautiful children. Kelley lives between Arizona and Burundi. She loves handwritten letters, homemade pesto and anything written by Walter Brueggemann.

SheLoves Bubanza Project: Can Love Move this Mountain in Burundi?

This Valentine’s Day, we want to show what true Love can do. 

UPDATE:  WE DID IT!!! 425 women in Bubanza will now get their ID documents. If you still want to donate, any overflow will go to fund the ID cards for the men of Bubanza. #Together certainly moves mountains of injustice. Thank you so much!

-idelette xoxo

Last week we launched the SheLove Bubanza Valentine’s Day project. We are gathering our strength to give 425 women in Bubanza, Burundi, the dignity of an Identity Card. Until now, these women have been invisible. Even though they have their government didn’t count them as citizens. We have raised $4,190 already–only 76 more ID cards to go! We want to give every woman in this community this basic human right. Please join us!

Want to give an ID card as a Valentine’s Day gift? Download your own card (as pdf) here and print it at home. (It looks great on cardstock!)

Please GIVE and SHARE this project with your world, because: 

- This Valentine’s Day, we want to give something that will last long after the roses have wilted and dried.
- This Valentine’s Day, we want to taste the sweet taste of Justice on our tongues.
- This Valentine’s Day, we ask for Dignity for our sisters in Bubanza.

PURCHASE AN ID CARD HERE:

Please ENTER THE AMOUNT $ you want to donate into the white box HERE and then click “Donate”: 

IMPORTANT:
- Once inside the donation page, please select “No Shipping” and “No State/Province” to avoid extra charges.
- Relate Church is kindly processing the donations.
- Every cent of your donation is going towards identity cards for the women of Burundi.

________________________________________

WANT TO KNOW HOW THIS ALL BEGAN?

Here’s the original story:

____________________________

Doing our part for our sisters in Burundi on the journey from Invisible to Belonging.

By Idelette McVicker | Twitter: @idelette

I remember the moment well: Driving up Granville Street, three kids in the back of the minivan and Scott at the wheel. I read my friend Kelley Johnson Nikondeha’s latest blogpost about her and hubby Claude’s work in Burundi on my phone:

“Another beginning.“

They were starting another brandnew, God-sized (read: faith required) project in Bubanza, Burundi. A community with over a thousand adults.

I read in the hurried pace of the car, speeding forward through Vancouver traffic to catch a ferry on that Friday afternoon. Inwardly, I was willing a quiet moment … dodging as best I could the crescendo of kidlet voices in the car and steeling myself against the atmosphere of Rush.

I willed myself to be present to the words … to catch my Kelley’s heart. I wanted to be open my own heart to the big work she and Claude devote their lives to.

She drew me in with this picture of a little Burundian girl:

And then these words:

“This week, life for this little girl is going to start changing.”

Kelley and Claude (a native Burundian) have faithfully visited Bubanza since 2008. They started with a small community project with the Batwa people and saw it flourishing through hard work, heart work, commitment and tenacity.

“But Bubanza,” she wrote ”is big and the terrain is tough. Hundreds of families, poor land, no water and no hope. Some have tried to help over the years–helping with some houses, but not enough. Offering occasional food, but only for a few days. No one stayed long. So the situation on the ground in Bubanza really did not change.”

“Hardship was the steady diet of these friends.”

Over the years, over dusty visits, telling stories and much dancing, the people of Bubanza have become Claude and Kelley’s friends. Each a person with a name and a story.

By this time in the story, we were at the corner close to an old favourite Starbucks. For some reason, I was aware of my own place on the earth and it seemed significant as I read her next sentence:

“We will start by advocating for human rights – identity cards, birth certificates and marriage licenses for hundreds of families.”

What? These people–these friends of my friends–don’t have identity cards? No birth certificates?

I’ll be honest: The tears welled up in me right then, just as they are now, in writing these words.

I sat there in the car with my robust family and my own story and these words stopped me in my tracks:

No. Identity. Cards.

Kelley explained: “As far as the world was concerned, they did not exist. With no official record of their existence they could claim no rights, no representation, no residence or real home. For all intents and purposes they were invisible … exiles in their own land living in the shadows of Burundian society.”

I understood a little of what this meant. I remembered the ache of not truly belonging.

While my place of nothing could never ever compare to theirs, that season of my life gave me a glimpse into the cold walls of powerlessness. I remembered how dependency keeps you small and how vulnerably naked it is without a piece of paper to mark your own spot on the earth.

I understood the world of difference between having the dignity of an identity card and not having that seemingly simple, yet profoundly important piece of paper.

The tears were streaming down my face and I had to catch gulps of air through the sobs. [This doesn't happen that often, so when it did, I paid attention.]

Lord, what can I do? I asked.

Lord, what do you need me to do?

Lord, what do you want us to do?

I emailed Kelley and started a conversation … a thread of a hope. What if one day we, the SheLoves Sisterhood, could come alongside these sisters in Bubanza?

It seemed distant and foggy.

But I set up camp by this thought and lifted my heart in prayer.

Then, over the next two months, life started to change for the people of Bubanza.

First, the arrival of trees.

Then, desks.

And, in early January, I read another one of Kelley’s blogposts:

“Come forward and be seen!”

The first 120 women in Bubanza were holding their identity cards in their hands. I could hardly believe it!

The team had decided to make the women’s identity cards a priority. These women were now–for the first time–recognized as residents of Bubanza and citizens of Burundi.

As I read that last post, it struck me how just fast the Spirit of God was moving to bring hope, dignity and strength to the people of Bubanza.

It swept through me too and I wanted to be a part of this God story.

I emailed Kelley that night, late into the night. I fought against the voice that said I was being impulsive, but I remembered the tears on that first day, so I hit “send” and enquired anyway:

- How many more women need identity cards? I asked.

- How much does it cost to get one identity card?

Maybe this would be too big for us, I doubted. I had no idea.

I asked anyway.

The next morning her response laid in the palm of my hands:

“There are 425 women in Bubanza awaiting identity cards at the cost of $12 each.”

Twelve dollars sounded so … doable. I quickly did the math on my phone:

1 x identity card @$12

x

425 women

____________

= $5,100

____________

Our SheLoves/LifeWomen Mama Helen Burns also caught the wind of the Spirit and said, Yes! Let’s do it!

So, this my dear SheLoves sisters, is our Valentine’s Day project for 2012–a way to show deep, meaningful and real Love to our sisters in Burundi.

- Not the hearts and chocolate kind, but the kind of Love that changes a woman’s life for good. The kind of Love that can’t help but change us as we give to others.

So, my dear friend, would you please help us in getting the word out and raise the funds to get identity cards for each and every woman in Bubanza? We’d love to do this by Valentine’s Day.

Would you join us, please, in giving towards an identity card for one woman? Five women? Ten women? A hundred women? All the women? The whole community?

As I sit with our project–and this basic human need of our friends in Bubanza–I can’t help but be reminded of this: He knows my name. He knows our names. And He knows every one of their names. And together we have an opportunity to participate in this beautiful story of Dignity and Justice.

PURCHASE AN ID CARD HERE:

Please ENTER THE AMOUNT $ you want to donate into the white box HERE and then click “Donate”: 

IMPORTANT:
- Once inside the donation page, please select “No Shipping” and “No State/Province” to avoid extra charges.
- Relate Church is kindly processing the donations.
- Every cent of your donation is going towards identity cards for the women of Burundi.

________________________________________

About Idelette:
I like soggy cereal and I would like to go to every spot on the map of the earth to meet our world’s women.

I dream of a world where no women or girls are for sale. I dream of a world where women and men are partners in doing the work that brings down a new Heaven on earth.

My word for the year is “Roar,” but I have learned it’s not about my voice rising as much as it is about our collective voices rising in unison to bring down walls of injustice.

I have three children and this place–right here, called shelovesmagazine.com–is my fourth baby. I am African, although my skin colour doesn’t tell you that story. I am also a little bit Chinese, because my heart lives there amongst the tall skyscrapers of Taipei and the mountains of Chiufen. Give me sweet chai and I think I’m in heaven. I live in Vancouver, Canada and I pledged my heart to Scott 11 years ago.

I believe in kindness and calling out the song in each other’s hearts. I also believe that Love covers–my gaps, my mistakes and the distances between us. I blog at idelette.com and tweet@idelette.

Upcoming Conferences & Events

 { for women with hearts + brains + hands + feet } 

We want to mobilize and empower women to transform our world. Therefore, every month SheLoves magazine will update our list of upcoming conferences and events for women around the globe. If you have an event or conference you think we should add, please contact us.

2012 Events, Campaigns & Conferences

Free Them: Campaign to Fight Slavery, Feb.

Here ‘s the Free Them 29 Things PDF to download: 29 Things

The Justice Conference: Feb 24+25, Portland, OR

Illuminate: Feb 24+25 (Youth) Victoria, BC, Canada

LifeWomen Conference: May 3-5, Surrey, Canada

Amahoro Gathering: May 21-25, Bujumbura, Burundi

She’s Got the Whole World in Her Hands

{Seeking Eve Monday}

“A life of freedom is a life lived with your priorities lined up easily and straight.”

By Christina Crook

_________________________

Alyssa Bistonath first cracked the pages on Richard Wurmbrand in her mid-twenties. A friend introduced her to Victorious Faith, a slender volume written by the author made famous by his first book, Tortured for Christ, the account of his suffering under the Nazis and, later, his imprisonment in Communist Russia. These stories of martyrdom changed her life.

“When we are young Christians we have these grand ideas of what living for God looks like. These books changed my life because it made God relevant by revealing the value in suffering.”

“Suffering is important because it increases your ability to have empathy, insight into a world that’s relatively unspoken about, which is your job as an artist.”

Bistonath’s work as a portrait photographer has enabled her to travel to the far reaches of the globe, capturing truth on film.

Born in Winnipeg but raised in Brampton, Alyssa’s fascination with images, narrative, poetry and pursuit of social justice are the guiding force behind her work. Since completing her BFA in New Media at Ryerson University, she has been recognized as an emerging talent in the fine art arena while her travels have led to an extraordinary body of work. Through World Vision, her main client, she has travelled to India, Ethiopia, South Africa, Mali, Brazil, Mexico, Honduras and El Salvador. To date, Antarctica is the only continent she’s never set foot on.

Back on Canadian soil, Alyssa is loud and proud about her hometown.

My Hometown, Your Hometown

“I have traveled everywhere in the world and I think Brampton, Ontario is the most awesome place on earth,” she says, settling into a late morning plate of eggs benny. This love has led her to her most recent endeavor, the creation of the “My Hometown, Your Hometown” photo project.

We meet at an eatery on Toronto’s west side called The Starving Artist before she heads into the studio to lay down beats for her band, The Royal Family’s, second EP. The irony of the diner’s name isn’t lost on this artist, who is first and foremost a photographer, second, a self-taught drummer.

“The developed world is always telling you are adequate and the developing world is always showing you that you’re not,” she explains. Her life, in work and on her collaborative Little City and How blog, are curated through pictures. Photography is how she tells her story, revealing the world and people she loves.

“Little City and How” is written by four friends. “They live down the road from each other, and around the corner from you. They love and support each other in a way that seems downright suspicious to the outside world … We hear the city speak in our loves and lives and want to collect it on canvases, put it in words, and wear it on our (shirts) sleeves.”

“As an artist, every morning you have to wake up and choose,” says Alyssa, bouncing my three-month baby boy on her knee. For Alyssa, this choosing means to not settle for the easy shot. When Report on Business calls her for a photo shoot, they’re not looking for a glossy, happy face. They know they’re going to get Bistonath’s trademark honesty.

In Victorious Faith, Wurmbrand writes: “When my eyes are opened, I say with St. Paul, “I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me”… Luther wrote: “I have to distinguish between myself and my calling. I consider myself as the smallest. But my calling is untouchable … Nobody should have a high opinion of his own person, but everyone should mightily praise his calling to the glory of God.”

“The months I don’t shoot are the darkest months of my life,” Alyssa confides.

It’s her calling to photograph: to reveal suffering, to unpack love, and she knows it full well.

In her own words:

Faith to me means knowing the truth about a sovereign and loving God, His son’s sacrifice, resurrection and, of course, what it means to live in the freedom of a trusting relationship with our creator.

What I mean by that is so much of life is steeped in fear, guilt and insecurity. Time wasted worrying or feeling anxious about the strangest things. A life of freedom is a life lived with your priorities lined up easily and straight. This is an everyday challenge, but we have an extraordinary God.

When I was little I was quiet, shy and mischievous. I lived through my imagination. Everything was filled with wonder and awe. My three older brothers were my heroes, guides and playmates who taught me the value of confidence, creativity and laughter.  I always had a sense that life was measured and memorized by narratives and was always excited to discover what my own story might bring.

My days are filled with long silences and loud bursts. For me there is very little in between. There are so many people to love. They fill my days and my heart.

I wish that everyone would find and live out their passion. There is a fullness of life to be had, and everyone is deserving of, by rite of being created.

The thing is there is so much out there. Seriously.

Today I give myself permission to listen to one song on repeat all day long.

________________________________

Would you like to add your story to Seeking Eve Monday?

We’d love to hear your story. Please share it by emailing Christina at seekingeve[@]gmail.com

To find words for your story, try following these lines, as Alyssa did:

Faith to me means [community / hope / food / sacrifice / art / etc] …

What I mean by that is …

When I was little I …

My days are filled with …

I wish …

The thing is …

Today I give myself permission …

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About Christina:

Christina recently traded the seaside views of Bowen Island, BC for the banks of Toronto’s Humber River where she, her husband and two young children attend Grace Toronto Church. Her work has appeared in MUSE and Vancouver magazine, and is forthcoming in UPPERCASE, Geez and the Literary Review of Canada. She is the founder of SeekingEve.ca and blogs at www.christinacrook.com.

On An Honest Friday: Mustard Seed

“From me, he asks for a getting up. An invitation for the thaw. A lifting of this mustard seed faith of mine.”

By Laura Parker | Twitter: @LauraParkerblog

If my spiritual life were a dashboard in a flight cockpit, I’m pretty sure the red lights screaming, Danger! Crash-and-burn-imminent! would be angrily blinking.

Because my faith has taken a beating this year; a battering.

There’s been disappointments in ministry and a confusion of jobs. There’s been several house moves and enough goodbyes said that would make a grown man cry. There’s been money struggles and kid struggles and a community that seems awfully elusive. And then, there’s been this discussion of new theology that has rocked me to my core, driving me to ask questions and seek answers.

Which I haven’t really found.

And the result is that my faith finds itself laid-out on the mat of some cosmic boxing ring.

Battered, down, and staying that way, I’m afraid.

The past months have seen a slow chill creep in to my heart, and the voice of God has become a whisper that I haven’t taken time to strain an ear for. My cynicism–my “intelligent” wanderings–have ushered in more head than soul, and down on the mat I have wallowed.

And, this, I have discovered, is not a good thing. Especially as a homeschooling mom to three small children. Especially as a wife to a man, overwhelmed. Especially as a {gulp} Christian missionary.

But, here’s the thing I am {re}learning about this God I started following 25 years ago: He doesn’t ask for mountainous faith; doesn’t demand on-fire-perfection.

Instead, he asks for mustard seeds. And five loaves. And water in jugs where the wine’s already run out.

And from me? From me, he asks for a getting up. An invitation for the thaw. A lifting of this mustard seed faith of mine.

Case in point. My husband needed to travel to Bangkok from our home in Thailand in January. He had lined up several meetings that were crucial to our work here in Asia, and he felt like it was a trip God was asking him to step out in faith for–even though we didn’t have the money to buy the plane tickets or the funds for a hotel or a traveling partner to go with him.

But, he made calls and scheduled meetings, anyway. And then, over the next few weeks, I saw the mustard seed grow:

1. His plane ticket was paid for by another family here who heard about his meetings and wanted to encourage us.

2. Another friend has a brother who redeemed hotel points to get him to stay at a four-star hotel in Bangkok. He was planning on staying in hostels, but now will be spending the weekend in one of the nicest hotels in the entire city.

3. A friend from another city in Thailand has agreed to travel with him, attend meetings and be another ear to process with.

4. He has been able to schedule meetings with some key leaders which, honestly, were a long shot at even getting to the table with.

5. My heart is in a fresh place– expectant for the trip, hopeful for the outcomes. And ready to manage the kids as a solo-parent for the next several days, sans the typical woe-is-me syndrome I typically spout when he travels.

And, this, friends, for me is God in Action, God in the Boxing Ring who ushers me again to wobbly feet. And this Friday, as we celebrate things to be grateful for here at SheLoves, my husband works and dreams and prays, from a cushy hotel in Bangkok.

And his wife, at home with the three kids, finds her heart a little less cold, her faith a little made stronger, the red indicator lights not blinking with quite such panic as before.

And maybe both are more a miracle than I usually give credit for.

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My dear SheLoves friends, I’d love to hear:

• What mustard seed have you seen growing in your life more recently?
• If your spiritual life were a dashboard in a cockpit, what would yours say today?
• Any other thoughts?

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About Laura:

Laura Parker is a freelance writer and homeschooling mom who currently lives in Thailand with her family. She and her husband run a travel ministry which seeks to mentor young adults and provide a greater awareness of human trafficking. She blogs honestly about a life in Asia, squatty-potties and all, at http://www.aLifeOverseas.com . She is also the founding editor for an inspirational website for educators, InspiredTeacher.net . She tweets from @LauraParkerBlog .

Seeking the Face of Justice: Lessons from Two Former Child Soldiers

By Stephanie Motz Skinner | Twitter: @stephmotz

When we see how much injustice there is in the world, sometimes we forget that a simple act of reaching out and caring can make all the difference.

I can’t say I fully understand justice. Living in Uganda, however, as I hear firsthand the stories of people who have experienced great injustice–people who are now healing–I’m often reminded of what achieving justice looks like. I also learn that in seeking justice I don’t need to become overwhelmed.

God reminds me there’s nothing silent or static about justice. Wherever I search for the word “justice” in the Bible, I come across action. Justice is life-giving, loud and active. He also provides me with many examples on how to seek justice: speak out, reach out and give.

Seeking Justice

I learn that to seek is the desire or attempt to achieve something. I may have the desire, but if I don’t take the leap from desire to action, I’ll never “achieve” justice. Justice isn’t just the feeling in my heart. It’s the ways in which I will choose to respond to that feeling.

I’m reminded that seeking justice is a choice I continually have to make, because seeking justice, though it’s not impossible, isn’t easy. It can be uncomfortable.

It’s not easy

-Personally, I’m not very good at speaking out. I’m shy.
-Being generous is hard when I feel like I don’t have the finances.
-Reaching out requires meeting people and investing my time.

I have to be honest, sometimes I can get lazy, overwhelmed and scared. I can fail to take the leap from desire to action because it means I have to get out of my comfort zone. Therefore, I have to continue to choose to keep my heart and eyes open so I don’t fail to see injustice and take the opportunities to respond.

Lessons from Filder and Susan

Filder and Susan belong to a generation of children who were abducted by the LRA in northern Uganda and forced to live under the captivity of rebel soldiers. Many of them were forced to witness and commit unimaginable atrocities. They were robbed of their childhood and innocence. Boys were forced to become child soldiers and girls were often given away as trophy wives to rebel commanders.

Like many other abducted children, when Filder and Susan returned from captivity, their community rejected them completely. Now they are part of an initiative run by Watoto that trains and disciples this stolen generation and helps them reintegrate into their communities. They have been given the opportunity to regain control of their lives because somebody acted.

We sat at their new home on Suubi Hill, and when I asked them what was the most important thing I as an individual could do to seek justice, their answers were surprisingly simple. They said that if I care, I will stop and listen to those who are hurting around me. To Susan and Filder, former child soldiers, realizing justice begins with an interaction.

“Just talking with someone who has been through something very painful can help him or her,” Susan said. “Don’t pass and go, find out how they are doing. Talk to them, take your time to sit with them.”

Filder added: “Encourage and be faithful to one another, help them, build them up.”

I know justice is not one-dimensional. Choosing to stop, care and listen might not solve all of the world’s problems. But if it reminds one person of her worth–if one person rises up from her circumstances and starts to believe in herself again–then that simple action might just be the beginning of someone’s experience of real justice. It’s easy to think that our simple, individual acts of goodness, kindness, or love are insignificant when we see how much injustice there is in the world, but it’s exactly those simple, individual acts that, when added together, can begin to make real positive difference.

I notice that difference when I see Filder and Susan. These girls have experienced war, loss and rejection, but when you meet them, you see love, joy and a real sense of appreciation shining through them. They are healing, smiling and dreaming. They want to shine that light and share that face of justice with other women in their community. And that’s the other thing I’ve learnt about this face of justice: it doesn’t stop at that one person. It sets off a ripple.

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What are YOUR thoughts?

• What speaks to you in this post?
• When and where do you see the face of justice?
• How would you like to grow in this area?

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About Stephanie:
Stephanie is a humanitarian and portrait photographer for fakeleft.com where she shares stories of hope and dignity. She blogs at fakeleft.com/blog and tweets at @stephmotz

Gong Xi Fa Cai! Or: How to Celebrate Chinese New Year Outside of China

Why do people eat dumplings for Chinese New Year? And what year is it according to the Chinese lunar calendar? A short guide to popular Chinese New Year traditions. 

By Winnie Lui | Twitter: @INTELsashimi

As a Chinese child growing up in Canada, every year, I experienced something like a second Christmas.

After the warm festivities, feasting, and gift-receiving of Christmas time, after the excitement and countdown to New Year and several weeks after the tinsel and lights have faded–the mood would build up again. Soon, I would receive more gifts, this time cash in little red envelopes, and join more gatherings full of food and family.

It was like Christmas all over again.

It is Chinese New Year.

This year, I visited China several weeks before Chinese New Year, which is, officially, today. While I was in China, preparations for this most important time of the year were already underway. When I met others, a popular ice-breaking question was, “Are you going home for Chinese New Year?”

I will be home for Chinese New Year this year, but “home” is currently here in Canada. Yet there are some easy ways to commemorate Chinese New Year even outside of China:

1. Keeping the Spirit of Giving

One of the most iconic traditions of Chinese New Year is the giving of red envelopes stuffed with one or more paper bills, given from the older generation to the younger ones. When giving and receiving a red envelope, both parties may speak words of blessings to each another, usually in the form of four-word Chinese idioms. The spirit of giving can be preserved in ways other than passing out cash too. Food associated with Chinese New Year, such as mandarin oranges, dried fruit and candy with bright foil, can be wrapped in small bunches and given to family, friends and co-workers to wish them happiness and blessings in the coming year.

2. Eating Foods with Meaning

There are many foods traditionally associated with Chinese New Year, and it may be fun–and delicious–to have some around this time of year. In northern China, people eat dumplings or “jiao zi,” the shape of which resembles a gold ingot, a form of currency used in ancient China. In the south, people eat a sticky rice pudding called “nian gao,” the name which sounds like the words “higher year.”  Other foods eaten at Chinese New Year that carry meaning are noodles (representing longevity) and fish (representing abundance).

3.  Wearing New Clothes

Many traditional Chinese will buy a complete set of new clothes to wear on the first day of New Year. Wearing new clothes symbolizes a fresh and new start. Wearing red–the favourite color of Chinese tradition–is another way to be festive.

4. Cutting–and Not Cutting–One’s Hair

Many Chinese will get a haircut before New Year to complement their new outfit on New Year’s day. It is considered unlucky, however, to cut anything during New Year, so those who want to cut their hair must do so early.

5. Cleaning–and Not Cleaning–the House

Cleaning the home from top to bottom is a popular way to welcome in the New Year, and to prepare your house for all the visitors who will drop by to bring well-wishes. Sweeping during New Year, however, is supposed to sweep away the good luck, so brooms are carefully put away during the New Year period.

6. Wishing People “Happy New Year” in Chinese

Chinese people greet one another with “gung hey fat choi” (Cantonese) or “gong xi fa cai” (Mandarin),” which literally means, “Wishing you a financially prosperous year.”

Another greeting is, “sun leen fai lok (Cantonese) or “xin nian kuai le” (Mandarin), which simply means, “Happy New Year.”

About Chinese New Year:

The Chinese have their own calendar, which follows the moon. Chinese New Year happens every year between January 21 and February 21, on the day of the first new moon, which is the darkest day. Celebrations run for 15 days, until the full moon appears. According to the Chinese lunar calendar, we are entering year 4710.

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How about you?

• What Chinese traditions are you curious about?
• Do you celebrate Chinese New Year, and how?
• Do you have any memories of celebrating Chinese New Year?

About Winnie:

The wave of Asian immigration in the 1990s brought Winnie to Canada on a little red-mast junk. To fulfill her family’s dream of running a business in Hong Kong and giving the children a Western education, Winnie’s father commuted home to Canada during Christmas and Chinese New Year, and Winnie herself spent her childhood between the two continents and among many different schools and neighbourhoods. Her growing up experience has become a mosaic of cultures, languages, and perspectives. Winnie blogs at intellectualsashimi.com and tweets @intelSASHIMI

Image credit: Collage, Esther Weng, Microsoft Clip Art

Threads of a Sister’s Story: Building Bridges of Hope

“I am inspired by women like Nikole, who recognize they are called to walk alongside others in the mutual goal of seeking justice in the world, not as a do-gooder, or a savior, but as a sister in Christ.”

By Enuma Okoro | Twitter: @TweetEnuma
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I was raised in four countries on three continents.

I am a cradle Catholic whose first memory of God is laced with multi-ethnic faces and visions of a holy Mary. I come from a family where women’s voices are loudly heard at home and in vocations around the globe. No matter how often the world and even the church may try to convince me otherwise, I cannot separate my understanding of God from my recognition of the strength and beauty of women.

It’s amazing really, the way one woman randomly encountering another woman can tell a small snippet of her story and lay a thread down, soft and silent, one more weave of rope for that hanging bridge of hope we all dangle on.

I met Nikole Lim at a speakers gathering last year. We were signed up to share a room at the conference center. Nikole is a young striking Chinese-American woman with a playful and edgy sense of style. I was not surprised to discover Nikole was a photographer and a humanitarian documentary filmmaker. As the days went on, I wasn’t even surprised to discover that she had started Freely in Hope, her own 501(c) faith-based nonprofit committed to addressing issues of poverty, sexual abuse and educational injustice for women in Kenya.

But I was surprised to find out she was only 23 years old.

And I was surprised to find out how open Nikole was to shifting her life steps in order to dance to the rhythm of God’s heartbeat, the rhythm she heard while listening to some snippet of another woman’s story.

Through a mutual friend, Nikole was introduced to Eunice, and learned about this particular Kenyan woman’s strength and resolution to overcome the violence of rape and poverty.  Humbled by Eunice’s story Nikole felt her own life forever altered and said yes to a daunting but convicting call to build a bridge between her world in California and Eunice’s world in Nairobi.

“Through Eunice’s story, I was liberated from my own selfishness,” says Nikole. “As God was challenging my heart, I felt called to start an organization to provide spiritual, educational and economic empowerment for girls worldwide. I thought that maybe, God was calling me to be a part of something greater—a part of stories that could change not only my life, but the lives of so many other women who are vulnerable to sexual abuse.”

I am inspired by women like Eunice, who in the face of horror, deep pain and mounting obstacles can courageously and gracefully hold onto the seed of knowledge that she, too, is a child of God with power and purpose.

Eunice believed in herself and in God before meeting Nikole.

I am inspired by women like Nikole, who recognize they are called to walk alongside others in the mutual goal of seeking justice in the world, not as a do-gooder, or a savior, but as a sister in Christ.

“I’ve been a witness to countless images that portray the “third world” as a place of despair,” says Nikole. “For too long, images have been used to capitalize on individuals, families and cultures. Worth has been shattered and dignity broken. My goal as a humanitarian photographer and filmmaker is to not exploit, but to leverage stories that empower, restore and transform.”

I am inspired by women who take time to listen to the still small voice of God, to discern how God would use their own unique hands and heart to foster healing in a broken world.

There are so many contexts and cultures that teach women to be passive and quiet recipients of injustice and varied forms of violence. And there are so many untold stories of women like Nikole and Eunice who do not shy away from challenge and conviction, because they believe that central to their life’s meaning and faith is the call to issue in God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Wherever Jesus went about preaching the kingdom of God and calling onlookers to reconcile themselves to God’s love, he did so hand in hand with changing people’s circumstances to reflect the type of world God envisions for all. The kingdom of God is made manifest wherever creation moves one step closer to physical, spiritual, emotional, and mental healing.

“Our vision is for women worldwide to experience God’s transformative love by living freely in hope.” -Nikole Lim , Founder of  Freely in Hope.

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My dear SheLoves sisters, I’d love to hear:

• What soft threads of another’s sister’s story have been woven into your own story of hope and purpose?
• Is there a friend, a sister’s story, that comes to mind that has particularly shaped how you live your life now?
• Any other thoughts or comments?

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About Enuma

Enuma was born in the United States and raised in Nigeria, Ivory Coast and England. She holds a Master of Divinity degree from Duke University Divinity School where she served as Director for the Center for Theological Writing. She is an author, speaker, spiritual director and continues to lead workshops and retreats on varied topics engaging the literary and visual arts, and spiritual disciplines.

Her spiritual memoir, Reluctant Pilgrim: A Moody Somewhat Self-Indulgent Introvert’s Search for Spiritual Community  (Fresh Air Books, 2010) was a winning finalist in the 2010 USA Best Books Award and received the 2011 National Indie Excellent Book Awards Winning Finalist in “Spirituality and African-American Non-Fiction.” She is co-author with Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove of Common Prayer: Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals

Enuma’s new forthcoming book, “Silence,” will be released in Summer/Fall 2012

She also writes an online column at Patheos called “Cornering God” about women’s ways of knowing and engaging the holy. You can find her online at  www.enumaokoro.com

Photo credit: All images of Eunice, by Nikole Lim