About 7 weeks ago I started fundraising for the Staff In-Training Program I will be attending at Ten Thousand Homes in South Africa. I have learned how hard it is to lay down my insecurities, doubts, agendas, and pride to take up faith alone. He has walked me through...well more like carried me through, these past few weeks as I have taken baby steps in learning what waking out in faith actually looks and feels like.
No one really tells you how difficult it is to continually choose to walk in the opposite spirit of the flesh, especially when everything around you screams that it is impossible!
And then there comes that unexpected, quiet, sweet moment when your heart experiences JOY!
This joy fills your heart as you lean more and more on the One who has called you to follow him. To my surprise that is just the beginning! It then begins to overflow when He brings people alongside you to help share His love and ultimately bring more GLORY TO HIS NAME!
There is so much more that comes from joining in on this journey with me and I couldn't express it any better than Ben Stuart from Breakaway Ministries. He is speaking to college students but I feel this applies to all ages! He shares about What Funding The Mission Really Means and my prayer is that you will take the time to listen to the podcast!
Please hear my thanks through this podcast and I pray that you are encouraged from this as much as I was.
*To listen to the Podcast click on the link above (What Funding The Mission Really Means).
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Thursday, February 12, 2015
When God Calls You Out Of The Mundane And Into The Messy
When people ask me what I do at Galveston Urban Ministries my response is normally that I run an after school program for at risk elementary children.
...the words seem to always fall short and sound empty.
I get strange looks when I struggle to explain in a 5 minute window a job that seems simple on the outside. Most days I am a teacher, a mentor, a friend, an advocate and a mother at the same time to 15 children who live in a world that is completely foreign to most. I am the bad guy who has to lay down rules to enforce healthy boundaries in order for kids to flourish. The mundane does consist of bible lessons, homework help, snacks, and fun field trips but there is a whole other side that keeps most staff members up at night and causes righteous anger. When you decide to care, to invest, and to walk along side people it gets MESSY!
In a single week there has been hard conversations with parents about what it looks like to be a parent, CPS cases, involvement in illegal activity, abuse, parents responding in survival mode, children using drugs and sleeping around because of their innocence being shattered at the age of six, and the list goes on. They have become hardened by the broken world they live in and they are blinded by the reality of the cycle of poverty.
Each day I wake up and help pick up the pieces of broken families and walk beside them to help carrying the pieces. We do it to try and help them see something beautiful out of their pieces. We struggle to speak the same truths over and over again like a broken record in hopes that they too will see that all the broken pieces can become something more, something different, that there is hope!
When the waves of despair start to roar up higher than our heads we lose sight of the purpose
...and start to question.
We question our abilities, our calling, our knowledge, our resources, and we doubt God's goodness and sovereignty.
To me, that is the scariest place! To forget that you are effective in making a difference is exactly where satan wants us to be. We focus on our circumstances and forget to keep our eyes on Jesus, the source of strength, comfort, and guidance. In those moments my prayer is that the Holy Spirit reminds us to take captive each thought and make it obedient to Christ.
I know my job is very different from most. To be honest it's probably a lot to handle on an every day basis. It doesn't fit into a nice tiny box or stay on my desk to be forgotten and picked up the next day. This job is messy and it bleeds through every area of my life. As crazy as it sounds it is my passion! I have learned to live out the calling God has placed on my heart and have been shown how to walk things out in love like Jesus. For me, it just happens to be on the other side of the railroad tracks.
My question is... am I alone in the suffering, struggling, and loving?
You may not have a passion to work with at risk families but are you using your passion to bring glory to God wherever you are?
"Then he said to his disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.'" Matt 9:37
It's more than attending church, tithing, attending small group, participating in a service project once or twice a year, or feeding the homeless at Christmas. YES the body of Christ is called to be devoted to the teachings, fellowship, prayer, and the breaking of bread; BUT the body of Christ is also called to look outward and care for the orphans, widows, the outcasts, and the marginalized.
He has called us to something bigger than an easy mundane life style. He has called to suffer with those who suffer, to mourn with those who mourn, and to rejoice with those who are rejoicing. AND THE CRAZIEST PART IS THAT IT'S NOT ALWAYS EASY, REWARDING, OR EVEN COMFORTABLE!
He calls us to be the hands and feet in order to resemble Christ, THE HOPE, to those who are struggling to carry all their broken pieces by themselves.
I am not saying I do this right and I'm definitely not saying that I do it well. What I am saying is that we are ALL called.
Let us open our eyes to this broken world and speak truth, share THE HOPE that never fails, and ultimately bring glory to His Name!
...the words seem to always fall short and sound empty.
I get strange looks when I struggle to explain in a 5 minute window a job that seems simple on the outside. Most days I am a teacher, a mentor, a friend, an advocate and a mother at the same time to 15 children who live in a world that is completely foreign to most. I am the bad guy who has to lay down rules to enforce healthy boundaries in order for kids to flourish. The mundane does consist of bible lessons, homework help, snacks, and fun field trips but there is a whole other side that keeps most staff members up at night and causes righteous anger. When you decide to care, to invest, and to walk along side people it gets MESSY!
In a single week there has been hard conversations with parents about what it looks like to be a parent, CPS cases, involvement in illegal activity, abuse, parents responding in survival mode, children using drugs and sleeping around because of their innocence being shattered at the age of six, and the list goes on. They have become hardened by the broken world they live in and they are blinded by the reality of the cycle of poverty.
Each day I wake up and help pick up the pieces of broken families and walk beside them to help carrying the pieces. We do it to try and help them see something beautiful out of their pieces. We struggle to speak the same truths over and over again like a broken record in hopes that they too will see that all the broken pieces can become something more, something different, that there is hope!
When the waves of despair start to roar up higher than our heads we lose sight of the purpose
...and start to question.
We question our abilities, our calling, our knowledge, our resources, and we doubt God's goodness and sovereignty.
To me, that is the scariest place! To forget that you are effective in making a difference is exactly where satan wants us to be. We focus on our circumstances and forget to keep our eyes on Jesus, the source of strength, comfort, and guidance. In those moments my prayer is that the Holy Spirit reminds us to take captive each thought and make it obedient to Christ.
I know my job is very different from most. To be honest it's probably a lot to handle on an every day basis. It doesn't fit into a nice tiny box or stay on my desk to be forgotten and picked up the next day. This job is messy and it bleeds through every area of my life. As crazy as it sounds it is my passion! I have learned to live out the calling God has placed on my heart and have been shown how to walk things out in love like Jesus. For me, it just happens to be on the other side of the railroad tracks.
My question is... am I alone in the suffering, struggling, and loving?
You may not have a passion to work with at risk families but are you using your passion to bring glory to God wherever you are?
"Then he said to his disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.'" Matt 9:37
It's more than attending church, tithing, attending small group, participating in a service project once or twice a year, or feeding the homeless at Christmas. YES the body of Christ is called to be devoted to the teachings, fellowship, prayer, and the breaking of bread; BUT the body of Christ is also called to look outward and care for the orphans, widows, the outcasts, and the marginalized.
He has called us to something bigger than an easy mundane life style. He has called to suffer with those who suffer, to mourn with those who mourn, and to rejoice with those who are rejoicing. AND THE CRAZIEST PART IS THAT IT'S NOT ALWAYS EASY, REWARDING, OR EVEN COMFORTABLE!
He calls us to be the hands and feet in order to resemble Christ, THE HOPE, to those who are struggling to carry all their broken pieces by themselves.
I am not saying I do this right and I'm definitely not saying that I do it well. What I am saying is that we are ALL called.
Let us open our eyes to this broken world and speak truth, share THE HOPE that never fails, and ultimately bring glory to His Name!
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
May You Sink Your Feet
This is such a beautiful song!
The lyrics are speaking the prayers of my heart.
Take a listen and may you also sink your feet in the stone!
I wanna sink my feet
Down in security
Unmoved by changing tides
And shadows' shifting lines
I'm tired of getting worn
Let me wake with the morn
Once again be reborn
And think about eternity a little more
Then I'd see the stars
See the sun
And I'd see all that has been done
And I'd
I'd leave my fear alone
I'd leave my fear alone
Not asking for anything
Just keep me by you
And sink my feet in the stone
Sink my feet in your stone
Not asking for anything
Just keep me by you
Keep me by you
'Cause I wander, I get caught
I lift and I drift off
My forgetful mind runs all the time
To places I don't care to find
Cause I wander like the wind
Here today gone tomorrow
And back again
I'm blinded through and through
'Til I'm touched by you
Then I
I leave my fear alone
I leave my fear alone
Not asking for anything
Just keep me by you
And sink my feet in the stone
Sink my feet in your stone
Not asking for anything
Just keep me by you
Keep me by you
If you are the sea, go on, send me deep
If you are the wind, set my sail free
If you are the rocks, set my feet upon you
Never let me move
Keep me by you
Keep me by you
I wanna sink my feet
Down in security
Unmoved by changing tides
And shadows' shifting lines
Then I'd see the stars
See the sun
And I'd see all that has been done
And I'd
I'd leave my fear alone
I'd leave my fear alone
Not asking for anything
Just keep me by you
And sink my feet in the stone
Sink my feet in the stone
Not asking for anything
Just keep me by you
Keep me by you
Saturday, January 31, 2015
Passion and Purpose
My awesome roommate sent me this podcast and it was a breath of fresh air. If you have time I would like to encourage you to watch it. It's only 53 mins and it's worth the time!
Saturday, January 10, 2015
Why?
Several people have asked me why
I am choosing to leave the families that I work with and hold dear to me heart.
The truth is it's the hardest decision I have had to make. My boss always asks
how long it takes to build a 5 year relationship, it's 5 years. I have been
building relationships for about 4 years now and am still scratching the
surface of those friendships.
I have been stretched,
challenged, and broken in just the right place to experience God's healing
power and mercy. It has only been by God's favor that I have the relationships
with the kids and families that we work with. I have rejoiced with a mother who
chose life and God’s provision for her family; and have mourned with a mother
who aborted her child because the idea of having another mouth to feed was
unbearable. I have loved on the three year old who walks the streets
unsupervised until dusk; and have sat with the boy who has been victimized for
being the wrong skin color in a city where justice does not role like streams
of water but is cut off in a broken system in a broken world. I have watched 6
year old girls curse and fight each other just like their moms were doing the
day before in the street; and sat in the homes where drugs are done in front of
the children with no consideration of the side affects it would have on their
child’s brain development.
The same God that has been present in all of
this is the same God that is living and breathing and fighting for his loved
ones in Africa. He is calling me to speak up for his family in Africa just like
he is doing here in Galveston. It will be hard to leave but I know it's the
right decision.
The Beginning!
Hey Everyone!
So, I have some very exciting news! I have recently been accepted to an Intern/Staff-In Training Program at Ten Thousand Homes in South Africa. Over the past few months I have been praying and seeking out what God's plan is for me and feel that it is time for me to answer the call to long term missions. It has been on my heart for several years and I feel called specifically back to Ten Thousand Homes to help bring Hope and Home to orphans, widows, and vulnerable children.
This group was created to help spread the word and ask for prayers! The intern program starts April 1, 2015 which is only a few short months away. In order to make that happen i will need lots of prayer. Prayer for God's provisions as I start fundraising, prayer for my family as they adjust to me moving overseas, and prayer for Galveston Urban Ministries as they seek out someone to take on my position once i leave.
I will be posting on here to keep everyone updated on how to get involved and what specifically to be praying for.
Thank you for joining me in this next season of my life!
~Candis
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