New Venture

It has been a long time since I posted on this blog.  So much has changed since my last post! 

In April 2017 I moved to Asheville, North Carolina and am in the process of starting up a new venture.  I'm using my experience and study in short-term mission to launch a consultation business.  One of my very favorite things is meeting with people who are active in short-term mission and learning with them about mission. 

In my research, I learned that many United Methodist people who are active in short-term mission are not familiar with anything that is written on short-term mission.  It's hymns and scripture that form the foundation of their motivation to be active in the mission of the church.  And they are hungry for more reflection on understanding God, the work of the Spirit, and how to be more faithful in their mission practices. 

So I've launched Sister of Hope Ministries.  I'm currently blogging at sisterofhope.org and my website sisterofhopeministries.org will go live in a few weeks.  I'm really excited about this new ministry!

There are so many moving pieces - all at once, and I am not familiar with most of them.  I'm learning a lot, very quickly.  All the while, I'm staying open to the leading of the Spirit, and giving thanks for the many talented people who are helping me in this venture.

So come on over to sisterofhope.org and check things out!  This blog will stay mostly quiet, with a few posts with recipes from my grandmother, as my daughters request them. 

Friday August 10, 2007

It's August in Texas. People are saying silly things like "is it hot enough for ya?" It's too hot! I'm heading north. Way north - Boston. A place where they don't have air conditioning in every place. I've never lived anywhere but Texas - I'm nervous!
But what is more exciting than that is the new semester on the horizon. New classes, new professors, new topics to study. New people to meet, new adventures all around. I'm not sure where all this will lead. The future isn't so planned out and certain as it has been for the past ten years or so.
The Hebrews reading for Sunday says "faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" and I'm on a new journey without seeing things clearly. This faith journey is unsettling, for others more than for me, but unsettling all the same. How do you explain to people that although my words can't convey it, I know I'm going where God is calling? That answer doesn't seem to be satisfactory in our information overloaded world.
Merriam Webster defines "faith" as belief and trust. I think those are two different things. I can believe in something or someone and still not trust it. Faith is more like trust I think. Faith is trusting God with my whole life. Trusting God with those persons and dreams most dear to me. Trusting God that God will indeed be faithful and loving and not leave us to the worst of our capabilities, but use us for the glory of Christ.
Faith isn't always easy. It's not that hard to believe in a God that you can see working in someone else's life. What's hard is having faith that God can work in your own life, in your own heart, and use you.
When Celia was about two years old, she and I were having lunch and she said out of the blue that God loved me. "Know why?" she said... "because he's using you." Out of the mouths of babes - a sign of faith and hope that has kept me going, kept me relying on God, kept me holding onto faith.
Faith will be the road to Boston, the blank notebook paper in class, the new books in the library. Faith leads me on where God wants to use me. What a blessing!