See Something More

With Thanksgiving coming up in a couple of days, I want to give a shout out to my favorite thankful person. To me, he is the perfect example of thankfulness, and his story is worth retelling.  He's a leper. Well, not anymore. But that's how his story begins. Shunned from society, having only nine fellow lepers as companions, feeling sick and ugly all the time, this man lived in an untouchable, unapproachable, unlovable state. His skin was probably grotesque. His face may have been disfigured. He might have even been missing fingers and toes, eaten away by the numbness of the disease. He likely stunk. He definitely felt terrible, from the shallowest sensation of his skin to the depths of his heart. Until he met Jesus.  As he walked down the street yelling "unclean!" with his nine sick leper buddies, people backed away. Some may have even run away. But none wanted to be anywhere close to a leper, none the less a group of lepers. Except one man. When everyone else scatte...

Visa applications, doctors'  appointments, vaccinations, a year's supply of medication, purchasing  insurance, international credit cards, an international driver's license. All of these were items on my to-do list this week. My life has been so full and intense the past few weeks that I felt that it's kind of a big deal to move to another country.  Not only is there so much to do in preparation, but there is also much to do once I get to Burkina Faso. This also feels like a big deal: starting a center for infants in distress, starting a medical clinic, serving as a missionary nurse... Sometimes the pressure gets a little too high. Maybe I place it on myself, or maybe it is unintentionally placed on me by others. I just wonder if sometimes people put foreign missionaries on a pedestal. Let me just bring things back to real life.  Contrary to popular belief, I am not going to Africa to save the world.  I won't be working in a clinic the day that I arrive. I won't...

I am so glad this is the last time I have to do this, I thought to myself when I crawled under the covers at 7:30am this morning after work. I thought the same thing when my body woke up at 10:30 am, then at 12:30 pm, then again at 2:00pm when I could not fall back asleep.  But when I pulled into the parking lot for the last time, swiped my badge for the last time, and ordered to-go from Olive Garden for the last time, I kept thinking, I sure am going to miss this a whole lot. It especially hit me when I said goodbye to the day shift nurses for the last time. It's the people that really mean the most, and I am thankful to know such amazing nurses, scrub techs, and doctors. I am going to miss them the most.  The truth is I don't work in a perfect place, but I sure do love it anyway. I love the night shift, the people I work with, and the honor of being present with a family when a new life is brought into the world. Now the time has come to say goodbye for now and step towards...

After eight hours in the car, multiple Twila Paris CDs, a sweet tea stop,  and only one slight directional fiasco where a map might have been thrown across the car, we happily arrived to our final destination. Road trip successful. Welcome to Louisville, Kentucky, for the long-awaited Global Missions Health Conference.  I went into this conference asking the Lord to speak to my heart. Over the last few weeks, I had been fighting fears of inadequacy. After all, who am I - a new grad nurse who only has one year of experience - to go to Africa? I feared facing things that I would not know how to handle. Maybe I need more school, more training, or just more time before actually moving. In addition to that, I haven't been to seminary. Am I even able to communicate the gospel in another language in a culturally relevant way?  Was I really doing the right thing in moving to Burkina?  So I asked the Father to speak to my heart this weekend and remind me why I am going. He mu...

Do you ever hear that one song that resonates with the depths of your heart? Everytime you turn on the radio, you want to hear it. Everytime you plug in your ear buds, you choose it. Every time you pick up your guitar, you want to play it. You can play it over and over and over again and it never gets old. You want everyone you know to hear it. It speaks so much of what you feel and believe that you could have written it. It is like an anthem of your heart.  I have a couple of songs like that for me right now, and I want to share these treasures with you in hopes that they will speak to your heart like they have spoken to mine. Maybe these songs will even encourage you to find anthems of your own.  The first is "Anchor" by Hillsong. Listen to the music here:  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=a0cvcLy5tFc and  read the lyrics below. I have this hope As an anchor for my soul Through every storm I will hold to You With endless love All my fear is swe...