Archive for the 'saving moses' Category

to the least of these

Published June 19, 2013 family , Genuine love , Holy Spirit , living , prayer , saving moses , travel 2 Comments
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In Matthew 25, Jesus talks about how if you visit someone in jail, or feed a hungry person, invite a stranger in, or basically help a person in need (to the least of these), that you’re doing these acts of kindness to Christ.  As a follower of Christ, I want to love Jesus well and so this means that I want to be tuned into the needs of the “least of these”.  My attempt to be engaged with the needs of the “least of these” is largely through my work with Saving Moses: for me, the “least” are babies and toddlers who have urgent survival needs. As such, Saving Moses is actively engaged to provide life for these babies where help is least available.  So over the next week or so, I’m going to visit South Sudan to see the needs of the “least of these” and assess how Saving Moses can give love and life.

I’ll be blogging, doing tweets, fb updates and as much as I can during my visit, so please be sure to come along for the adventure – and of course, please don’t fight the urge to shoot up some prayers as well :)

planning

Published June 10, 2013 family , Genuine love , Holy Spirit , living , prayer , relationships , saving moses , seeing Jesus , spiritual , travel 1 Comment
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I have lots of people in my life who are great at planning.  They know dates, expectations, schedules and how things are supposed to happen.  They educate themselves, assemble the resources that will be used and do all kinds of preparation, thinking and planning.  I’m really grateful for these people because these kinds of things can be kind of tricky for me.  For example, I’m grateful that my husband frequently asks me when I make international with Saving Moses trips if I have cash with me for traveling because I can forget important things for concentrating on not forgetting my coffee supplies ,)

Here’s my saving grace, it’s been my experience that The Holy Spirit, Whom I call The Helper, is my Great Planner – seems to go along with how God organized & planned the world in Gen 1.  This gives me great confidence that God is planning my life and Helping me along each step of the way – and for you as well!! :D

 

Goliath’s sword

Published June 5, 2013 Genuine love , Holy Spirit , living , prayer , saving moses , spiritual 3 Comments
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Recently, I read the story about David killing Goliath – it’s always inspiring & encouraging!  As I read the story leading up to Goliath’s death, David recounted how he had fought off a lion & a bear to protect the sheep under his care.  David used this memory to encourage Saul that with God’s help, David could overcome Goliath.  Futhermore, when David confronted Goliath, he boasted that he would use Goliath’s own sword to cut off Goliath’s head, which is exactly what happened.  Later in David’s life, David again acquired Goliath’s sword from a helpful priest for his own weapon as he was running away from Saul to save his life.  Goliath’s sword was a turning point for David’s life – shifting away from sheep & moving toward kingship.

In our lives, there are turning points, like Goliath’s sword.  God uses unique things & experiences in our lives for both victories & encouragment at very strategic times, particularly for me with Saving Moses.  We can trust God to direct our steps and give us the resources necessary for each step :)

crisis management

Published May 30, 2013 family , Genuine love , Holy Spirit , living , prayer , relationships , saving moses , seeing Jesus , spiritual Leave a Comment
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One of my children had a virtual melt down in the car on the way to school today.  They have a project that’s due this morning & they thought they had more time to get it finished when it became apparent during our drive that their time had expired – hence the meltdown.  As adults, I think that we also get to walk through a few crises from time to time – so here are a few tips:

  • procrastinating, using new tools and sleep deprivation usually combine to equal disaster (all-nighters in college were usually more harmful than helpfull)
  • when we get under intense pressure, we MUST manage our emotions and not let them control us or they can make the pressure more severe
  • during a crisis be extremely careful with your words – sometimes our mouth runneth over and makes the crisis worse
  • combine prayer with pressure and you can have some priceless results :)
  • Saving Moses is all about meeting the most urgent needs of babies where the care is least available – crisis management for babies :)

I don’t know

Published May 29, 2013 enemies to intimacy , Holy Spirit , living , prayer , saving moses , spiritual 2 Comments
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Very often I get in situations where I get asked questions to which I don’t know the answer. The questions can range from business process questions to things about why God does or doesn’t do some things and even some historical questions related to various countries. On top of the questions I get asked, I also have my own extensive list of questions that I think about on any given day. If I’m honest with you, a lot of my answers still remain, “I don’t know”. I frequently get tired of hearing, “I don’t know” and of not having answers.
But here’s the really wonderful part for all of these “I don’t know” answers. While I readily acknowledge that I don’t have all of the answers, but I do know Someone Who does know all the answers before the questions have ever been asked. So in this sense, what you know isn’t nearly as important as Who you know ,)

be encouraged :)

Published May 13, 2013 enemies to intimacy , Genuine love , Holy Spirit , living , prayer , saving moses , seeing Jesus , spiritual 2 Comments
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You & I have various challenges that are happening in our lives & sometimes the challenges are big & many but other times the challenges are small & few.  Nevertheless, we all have challenges.

Here are some benefits of the various challenges that we have:

  • challenges can force us to look outside of ourselves to get help and for resolving
  • challenges can help us to get stronger
  • challenges can foster teamwork & creative solutions that can be amazing!
  • for me, challenges often force me to trust God more and trust myself less, which ultimately helps me to be closer to God
  • challenges often help me to get more focused & less distracted
  • challenges make me pray more :)

one thing

Published May 9, 2013 enemies to intimacy , family , Genuine love , Holy Spirit , living , prayer , saving moses , seeing Jesus , spiritual 2 Comments
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We probably have fairly similar lives with lots of demands & responsibilities – maybe yours are different than mine, but we usually have lots of things to juggle (kids’ schedules, saving Moses, workload concerns, personal goals, family dynamics, church things, . . . .).  You probably have a similar list & I’ve often had people ask me for ideas on how to balance everything.  If I’m honest, there are times when I don’t balance everything well & some things get short changed, which I hate.

But lately, I’ve found it really helpful to nestle into “one thing” – the essential & continuous priority that permeates everything (sleeping, eating, cooking, errands, conversations, work, blogging, thinking, planning, . . . . . ).  My “one thing” is to know Jesus and I want everything that I do to be infused with this “one thing” – Luke 10:42.  ”One thing” doesn’t mean that I drop everything, but it means that as I go throughout each day with its diverse demands and responsibilities, my “one thing” continues and remains :)

on loving welL

Published April 30, 2013 cooking , family , Genuine love , Holy Spirit , living , prayer , relationships , saving moses , seeing Jesus , spiritual 1 Comment
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Loving well can have lots of different expressions:  taking someone for coffee, doing grocery shopping for a person, spending time listening, sharing about your thoughts / feelings, having someone over for dinner, giving therapeutic formula for starving babies, giving someone a kind word, staying positive and optimistic in a difficult season, giving a hug or a pat on the shoulder, encouraging someone about their talents or efforts, paying a bill for someone who’s struggling,  . . . . .

I think there are a BOATLOAD of ways to love well and when we make it a priority, I think that we can all love well because of how we are so well loved by our heavenly Father :)

Do you have some more helpful suggestions of how we can love well?  Please share!! :)

dealing with concerns

Published April 26, 2013 enemies to intimacy , Genuine love , Holy Spirit , living , prayer , saving moses , seeing Jesus , spiritual 6 Comments
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I totally get that Jesus says not to worry about what we eat, wear or what’s going to happen tomorrow and I totally want to align myself with His instructions.  And I’d also venture to say that from time to time, we both have a little bit of a challenge in the “concern” area.  Here are some ideas / thoughts that may be useful:

  • break big issues into smaller pieces or components and they might not seems as overwhelming
  • memorize some verses from the Bible that you can lean into when you feel like you’re drowning in the “worry” zone – Ps 55:22 is a great resource, as a starter
  • health upkeep – here’s the normal nagging of drinking lots of water & maintaining an consistent exercise routine
  • worship tunes that lift up Jesus always help me to put any problems or worries into a better perspective
  • It always helps me to remember to put my trust in God & to lift up my soul to God (Ps 25:1)

These are a few ideas that have been useful to me.  What helps you?  Please share :)

don’t quit

Published April 25, 2013 Genuine love , Holy Spirit , living , prayer , saving moses 6 Comments
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When I was recently in Angola with Saving Moses I had an experience that has really been haunting me.  If I understood the situation correctly, I met a mom who had seemed to give up hope on her baby surviving and I’m deeply affected by this – so much that this experience is really starting to challenge some of my thinking.  I think that there are situations where I quit too easily for various reasons (disappointment, discouragement, lack of progress, bad reports, setbacks, etc).  Just because something is difficult doesn’t mean that I should quit or give up.  And even if I’m only making microscopic progress, I’m challenging myself not to quit.

So my encouragement to you is don’t quit!

  • Don’t give up on yourself.
  • Don’t quit on God
  • Don’t quit growing
  • Don’t quit trying
  • Don’t quit on your kids
  • Don’t give up on your potential
  • Don’t quit

sarahbowling

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RSS Saving Moses

  • Plank City (Part 1 of Hannah’s Story) June 10, 2013
  • Through the Lens of a Camera: A First Hand Account of Angola May 16, 2013
  • Meet Moses: Angola’s Most Devoted Father April 29, 2013
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