CHOOSE HOPE

Some days are just harder than others.  Isn't that just so true for everyone.  One day is good, normal, even average or boring and then the next sort of blows up in your face.

I have been processing over the last couple of months.  Processing is the best way I can say it. Fighting what ifs, battling why, pushing back how comes.  It's hard to press into the Lord in all things.  Everyone has their "thing" too.  Could be money, kids, job, family, health - it's something. And if it isn't today it will creep in at some point.  I'm not trying to be a pessimist here I'm just speaking to my fellow humans who live on this side of perfect eternity.

So what do I know.  For me it always comes down to knowing because my head has been taught well.  I have had sound theology taught to me since I was a baby. I studied and studied AND do you know what is crazy sometimes my dang heart is so slow to follow.  I know truth but man it's hard to grasp faith and hope when their is disappointment, fear and pain.  Right?

I don't want to be sharpened... and yet I do.  The struggle is real.

Guatemala 2014 Medical Mission Trip

We made it home Sunday after 10 days in Guatemala and now almost a week later we are finally recovered enough that I am sitting down to give a little update.

It was a great way to celebrate 7 years of marriage serving alongside my hubby!  I feel so blessed (even though he is a goober and keeps his sunglasses on his nose for a picture at dusk).

Here is the team.

When you go on any mission trip I think managing expectations is one of the hardest parts.  First of all on a short-term trip you know you are going to see far more need than the help you can bring. Second, at least for me, I usually anticipate that all my "plans" will end up different than I imagined.  In this case though, as this was a medical mission trip, it was hard for me to actually have plans since I don't offer any medical skills and was just planning to be a helper.  But I certainly didn't know what was in store for my heart these 10 days.

Let's be Friends!

My mind is circling something. An observation I suppose. Maybe a beginning of a rant... I don't know. I don't want it to be a rant. I often find that people's rants are full of opinion stated as fact and actually lacking in actual fact. See what I did there? :) 

Anyway, my thought that started this need to blog/rant is: "I like Facebook". 

Why you may ask did I have this thought? Well let me tell you. I have recently found myself in a group preparing to go on a trip out of the country together and we don't hardly know one another at all. So I have been friending people trying to ask questions, I can see where they are from, what they care about on a daily basis etc.. So why are these thoughts warranting a blog post? Why is my head swimming with thoughts? 

Medical Mission Trip

I'm excited to share with you that in July Phil and I have the opportunity to join with a group from our church (The Village Church in Flower Mound, TX) to spend 10 days in Guatemala City, Guatemala on a medical mission trip.

As most of you already know in May 2012 Phil graduated PA school and has since been working in a Pediatric ER. One of the reoccurring dreams Phil had as he trudged through school was to serve on medical mission trips as much as possible. This trip is answer to that prayer and dream and I am thrilled, as his wife, to be able to join him even as a non-medical professional and serve alongside him in other capacities.

For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?
And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?
And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
And how are they to preach unless they are sent?
As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"

Romans 10:13-15

I want to take a step back though and really walk through why go on a short term mission trip rather than just continuing to share the good news here at home. 

So why go? 

Radio Silence

I have created an enormous amount of radio silence on my little blog here.  I don't mean to be so distant but every time I have opened up a post to start writing I stop with the thought... I have nothing to say.  Don't get my wrong I can talk.  But I guess I have been feeling like sometimes I just talk without a good purpose or in a way that really anyone needs to care about.  To be honest that thought is still running through my mind.
Additionally, I think I drive myself crazy with my own thoughts and inner dialog so I figure if I'm annoyed with myself how much more annoying am I to everyone else.

So that being said I have been thinking about personalities a lot for the past several months. A while back posts were going social-media viral about being an extrovert or introvert and I would read the posts and admittedly chuckle at a few but I always ended up thinking hmmm that's just not me; which of course got me thinking why?

I mean aren't I supposed to be either an extrovert or an introvert?
So I took a personality quiz.  I know there are a million out there and when I was in highs school my Mom paid for us to take a very intense one to help us think about our careers. (the results were VERY creepy accurate)

Anyway, this time I took the Humanmetrics Jung Typology test (which is based on Briggs Myers) and this is what I scored.

Low and behold it explains why those darn extrovert/introvert things don't really apply to me.
So this is my report.  I'll let you read it... cause why not!?!  And I'll highlight the most applicable and interesting parts so you can skim or you can scroll to the bottom and just get to the point :)

Extraverted Sensing Thinking Judging - ESTJ

Extravert(22%)  Sensing(25%)  Thinking(1%)  Judging(67%)

• You have slight preference of Extraversion over Introversion (22%)
• You have moderate preference of Sensing over Intuition (25%)
• You have marginal or no preference of Thinking over Feeling (1%)
• You have distinctive preference of Judging over Perceiving (67%)