God in the Race Forecast

God doesn't always have to show up in big ways to show up.  While praying regularly this fall, He showed up in a small way to let me know He was listening...and that He had a sense of humor.

A dear friend of mine had been training for many, many months for her first-ever half marathon.  I desperately wanted to be there to cheer her on, so I planned to attend the race and told her as much.  As the race day approached, the forecast was cold and gloomy.  One day she called to tell me I shouldn't come watch her because it would be a yucky way to spend a Saturday, etc. etc.

I can be pretty stubborn, so I told her I was still planning to come and I was going to start praying for sunshine and 60-degree weather.

On the morning of her race, I looked up the hourly forecast.  The race started at 9am, and she expected to be running until noon.  This is what I saw in picture icons for the hourly forecast:

6am - cloudy
7am - cloudy
8am - cloudy
9am - partly sunny
10am - sunny
11am - sunny
12pm - cloudy

I wish I had scanned a copy of that forecast!  What are the chances?!?!

Now, in full disclosure, the words underneath the sunny icons from 9-12 said "windy" and the temperatures never got as high as 60 degrees, but the pictures for those 3 hours she was running were enough to let me know God was listening to my prayers.

And in case you're wondering, my friend did GREAT!  I was so proud of her.  The hilly course was a challenge for the most experienced of runners, and she completed the whole thing as her first ever half marathon.  What an incredible woman!

God is in the Details - 58

I promised to tell you about the crazy ways I've seen God moving in my life over the last 6 months.  I'm not short on ways I've seen Him in action, just short on time to write it all down!  But when I think about all He has done for me, I hang my head in shame for not making the time to tell of His good works.  So, let this be the day that I shift from waiting until there is time to share what He's done to making the time to shout out what He has done.

If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you know that a few years ago I saw 58:The Film which greatly impacted my life.  So much so that the ripples still continue daily for me.

Our church had a challenge this fall to pray daily for 25 days straight.  We were instructed to pray at the same time of day in the same location for each of the 25 days.  I participated in the challenge and implemented my pastor's suggestion of using small note cards for each of the prayers.  I quickly filled up note card after note card with things I wanted to pray about.  I included friends who were going through tough times, prayers for Feven's future, prayers for my godchildren, prayers for our marriage, prayers for our finances, and prayers for our church.

But then there was also this one random note card with a few verses from Isaiah 58.  It was the one card that listed only scripture, and there wasn't anything specific that I was praying about in regards to it, I just read it daily during prayer time.  It's a verse that grabs me at my core and makes my heart beat in time with God's.  It's Isaiah 58:6-10 where God is calling out his people on how they've been practicing religion with no heart or depth.  They've been doing it for show:

"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke? 

Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-
when you see the naked, to cloth him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? 

Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. 

If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday."

Each morning at 6:00am, I'd sit down with my prayer cards, pray for all the requests, and read this scripture.

One of my prayers was an "out there" prayer.  I was praying that God would provide for us financially in a big way so we would have a fully-funded adoption account by the end of the year.  I wanted enough money in our adoption bank account that we would be able to get the word there was a child who needed a family, and we could write one big check and pay for every expense we needed to in order to welcome that child into our family.

I didn't have a clue how this could happen.  I mean, each month we were faithfully tucking away money into our adoption account, so we were eventually going to get there, but this was a bold prayer to have it completed by the end of the year.

Once during a discussion on prayer at church, a (brilliant, highly-spiritual, God-inspired) child in our church who was 11 years old said that a good prayer is one that "is possible, but highly unlikely."  So I continued praying that  God would fully fund our adoption account by the end of the calendar year.  It was a possible dream, but highly unlikely.

One day, out of the blue, I got a phone call from my college roommate.  She said she was going to host a Noonday party the following week to help me raise  money for our adoption.

WHAT?!?!  I was blown away and in awe of this surprise gift of time and energy.  And this is a friend who is chasing THREE children of her own around each day, one of whom has significant medical needs because of  genetic disorder and recent kidney transplant.  I know, right?!?  How does she have time for this?  A highly unlikely person to host a party...I saw it as a direct answer to the daily prayer I'd been praying for God to provide all the necessary funds for our second adoption.  God was working through her to show up big time in my family's life.

But wait - it gets better.  Noonday is a company that works with artisans around the world to provide them with a fair and competitive wage so they can provide for their families and work with dignity.  And do you know where their company name Noonday comes from?

Isaiah 58:10 - "and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday."

The very verse I was praying daily was the answer to another of my prayer cards that God would provide for us financially.

Only God could have come up with that!

She hosted the party and we were blessed to have many friends present at the party and virtually via social media who participated in the event.  Afterward, a check was sent directly to our adoption agency, and now that money waits there while we wait for God to bring our child into our lives.

Big Dreams, Little Me, Big God

Within the last year, I decided that I wanted to start a women's counseling center in Ethiopia.  Why not, right?

I don't know when this dream was originally planted, but I think it was growing long before I realized it.  It blows me away how hindsight gives us a view of our life that seems less chaotic and more seamless.

A few things have come together over the years to create this dream:

• I saw the movie 58:The Film (see the full post here) about eradicating extreme global poverty
• I've been frequently reading Isaiah 58 in its entirety and daily reading verses 6-11
• My heart beats for the poor, broken, hungry, homeless, and oppressed
• I adopted
• I fell in love with my daughter's birth country of Ethiopia
• My heart is torn daily wishing Feven's birth mother could be a part of this amazing little girl's life
• I wonder who is counseling the birth mothers who have relinquished their children in Ethiopia
• I wonder who is counseling pregnant women in crisis in Ethiopia
• I wonder who is supporting women who are victims of domestic abuse in Ethiopia
• I wonder who is helping to heal victims of rape in Ethiopia
• I wonder who is crying with birth mothers on the difficult anniversaries of when they gave birth to their child, dropped off their child at an orphanage, or abandoned their child in desperation

I believe there is an unmet need.  I believe there is a way to assist women who have been through difficult situations in life to enable them to process what has happened to them and begin the road to healing.

But there are a few problems.  I don't know how to start a women's counseling center in Ethiopia or even if that would be helpful.  I don't know how to fund a counseling center or even how much it would take!  So faced with these questions I did the only thing I could do.  I started praying.

As I began praying, I remembered a children's book idea I had a few years ago.  I thought maybe I could get that published and the revenue from that would fund the counseling center.  The problem with that was that I don't draw.  During prayer one day I remembered that I had a friend who had illustrated a children's book one time.  I decided to contact him.

Amazing God Thing Number 1

Within 48 hours of contacting the only person I know who illustrates, he agreed to illustrate the book.  For free.

I continued getting excited about the counseling center and kept sharing my ideas with Zac.  I was also incredibly overwhelmed with life and was crying a lot during this time in my life.  Zac, being the truly amazing, protective, and thoughtful guy he is, advised me to stop working on the counseling center idea right now.  I had too much on my plate and it wasn't a good idea to add something else - especially something else that big.

So I kept working on it behind his back.

I wish I could say "just kidding" after that statement, but it's true.  I continued my slow work on the counseling center and stopped talking to him about it.  Not a shining wife moment.

I knew I could not do this on my own, so I decided to put out some feelers to one of my Ethiopia Adoption Facebook groups.  I was praying for 5 people to come alongside me to help research what it would look like to open a counseling center in Ethiopia.  I also prayed that at least one of the people would be a guy.

Amazing God Thing Number 2

Within about 3 days, I had 3 women who showed interest.  And one of them "happened" to be a travel agent who frequents Ethiopia, another "happened" to be a licensed counselor, and another happened to be 100% awesome.  So I had my 3 people interested + me making 4.  It wasn't 5, but I was pretty happy nonetheless!

By this time I was feeling awfully guilty for continuing my work when Zac was assuming I had laid this project down for a time.  One night after we crawled into bed I said, "Uh, Zac.  I have something to tell you..."  I told him everything and was expecting him to be (rightfully) upset with me.

Amazing God Thing Number 3 

Instead of being upset, he was energized by all the good ideas the team of people had come up with, he was amazed at how God was working, and...

Amazing God Thing Number 4

...he wanted to be a part of it.  He went from encouraging me to drop the project for an indefinite amount of time to supporting me continuing with it AND wanting to be a part of it. His interest made him the 5th person that I had asked God for.  AND Zac joining the research team made him also the "at least one guy" I had prayed for.

A few weeks later I was out weeding in the front lawn with Feven.  A lawn service solicitor walked up the street, saw me in the yard, and began chatting with Feven and I.  Quickly into our discussion he realized that I was not going to purchase his company's services, but we continued chatting anyway.  He was a good-natured man, kind, and had the build of an NFL player.  A few minutes into the conversation, he looked at me and said, "Are you a Christian?"  I was taken aback by this forward question.  I said yes and he said, "I thought so.  I am too."

Amazing God Thing Number 5

He then shared that he's an ordained pastor who is not serving at a church right now and wondering why God has him pounding the pavement for this lawn service.  He told me of 4 different mission trips he's been on and for some reason I told him of my dream to open a women's counseling center.  After I shared my dream with him, he quoted Matthew 18:20, "Where two or three gather in my name, I am there with them." and he grabbed my hand and said, "Let's pray over this dream."  So he took my hand in his big paw and we stood there in my front lawn and he prayed over my dream to start a counseling center in Ethiopia.

We talked a little more after that, but then his cell phone rang and he had to go.  His ringtone?  The chorus of "My Savior, My God" and I heard these words, "My savior loves, my savior lives, my savior's always there for me."

Indeed, my Savior lives!  He is listening to my prayers and He is moving in this world in ways I can't fathom.  He is placing big dreams in my little heart and moving to build those dreams for His glory.  Amen!

 

Comfort on a Cold, Windy Night

I hear the wind outside blowing against the house tonight, forcing these walls to groan in protest with creaks and pops.  The wind chimes on the north side of the house, normally quiet and unaffected by the winds, are shouting tonight.  

Inside couldn't be more opposite.  I sit at a quiet desk, the office illuminated softly by a small desk lamp on the corner of the desk.  The dishes in the kitchen have all been washed and put away for use tomorrow.  Feven has been asleep and the baby monitor quiet for an hour and half.  All is still.

My faith life in the last 6 months has been more like the calm inside my house tonight.  I've been praying regularly and specifically for certain people and situations and I feel that God is answering these prayers in ways I can see.  I feel like my faith foundation is becoming more solid and that regardless of the chaos around me, I can stand firm.

I'm anxious to tell you all about the things that I've seen coming together in my life.  I hesitate to call them miracles - that just seems like a really big deal and should involve feeding thousands of people with one person's lunch, walking on water, raising people from the dead, etc.  I haven't seen anything THAT extraordinary.  But I have seen some pretty wild, inexplicable details come together that I could not have orchestrated myself.

God is moving in my life.  I plan to write down some specific stories over the next few weeks which will have you shaking your head in awe with me.  Together we can marvel at our incredible God.

$25 Gift Card Giveaway!

Just when I thought this week couldn't get any better, I learned that I get to give away a $25 Noonday Gift Card!  Yippee!

If you haven't had a chance to read my post from Tuesday, please check it out here.  I had an amazing experience this past week where 4 of my life passions combined into a single event!

The short of it is that a friend surprised me by raising funds for our adoption via a Noonday party.  Noonday is a company that works with over 1,000 artisans around the globe to provide them sustainable, living wages for their beautiful handiwork.  Another fun fact about Noonday is that the materials made by the artisans come from within their country, so not only does Noonday help to provide jobs for the artisans, but also supports the local farmers and economy as well.  Very. Cool.

I'm excited to pass along the Noonday catalog to you today.  I hope that you will bring your Christmas shopping list to the computer and find some things from Noonday for your friends and family.  My dream is that Noonday's demand would explode because of you, creating exponentially more jobs for these talented artisans who are often from impoverished and vulnerable communities.

A portion of the sales from this event will go directly to our adoption agency on our behalf.  That's right, Noonday writes out a check and mails it into our adoption agency for us!  What an incredible blessing that is to be able to partner with a great company empowering people around the globe and at the same time come another step closer to welcoming another child into our family.

Gift Card Giveaway Details

Each person is entered into the drawing when they place an order with Noonday.  To do this, first of all, browse Noonday's collection. I dare you to not find something you love. I may have already purchased this card set and have found 20 other things that I want!

When you find something you like, add it to your cart. At checkout, make sure that you select Sara VanZee as the Ambassador and then type in Lindsay Millard in the Trunk Show spot before completing your purchase. This particular sale closes on Monday, November 18th, so make sure to choose your items before then. Doing so will ensure that you are entered into the drawing for the $25 Gift Card.  

Please share with your friends and family as you see appropriate. I'm so encouraged by companies like Noonday and I want to make this company known, especially as the holidays are approaching.  What a great way to use our Christmas shopping dollars to not only get something unique and beautiful for the people on our list, but to help others around the world to provide for their families.