When God Moves..."Checkmate"

Many people around me the past few weeks have passed or are passing through significant mile markers on their life journey. Change of job. Loss of a loved one. Birth of of a new baby.

All of these things has made me reflect about my own journey, and it certainly is a journey.  With amazing sunrises and moments of laughter and love.

 Also dark nights. When the way isn't clear.

On the journey, God often will make a move to let you know He's with you. 

And it seems like for me that at some of the darkest and most challenging moments- these have been the times when God has made a move.

When God moves or works in your life it can often take you by surprise...His attention to detail...His timing...His power...His beauty...all STUNNING! So much of what I'm writing about in my book are accounts of these moments because they're crazy and wonderful.

 

And in the impossible, at the least expected moment, these are the times I believe are God's favorite to display His power, His sovereignty. 

 

It's like He says: It's not over until I SAY. The final move, the final report, is MINE.  When others say you've lost, you're done, I'll change the tide, I'll change the outcome, in a move only I can pull off- I will say CHECKMATE.  

Of course we just celebrated the biggest one of those with Easter!

 

God can open up a door that wasn't even there. He can bring supply from a source that you didn't even see. He can put money in the mouth of a fish or use a donkey to get your attention. (With so many donkeys passing by m here in Ethiopia daily, I'm really expecting at some point that God will think it's funny to have one talk to me. :-)

He is able!  His arm is not too short. He is God.  I love how He moves!

Check out these reminders in scripture:

Isaiah 50:2

...Was my arm too short to deliver you? Do I lack the strength to rescue you? By a mere rebuke I dry up the sea, I turn rivers into a desert...

Ephesians 3:19-21

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory 

Isaiah 55:8
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. 

 

Luke 18:27

Jesus replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” 

 

I remember so many times with jobs in particular, God would open things up at the right time...

After I graduated from college, I felt God was leading me to spend extended time in Haiti. When I made that jump instead of getting a job right away, I remember many stunned at my decision. Including me. Eight days in that country on a prior trip had almost killed me.  What would four months do? Against the advice of college advisers and just sheer logic, I jumped out of the job market and into one of the poorest countries in the world. 

It was there that God became more real to me than ever before. He humbled me and showed me how small I am and how big He is. Those months changed how I wanted to spend the rest of my life...no longer would my life be about making money and being a big name sports reporter...but it would be about advocating for the poor with my speaking and writing, it would be about telling the "good news" globally and helping be a voice for the voiceless....a journalist of the Savior-King who came to set the oppressed free.

 

During the end of my four months in Haiti, I remember beginning to feel stress about NO JOB for my return to the U.S. And literally days before I came home, a Christian radio station ended up interviewing WHILE I was in Haiti and hiring me before even meeting me. I flew home from Haiti with my first full time paid job landed, I began the very next morning. God said, you obeyed Holly. You trusted. CHECK MATE!

God LOVES to honor barbaric leaps of faith you take in His name and for His glory, honor.

Since I'm sitting in Ethiopia now as I write this, I can't help but think of when I sat in my youth ministry office in Ohio in 2008 and felt God say- I want to change your course. I want you to use your life for Africa. Africa, what? The dark continent? Lions, tigers...it seemed like an odd call to me, I'd never stepped foot on the continent. 

But I began knocking on doors. None opened. People said- you have no experience. You're not qualified. I kept knocking. Literally, the DAY I had my resignation in hand after FIVE YEARS in youth ministry...I was sitting in my office and had an stress moment. How could I resign? I had NO DOOR to Africa open. This was crazy. But God told me to jump. I prayed GOD PLEASE show me you've got this leap of faith...!And RIGHT at that moment an email came in my inbox...a JOB OFFER FOR AFRICA landed! CHECKMATE!!!

Less than a month later I was on a plane to Africa for the first time in my life as a "field reporter."

And for the past almost four years- I've been using my life as God directs for this continent. And it's been the adventure of a lifetime!

Kenya, 2011

Some my students, Ethiopia 2012

When God moves- it leaves your mouth hanging open. Chills running down your back. And it can bring you to your knees in the wonder of it all. 

 

One of my former students in youth ministry has been making barbaric leaps of faith for God the past several years. (and when I say "barbarian or "barbaric"- I'm not referring to caveman like activity...it's more of a reference to one of my favorite books called the Barbarian Way by Erwin McManus- talking about how the call to follow Jesus is really a radical tribal call that changes your whole course of life). Anyway, Sam has been on the barbarian way.  Sam had the grades to get into medical school after college, but no medical school door opened. Instead of wasting time and being idle, Sam started serving. He has impacted hundreds of young people as a result. 

Sam spent this past serving serving in Kenya and there our paths crossed again. One night, Sam was sharing with a group of us about the crazy road he has been on and how he still desired to be a doctor. He said looking back he could now see why the time before wasn't right for him to go to medical school. His heart and life and focus were not in the right places. Now they were. He gave thanks to God, trusting God's timing, and asked us to pray for him. I believe God was deeply moved by Sam's testimony, as was I and others listening. Because in the morning, to our utter amazement....God said CHECK MATE. A medical school wrote Sam an email ACCEPTING him- he would start in the fall. WOW!!!!

Sam is now in medical school And guess what- my barbarian brother is still serving. This summer he will intern once again taking hundreds of students into the inner city of Dayton. He will also travel back to Africa on a medical mission trip to one of the hardest places and most dangerous to serve on this continent!

 I'm excited to see what God does in Sam's life as the journey continues. :-)

All this to say, if you're up against a wall. If there is no door. If you've received a bad report. If you're sad. If you're lost. If you're confused. If you're tired. Remember Who has you in His big Hand. At the perfect time, He can turn the game. He can calm the storm. Bring down the walls. Part the sea. Blow open a door. Give provision, protection, comfort, peace, joy, hope, something new. 

He can say: CHECKMATE!!!

Romans 8:31-39

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future,nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Think about the Red Sea parting. The manna falling the sky. The storm calming. The lame walking. Lazarus busting out of his grave. The disciples running to find the tomb was indeed empty.

God is able!

 

I don't want to write all this without noting though that things don't always "work out." Seas don't always part. Doors don't always open. Relationships don't always mend. They can. But we're not promised a miracle cure. That the outcome or result will be what WE WANT. God's "win" often looks very different than our "win." The person who mistreated you might not always get a lighting bolt in the backside. Or the physical pain you're experiencing, you might continue to have to deal with. Paul wanted the "thorn" he had to be taken away, but God said no.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. ”Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

God might not say CHECKMATE in the way you want.

What we know though is He is ABLE and He is good. If He doesn't open a door, He will give you strength to stand. He will never leave you. You have a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Whether in plenty or in want, He can teach you to be content. He is all you, I, we need.

Philippians 4:11-13

I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.  I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do all this through him who gives me strength

My sister is another who lives by barbarian faith.  God called Noel to be a full-time missionary when she was in college.  But it literally took YEARS for God to open up the big field jump He was preparing her for.  She's now been serving in the Czech Republic since 2005.  God taught her to be content in the waiting.  And she wasn't idle as she waited.  She has touched many lives globally  because of her faithfulness and trust in God as she continues to faithfully follow God on the journey.

Noel serving globally, 2011

Whatever mile marker you're at on the journey, you can have joy, peace, hope. You can feel confidence that you have Almighty God with you and for you.

 

God's movements make me smile, Chuckle. Whistle. Well, I can't whistle- but if I could...I'd whistle. He's so good. Sometimes you have to be years past a circumstance or situation to see what God was up to in you and through you. Sometimes you'll even have to wait until eternity to know.

But don't lose hope.

God is with us and for us, able to do so much on our behalf and He's eager too.

Matthew 7:10-11

Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 

May we continue to trust Him.

Onward with you on the journey. Thank you for your prayers and know I'm praying for you as well.

Blessings from Ethiopia,

Holly 

Praises

-for our sovereign God- that He is moving in our lives ahead of us
-for a great first full week back to school and good classes
-for continued good health
-that my Dad received a good second opinion from a doctor

Prayer Requests

-For classes continuing- that God will use me to be good salt

-For a community carnival some of our students are organizing to raise money for our scholarship students- that details will come together

-For new babies that have arrived and more incoming, for good health for the moms and babies

-For those who have lost loved ones, that God will be their peace and comfort
-For those in job transition time, that God will open the next door in a mighty way

-For those Satan is picking on- that discernment and protection will be there

-For my family- for my Dad, Mom and sister- for good health and healing, provision and protection...I love this tribe of mine

SALT

One thing that is needed here in Ethiopia for many foods is salt. Several times this past week, I heard people asking for salt. And it got me thinking about my recent days here and how "salt" really has been so needed and evident.

The past few weeks I've been very blessed to come in contact with many people sharing what the Bible talks about as "salt."

Matthew 5:13

You are the salt of the earth...

Those whose lives flavor the ordinary- with wisdom, grace, kindness, humility, truth. 

Salt flavors, seasons. It's like sweet heavenly spice. You notice it. And when it's not there, you miss it. 

 

2 Corinthians 2:14

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him...

I've enjoyed in recent days coming into contact with this flavoring-seasoning salt. The salt of kids has made me smile, they flavor things. They make me laugh with their honesty, their innocence...

Sami the other day on campus, surprisingly dressed as a girl and wearing nail polish, so funny

these little ladies always make me smile :-)

Does your life...your words, your actions, your love, your service for others...season-flavor where you work? Your community? Your home? Your conversations? Your taxi rides? Our lives should.

Salt also preserves. Our lives should be helping to preserve the work of God, the Word of God, the plan of God in those we come in contact with. Our words. Our actions (even non-verbal) can help preserve God's work in people. We can encourage, uplift.

Recent days with friends here and friends visiting...these times have helped preserve the words God has said to me. During stress, during fatigue, the "salt" you say and live can preserve God's work in others.

1 Thessalonians 5:11

Encourage one another and build one another up...

Hebrews10:24-25

Let us consider how we may spur one another on...Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another...

Some of my E brothers, whose lives are SALT

SALT in action

My prayer partners globally- were big "salt" in my life this past week. Many of you received a prayer request from me about my Dad. He had received a report from one doctor- and it wasn't good. Pain in his leg led to x-rays that revealed multiple problems with his back and neck. I asked people to pray. The encouragement that poured in encouraged me at the deepest part of my heart. Your prayers helped preserve in me God's truth that He's bigger, stronger and has the final word. 

When another doctor examined my Dad- a much better diagnosis was shared. We celebrated. Praise be to God!

Salt also cleanses. I remember often rinsing with salt water or using it to clean wounds when nothing else was available. I believe people with the Word of God in them can also be that kind of cleansing salt in other people's lives. 

God can also use us to speak boldly into situations and lives to help the need for cleansing and repentance to be revealed.

Hebrews 4:12

The word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edge sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow, it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart...

I was blessed to experience Easter here last week.

I was blessed to go to a huge stadium event where an evangelical Ethiopian pastor gave a hard word but a very needed one about true transformation. 

This pastor said Ethiopia would never be lifted out of poverty unless corruption in individual lives all the way up to the high government places was eradicated. That message stung as each person looked deeply into our own lives remembering that...

Proverbs 27:17

As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.

Proverbs 27:6

Wounds from a friend can be trusted...

I'm grateful for those who speak the truth in love and challenge me by the way they live, the purity of their lives, to do the same.

Repentance and humility is so importance. These were very evident in Ethiopia the past few weeks during the Easter holiday. 

 

God's Word cleanses. It causes humility and repentance, and this is good. 

Our lives can act as good and needed cleansing salt for others- as God globally positions us.

Those who speak truth boldly even at the cost of persecution, loss of jobs, ridicule...these are the barbarians that I love to encounter and run with!

Jesus also warned of BAD salt or too much salt. The Pharisees had too much salt- and it had a repelling effect on others lives. 

 

Matthew 23:1-12

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples....do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues, they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others. “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers....The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. 

 

Our lives should be the very salt of heaven. The aroma of a Savior who died for a broken world. Is your life salt on the earth? The right amount? 

God can use us in powerful ways to flavor/season...causing a watching world to be thirsty for the joy/peace/hope/confidence/love you demonstrate. God can use your life...your words, your actions...to help preserve His Word and work in others. God can use your life to cleanse...to speak the truth boldly in love. To stand up for the least and the lost. To stand up against corruption and injustice. 

 

May our lives be SALT!

PRAISES

-Easter was great to experience here. I'm so grateful for Jesus!

-My dad's second opinion from a doctor on his back condition was much better than the first. Thank you for praying! We're still trusting God for complete healing for my Dad.

-School successfully started this past week. Classes were maybe 60 to 80% full and we're expecting a full house this coming week. It's always tough coming off a break, but I felt good about this past week, praise God!

-Several visitors came and went through Africa this past week. I also praise God for connecting me with these dear brothers and sisters...who blessed me by their salt. Praise God!

PRAYER REQUESTS

-Please continue to pray for my family. My Dad- that his back will be healed and that doctors will advise my parents on the best steps forward. Keep my Mom and sister (Noel) in your prayers as well.

-Please pray for our school semester as it continues, that God will use me in big ways in the lives of my students and our staff.

-Please pray for my continued good health.

-Please pray God will use my life here to toss seed as the Spirit directs and to be good salt.

-Please pray for my book, that I will get the time I need to write and for my way ahead, that God will direct in all.

 

Thank you for your prayers and continued partnership with me. I'm grateful to be on the journey with each of you.

Have a blessed week and please keep in touch.  You being on the journey with me helps "salt" my way.

Grateful for you in Ethiopia,

Holly

Easter Reflection...Living "Under Cover"

I didn't plan on writing another blog for a week or so but God so powerfully spoke to me the past few days that I had to share. 

 

Sometimes stress, unanswered questions, changing seasons, new chapters of life starting or other ones ending...many things can cause us to lose perspective on the big story we're part of. 

 

Even with sunsets and cloud masterpieces like these in recent days...you can still lose focus.

The past few days I've felt the stress of a new school semester beginning here in Ethiopia. They've given me different classes than the original plan and so things don't feel entirely stable. With school starting Monday, tomorrow, I'm still not sure of my schedule and if it will hold.

 

On "Good Friday"- I had a hard time all day shaking unexplained irritation. Why was I irritated? Was it because a plan for the semester still had to be written? Usually if I feel stressed- I can shake it off through exercise, a long walk or run. I tried the LONG walk, it didn't work. I came in Friday night really tired physically, but still irritated internally. 

 

That's when I remembered that my Mom had sent me her old i-pod a few days before through some friends visiting Ethiopia, maybe music would help. 

 

So I laid on my bed and asked God to help me. Then I began listening to some worship songs. As I listened, I began to fully remember and focus on the big story we're part of...God's redemption plan for mankind. A Savior, Jesus, came here and died to give us life. And I actually had a "get happy"moment right then. I don't know where that saying ("get happy") originated from. But we always used to say people would "get happy" in church when they would get lost in worship...like David did as he danced into the city long ago...being all "undignified". My Grandpa was classic at "getting happy"- his arms would raise and he'd start praising God and would go down the aisle of church- even in the middle of a sermon- we said this was him "getting happy." :-)

So on my bed before I knew it...tears were streaming down my face (joyful tears) and my hands were raised and I think I might have been bellowing some classic songs...like Shout to the Lord, Jesus Paid it All. I'm glad the neighbors weren't next door at the time. I remembered that "old old story...how a Savior came from glory....how He gave his life on calvary...to save a wretch like me."

I think God likes it when we "get happy" about His love for us. So, that "get happy" moment turned the tide on my irritation and my Easter weekend reflection time.

All of Saturday, I was still having the lingering effects of that moment...I was humming....victory in Jesus, my Savior forever, He sought me and He bought me with His Redeeming Blood....He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood." 

 

As I was sitting at a cafe thinking about it all later that day...I noticed big rain clouds coming and I thought I need to get under cover soon. And I felt God say to me...HOLLY, YOU ARE "UNDER COVER, MINE". 

 I think this was what God was trying to get to remember and think about this Easter weekend.

Now, I remember many times being "covered" or "coated" by different things.

In Haiti, it was sweat.

In South Sudan, it was heat.

In Kenya during rainy season, it was often mud and mosquito nets.

At the beach when I was a kid, it was sunscreen.

In Ethiopia, during rainy season last fall, on a village visit outside of Addis- I was covered in a chill I couldn't shake...so much so...that I literally ran into a place where ladies were cooking to get warm.

You can become deeply affected by the environment you're in. 

 

Then sometimes if you are covered in something that protects you, like a mosquito net or bug spray or sunscreen, sometimes you forget that's even there. 

 

Sometimes I think our salvation is that way too. We forget we're covered and to be thankful for that.

God has provided us with an amazing covering because the one we had, the one we were living in, separated us from God and condemned us to death. And this coating, this covering, denied us access to the life God intended us to have. We were covered in a guilty penalty we couldn't pay.

But what Jesus did when He died for our sins and rose again on the third day was He offered us a new covering, His covering, His own coat. 

 

And if you accept what Jesus did for you- you go under His cover. So when God now sees you- He sees the covering of his Son. Access to God is granted. You're free to know God in the way He intended. You can get as close as you dare. And you're given eternal life with God, beginning now. What an amazing gift!!!

Check out these verses...

Isaiah 61:10

I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness

2 Corinthians 5:21

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 

 

Romans 8: 1-4

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 

Hebrews 10: 19-22

Since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,...let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith...

 

After we get this covering, life goes on ...but we're different, and we're under Jesus' cover literally. We're different on the inside, but we look the same on the outside. And in fact, your life doesn't miraculously become perfect when you get under Jesus' cover. Some people believe this....that all prayers will be answered...all struggles will cease...all storms will calm. But no where does God say that will happen. In fact, the struggle will probably be harder. Flesh and spirit often go against each other...

Romans 7:21-15

So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

 

The good thing is you're now covered, God is with you and will never leave you or forsake you. Perfect peace. Unexplainable joy. A "living hope." Global family. Purpose. A friend who sticks closer than a brother. A guide in the Holy Spirit- so much you receive when you're under this cover.

God also wants this inner change that has happened- to be reflected in our lives outwardly- to be uncovered. (don't hide your light under a bush...)

The way you speak, the way you serve, the way you live- love. Your generosity, your compassion, your humility, your justice, your wisdom, your joy, your peace...can attract others to the God who wants them covered too.

2 Corinthians 5:17-21

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 

 

May our lives reveal to others the greatest most undeserved gift and sacrifice ever made. May we not forget that we're under cover. And may that cause us to shine, to be light in darkness as God's Spirit strategically places us globally.

Easter morning, which here in Ethiopia is next Sunday, I plan to rise early and go on top of the mountain behind our school and watch the sun rise...remembering the covering I now I live under, a Savior who gave His life for mine, may I "get happy" remembering the hill He climbed, the grave he entered, the keys he claimed, and the tomb He exited, the victory He won for those who accept Him and believe.

So grateful for our Risen King!!!!! 

 

Celebrating joyfully with you this Easter.

Let's "get happy" and invite others to "get happy" too. 

 

Blessed Easter to you....

From Ethiopia- Holly