Why am I so stinkin' tired?

I love work, and I love my job.  I actually don't even really mind getting up early, but holy cow could the weekend just hurry up and get here please?!?  I have a whole lot of sleeping in planned for Saturday and will probably throw some naps into the weekend mix as well.

I've been thinking a lot about this verse lately "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28  I seem to be missing out on this rest thing a lot and I've really got the whole weary thing down.  I know I'm not alone in this, but I really don't know why we so often choose weariness over rest.  I guess it almost seems to me that work is so deeply ingrained in our culture that we/I don't feel worthy of rest until I've worked really hard to get there.  Instead of coming to Jesus, resting and trusting Him to guide my steps, I run around like a crazy person trying to work my way to earning God's love and finally one day feeling like I deserve to take a rest.  God's way is so counter-intuitive though - earning isn't part of the plan and rest is almost a side-effect of the work you are doing when you're walking with Jesus.  Oh that I could walk with Him that closely - that my work really was rest.  And that my rest was true rest....like this little guy (Thanks to Liz for the photography!):

I was reading in Luke this morning when Jesus says we should come to Him like little children.  I think this is partly what He was talking about.  We often talk about the faith aspect of it - having faith like I child, which i know is part of it too, but kids know how to rest.  Especially the little babies like Daniel (above).  When they are in the arms of someone they trust, they are often so at ease they just fall asleep.  I know this is not true for all babies, so I'll admit it's a bit of a generalization.  However, I do think it paints a good picture of how at ease we should be with God holding us.  


For me, getting more rest is probably also a matter of being more careful with how I spend my time.  For example, staying up late to catch up on SYTYCD last night was probably not the best use of my time when I was already so tired.  (BTW - thoughts on who's going home tonight??)  


It's a journey :-)

wordless wednesday

Napping is my favorite

God did and is doing some amazing things in my heart since Mexico, but right now, what I'm missing most is SIESTA!!!!

I don't have any pictures from our after lunch siestas, probably because I couldn't keep my eyes open once I sat down.  Take my word for it - it's a picture of complete peacefulness.

Nogales isn't as hot as you might think.  The town where we stay is up in the mountains at an altitude of about 4,500 feet.  In the mornings and evenings you could wear a jacket or sweatshirt and be comfortable.  The mid afternoon sun can be pretty scorching, but it's not hard to find shade and let the breeze bring you to a quick slumber!  I think sometimes we don't really realize how tired we are until we stop all the busyness and give ourselves a second to rest.

I guess you could say that is one of the amazing things God did in my life this past week.  The importance of rest and simplicity really made an impression on me.  I know this might be starting to sound like a spa vacation, so trust me, we worked hard!  Shoveling dirt and rocks from the side of a mountain or mixing concrete with a shovel are not the simplest of tasks.  It was eye opening though, to see how productive you can be when you are well rested.

Why, when Jesus tells us that He will give us rest, do we say - "no thanks, I'd rather stay busy and stressed out?"  Maybe you don't say that, but I surely do.  I fill my life with so much clutter that I sometimes don't even enjoy the work I'm doing.  That has got to change.

The material clutter has got to go too.  I seemed to sense a correlation between the amount of stuff I have to my level of stress.  I lived with so much less than I'm used to this past week.  I wore shorts and tshirts everyday, showered in cold water with a spout that just dumped the water on you, slept in a room with no AC, on a bunk with just a normal sheet, pillow and blanket, in tiny room with 7 other women and walked wherever I needed to go.  Instead of TV and my ipod I had chats with friends, books to read, naps to take and this to look at:

Not sure if even SYTYCD could hold a candle to this entertainment.  And although I seemingly lacked much, I wanted for nothing.  Truly, I was content and so blessed with just what I had.  It got me to thinking that I could simplify a lot of my life right now and brought to mind the end of Matthew 6 (If you don't know what I'm talking about, I encourage you to read that chapter.)  So that's my goal - simplify and trust!

How can you simplify and bring some rest to your life?

Where to begin...

So many e-mails!!!  My phone has decided to stop downloading my email, unless I specifically refresh my inbox...so I have a lot of catch up to do today.
Totally worth it though.  Mexico was amazing!!!  It's hard to sum it up in a quick sentence, but in short, it was really a week of doing God's work!  I want to share more with you about Cuirim House, what a day looks like there and the testimonies of the people who run it , but today I thought I'd tell you about a family we worked with.  The best thing about the outreach at Cuirim House is that the work we do really opens doors for the church to be a light to the community.
This is Gabriella and her sons Daniel and Angel.  The boys' dad is out working at the factory.

They migrated up to Nogales from their small town near Navajoa, which is actually where the church in Nogales has started sending their own mission teams.  I can promise you, it's more than just a coincidence.  But back to their story.  Gabriella's little family was trying to reach the border in search for a better life, but like most who attempt this, they ended up stuck in the slums of Nogales.  Only the Lord knows how they made it as far as they did.  Navajoa is about an 8 hour drive, so making it to Nogales is nothing short of a miracle.  We weren't even scheduled to work on their house, but the site manager heard of their need and was on the ball and sent our team right over there.  They squatted at this shack, and we were able to greet them their first week in town, paint the inside and outside of their house (a whopping 2 small rooms with dirt floors and cardboard/pressed plywood/metal scrap walls), as well as give them a cement floor.  I've never actually seen a place so destitute - no water, a toilet stuck in a mound of dirt outside the house, nothing to cook with or on.  

If you're like me, you might wonder how much of a help concrete and paint can really be.  I learned that paint on the outside of the house can extend the use for an additional year.  We paint the inside of the houses a light color so that scorpions are easier to spot.  And the concrete goes a long way during the 2 weeks to a month of monsoon season, when it rains nearly every day.  You can imagine the muddy mess that happens to dirt floors on the sides of mountains when the rains come.  Even though it might not seem like much, it opens the doors for the church to come in and really minister to these people.  The pastor of the church actually came and helped us on the day we did concrete, which is very meaningful.  The way it all worked out was truly God ordained.  We had been planning all week to throw a party for new moms in the neighborhood so that we could give them some gifts and celebrate them - something that is completely foreign to them.  We were able to invite Gabriella and give her some necessities for the house and her babies!  It was really neat to be there for them and hopefully give them a little bit of hope!  
There is so so so much more to tell you - I'm just bursting at the seams to share, but that's it for today.  Time for me to look at some more emails!!

Mexico for a Week

I leave for Mexico in about 4 hours!  We are meeting to drive down to the airport at 3 am.  It's going to be a loooooooong day, but so worth it.  Have a told you about how amazing Cuirim House is yet?  Set on the hillside, in between other concrete houses in the slums of Nogales, Mexico, Cuirim House is actually a monastery.  From the street it looks like any other house on the block, and we live like our neighbors...no AC, no flush toilets, no water heater...just cement buildings and some picnic tables.  Once inside, you realize there's much more than you can see from the street.  There are 2 beautiful chapels, a Greek staircase looking out over the mountain and a fountain that many chose to sit by during our meditation time.  Because Cuirim House is a monastery, we follow the Celtic monastic tradition of work, study, pray.  Each day follows this rhythm, where we spend time together in chapel, spend time with God alone and spend time working together.  What I love the most is that it never requires a watch!!!  The day just moves along as it should, without rushing or stressing.  It's truly amazing.

Working in the community can involve anything from painting projects to mixing cement manually, which is the most physically exhausting thing I've ever done.  I can't wait to see what projects are in store for us this year!

If you are someone who prays, please pray for our team this week.  We believe that God is planning to do amazing things.

Here's some pictures of last year's team.  We are much smaller this year, but know God can still use us to do a lot!!

Have a great week!!

This is harder than I thought...

The "challenge" part of my photo challenge is what's standing out to me right now.  There was a great thunderstorm last night, but I just couldn't figure out how to best photograph the eerie sky and crazy wind.  Definitely a portrayal of God's power....definitely a portrayal of my lack of photographic skill and creativity.  It's about growth though right??  Instead, I chose a subject who was much more still.  This is Willie, my friend's Jack Russell Terrior, watching SYTYCD with us.  How do I see God in the picture of Willie, you might ask?  Good question, I say!!  To me, this is a picture of peace.  I love how dogs can just cuddle up with their master (or Aunt Val) and not have a care in the World.  Isn't that what we should be doing with God?  We don't have to worry and fret, and can just rest easy when we are wrapped up in His arms, where He eagerly invites us.  It reminds me of Matthew 6: 25-34
 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
   “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
If you've known me for any length of time, you know what a battle I fight with worry and anxiety.  Let's try to remember this picture of worry free Willie and let it guide us to the arms of the One who loves us, rather than let worry and fret have any place in our lives.
So, this means I am NOT going to fret about all the packing I still need to do before leaving for Mexico bright and early Sunday morning (3:15 am to be exact!)  I'll be joining 6 others from the young adults group at my church, along with a group of highschoolers on a mission trip to Nogales, Mexico and I cannot wait!!!  We'll be living at the Cuirim House and working with Cuirim Outreach for a week, serving in the slums of Nogales.  This is my second trip to Cuirim House and I'm so excited to share what God is doing there.  The transformation that's happening is truly amazing.  I promise to share much more of the details about the trip with you tomorrow before I leave.  Until then, here's a picture of my friend Yami, I met last year.  My team built a cement floor for her family's home and she loved helping us.  I was a much bigger fan of hanging out with her than shoveling the rocks and sand to make the concrete.  

Happy Friday!!

So I Know I Can't Dance

...is it weird then that I'm obsessed with all of the dancing reality shows?  Right now, I can't get enough of So You Think You Can Dance on Fox.  I've been known to dvr Dancing with the Stars when it's on (I know - so embarrassing!), but SYTYCD is by far my favorite.  (You know you watch it too!!  Who are your favorites this season?) I don't really know anything about dancing, and although I have rhythm from playing music growing up, I don't have that style that those who can dance have.  AT.ALL.  :-)  I wish I did though.  Isn't it funny how we sometimes dream of the things we are least likely to do?  I have heard people singing along to the radio and admit, with one breath, that they can't carry and tune, and in the next, divulge that their secret dream is to be the lead singer for a band.  What's your hidden passion?  Why do you think they always seem do be so different and "out there"?  Have you ever pursued a dream like this?  I'm so curious.
I have to go against my first rule of blogging today - always have a picture.  I've got nothing.  Along the same lines of dancing, I so admire people with great photography skills, but I feel like I am so not artistic.  I have friends who have started blogging a picture a day, some to document life and some to challenge their creativity.  Maybe I need to try that and see if I can be a little more creative.  Sort of like a babystep towards making it on SYTYCD :-) (or maybe Dancing with the Stars is more realistic?  I think I could beat Hines Ward any day!! - side note...CAN'T WAIT to start talking about football and my extreme dislike for the team the Dancing Champ plays for.)  But I digress...
Pictures it is!  Maybe the theme will be seeing God in everyday life.  Wish me luck!  And maybe I'll throw in some Just Dance on the Wii for good measure.  Who knows where all this creativity could lead.  Oh - and for all you aspiring singers out there - I also have Glee Karaoke, so you can come on over!