Weekend Wrap-Up: Spice up your Summer

1. Check out this video. Go to your local Michaels and buy one of these. Or you can find them here. [I personally love the "doodle red" one!] Commence hours of crafting.

2. Looking for a good summer jam? Well look no more! Listen to 'Some Nights' by Fun. You will be dancing night and day.

3. Also in need of a great summer tv series? Once again, your quest is over... check out 'Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.' I have no idea how you get ahold of it aside from buying it from Amazon, but do whatever is necessary to do so. You will not be disappointed. Seriously... how could this not be amazing?!

4. Check out your local thrift store [Goodwill is preferable]. You never know what you may find!

5. Spend time with Jesus! All these things might make your summer more fun, but Jesus will definitely make your summer meaningful and complete! 

HE is my Daddy

God is SO good! I feel like recently He has had me living one day at a time so that I trust Him more, and as a result, in the last week I have experienced His provision in so many ways.

I am absolutely in awe of God and His love for me when I see Him paying attention to the little things in my life. I love when I share my desires with Him, with open hands, and get to see Him fulfill those desires. He is so like a good father, delighting in giving good gifts to his children- to me, his daughter.

To start, I am currently house sitting for a family and it has been a HUGE blessing! I have been provided with a place to stay for the week, a car to use, and some income to boot (which is a huge blessing in itself since I won't be getting paid for Navs until much later in the summer).

I wasn't sure where I would be living when the family gets back from vacation, until I received a text last night from another wonderful family inviting me to stay with them until August. How amazing!

Then in August I will be moving in with my lovely host family. God has just given me so many incredible families who want to love and help me, and through that I have gotten a glimpse of God's heart for me.

I was also blessed with an amazing deal on a phone this last week and God has given me so many opportunities to catch up with friends, tell people about what I will be doing come fall, and really just love on people.

God is my daddy. He delights in me and in giving me good gifts. He loves it when I draw close to Him, when I depend on Him. He loves for me to trust Him and His timing. And He loves coming through for me.

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!  -Matthew 7:11 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. -John 1:12

Truth Tuesday: A Gentle Whisper

1 Kings 19

Fundraising is going to change the way I think about a lot of things.

I know that without a doubt, but I thought for my life to be changed in a radical way a radical thing had to happen.

In my mind,

Radical = a big huge event

Very rarely do I think of radical as something small or quiet like “a gentle whisper”.

Last week, all I wanted was confirmation that I was doing the right thing; that I was actually called to be a part of Edge Corps, that what I was doing was enough, that I wasn’t alone. I wanted something big to reaffirm me. I wanted to feel something. I wanted to cry. I wanted something big.

Nope, I couldn’t cry. I didn’t feel anything. Nothing radical happened.

Or at least my concept of radical didn’t happen. But God was all over last week.

The Lord told Elijah He was going to pass by the mountain he was on.  Great winds came, an earthquake happened, and fire occurred, but the Bible says God was not in any of those things.

(Those are big things and they change a lot about the landscape of the earth.  I find myself thinking “Elijah, how were you not moved by those things?”)

How cool is it that Elijah was moved by a whisper?! A whisper.

He waited through 3 huge events. He knew that wasn’t the Lord speaking to him.

God does move and speak in big ways, but sometimes He wants us to be patient and wait for His gentle whisper.

My prayer is to wait on the Lord. He is faithful and He will provide for my desire to feel something, to be moved. Maybe it will be in big ways, but I want to be so in tune that I will wait and not miss His whisper.

P.S: I also really like this song: ENJOY

Giving: Radical

As I have been raising support for this grand new adventure God has for KC and I, I have been learning so much about giving. We have had to study what the Bible says about giving, have heard countless God-stories of our fellow EDGErs and the experiences they are having with support raising, and have been reading books on God and finances. 

So I've been learning a lot. 

The first little tidbit I'd like to share with you is this quote from the book Radical by David Platt [a great, but difficult-to-swallow read, btw]. In his book, Platt speaks of living a radical life, not a comfortable American-dream life. A rich guy talked about selling his possessions and giving away his money in this way:

 “I WONDER AT SOME POINTS IF I’M BEING IRRESPONSIBLE OR UNWISE. BUT THEN I REALIZE THERE IS NEVER GOING TO COME A DAY WHEN I STAND BEFORE GOD AND HE LOOKS AT ME AND SAYS, ‘I WISH YOU WOULD HAVE KEPT MORE FOR YOURSELF.’ I’M CONFIDENT THAT GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF ME.”

Am I living in such a way that I am believing that God will wish I had kept more for myself?

Conversations with God

So I've been trying this new thing lately where I have conversations with God. [And by new I mean yesterday] I recently read this article about talking to God and then letting Him talk back through you. Now, this isn't weird, mystical stuff. It's simply saying out loud what you feel God is putting on your heart. Anyway, I've done this before through writing where I have had a conversation with God and write down what I feel like He is wanting me to know about whatever I'm worried about. And it's been pretty cool. I don't take it as Biblical truth or divine prophesy, but it usually does line up pretty well with scripture. And on the plus-side of this talking-out-loud-convo-with-God thing, it's great for us external processors! :)

Here's my latest convo [un-edited, full of my naive flesh]:

Me: God, help me to be nice.

God: Heather, I don't want you to just be nice. I want you to love.

Me: But how do I love when I get so frustrated?

God: How did I love when people were frustrating?

Me: Well, you were God.

God: You have the Holy Spirit in you, don't you?

Me: Crap.

Try it sometime. God will get ya! Plus, you just might get a glimpse into God's heart for you.

Weekend Wrap-Up

5 Truths from this weekend:

1. I MISS Colorado and all the lovely EDGErs we met there ['specially these two lovely ladies from the south].

2. Jesus is a super relational guy. As I read more and more of the Bible I see this. He saw people. He took the time.

3. Courage is hard. But sometimes you just need 20 seconds of insane courage. [Ignore the reference to guy-girl relationships in this clip and enjoy!]

4. God is POWERFUL and capable of anything. Read this article [go to page 8] about a woman in Rochester who was miraculously healed after being in a wheelchair for 19 years. After all is said and done, she says this: “It’s all about Him and who He is, how much He loves His children, and what He can do for them. Why wouldn’t you want to partner up with this miracle-working God? There’s nothing too big for Him.” Yes, why wouldn't I want to partner up with God?

5. Talking with old friends [and their parents] is PRICELESS! I've had a great weekend in Rochester catching up with people I haven't seen in 10 months. Never underestimate the power of an old relationship!

Recklessly Abandoned

Recklessly abandoned.

  That’s what I want to be for Him.

             Fully

       trusting

   obeying

              loving

          serving

               worshiping

           HIM

   with my whole life.

Without care or regard for the consequences.

 

Staff Pages

Navigator Staff Pages are up and running! Check 'em out! 

HB's Staff Page

KC's Staff Page

OFFICIAL Navigator Staff ;)

Roadtrip Series: The Journey Home

Goodbye Colorado, Hello adventures in Nebraska.

There were definitely tears as we drove across the state of Nebraska this afternoon.

Now, don’t worry. Most of the tears came from hysterically laughing due to the fact we almost ran out of gas in the middle of the open plains of Nebraska! We discovered Chloe the Corolla has a longer range than estimated once it hits zero miles until empty. Praise Jesus. Although some don’t agree, it would have made for another interesting twist to our adventure.

The last couple of days we spent at HB’s aunt & uncle’s house near Denver.  We were able to catch up with friends and family in the Denver area along with hunting down some pretty sweet thrift stores!

We will be back in Minnesota tomorrow. 

Please pray for safe travels and boldness as we continue our support raising!

Ready to investigate Golden, CO!

Golden, CO has lots of fish
(they are a little bigger than normal too)

He was a keeper

HB and her lovely Colorado family
who gave us a place to lay our heads and fill our empty bellies

Yes, ladies and gents HB owns her own pair of chaco brand chacos

Welcome to Nebraska: the land of milk & honey (when you find a gas station)!

Notice Buffalo Bill in the background...

 It has been an exciting adventure... but there's no place like home.

Freedom Friday: Love 146

Check out this awesome site: Love 146.

They are fighting to end child sex slavery and exploitation.

Do you enjoy running, biking, swimming, or working out? They currently have a campaign called Tread on Trafficking.

Tread on Trafficking is a fundraiser between May 1st and June 30th where treaders ask sponsors to support them for the number of miles or hours they spend running, swimming, biking, or working out with all the money raised going directly to Love146, an international organization working to end child sex slavery and exploitation.

Check it out!