Dangerous Surrender Chapter 1

Let me give a little background before I go crazy with this post. I "met" a lady named Angel in the blog world. I got her link from Blogs for a Cause (I think???).

Anyway, Angel is an amazing woman who I am drawing much inspiration from. She chooses to live a "disturbed" life (I will elaborate later). I too want to live this kind of life. She started the book Dangerous Surrender by Kay Warren (Rick Warren's wife). After reading her first chapter post, I went to Amazon and bought myself a copy.

I have to admit that I rec'd the book a day ago and have looked at it a few times with the cover closed. I am SCARED!!! I knew that this could be the moment that I would say YES to God about anything He calls this little ordinary girl to do.

The first chapter explains Kay Warren's moment when God said this is a MUST, you must open your eyes to the things happening in the world around you. I am guilty of living in MY world. God called us to look beyond ourselves, our houses, our churches, our communities, our city, our state, and our country. He wants us to love "the least of these" EVERYWHERE. He wants us to live a disturbed life--meaning we should be effected by the things going on around us and around the world and DO something about it!!!

I have two moments I want to share with you all about times that God has called me and I didn't necessarily trust Him in the beginning but He showed me up. They are life changing moments for me.

As most of you know, I went on a mission trip to Honduras in 2003. I have always dreamed of going on a mission trip to anywhere, but this was a trip to minister to Deaf people and children in Honduras (I was an interpreter for the Deaf before I had my first daughter, now I am a stay-at-home mom). New Life Deaf Ministries (their web page is down due to construction) is a church/private school for Deaf people in Honduras. Before this awesome place was established there was NO place for Deaf children to be taught and many believed they couldn't be taught. The church is growing everyday and there were 144 at the camp we did while we were there in 2003. You can check out another entry I wrote about New Life Deaf Ministries here (it also has a few pictures). I would love to adopt deaf children from another country and give them a chance to know Jesus and to be educated and loved. I have always worried about finances related to adoption but God is showing me to be patient and always depend on Him to take care of the rest. The story about how I got to go on this trip was a miracle in itself and probably deserves another entry but there were obstacles that were overcome step by step so that I could go. AMAZING!!!!

Not long after returning from Honduras, I started praying for God to take over my scheduling/planning for the youth group at our church (I worked with middle school kids with my brother-in-law at a small church of about 50). Our youth group was a total of about 2 regular kids. I spent a lot of time in my car commuting during this time of my life and spoke to God out loud many times in the car (most of the time bawling Him out for not doing things MY way). While driving in my car HE gave me this awesome idea to start a program called 7-11 (seven eleven) He was also talking to my brother-in-law about something similar. Once a month, on a Friday night, we would invite the middle schoolers (ages 5th grade to 8th grade) to a movie, pizza, and games at our church from 7pm-11pm. We didn't have finances or ways to advertise this event except through our few middle schoolers. We sent them to school with flyer's on bright colored paper and low and behold we had 25 students show up. We were borrowing equipment (remember a small church of 5o) and the youth workers were giving their money to get this started. Lots of people were not sure if this would even work. I was SURE it would work not from anything we had done but because it was like a NEON sign from God. The numbers kept growing and students were finding that Jesus loved them more than anyone else in their lives (middle school is one of the hardest times in a kids life). We had 16 kids come to know the Lord and change their lives forever.

When we had a lock-in with 36 kids (our high number at that time) we started thinking of ways to find more room. Not long after that lock-in the church started a building project (God provided the space). People in the church started asking if they could help and bring food and donating money for the ministry. We even had one Friday night with 65 kids and God still provided enough food and fun for all the kids to have a fantastic time and learn about His amazing love. I think we ended up touching at least 160 students through this program. We even had a whole softball and volleyball teams from schools attending and it was a fantastic time in my life of following God's will.

Unfortunately at the end of my time at this church (before we moved here) I had my first child and that made serving in that ministry very difficult. After moving to MD I was very busy with a new baby and then had another one two years later. I sometimes feel like I have nothing left to offer when I have to spend so much time taking care of them. I know that God has called me to disciple my children so they can too make a difference some day but it is hard for me. I am an ALL or NOTHING type person. I want to do BIG things for God. From the examples above, I have NO doubt that God will provide all the training, resources, finances, etc. that I need to follow him with a Dangerous Surrender, but it is still scary.

I was once told from someone very dear to me, "Alice, you can't save the world." I responded with "I will die trying." I often hear these statements in my head. I remember the conversation as if it was yesterday. God knows that I thrive on a challenge and that is definitely one!

So here we go...Let's see where HE leads us!!!

Look for more entries on Dangerous Surrender and living a disturbed life later (better yet, get the book and join us).

Love you all!!!