Showing posts with label warrior girl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label warrior girl. Show all posts

For Tonya

Loaded these pics for my fellow warrior girl, Tonya, who is living in Uganda where those pesky videos just won't load sometimes!! Hugs to you Tonya for being family to the lonely in Uganda. Ya'll go check out her blog and give her some love!! :-) Angel







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Giving All My Secrets Away...


I started blogging about.... what.... 5 years ago.... Wowzer.

Ya know back in the dark ages of blogging. ;-) Some of you have been my blog friends from the beginning. Some of you I've met along the path of this amazing journey.

When I started blogging it was a tool. It was a way to update people on what was happening in a very difficult adoption process for our Zoe girl.



Soon I found myself bleeding my heart into the blog for lack of knowing what to do with all the pain of that first adoption. God was shaking my world and it broke me. I had no outlet and so OUT IT SPILLED as I typed.



What happened then surprised me. People responded to it in a huge way. I started getting e-mails, phone calls, comments THANKING me for bleeding.

That was confusing to me at first. Why was it so important to people???

Then I started to get it. There were OTHERS of you out there. There were others just like me feeling God's pull but also feeling overwhelmed and alone.

There were others walking around in a world that values security and looking good YET feeling their carefully built walls crumble around them.

In my broken state my mask had fallen off and I had BECOME A REAL PERSON... That's what had hit people.

Then came the tough decision. Would I put back up the wall? Was it safe to let people I didn't know see who I was?

Ahhhh.... but that's the thing. What am I living for? To look good? To be safe? To have it all together? To be approved of???

So I decided- I'm here for God's glory. I'm here to love him- and to love my neighbor. If this tiny little blog helps you feel loved- helps you know God a little better then I will not hold back anything He has given me.

There are things I can't share because they are not yet mine to share. There are things that wouldn't be wise to share. BUT when it comes to the heart of who I am... I'm giving all my secrets away.

Turns out being a warrior girl means being willing to be honest and weak and vulnerable and strong and courageous and well you know what I mean...

AND YA KNOW WHAT? It's been amazing... some of my most meaningful friendships I have made because of this blog. Some of my best memories are written down here. Many of the most powerful things God has taught me are captured in a weak human form within these bloggy archives. What a joy giving it all away has been.



When I heard this song yesterday it made me smile and I just want to dedicate it to all my blogger buddies.





:o) Hugs, Angel
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WARRIOR GIRLS WING AT T4A!!


I am SUPER EXCITED!!!!!!! As most of you know I will be at the Together For Adoption Conference October 1st-2nd in Austin, Texas.

This is a GREAT place to start LEARNING about orphan care and adoption. Whether you are just learning about God's heart for the orphan, starting an orphan care ministry or adopting your 10th child there is something for you.

One of my favorite things about going to these things is all the
WARRIOR GIRLS!

What is a warrior girl you ask???

It's a term my sweet friend, Brandi, came up with... and it stuck! Here's the definition...

What is a WarriorGirl - WarriorGirls are godly women who have a burning desire in them to fight against injustice. (and maybe sometimes feel a little weird in "normal" social circles cause we just AREN'T NORMAL!) We aren't going to sit by while children die and suffer in abject poverty or oppression. We are standing up as moms, wives, sisters, women to make a difference in our world. This will look different for each one of us - the issues may be different - the areas of passion - and the ways we fight against injustice. All that matters is that we are passionately pursuing the God of justice and seeing His kingdom come in this world. We aren't apologizing anymore. Yep, we are girls - but we are also warriors :-)



Are you a warrior girl??? Did that just describe your heart? Well, then JOIN the crew! The more the merrier. More details on how to get to know the warrior girls at the bottom of this post.
SO ANYWAY!! I thought HOW COOL would it be if all the warrior girls could stay together during the conference and REALLY get to know each other better???  SO WE ARE!! I talked to the WONDERFUL people at Hampton Inn and Suites and they said they would be HAPPY to work with us to make this happen. 
Together For Adoption already has the whole hotel for the conference. So all you have to do is click here.... Make your reservation for The Hampton Inn and Suites. 
MAKE SURE YOU tell them "Margaret told us to let them know we want to be with the WARRIOR GIRLS!"


The conference has arranged a rate of $109 per night. This is a GREAT deal. Especially if you find some warrior girl roomies. :-) It includes free wireless Internet and free hot breakfast. They have a hot tub and a great lobby area to hang out too. If you need a frig and microwave make sure to request a king suite. That may be a bit more... not sure. You simply have to give them a credit card # to hold the room. You can cancel it up to 24 hours in advance so I would definitely book soon. We want all the warrior girls TOGETHER! IT'S GONNA ROCK!! OH and FYI... a big group of us is going a night earlier to go to the Karyn Purvis Pre-Conference Workshop. 


Leave me a comment if you are going to stay with us! I would love to know who's coming. 
AGAIN!! CLICK HERE FOR INFO ON THE HAMPTON! See ya in October friends.
PS!! Are you a warrior girl?? Then come on over and join us at the warrior girl yahoo group. Lots of crazy girls just like us there. ;-)
Click to join IamaWarriorGirl

Click to join IamaWarriorGirl


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The Jesus I used to serve...


...is the one I made up myself.

That's what I realized when I read this book.




This book..... WHOA! That's all I have to say.


No that's not true!!! I have a lot to say! This book ROCKS IT!

I was concerned when I started reading this book. I won't lie. I'm not always a fan of "social justice" books and I was afraid this was another one of those.

IT IS NOT ONE OF THOSE!

This book is, pure and simple, about JESUS! This book is about the gospel. THE WHOLE GOSPEL! This book is a hard look at the truth of Christ and holding up our lives to the light of that truth.

It's not about orphans or poverty or justice- although those are a part of it. It's not about churches and mission trips- but those things are addressed. This book is SOLELY about JESUS and what HIS heart is for those things.

I realize looking back over my years that the view I had of God was so little. I so desperately wanted Jesus to be safe- one dimensional.

Jesus is anything but safe- anything but shallow.



If you're a warrior girl like me- and many who read this blog are warriors- then you MAY have gone through a similar process of struggling. Some of you have walked through this entire process with me THROUGH this blog.

For me it went something like this...

I have cared for years- since I was a small child. I cared, I truly did, I just wasn't aware of the magnitude of what was out there beyond the American bubble. I had been on mission trips, lived overseas and yet still I didn't fully get it. Maybe it was because I was young.

Maybe it's because I didn't really want to know.

What I did know with all my heart is that God wanted me to adopt. So we started our process to bring Zoe home and..

...my American dream came crumbling, crashing, hurling toward the ground.

All the walls I had built so carefully to protect myself were gone the instant I loved this little girl.



Suddenly the pain, the abuse, the fear, the poverty, the hunger, the crime.... it wasn't removed or far away...

it was MY LITTLE GIRL!

Now I could look at each of those children in pain and feel in my heart that they were somebody's child, somebody's treasure.



It all changed. Deep inside my soul I could feel how God felt when He looked at the reality of sin and despair and saw His people doing NOTHING.

Ohhhh.... that moment.... when the scales came off my eyes... when I broke out of the Matrix and simultaneously

LOST MY MIND!

I couldn't do it anymore. I couldn't live like everything was OK! I felt LIKE SCREAMING,

"IT'S NOT OK PEOPLE!!!"



I couldn't quit crying for months. I was broken, shattered, in tiny shards on the ground. I was exactly where God wanted me. This was the place ONLY He could rebuild me.

I struggled and fought against God. All at once issues of sovereignty and God's will felt very real and personal. It now seemed issues of theology weren't just theories to be discussed. They were things I DESPERATELY needed to know.

During that year, (anyone who knows me knows it as "The Guatemala Year"), I WOKE UP! It wasn't that I hadn't had it in me all these years. Somewhere in me I had always had this DNA. That was the year God said, "WAKE UP ANGEL!" And I did... I heard Him. I woke up.

What I saw disturbed me, frightened me, angered me, disgusted me.

There were times I wanted to go back to my American dream land. BUT how could I?

You can't go back.

It's a one way ticket down the rabbit hole.

So at first my heart went ORPHANS!! THIS IS ABOUT ORPHANS!! This is what's been missing.... and I was right... but not really. God used orphans to show me the whole picture.

Slowly, I began to see it. Over time rather than seeing the picture I began to see the html, the matrix, the code. Does that make sense??

The comforts of life that had previously appealed to me made me sick to my stomach. Slowly, the things that had terrified me I was willing to dive into for the sake of something much bigger than myself.

Soon it wasn't just about orphans.

It was about glorifying God.

It was about brokenness and sin. It was about OUR adoption. It was about our slavery to sin and our freedom as beloved children of God.

Eventually I realized the power of the radical life God was asking me to lead. Not only was I being the hands and feet of Christ... more significantly God was using this to GLORIFY HIMSELF!

I guess during my "Guatemala Year" I thought maybe being a Christian, sold out for Jesus, meant you were gonna be sad. After all, I was crushed completely.

I am grateful that I was wrong. My awakening was 4 years ago. These past 4 years I have slowly been learning about compassion- walking into pain. I have slowly been learning about the power of joy. I have seen how entering into someone's pain brings joy that CAN NOT be explained except through the power of Christ.



There is NOTHING I do that brings me greater joy than obedience to my Father.

Our Father is a defender of widows, orphans and strangers.

He is not SAFE!

He is GOOD!



If you hear His voice He WILL ask you to do things that are not comfortable, are not rational, are not the norm in America.

If your God never asks you to do anything that stretches you, scares you, makes you EXTREMELY uncomfortable, I would read the gospels- study Jesus- and ask,

"Who IS my God?"

Are we really serving the God of the Bible or one we have created?




If we TRULY LISTEN and obey like little children, where will He lead us?

If you have woken up, are waking up, want to wake up.... I beg you to read this book.



Where are you on this journey??? Are you still in the Matrix feeling trapped? Are you waking up? Have you been awake? Are you still trying to figure out what this is all about?

I would LOVE to hear from you and know your heart! Will you leave me a comment?

Hugs from a warrior girl trying to learn about the REAL Jesus we serve, Angel
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Look what I just bought myself!!!

Congratulations to MYSELF!
I'm PAPER PREGNANT!! ;o)

I found this ADORABLE little necklace at this cute Etsy shop called


It was super awesome price... like $11.50!! I'm so excited! BUT the best part is that it helped raise money for a little girl from China to find a home! Today ONLY if you will go to the site and buy a necklace it will raise funds for this family...



All you have to do is write in the comments that it is for Holly McDonald on Purpose Driven Family! There are lots of cute designs. I bought the last paper pregnancy one but maybe she would make another if someone wanted one!

There are so many cute designs to choose from. Get a great necklace at a great price and help a family adopt... I LOVE IT!

:0) Angel
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The Price Of Freedom...







Here I am on the 4th of July!!! It's 8:30pm and we are starting to hear the fireworks BOOM around us. What joy to live the life we live... what a privilege to be free and safe.


Sitting here my heart is so full I could literally burst into tears at any moment. Why is that? Why can't I swallow? I guess I'm pondering freedom.




I'm pondering....




many of us treasure physical freedom but embrace spiritual slavery.




I'm thinking through the price of freedom- the price of my freedom- the price for others to be free...






Like the freedom of my son.





You see today I sent in an application to adopt my son. Today somewhere in Ethiopia an orphan's life changed. Today it was decided he would live. Today it was decided he would be safe, loved, educated, spoiled... Today his fate changed from being on the streets, or sold as a slave, or starved or abused. Today he was given freedom from bondage. Today EVERYTHING changed and he doesn't even know it. Oh, to KNOW his face already... to run to him and tell him what has happened today.







God has not left my son!!! I treasure the day very soon where he KNOWS this is true...

For He will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death. He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in His sight. (Psalm 72:12-14

It's not because of me that my son has a home. It's because of Jesus. Not so long ago I was a slave, an orphan just like my son! There was no way I could do anything right or good. All I knew was sin and selfishness.



But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. (Romans 6:17-18)





You see, I am that little one! I was the one trapped!! I was trapped in a life of selfishness and stuff and more and EMPTY NOTHING! I was a slave to myself, laziness, money, gluttony... While I was there completely unaware Jesus changed everything for me. Before I even knew who He was He changed EVERYTHING! He changed who I would be, where I would go, what I would do!





He is my Father now.















For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. (Ephesians 1:4-6)





God ADOPTED ME as His child. Without Him I am nothing. I was a SLAVE to sin. Now I am free from sin and because it is my heart's desire I am a SLAVE to whatever He asks me to do.... AND that is my GREATEST joy.





For my son leaving his slavery of being an orphan will be terrifying. He will walk away from his country, his language, his home to follow his Earthly father to freedom.





For me leaving my slavery of my own ugly sin is often terrifying. I walk away from my ease and comfort and predictability of life. I follow my Heavenly Father to FREEDOM!!







Freedom!
It's freedom to live this way!
TO LET GO OF FEAR AND TRULY LIVE FOR THE FIRST TIME!




I sought the LORD, and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears.

(Psalm 34:4)





I praise the Lord for freeing me from that emptiness and fear. I PRAISE Him for changing my life from nothing to amazing. The freedom of this slavery to God's will is something I can not explain. I can only pray for you to know this kind of joy!



Much Love, Angel



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Is this how God feels about us?


My precious friend Amy posted this scripture on her blog. WHOA NELLIE... this strikes a cord in me... What does God really think about how we live our lives??


Amos 5:21-24 (The Message)

21-24"I can't stand your religious meetings.
I'm fed up with your conferences and conventions.
I want nothing to do with your religion projects,
your pretentious slogans and goals.
I'm sick of your fund-raising schemes,
your public relations and image making.
I've had all I can take of your noisy ego-music.
When was the last time you sang to me?
Do you know what I want?
I want justice—oceans of it.
I want fairness—rivers of it.
That's what I want. That's all I want.


Does this GRIP your heart like it does mine???? Do you think, "Please God! Don't let me miss YOU!"


Are we bringing oceans of justice? Are we NOISE in the ears of our Father??? Am I doing "good things" that have nothing to do with the heart of God? Please don't let it be so!! I want desperately to live God's love and justice.


I don't want to
MISS THE WHOLE POINT!!!




Here's what God says about it...

...Don’t excuse yourself by saying, “Look, we didn’t know.” For God understands all hearts, and He sees you. He who guards your soul knows you knew. He will repay all people as their actions deserve. Proverbs 24:12


Let's not excuse ourselves!! Let's dig into what God cares about! Maybe it's not so crazy to care about justice. Maybe it's who God CREATED us to be.


1 EASY way to learn more about God's heart for justice is to join Amy and I at the






I am thrilled to learn more about God's heart and I would truly LOVE to see you there!

HUGS! Angel


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Together 4 Adoption Conference!!

I am THRILLED to be attending the





It is going to be WONDERFUL!!!!!!!


A WHOLE weekend of people just like us who are just a LITTLE BIT CRAZY! Crazy about loving orphans! Whether you are just learning about orphan issues or the leader in your church on the issue... you will LOVE this conference!

I would love, love, love, LOOOOOOVE to hang out with some of my blogger/twitter/facebook buddies at the conference!! SO WHO WANTS TO COME??



HUGS! Angel

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GOD HAS PROVIDED!!!!!!



Here are some of the faces of the little "neighbors" who we saw had been left on the side of the road yesterday.
NOT TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


TODAY THEY ARE LOVED!!!!

God provided $4884 in the last 28 hours!!!
The 12 children I told you about yesterday will experience His love through the gift of an education. I THANK YOU deeply for caring about the little ones we spotted on the side of the road. It is such a deep joy we receive when we choose to love.


THANK YOU! Truly, thank you.
My heart is moved and crazy grateful. I wish I could hug each of these little ones personally and tell them of their Father's love for them. Still, I know there are people right now that are there doing just that!! Any moment I imagine they will receive the news that THIS THURSDAY they WILL get to go to school after all. Maybe this is it.... the moment that changes everything for these little ones.

Hugs for all my fellow warriors,

Angel
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Learning To Love My Neighbor

"Love Your Neighbor."

That's what I'm learning this year... a kind of heavenly assignment I suppose.

In January I asked God what this year would be about for me. That is what I heard.
"Love Your Neighbor."

Predictably I asked God, "What does that MEAN? Do I need to take more cookies next door?"

God gently pointed me toward the story of the Good Samaritan.


Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.


Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side.


So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.


But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.'


Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?" He said, "The one who showed him mercy." And Jesus said to him, "You go, and do likewise."



Then I got it...


my neighbor is someone You place in my path.


Am I so busy on my own chosen path that I don't notice the people all around me? Or worse, do I ignore their pain because I am busy doing good things? Am I so busy that I don't notice if my daughter is sad. Do I not care enough if my friend can't pay her medical bill? Am I clueless to the family in our church that has no groceries? Do I skip over the blog post where someone is raising money to adopt?


I don't need to go searching for people to serve, love... God has placed them all along my path.


Jesus didn't come to Earth and physically heal everyone alive. He poured Himself out for those God placed in His path every day. Whether they are in my neighborhood or across the world- there they are... somehow on the same road I am on.



So I don't want to hurry along! I want to stop and hug my babies, buy the groceries, help pay the medical bill, participate in the fundraiser.

So that's what I'm working on this year. I'm trying to intentionally walk this path of life God has given me with my eyes scanning to the left and right. I'm always trying to check the periphery for wounded.

Today some wounded came along my path. These are some precious little ones from India.

Some of them have mothers who are trapped working in brothels. Their mothers were trapped or sold into this life and now their precious babies are born into the trap. To be born into that feels unthinkable to me.
They are in a wonderful little orphanage where my friends are visiting on a mission trip right now. Turns out, school in their area starts on Thursday where they live but they don't have money for tuition YET.
 I would love to help these little ones go to school. I think it's important they know someone loves them- that God loves them.

I guess I was wondering if any of you wanted to help me with this little mission- with these wounded on the side of our road. It's $407 per child for clothes, supplies and tuition. Even if we raised money for one of these little ones to go to school this year... well that's huge... that's giving them the ability to read and write. Maybe that's what saves them from the horrible trap of sex slavery.


The thing is, school starts Thursday! So I'm just gonna do what I can to love my neighbor. Thank you so much for helping me. Please feel free to repost this or spread the word in any way God lays on your heart.









WHAT IS GOD TEACHING YOU THIS YEAR???



I would LOVE to hear your heart!

Hugs, Angel
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