I am a missionary in Spain who desires for the power of the Holy Spirit to be unleashed in me, to be unabashed about the love of Christ, and unafraid to go where God calls. These are my stories in this journey of letting God have everything.

27 December 2007

New Start

I'm working on a new look for my blog and hope to have a new start with my posts as well. I know I have been absent for the last couple of months and for that I am sorry. These last couple of months have been busier and more unexpected than what I had expected. I guess that's what unexpected means. Anyway, I am really hoping to start posting again soon. Thank you for your grace and patience. I hope you are all enjoying the holiday season. I pray that you are all with those you love celebrating the one who loved us first. Until the next post...God bless!!!

15 October 2007

Beautiful Holland

I am in the midst of a two week trip to Holland right now. If you've ever heard anything about Holland, it has probably been that it is cold and rainy and gray. Well, over the past 7 days that I have been here, it has been sunny, mild, and we haven't had a drop of rain. I am here for Field Orientation with Christian Associates! It has been a great trip so far. I am learning a ton, getting to know fellow church planters from other parts of Europe (Holland, Belgium, Germany, France, Sweden, Spain, and Poland), and generally becoming more and more exhausted each day. We have 3 sessions every day. They have been great, but despite my exceptionally large brain and super human inteligence, I am having a hard time wrapping my mind around all that I'm hearing. Hopefully my notes will be a good reminder later when I can fully process all that I am hearing now. I will try to write again shortly after I return home and hopefully include some photos. Until then, make different mistakes!

(P.S. I do know that I spelled intelligence incorrectly above. I was just trying to be funny. HaHa. This is all the humor I have right now. I am tired!)

20 September 2007

Beef Stew and Brothers

Yesterday my roommate and I decided that we wanted to make dinner for a friend of ours. His parents are out of town and we just felt that he would really appreciate this. What's the best thing to make for a boy that eats as much as a whole village? Beef Stew of course. It was really fun to make the stew and then surprise him. He was totally taken aback and really appreciative. It was totally worth it just to see the look on his face and hear his question, "Why? Did you make this for me?". I like doing stuff like that for people. It's fun to give unexpectedly. It made me start thinking though.

This friend is basically my brother here in Spain. We pick on each other, fight (just in fun), and I really enjoy hanging out with him and talking to him. His friendship has been such a blessing to me. As I think about how much fun this was, I am missing my biological brothers and realizing how much I really savor and value the brother/sister relationship. I wish that they were here and that I could have made beef stew for them and surprised them. If you don't have brothers, you are missing out, although if you don't have my brothers you are missing out. I have the best brothers in the world. They know when to have fun and when to be serious. Whether they say it or not, I know I am loved by them and they would protect me at all costs.

All this to say, Matthew and Peter I miss you guys a lot. I doubt you even read this, but if you do, know that I love you, miss you, wish you were here, and next time I see you, I'll gladly make you beef stew.
Matt, Mom, Pete, Amy

19 September 2007

My Version

Psalm 113

O Hallelujah! O Praise God!!!

You who are servants of God, worship and praise Him!

His name alone is enough to cause you to fall to your knees in praise. Speak His name!

The fact that we can remember God is a blessing - one that will last forever and all eternity.

No matter where you are, no matter the time of day or night, continue raising your praise to the God who alone created place and time.

The highest height has nothing on God. Everything you can see in the sky pales in comparison to the beauty of God.

Who can compare with the God of the universe, my God, who is rightly enthroned in majesty and glory beyond imagination and compare as He mercifully examines HIS heaven and earth?

Those how have nothing, who have been forgotten, who have been ignored and thrown our, our God gently lifts, rescues, and redeems by honoring them as the beautiful creation that He made them to be.

You with no family, He alone will provide a family for you and the joy that overflows.

O Hallelujah! O Praise God!!!

23 August 2007

I'm Standing

I really like Patty Griffin. If you've not heard her sing before, I highly recommend you get off your butt right now and go listen to her. Her voice and her lyrics are so powerful! Her song "Standing" has gotten under my skin. When I listen to this song I can see myself standing in the shadow of the cross. I'm not sure if she intended to make it sound this way, but this is how I hear it and it moves me.

I'm standing in the shadow of the hill
I'm standing in the shadow of the hill
Feel the fear everywhere
Hope it don't get me killed
I'm standing in the shadow of the hill
I'm standing in the shadow walking blind
I've been unfair & unkind
Turned away from your suffering far too many times
Now I'm standing in the shadow walking blind
Sister, brother, there's a fire on the hill
And it's burning like a lantern
Making all this time stand still
I'm standing, I'm standing, I'm standing
I'm standing, standing, standing
Mother, I am weak but I am strong
Standing in the darkness this long
But in the deepest darkness I listen to your song
Mother I am weak but I am strong
I'm standing, and I'm standing, I'm standing
I'm standing, standing, standing, I'm standing
Standing in the shadow of the hill

This is just so true of how we should be living. Thank you Patty, God has used you!!!

10 August 2007

What does your Jesus look like?

I hope it's not this. I know this is not what my Jesus looks like, because this is creepy! How do you like those subtitles too?! (In case the text is too small, it says: "Makes a Major Comeback and Other Amazing Feats")

16 July 2007

Visa, Women, and Soccer

This past weekend was great!!! I experienced a huge answer to prayer; I got my visa for Spain!!! Thank you to all of you who were praying. This is just further confirmation to me that I am headed in the direction that God wants me to.It was also an answer to prayer that my visa came in at a time when I wouldn't have to schedule a separate trip to DC. My mom and I had already planned to be in DC for the weekend so it worked out perfect. Ever since I was 11 my mom and I have tried to go away for a weekend every summer. We have missed a couple of summers because of not living in the same state or even the same country, but we were able to fit it in this year. After picking up my shiny new visa we did the touristy thing for the day on Thursday. Then Friday and Saturday we spent our days with 16,000 other women. We attended the Women of Faith conference in DC. This years theme is "Amazing Freedom" and it was well worth the mile long lines for the bathroom and having to wade through more estrogen than I ever thought was possible in one place. It was so good to be reminded of the freedom that we have in Christ. The theme of freedom in Christ is one that God has really been reminding me of all year.This is a pic of me and my mama at the conference. We had a great time and I wouldn't have wanted to spend this weekend with anyone else. I love my mom and as much as I am looking forward to returning to Spain, I will sure miss this woman. She is my mentor, my friend, and my confidant. I love you Mom!!!

When the conference was over, we met my dad, younger brother Pete, and three extra brothers. I love that with brothers come all of their friends. It feels like they just fit into the family as well. The bigger the family the better. I'm so proud of all these guys and miss them when I'm in Spain. Matt and Mark, I hope that makes me #2 now or maybe even pushing #1!
Sorry it has taken me so long to blog. It just seems like most of the time nothing really exciting happens or I don't know what to write about. This furlough thing just really messes with your head. Hopefully you'll hear from me again before I head back across the ocean.

11 June 2007

My Celebrity Look-alikes

Some of these don't quite make sense, but what the heck...neither do I. Enjoy!

My cool celebrity look-alike collage from MyHeritage.com. Get one for yourself.

30 May 2007

8 Things

So Heather tagged me to do this 8 random things list. I will tell you all 8 random facts/habits about myself, but I'm not going to tag 8 people to also do it. If you want to participate, please feel free and let the rest of us know, but I don't want to tell you what to do.

“Rules:” After posting these rules, each player proceeds to list 8 relatively random facts/habits about himself/herself. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, leaving them a comment on their blogs to let them know.

1. Apparently I am a rule breaker. I have broken the rules of the game already. I'm not tagging anyone. I typically don't do these things, I guess I don't like having people tell me what to do.

2. I've danced in the Nutcracker 8 years in a row and played a total of 10 different parts. clown doll, military doll, snow, Chinese, Arabian, Russian, Spanish, sugar plum corps de ballet, flowers, and dew drop fairy

3. I have lived in the same house from the time my family moved to Maryland in 1981 until I left for college in 1998. I'm actually back there right now in my same room.

4. I've been to 42 of the 50 states. The only ones I haven't visited are Rhode Island, Arkansas, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and Hawaii.

5. During middle school I played soccer, volleyball, basketball, and ran cross country.

6. I can hold my breath for 1 minute and 20 seconds.

7. I was in the Miss Teen of Maryland scholarship pageant when I was 17, got 4th runner up and won the speech competition.

8. After college I was unemployed for 2 months and the first job I got I was fired from on the first day! I then got my job at the Hilton Hotel where I worked for three years.

11 April 2007

I Was Just Wondering...

I just finished reading "I Was Just Wondering" by Philip Yancey and parts of it really got me thinking. Yancey poses many common questions that we as Christians have as well as those who aren't yet believers. He describes this as "a book of many questions and a few answers." Yancey lists the questions and then just ruminates. You may find answers in this book, but I found it just made me think a lot!

In one chapter Philip Yancey addresses the issue of making God seem trivial and allowing other things to become idols to us. This is how he ends the chapter:

"A friend of mine was stopped dead in her tracks by a skeptic. After listening to her explain her faith, he said this: "But you don't act like you believe God is alive." I try to turn this accusation into a question: Do I act like God is alive? It is a good question, one that lies at the heart of all idolatry, and one that I must ask myself again every day."

Needless to say, this question also got me thinking a lot too. What does it look like to live and act like God is alive? I know I believe this to be true, but do I act like it? I think this has a lot to do with joy. If I know and believe that God is alive, I know He is everything He says He is, and I know that I am His child, loved, forgiven, and redeemed. I know that I am free! What could bring greater joy? What do you think it looks like to act like God is alive?

Another chapter that really stuck with me was one that discussed who has the right to scorn others. Yancey makes the point that we are all sinners and that no sin, no matter how horrible, is powerful enough to exclude a person from acceptance by God. He goes on to say, "only a refusal to repent stands between a sinner and God's free gift of forgiveness." He then poses another question: "What does a 'forgiven' person look like?'" This caused me to reflect on my own life. Do I look like a forgiven person? I know I've been forgiven, but do I live like it? What do you think a forgiven person looks like?

I just want to leave you with two more questions from this book that I loved when I read them. I would encourage anyone to check out this book.

"How can TV evangelists so buoyantly promote a health-and-wealth theology in a world as full of injustice and suffering as this one? Do any Iranian Christians believe in a health-and-wealth theology?"

"How can TV evangelists promise prosperity and security to the faithful even though Jesus promised them a cross, sent them out as lambs among wolves, and left most of his disciples to die martyrs' deaths?"

"Why do so many Christians feel more guilty than forgiven? What does feeling forgiven feel like? If the gospel consists of grace, acceptance, and forgiveness, why do counselors see so many Christian clients riddled with guilt, self-hatred, and a spirit of criticism?"

I was just wondering...

06 April 2007

April 6

This is what I read today in the Celtic Daily Prayer book. I really liked it and wanted to share it with you.

Let us try with all our strength to occupy our minds with only God. Even whilst doing our tasks we must keep our eyes fixed constantly on Him, never detaching our heart from Him, only keeping our attention on our tasks as much as is right and necessary, never our hearts. God must be the King of our minds, the Lord of our minds, so that the thought of Him never leaves us, and we speak, think and act always either for Him or guided by the love of Him. Let our souls be thus a house of prayer and not a den of thieves. Let no stranger enter in, no profanity even in passing. Let it always be occupied with its Beloved. When one loves on never loses sight of that which one loves.

Have a blessed Easter with your "eyes fixed constantly on Him."

04 April 2007

New Hard Drive

Bad news: I've lost everything on my computer. To attempt to retreive anything would cost way too much money. I have to start over on just about everything.

Good news: I get a new hard drive at no cost because my 6 month old computer is under warrenty.

I'm trying to stay positive but it is rather difficult at this point. If you have a computer, no matter how old it is, remember that hard drives are built to fail. I hope no one else has to go through this.

Hopefully you'll hear more positive posts from me soon. I should have my computer back by early next week.

Happy Easter!!!

25 March 2007

Computers Hate Me

So I don't know why it is, but computers hate me. I haven't been around recently because of my trip to Colorado but also because my hard drive failed. I have only had my new computer for six months and already it's dead. I will get a new hard drive under my warranty, but the content on my hard drive is not covered. Now before you say something smart like; "I hope you backed all your stuff up." Let me confirm that I have not backed up recently enough. Right now I am working on getting some if not all of the data retrieved from the crap hard drive without emptying my bank account. Hopefully you will hear from me again in the next couple of weeks from my own computer but until then...pray for my computer. Ask God to help it stop hating me!

01 March 2007

JOY

God, You are Joy!
You are freedom.
In You alone can I be saved.
With the face of a child,
You came to be hope.
In you there is love.
I am lost without You
But with You is life and trust.
Because of you there is reason
To sing, to dance, to create.
You are laughter.
God, You are Joy!

08 February 2007

I Missed It

I can't believe I missed it. I missed the one year anniversary of when I started this blog. My first blog entry was on 2 February 2006. I'm a week late. Oh well, what's new right?! It seems like most of my entries are a week late, as in I should have written at least a week ago. Well, I'm going to hold you all in suspense again and let you know that I will be blogging more soon. Right now I have other things on my mind: adjusting to being back in the US after living in Spain for a year, getting over a cold, filling out my visa application so I can live in Spain again, working on support raising stuff, and generally not going crazy. So, sorry but you're gonna have to wait a little bit longer to get a real post from me. Until then... stay warm and God bless! To everyone in Madrid, I miss you!

17 January 2007

Jesus has quite literally moved into our neighborhood

Well, Gsus has moved in. Gsus is a clothing store from The Netherlands. It opened up on the corner of our street over Christmas. You can't really tell from this picture, but just above the store sign is a street sign. It is my street, Calle Espirtu Santo, which means Holy Spirit Street. I don't know if you believe in the spirit world or not, but I do and I think that our street is more than just "heaven's playground." I believe that our street is more of a battle ground than a playground. Holy Spirit Street is probably less than a quarter of a mile (1/2 a kilometer) and on our street we have a shop called "The Morgue", a couple of shops that have pictures of demons, a shop that has the word devil in it (there are quite a few goths around here), the Madrid Hare Krishna center, now Gsus, and our flat that is often used for church purposes.

Despite that fact that I know that this new shop has nothing to do with really being followers of the one true Jesus, it makes me feel like maybe we aren't alone here and that maybe Satan is losing his stronghold on our street. Now when people walk down our street, the first thing they see is this shop and whether they believe or not, they will think about Jesus, how can you not when you see that sign?! Hopefully as they make their way down the street, they will then feel His presence emanating from our flat. Before this shop was here, Jesus was already in this neighborhood, but now there is a visible reminder. This battle is not over yet, and when it is, only Jesus and His followers will be left standing on this street. I pray that the longer I live here and the longer our flat is used to serve Madrid, the number of followers will grow. Jesus is here to stay!!!

07 January 2007

One Year Anniversary

Yesterday, January 6, 2007, was my one year anniversary of living in Madrid. Where has the time gone? I intended to blog yesterday about this but ended up not getting home until late. I had a rip roaring party with Troy, Heather, and Kelly. We ordered in Chinese and watched Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. It was really fun actually. I really can't believe it's already been a year. I remember the day I arrived in Madrid like it was yesterday.

Troy and Kelly met me at the airport last year. They were going to help with my luggage, had the airline not forgotten to send it with me. We ended up going straight from the airport to Troy and Heather's house for lunch. In what I now know to be typical Troy fashion, we had to run to catch one of the trains to get out to their house. I remember sitting at the table with Troy, Heather, Meg, Nic, Kelly, Jay and Carolyn eating soup and bread. I remember thinking, "Oh crap, what have I done?!" "I am in Spain, I'm stuck, there is no going back." The rest of the afternoon and early evening was spent at the Cady's trying to stay awake and act like I wasn't terrified about the decision I had made to be here.

My luggage finally arrived about 10 pm, just after I had climbed into my mattress on the floor. I looked around my empty room and the two suitcases I had brought with me for a year, and cried myself to sleep.

One year later, things are very different. I once again was at Troy and Heather's with their kids and Kelly, but this time, I wasn't terrified (well not for the same reasons at least) and I didn't feel stuck. I felt like this is where I am supposed to be. I felt like I was hanging out with family. Last night when I got home I looked around my room that is full of my stuff and fell asleep content knowing that God has protected, provided, and guided me to this point. I can't wait to see what He has in store for my next year.