Extravagant Love

Jesus beckons our hearts to come away.  Let the rushing cease.  Let our hearts be stilled.  Let the to-do lists wait.  Walk away from the screens — the cell phone, the television, the computer.  Linger more and rush less. Henry Blackaby says we must have “an unhurried time with God.”

That’s so hard to do in our culture.

Last night, my daughter Madison and I got out the paints.  To be honest, I had been telling her for a few weeks that we could paint together.  I really wanted to paint with her, but the best of intentions got pushed aside by the daily grind.  What my heart needed the most was to set it all aside and be with her.  Let my heart express itself through paints, which is new for me.  But the calendar pages flew by, one day after the next.

Then last night, there was a window of opportunity.  It was late enough I could have said it is time for bed.  Maddie was disappointed there wasn’t time to watch a movie she was hoping for.  And then it dawned on me.  Do you want to paint?  And in my mind and heart, it was the right thing.  It was late, but it was sacred.

In that moment, we caught a glimpse.  It was just a taste, just a little.  Mother Teresa says “Be faithful in the little.”  See Luke 16:10.

Joy was refreshed.  Hope was renewed.  Life was breathed in.  And it was so good, so needed.

My heart painted a scene that I longed to enter into.  I thought about the nature trails my husband and I have walked with our dogs, the bubbling brook, the bridge that carries us to new places, and the fountains that I’ve been drawn to with a living flowing water.  Baptized anew.  And the glow of the sun filling the sky and my heart with warmth and renewal.

In just five weeks, our team will be in China.  So in heart preparation, our team is beginning a five week prayer calendar where every day we will pray through scriptures together and pray over our teammates one at a time.  We have devotional journals to begin, the first called Anticipate.

“That’s what your time of preparation is all about — anticipating the things God has for you to do for his kingdom…. anticipate the responsibility you have to share the love of Jesus through your actions and your words….anticipate what God is preparing you to do.”

What does it mean to anticipate?  Realize beforehand, expect, look forward to, give advance thought to.  It is expectation, hope, await, confidently believing for good reasons.  It is being alert and ready.

Draw near.  Look for opportunities where you can take a sacred moment to slow your heart and listen.  The greatest preparation we need is this.  Not to rush around with more things to do — as real as that is, as needed at times.  Take moments to renew your heart! Be faithful in the little!

In the comment section, share a way that you’ve been encouraged by God speaking to you in those surprising windows of opportunity. It could be in a quiet time, on the way to the grocery store, being in nature or with your kids.  But let’s reflect together on where we hear the voice of God reaching out to us.

Our trip to China is getting closer!  In six weeks, we will be boarding the plane for the long flight over the top of the world!  Our flights have been purchased and our visa applications are sent off to submit to the Chinese Embassy.  Fundraisers are in fast motion, finalizing payments and gathering donations.  From the moment of saying “Yes” to God to GO to China, to all of the prayers and preparation ahead of time, and for months to come, it is hard to contain all the fullness of what a mission trip really means.  One aspect that I want to reflect on is embracing a culture different than our own.

I have often tried to describe China to those who haven’t traveled there.  What glimpse can I give you of this culture that is clear on the other side of the world, and so different than our own?  I have shared with our teams the book entitled “Silent Tears: A Journey of Hope in a Chinese Orphanage” by Kay Bratt.  The American author spent several years living in China and volunteering at an orphanage.  Her writings are a very honest and heartfelt look into China and the orphanage setting.

Here are her words. “As you get to know the city, complex layers are uncovered, and you discover the Chinese are doing more every day to make it a beautiful place to visit and live.  (It) has been described as a city with “a mixture of the old and new everywhere.”  Driving down the road, you might observe an ancient Chinese woman with a pole braced across her stooped shoulders, baskets filled with fruit hanging from either side.  She is hunched and permanently deformed from the weight of this burden over so many years.  Incongruously, beside her you might see a swaggering teenager, cell phone pressed to his ear and dressed in the latest trendy style.  It will appear that an entire century has been skipped between the nineteenth and twenty-first.  Take a trip down the highway, look to the sides, and watch farm people still working their rice paddies the old-fashioned way – wearing the traditional flat, round Chinese hats with their babies strapped around their backs, reminiscent of scenes from an old movie.  Many country people live in tumbledown shanties with livestock tied to their front porches.  In contrast, another thirty miles down the road you might see a skyscraper looming down at you.” (pp.143-144)

You can look through our photo galleries of the sights you will see on our trip.  It will be such a unique experience for you to see, smell, hear, and experience all that is China!!  As we prepare our hearts to go, I encourage you to bring our trip to mind frequently.  Post reminders throughout your day that draws your heart into prayer for this trip.  Open your heart and your mind to all that God has for you there.  Let your heart be wooed by Him very specifically for the nation of China.

As our trip nears, what are your expectations?  Hopes?  Fears?  I would like for us to reflect together as a team through the comment section.  I encourage you to make time to consider where you are in your own heart. It is a great thing to journal out and be mindful of as we prepare to go.  Okay team, the floor is yours…..who is ready to share?

This past week I just began a class in Conversational Chinese.  I couldn’t help but glow in that classroom.  Listening to the Chinglish from my teacher, I instantly fell in love once again with this nation.  I cannot wait to be back.

My heart is full and expectant.  10 weeks from today, we will be arriving in China.  I am eager and excited as we begin to rally our team with preparations.

Our 2012 team consists of all ages and stages of life, which I see as a beautiful extended family to bring to China.  We all have unique perspectives and insights to offer each other.  We come from 7 different states.  We have 6 team members who have been to China before and are going back.  We have some who this is their first mission trip.  Some who are using a passport for the first time.  We have 7 adoptive moms — 2 that have adopted domestically and 5 that have adopted from China.  We have a Heng Feng mom going back to give love to the orphanage her daughter came from.  We have mothers and daughters traveling together, sisters traveling together, adoption group reunions, a father and a daughter.  I get goosebumps just thinking about how God has weaved this incredible team together, and I cannot wait to get to know them all more.

This website serves to connect people.  Bridge hearts, lives, and stories.  Some visit us to find their daughters from Heng Feng.  We love to hear continued stories of where our babies move to their forever families.  Some have been to Heng Feng on mission trips before and want to rekindle their experience, so they continue to journey back with us in their hearts and prayers.  Some are going on this very trip, and can benefit from connecting with our team before we go and hearing the testimonies of those who have been before.  If you view the pages of the website, there are Mandarin Lessons, devotions, archives of pictures, and updated prayer lists.  I hope you will benefit from the full scope of what God provides for you here.

We welcome you joining us in whatever capacity God has you in this season.  Join the circle of those who want to draw near to Him.  To see what God is up to in human hearts — in the mission trip, the adoption process, in prayer support, in travel.  Wherever you are, we are glad you are here.  We welcome your comments and participation.  We want to hear from you.  This is a community with a kindred spirit and you are welcome here.