Category: Inspiration (Page 6 of 7)

Karyssa is a passionate, fun-loving, athletic gal who has experienced amazing transformation in the past few years . As a recent college grad, God has recently led her from the comforts of her home in the U.S. to serve with YWAM ministry in Australia.  Read her story of how she got to where she is now.

It was the summer between my freshman and sophomore year of college. I had been going to church and slowly walking with Jesus for about 5 years, but I was ready for more.

“I stood on the shore and watched some surfers paddle around right outside the peak. A sudden rush of fear flooded my body as I remembered the time I almost didn’t make it. I stood there for a while and then said to God- ‘I want to be out there! I want to play. I want to go experience the depths of this ocean. Being on shore is fun, but I bet it is even more fun out there. And Jesus, I think this is true in my relationship with you. I am tired of splashing around on the shores of your love. Help me experience the depth of who you are and the vastness of your love for your children. If your love is like the ocean, I want to be out beyond the waves where I am surrounded by you.’

GLORY!

 

We, at Revealing the Story want to wish you a happy new year! Oh, the joy we’ve had of sharing life together the past few months!

Kallie, Laura, and I have been SO encouraged by how we’ve watched God orchestrate this “Revealing the Story” thing that turned into so much more than a blog project.

We have seen you respond courageously. We have been moved by the stories of God’s faithfulness in  our lives. We have been inspired by how you’ve encouraged each other along the way. We love how God has birthed new relationships, and passions and ministries because people have been willing to share pieces of their lives.

We are so grateful to each of you, to those who have faithfully read and been moved by these accounts, to our guest writers (and friends), and to the Author of them all- may yours be all the glory.

–Alyssa

I’m reminded of how in scripture we see God multiply meager offerings into something amazing. The fishes and loaves, just a boy’s lunch…with Jesus it feeds 5,000. Or the drops of oil in the jar…with God it continued to flow and not run out. I feel like this project has been like that. We started with just 3 women wanting to obey, just a few stories of our own, and with God it has become something bigger than we could have foreseen. With God, it’s beyond us. It’s beautiful to see Him work. My faith has been so inspired by seeing His story unfold in the lives around me! In your stories that you all have shared, either in a guest post or with us personally, I see Him…and He amazes me all over again!

–Kallie

As I write posts, I’ve been surprised by the ease at which stories flow when I focus on God’s character as evidenced in the story and the roadblock from doubts that arise when I focus on ‘me’ in the story.

It has also been amazing to read some of your stories.

Each of us has stories to tell.  And it’s our heart to foster safe places for sharing these stories, through this blog and in our communities.

May you enter this new year with your head held high. You, dear one, have a story worth telling.

–Laura

As we’ve interacted with you we’ve heard two common statements:

1. “I don’t have a story to tell ”

2. “What’s the value of me sharing my brokenness with others? How would that benefit anyone else?”

First of all YOU DO have a story….and it’s uniquely yours. And someone will be blessed by hearing it. Big or small, messy or sweet, it doesn’t matter, proclaim that! That’s your voice that needs to be heard. That’s your chapter to tell!

Secondly, in studying scripture we’ve realized that MANY people who were healed by Jesus were told to go back to their families and communities to share.   God uses “story” to bless others.  Just one example: the woman at the well….She thought her life was going one way and then she encounters JESUS and everything changes. She immediately returns to the community that had once shunned her and she shares her story. AND MANY, many in the village were saved because she had courage to share. This blog is a place for us to declare those “at the well” moments where we’ve encountered God.

We’ve seen it over and over again…especially this year with you.

He takes our pain, our darkest nights of the soul. He meets us there and heals our broken hearts, and turns this crazy thing into our MINISTRY to others.

“He comforts us so that we in turn may comfort others with the comfort we have received.” 2 Cor. 1:3

So…we don’t know what’s on your list of New Year’s resolutions. But maybe, just maybe you’re sensing a tap on the shoulder to reflect on God’s story in your life and record it in written word. Or maybe share it aloud with a friend. Maybe it’s time to pray about how God might want to birth a new passion or ministry to bless others who are suffering in a similar way that you have. Maybe it’s time to ask God to reveal HIMSELF to you as the author of your story and give up the editing rights.

What does the  next chapter: 2015 hold? Only the Author knows, and we are excited to watch it all unfold.

At Revealing the Story we have some amazing stories coming your way from courageous guest authors. You will be blessed.

Revealing the story. His story written on our lives. To HIM be all the glory, and honor and praise.

Happy New Year!

Kallie, Laura & Alyssa

A few wrapped gifts sit under our tree.  The wrapping paper, the shiny bows, the ribbon and the tags – all leave the recipients excited about the possibilities inside the package.

We anticipate the THINGS we’ll open on Christmas day.

Sometimes though God’s greatest gifts at this time of year come to us in the form of PRESENCE, not PRESENTS.

The presence of a God who has come near and the presence of people who fill our hearts.

A few days ago, I received an email from my dear friend Allison in Kenya.

She shared that they received an unexpected gift earlier this week. Not a  gift wrapped up with a pretty bow, but a gift God sent in the form of a smiling girl hobbling to their doorstep on crutches.

They recognized her immediately – how could anyone forget that smile? It was Janet.

My husband, Daniel & I met Janet on a warm African day in the summer of 2001.  We were having a gathering for children in the village and Janet came riding piggyback on the back of one of her friends.  We were immediately taken by her radiant smile.  Her friends placed her on the red-mud ground and we noticed right away that something was different about this sweet child. She was unable to stand on her two feet. Though she was eight years old, she  crawled on her calloused hands and knees to get around.

We spent a lot of time with that little girl that summer and the next when we returned to Kenya. We listened and learned her story. Janet suffered from polio as a child causing her legs to be completely bent and bow-legged.  Janet was living with her alcoholic father, her mother and siblings in Chebaiywa village.  In order to get to school her mother would carry her on her back (like a backpack) down the long dirt roads.

In the remote village where we were there was not adequate medical care for  her, but we learned that there were great possibilities for Janet in the capital city, Nairobi if only the money could be raised for her. So in 2001, God’s love compelled us. We were enamored by this little African girl and knew we would do whatever we could to assist her. We learned that it was possible for Janet to have an operation to straighten her legs.  The team raised money for the surgery and for Janet to enroll in a special school.

A year later Daniel & I returned to Kenya.  One of the first people we wanted to visit was Janet. We traveled with some missionary friends to her home. She was recovering from her first surgery and her legs were casted. We laughed and cried, and shared news over piping cups of chai.   Daniel brought his guitar that day and we sang in English and Swahili, and worshiped the Lord together, celebrating the HOPE He had offered this sweet little African girl.

Janet had three surgeries and enrolled in her new school and for 12 years, no one had heard from her.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

UNTIL last Sunday when a grown up, beautiful,  smiling young woman hobbled on crutches to the home of our Kenyan friends. Pastor David & Allison sent us an email with pictures and videos of Janet. WALKING. Only. God.

They asked her, “Where do you feel God is leading you in your life? What would you like to do as a career? ”

She answered “I want to be a pastor! Even if you come to my school you’ll hear people calling me, ‘Pastor’.

“Why do you want to be a pastor?” David asked.  Janet, with a full-teeth smile replied,”oh because God has done great things in my life and I want to serve Him.”

Once again I am in awe of how God can transform lives.

I’m reminded of the Christmas song, “Mary, did you know.” Sweet mama Mary, did you have any idea, that the baby you gave birth to would be this kind of God-man?

 “Mary did you know?.. that your Baby Boy has come to make you new?
This Child that you delivered will soon deliver you

Mary, did you know….?

The blind will see.
The deaf will hear.
The dead will live again.
 THE LAME WILL LEAP.

 The dumb will speak
THE PRAISES OF THE LAMB.”

The Christ child we celebrate is the one who makes the blind see. He still makes things new. He causes the lame little girl  to WALK, he heals our brokenness and makes beauty from ashes. THIS IS OUR GOD.

This year, one of many favorite Christmas gifts came in the form of an email, and a God-story of that little girl in Africa whose life had touched mine so many years ago. Janet was made new-both in her physically body and in her soul  by the King who came to earth.  It’s better than any package under my tree.

-Alyssa

My favorite Christmas movie is: It’s a Wonderful Life. George is on track to have it all. Fast-forward 15 years and you find him buckling under the weight of financial and relational stress. He attempts every obvious resolution until he hits a wall of hopelessness. All in the midst of the most wonderful time of the year.

George moments happen when you’ve worked the Rubik’s cube of life until the colors peel and you hit a wall. Or when you feel everything but good Christmas cheer at the prospect of an empty house or a room full of people who want to love each other but are struggling to navigate around the elephants.

In It’s a Wonderful Life God broke through George’s story with an angel who helped him see a deeper storyline; an invitation to hope in something beyond his ability to master the Rubik’s cube.

In the same way God wants to break through our stories.

One of my favorite examples of this is in John chapter 4 when Jesus met the Samaritan woman. Five failed marriages. She is a perfect George. You can only imagine what her neighbors thought of her. You can piece it together when you see that she’s willing to risk heat and danger to trek out to the well during a time of day when no one else will be there. How startled she must have been to encounter Christ.

A man. A Jewish rabbi would never have struck up a conversation with a Samaritan woman. In fact Jews often bypassed Samaria entirely. But Christ broke every social norm to break through her storyline.

She was focused on one face of her Rubik’s cube and would have been satisfied with a practical solution – give me water so I no longer have to walk this journey of shame and hopelessness. I can’t see a way out and I feel alone.

Can you relate? I sure can.

You know what?! Christ met her. He heard her. He saw her needs. He gently pried the Rubik’s cube from her death grip in order to introduce her to satisfying hope.

These past few months you’ve read about some of our George moments and how God brought hope to us. How God:

• Met Kallie on the side of a mountain

• Met Alyssa in a house fire

• Met me on a hospital bed

We’ve also had an opportunity to read about some of yours.

I’ve appreciated the process of remembering how God met us in our George moments. They help me remember His character. Remember that I can trust Him. Remember that he hears me. Remember that he will meet me even when I can’t see around the corner of my circumstances. Remember why I can close my eyes and say Amen.

And that’s what I want to do (what I NEED to do) when it’s the middle of December and I’m feeling stretched thin – close my eyes and whisper amen.

Because amen is my thank you to the One who breaks through our George moments.

– Laura

Lauren Hunter is a woman of diverse talents and roles: marketing, public relations, blogger (churchtechtoday.com and laurenhunter.net), worship leader, song writer, speaker, mom of four, and coach’s wife; a beautiful combination of analytical, creative, and practical. Join us as she shares a significant encounter of God inviting her to trust in the midst of difficult circumstances.

Having just undergone my sixth surgery, clearly I’m qualified to write about the healing process. My first taste of major surgery was thrust on me at the youthful age of 25, and it was brain surgery at that. Along the rabbit trail of carpel tunnel diagnosis, my neurologist found a slightly elevated growth hormone in my blood, and subsequent MRI showed a small and curious blob on my pituitary gland, smack in the middle of my head. Just weeks earlier, my dot com startup had announced failure and impending company shut-down, adding stress to heaps of anxiety and fear.

Delivering to me the truth without emotion, my doctor deadpanned, “We have to remove it to see what it is.” And so they went through my nose to explore the uncharted territory of my head.

They say that it’s bad to pray for patience or faith because God will certainly give you opportunity to practice what he wants to teach you. Not that I openly asked for such lessons to be imparted to me – I was simply on a crash course having given my life over to Jesus just six months prior through an incredible string of events that led me to the place of complete abandon – kneeling, heart-stricken, laid bare, and stripped down one Sunday afternoon in April of the same year.  The walk of faith in Christ is not for the weak; freshly devoted, I clung to every verse I read from the Bible, each one molding and carving out my faith from what I had known previously. My life, at that time, was fraught with opportunity to lean on Him.

My husband and I, before knowledge of my surgery or job loss, had planned to move from Silicon Valley up to the suburbs east of Sacramento. We had spent the summer and early fall shopping for a house and had picked out the perfect home in a new build neighborhood. We had selected the lot, the floor plan, the carpet, the tile and had already put a sizable chunk of cash down.

Then the world began to spin as September 11, 2001 occurred; its fallout affecting each of us dramatically including my company, which had all its eggs in the nonprofit business basket. We could make it no further given the fact that all resources throughout the country shifted to focus on 9/11 relief efforts.

As my company’s CEO announced the date of closure and I met with my neurosurgeon that very week, I pleaded with my doctor to consider rushing the surgery so that it would be covered, at least in part, by my company’s insurance. The date of closure was October 30 and the end of my insurance benefits was Novemer 3, 2001; my doctor acquiesced and scheduled the surgery for October 29. This was one of the many ways God provided hope in the middle of what seemed like suffering.

The same week I received my two-week’s notice and scheduled my neurosurgery date, our final downpayment and loan details were due to the builder and lender for our new home.

There was so much uncertainty; so much fear to be managed and dealt with; so much disappointment all crashing down with nowhere to run and hide.

Yet when I opened my Bible, God spoke to me: “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” (Psalm 91:1)

As I prayed, God affirmed in my heart that the circumstances around me were not necessarily a reflection of my then recent decision to follow Him, but that I needed to rest in His protection and shelter, even if he would never take the painful events out of my life completely.

After swift yet fervent prayers, my husband and I made the decision to pull out of our new home purchase. It was hard. Really hard. But we were encouraged in that the builder refunded us all our deposits in full. We had not lost physical funds, only dreams and aspirations of home ownership. However, God confirmed in us that this was the right decision and gave us peace about it.

I took each day, one at a time; each step carefully. Relishing the last few days of work, God filled me with gratitude for the environment that had become a fertile ground for my burgeoning faith.

I was able to finish last projects at work to help complete the door-shutting process. It kept my mind occupied until the day of surgery. Having been raised a Christian Scientist, surgery, doctors and medications were somewhat foreign territory for me. Fear could have overtaken me, yet Jesus was right there holding my hand – along with my husband and family. I felt His tangible presence, His love, and His peace as though He was a real live person standing by my bed.

The surgeon was able to do the surgery through my nose thankfully, so no hair was shaved, no visible vestiges would be present, only the emotional scars would touch me. When surgery was complete, thankfully, what they found was a Pituitary Adenoma or cyst, a shriveled up pouch that once held the gland itself in utero. Nothing else of concern or interest.

Once removed, my six-week recovery included headaches, nausea, menopause-like hot flashes, and crazy emotional mood swings, flanked by social anxiety of which I had never experienced before. We decided to move to the Sacramento suburbs and lease a condo, so packing and resting were my sole jobs.

I can now relate to Dr. Jekel and Mr. Hyde, the Hulk, and other troubled super heroes who can’t seem to manage their emotional outbursts. Although God was carrying me through and I clung to Him, things were not easy; yet I could still see the visible hand of God guiding me through this rocky zone of my life.

We moved, and my husband commuted back to the Bay Area for three months during the work week to finish the tail-end of his undergraduate degree. Gone during the week, I continued to heal and God revealed the next plan for our lives: Just shortly after the New Year, my old boss contacted me and offered me a consulting position with his new company.

Like a fawn, I began to gain my legs under me through this provision of work.

This time shaped me dramatically as I traversed my new stomping ground, new work-from-home consulting, and a new church. I continued to heal physically and grow stronger spiritually – albeit slowly – with few setbacks. Just four short months later, I became pregnant with my first child.

While there were still many challenges during this season, I can honestly say God taught me more during this difficult zone than through the easy, trouble-free times.

Near the end of his earthly ministry, Jesus aspired to communicate the days to come to his faithful disciples despite their inability to grasp what He was saying. He wanted to give them peace, and for us to have peace smack in the middle of uncertainty. Jesus says to them and to us, “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

For me, the only way I overcame the roller-coaster ride of events that year was in knowing that I had a guide, friend, and savior who also endured suffering, pain, and sorrow just like I did.

Though the remembrance of pain lingers, joy and peace ultimately arrive when we apply faith to the fierce challenges of this life.

– Lauren

The floor is littered with legos and spy gear.

There is a constant streaming of Minecraft strategic dialogue.

These boys of mine. They sweat, they play, they wrestle, they create.

And somehow according to God’s great design….. a little girl, dressed in pink leotard, with frills, and beads, and high-heeled shoes DANCES.  She dances oblivious to the fact that her brothers have set up cameras, lights and alarms to spy on her.  She just dances to the song she sings because that’s what she was created to do.

And she beckons mama to come, and sit, and put her phone down….to watch her dance.

She dances with focus and abandon.  I smile and think, “when was it that we stopped dancing? When did we get too distracted by the spies around us who were competing for the spotlight?  When did we lose our confidence?”

What would it take to dance again? To be free? To pirouette and twirl to the beat of our own song?

Because I think that inside everyone of US is a little girl with a desire to dance- to be celebrated-to be accepted-to be championed for shining in the ways God made her to shine.

Could we do that for each other?  Rather than being jealous or threatened when we see each other succeed, could we clap and cheer  each other on?..

My thoughts are interrupted as the song ends, and a little girl with blonde braids curtsies. I applaud and she smiles.  Her mission is accomplished. Someone watched her do her “thing” and  affirmed her in her gifts…she is satisfied and the day can go on.

My mama’s heart was full watching my little angel dance that day.  And God reminded me:  He, our Abba (Daddy) God loves to watch His precious daughters dance too. He dotes over us- these babes of His flesh, and He delights in applauding us when He sees us DANCE in all our glory.

So dance, sister knowing there is a God who DELIGHTS in you just as you are. Dance and we will cheer you on.

“He will take great delight in you. He will quiet you with His love. He will rejoice over you with singing. ” Zephaniah 3:16

-Alyssa