Mexico trip.

i'm back from Mexico! 

i had a fantastic time. we built a house in 3.5 days. i loved our group. we laughed so much. :) here's a few instagram photos to hold you over until i can get my other photos edited.

Mexicoooooo

heyhey! 

in less than two days i will be on my way to Mexico for about a week! please keep our team in your prayers as we build a house for a Mexican family. i'm hoping to get some good photos also, but we'll see...i'll be pretty busy. but i'll try! :) 

thanks for your prayers and financial support. it means the world. <3 

-Val 

adventure, here i come.

hey everybody!

so just a quick update...

i don't need any money for either missions trip! God has been so faithful in providing. i'm so blown away by the generosity i've seen. 

since it's been 9 months since my last travel adventure, i think it's about time for another adventure. :) 

16 days until Mexico!!!

57 days until Uganda!

75. :)

hey hey, guys!

so i leave for Uganda in 75 days!

and Mexico in 34 days!

i am so so SO excited to travel again.

and thanks to everyone's generosity and God's provision, it looks like i only need $100-$200 more (for both trips combined). praise Jesus! :)

it's okay to be single.

have you ever had those days when you just want to talk or process, but can't seem to form coherent sentences? yeah, me too. so today i'm just going to write, and write, and write...and hope it makes sense.

okay, so two weeks ago, i posted about my current state of singlehood (is that a word? i guess it should be "singleness". haha). it was a bit of a vulnerable post for me because i struggle being open and honest and vulnerable, especially on the internet...and i care too much about what people think. 

after posting it i got some (pretty encouraging) feedback, and i thought, "wait, people actually are reading my blog?" hahaha.

so. i feel like i left that last post on a very depressing note. i don't want to apologize for my honesty and vulnerability in the last post, but i want to explain myself a little better. if that makes sense.

this topic (singleness) has been on my mind a lot recently. maybe it's because i am still single and wishing for a man to walk through life beside me. but after thinking and mulling it over, i've come to some simple conclusions. (and y'all have my permission to send me the link to this post when i'm having a bad day again. ;))

but enough rambling.

on to my musings...

1. it is okay to be single. 

    

   there is nothing wrong with me. it is perfectly fine to be single. there is no law in America requiring me to marry. do i want to marry? ohhhyes, like, tomorrow please. i know that God knows my great desire to marry and raise a family, and i know i can trust Him to take care of that desire until the time comes.
do i have days when i struggle letting go of my desire for control? YES (i think that's clear from my last post). but it's okay! i'm human. i will make mistakes. i am learning. i think this is part of the beauty of the life i'm living. God is continually teaching me. i hear Him speak all the time. having a boyfriend or husband won't necessarily bring me closer to God. it's in the single years that i have the freedom to truly focus and learn how to rely on God FOR MYSELF. not with the help of my parents or a husband. 

2. God is craving my attention more than i am craving a man's attention.

   

    it's so simple, God is jealous for me. He wants my attention MORE than i  want a man's attention. He wants to be first. i don't know why it never really hit me before. maybe because God knows exactly what i need, when i need it. i think i already knew it, but now i KNOW it. simple truths like this help me through the mundane of everyday life.

3. today i am called to be single.

     what if i just take it one day at a time? i choose Jesus today. i choose contentment today. i choose joy today. i choose grace today. i choose generosity today. i am called to be single today. that may change tomorrow, but today i will be the single woman who is walking the path God has put her on. 

i will have bad days, but that's what grace is for, yeah? is that an excuse for a bad attitude? no, but venting/talking it out is kind of like therapy for me. and if i can relate to and encourage one person who reads this, being vulnerable is worth it. :)

a vulnerable post.

i don't even know where to begin,

except by admitting that i've been overwhelmed lately.

and lonely.

and melancholy.

i have so many feelings and emotions whirling around inside of me right now and i haven't journaled since August 2012, so that might be why i feel overwhelmed...ha.

i absolutely LOVE that so many of my friends are getting engaged and married. i am happy for them, honestly. it makes my heart happy to see how happy they are. and i am happy with where i am right now. i can do whatever i want. i can see the world and not have to worry about having a boyfriend or husband's approval of where i go or who i hang out with. i'm free to do whatever i want! and i love it. i wouldn't trade it for anything right now.

but every time i do something fun or go somewhere new, there's this horrid longing inside of me (so maybe "horrid" isn't the right word). an ache, really, to have someone to share it with. to be living life alongside a man who enjoys the same things. and we could talk about it. challenge each other. love each other. protect each other. i feel like my life is slipping away from me. like i'll never fall in love. 

i mean, will it ever be my turn to be in love?

it seems silly to feel this way, but i see friends who are younger than me getting married and it bothers me.

since a very young age, my plan has been to marry young (like my grandmother and great-grandmother who married at the ages of 18 and 19), and raise a family. i said i was going to get married when i was 18, because that's what Grandma did!

but i guess God's plan for my life is a bit different.

18 has come and gone, and here i am. single. lonely. 19.

everyone says "don't worry, you're only 19. i got married at 20, you have time." but it turns out that they got married at 20 but they had been dating their spouse since 9th grade, were engaged at 19, got married, and had, like, 3 kids by the time they were 26.

and here i am. single. lonely. 19. never had a boyfriend. never even had a guy ask me out!

but then i'm like, "well, stop it, Valerie. don't compare your story to everyone else's stories, because it's completely different." but i somehow still find myself making an 11:11 wish and praying for a man to come into my life.

and then i feel selfish because i have friends who are much older than me, still single, and wishing they had a husband or wife as well. they deserve to have someone love them. and i know they want it just as much as i do.

and i know that i sound ridiculous. i feel like a little kid whining because someone else has something and i want it.

but i KNOW that there's someone out there for me. and the fact that i have no idea who he is or when he will come into my life is driving me crazy because i've been waiting for him my whole life. because i refuse to settle. 

but the hardest part is the teasing. parents, uncles, cousins...they all tease because i have no boyfriend. they want to know when i'll be getting married. making jokes about how i'll still be single when i'm 26 (what a random age). it's a constant reminder of my singleness. my loneliness. and it hurts, dang it! i'm usually not a super sensitive person (okay, so i am pretty sensitive), but really?!

i'm not wishing my single years away. i fully intend to enjoy them and live it up. travel. see and photograph the world. follow God's will. but i wish i had someone to share it with. i mean, it's normal for a girl to want someone to love her, take care of her, protect her, and just be there for her, right?

so here i am, going on missions trips. fending for myself. protecting myself by building up walls around my heart and holding everything inside because i don't want to talk about what hurts me. i want one person i can trust. i want one person who will want to get to know me. i want one person who will take one look at my face and know something's wrong. i want someone who won't try to understand everything, but who will be understanding. 

i just want someone to just BE with.

a real, tangible man who will live life with me. together. an adventure.

i don't care about fancy dinners or movies or dates.

i don't care about anything really. 

i just want someone to just be with.

but he's not here yet...

...and patience isn't exactly a thing i've mastered.

but maybe i'm looking at this all wrong. i am trying to be content, but dang it, it's hard!

it's a daily struggle.

Lord, give me strength and grace for this road. 

dear future husband, i wish you were here. like, yesterday.

on asking and obeying.

He told them, "the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field."
Luke 10:2 (NIV)



so once a month i volunteer in my church's JR church (we call it Faith Kids Worship). the second Sunday of the month is my turn to be "crowd control/small group leader/potty break leader" in FKW. for the past few weeks, the lessons have been on serving/leading, and the last time i helped in FKW, one of the key verses stood out to me and i've been thinking about it for a while.

 Luke 10:2.

the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.
ask the Lord of the harvest.
to send out workers into His field.

i started to think about the times in DTS (the 6-month Discipleship Training School i did with YWAM) when the leaders would tell us to ASK God (or the Holy Spirit...depending on who was speaking :D) what He would have us do or give. and then ACT in obedience on it.


ask the Lord of the harvest. 

to ask is to say something in order to obtain an answer or some information.

ask the Lord of the harvest.
to send out workers into the field.

this verse isn't just about praying and asking God to send people into the missions field. praying for people to go into missions is all well and good, but i feel like there's more to this verse and also to our lives as followers of Christ.

there were instances during my 6 months in DTS when the YWAM leaders would say, "ask God how much He would have you give for this awesome fundraiser" (or something along those lines), and i purposefully wouldn't ask God.

i didn't ask because i knew if i asked, i would get an answer. and if i got an answer, i knew i needed to obey. so if i didn't obtain an answer, i could pretend that God didn't want me to give. i cringe when i think back to how selfish i was being. how many times did i miss out on God's blessings for being obedient? every time i refused to ask.

when we ask for something, 90% of the time we have no idea what the other person's response will be. and i believe that asking the Lord of the harvest is terrifying for most Christians. why?

because we don't know what He will ask of us.

if followers of Christ do not ask the Lord of the harvest, they won't receive an answer from Him.

"phewwwww. i mean, i didn't receive an answer from the Lord, so i'm off the hook, right? i don't have to go out of my comfort-zone. someone else will step up to the plate and do it. God's not calling me to Africa or Mexico. i can serve Him here at home..."

i heard a leader once say, "delayed obedience is disobedience". and i also think that refusing to ask is also a form of disobedience as well. because we know in our hearts that to be followers of Jesus Christ is to be obedient to what God asks of us, as well as to ask Him how (and who) we can serve.

do you get what i'm saying?

i think that followers of Christ often don't ASK God because,
a) God's answer might require THEM to do something (or give up something...or move somewhere far away),
or b) they might not like what God has to say.

i could tell you about several times when i have stood before God, worshipping, while being completely shut off from Him because i didn't want to ask or receive an answer. i am so guilty! and i won't tell you that because i've repented now, i will never be that selfish again...because that would be a lie. i am very capable of being that selfish Valerie again. in fact, it's something i struggle with daily. i'm preaching to myself here, too!

but what it all boils down to is this:

followers of Christ (myself included)! stop and think about what Jesus was willing to give for you. He gave His life so you could live. don't you think it'd be okay to ask Him what He would have us do, listen to His answer, and act obediently (and joyfully!) in response? after all, the best place to be is in the center of His will.

think about it. :)


PS. it may sound like i'm saying, "you're not a Christian if you don't ask God of the harvest", but that's not the case. if you are a follower of Christ, you ARE NOT going to lose your salvation if you don't ask God what He would have you do, or if you don't sell your things and go be a missionary. that's not what i'm saying. but what i AM saying is that God loves communicating with His children and God blesses obedience. the most important thing in any relationship is communication! talk to God, seriously, and listen to His reply! i think you might enjoy what He has to say. :)