Playing it safe...or daring to risk?

Do you ever feel like God is calling you deeper? Maybe He has purposes for your life but your scared or feel intimidated to pursue a dream or something you feel He has placed on your heart. I know I do.  Everyday. I am just an ordinary, timid girl without a fancy title or degree. I came across an old journal last week and found pages I had written after returning from South Africa. I was so burdened to do something but felt so unqualified. In my journal I wrote that I felt I should just do God a favor, step aside and let someone else serve in my place who would be better qualified. Who was I think I could accomplish very much. And you know what....I can't. Not apart from Christ. What I thought was a form of being humble was actually not believing Jesus to be who He says He is. I believe God has a place for each of us in His story. God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called. And as Christians we are ALL called. But first we have to surrender our lives to Him and trust His sovereignty. This can be so hard! There have been so many times over the years I have seen God moving then other times life seemed at a standstill. LOTS of waiting. Days that seemed mundane where I felt I should be doing more. But now I see that God was shaping me, molding me, making me. We must often go into the dark room until His image is forged in us. I wouldn't trade that time for the world. He never deserted me and was drawing me closer to Him. The more I draw in closer the more I know that my future is secure in Him.  Everywhere I turn lately he seems to gently keep nudging me to risk, surrender, step out of my comfort zone so that He can replace fear with true faith. Because it isn't really faith unless it looks a little bit like fear.  I love this from Jesus Calling...

Be willing to go out on a limb with Me. If that is where I am leading you, it is the safest place to be. Your desire to live a risk-free life is a form of unbelief. Your longing to live close to Me is at odds with your attempts to minimize risk. You are approaching a crossroads in your journey. In order to follow Me wholeheartedly, you must relinquish your tendency to play it safe.

Let Me lead you step by step through this day. If your primary focus is on Me, you can walk along perilous paths without being afraid. Eventually, you will learn to relax and enjoy the adventure of our journey together. As long as you stay close to Me, My sovereign Presence protects you wherever you go.

I am just an ordinary girl who has decided to go for it. It's a bit scary to even sing "Oceans" as a prayer because to have faith without borders is to leave everything in His hands. That means a lot of unknowns. I am as analytical as they come, a control freak and always want a plan. So this is totally opposite my normal character. But what have I got to lose but everything and in exchange gain a new understanding of true depth and faith in a Sovereign God. May He shut and open doors so that I may live out the rest of my life in the way that will most glorify Him. Oh how this is my hearts cry but I struggle to claim it just the same. My human nature wants safety, security, money in the bank, a comfortable life. 

I found a poem two days ago from a journal from high school which hit me like a ton of bricks. It made me think about Paul who was in chains and Joseph who was sold into slavery and ended up in prison but all for the sake of Christ.  Surrendering to Jesus doesn't always mean a bed of roses. For many in the bible it meant giving up comfort, familiarity, family. Am I willing to do just that if it means others may come to know Christ. I feel this is what God keeps asking me just as He did Peter. "Do you love me?" Then feed my sheep. 

Obedience

By George MacDonald

(1824-1905)

I said: “Let me walk in the fields.”

He said: “No, walk in the town.”

I said: “There are no flowers there.”

He said: “No flowers, but a crown.”

I said: “But the skies are black;

There is nothing but noise and din.”

And He wept as He sent me back –

“There is more,” He said; “there is sin.”

I said: “But the air is thick,

And fogs are veiling the sun.”

He answered: “Yet souls are sick,

And souls in the dark undone!”

I said: “I shall miss the light,

And friends will miss me, they say.”

He answered: “Choose tonight

If I am to miss you or they.”

I pleaded for time to be given.

He said: “Is it hard to decide?

It will not seem so hard in heaven

To have followed the steps of your Guide.”

I cast one look at the fields,

Then set my face to the town;

He said, “My child, do you yield?

Will you leave the flowers for the crown?”

Then into His hand went mine;

And into my heart came He;

And I walk in a light divine,

The path I had feared to see.

Each of us has our own preferred places and situations. So our forms of obedience and resistance will look different. That is the beauty of it because we all have unique callings on our lives. God doesn't need us but He wants us. Our lives are just a vapor and they weren't meant to be lived safe or risk free. Life is not wreckage to be saved out of the world but an investment to be used in the world.  

Ladies...calm down ;)

Just want to clarify a few things from Ryan's previous blog post. We are not moving to Africa tomorrow! As Ryan said, he has felt called to full time ministry for a while now which is why he started school two years ago to complete a BA in Religion. We want to be open to whatever doors God leads us to. My prayer for years has been that I would not sit by idly enjoying my privileges and advantages while the rest of the world suffers, grieves and starves. Not if God is willing to use me to do something about it. Right now we have committed to saying yes to fly over to Ethiopia at the end of the Summer for God to confirm if this is where He wants us to serve full time. We are SO excited about the MYM ministry and all they are doing in Ethiopia with community based orphan care. We want to see the ministry first hand and evaluate Nara's emotions. Ladies you do not need to stress just yet and go looking for a new hairstylist lol!!! If God continues to confirm that this is His plan after our 4-6 week trip, we will then begin to raise funding to be there full time. Raising funding will most likely take months, so either way we are looking at at least another year before we would be moving. Thank you to all who have encouraged us upon hearing about this opportunity and we thank you so very much for partnering in prayer with us. More than anything we just want God to be glorified. This isn't about us. We aren't going to change the world. Jesus will do that. We just want to be obedient and say yes to however our lives can best serve Him.

Trust Without Borders

The title for this post could not be more perfect for the Thomas families current situation. Seriously...let me explain. A few weeks ago Courtney and I rode to Atlanta with our pastor Zach and some youth from church to Passion 2014 conference. My favorite song that weekend was the song "Oceans" by Hillsong United who performed by the way and were awesome. Something about the song just really took a hold of me. My favorite lyrics from the song are the bridge which goes like this:

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger

In the presence of my Savior

These lyrics have been Courtney and I's prayer for at least the last 5 years. We have been on mission trips around the world and have seen the extremely poor, the orphans, and the desperate. We have prayed very specifically over the past few years telling God that we are willing to go wherever he may call us. Two years ago I even started working towards completing a Bachelor's degree in religion because I knew in my heart that God had big plans for our family. We've been praying lately that once I got close to graduating that God would open a door and give us some guidance as to how He would have me serve in full time ministry. I graduate in a few months. After returning from Passion conference and with these lyrics resonating in my mind and heart...Courtney and I received a Facebook message upon returning from the conference that is turning our world upside down.

It was near midnight and a private Facebook message came through on my iPhone. It was titled "Are you moving to Africa?!!!" and it was from our very good friends Trent and Carmen Post who are missionaries with Make Your Mark in Ethiopia. I was obviously intrigued and immediately opened the message. Trent was basically asking our family to pray about moving to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to help design and run the ministry programs for their Make Your Mark House Day Center (Day Center and KKHI) for street kids as well as for the families involved in their Keeping Kids Home Initiative program. Lets just say that I didn't sleep much that night!

The next few weeks following, Courtney and I dedicated ourselves to lots of prayer and Scripture study. After MUCH prayer and confirmations we have decided to see what God has in store for our family in Ethiopia. We feel that God is calling our family to full time mission work in Addis and have committed to a 4-6 week "confirmation/trial run" trip, probably late summer of this year, to confirm this calling on our lives. We will have the opportunity to see first-hand the ministries that we will be involved in with Make Your Mark Ethiopia, as well as a chance to see what it would be like to actually live there and to evaluate Nara's feelings/emotions towards living in her home country again.

Our biggest concern in the whole deal is our daughter Nara. She has lived such a very hard life at such a young age and we aren't sure how she'll react to being back in her home country where we're sure she experienced much tragedy and pain for such a young girl. However, we got a little confirmation on that last night as well. We have been asking Nara questions about the opportunity just to get a feel for how she would react to us going. Last night before dinner Courtney asked who was going to pray. Nara volunteered. She never volunteers at dinner, she always said that she will wait until bedtime prayers. She told Courtney and I to put our hands together and close our eyes. She started. The simplest, most beautiful prayer followed. She said, "Thank you Jesus for my food. Thank you Jesus for the kids in Ethiopia that we're going to help. Amen." Courtney and I both opened our teary eyes and looked at each other. We know that God is already working on sweet Nara's heart and preparing her for what is to come. We have prayed big things over her from the start and Courtney has said from the beginning that she wants Nara to be a little Esther. We even considered Esther as a middle name for Nara. Esther, like Nara, was adopted. I'm sure her life was hard and considering her circumstances she probably felt as if there was no purpose or calling on her life. However, it turns out, as a result of the events that God sovereignly orchestrated in Esther's life, she had the chance to save her people. We want the same for Nara. Before we even brought Nara home we both decided that we did not want to "Americanize" Nara, but to prepare her to one day go back and help the people of Ethiopia. We just didn't realize it would be this soon! 

"And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” Esther 4:14b

If this strong calling that we are now feeling is confirmed on our trial-run trip, then we will return home to begin the long process of raising financial support to fund our long term stay in Ethiopia. We realize that the journey that we are looking at is not an easy one. We realize that ministry is hard and that its going to be way hard in a third world country. That is why, most of all, we need your prayers and encouragement. We realize that we are under qualified so He will have to do this in and through us. Please be praying that He continues to give us clarity in our decisions and peace in the months leading up to our confirmation trip.

If you would like to check out Make Your Mark Ethiopia, and what they're up to, go to www.mymministries.org

Ryan 

It's the thought that counts...

A scared and timid Nara stepping off the plane in Charlotte from Ethiopia.

Nara has been home with us now almost 8 months and they have been 8
"interesting" months to say the least. Things started out really slow and tough. In the first month or so, Nara wouldn't have anything to do with me (Ryan). If I walked into the room she would immediately stop playing or whatever she was doing and run to her mom and want her to pick her up. There were several days I remember just watching her play outside with her mom from the kitchen window just so she could relax and have fun. So to use the word "tough" is an understatement. However, Nara eventually started to come around and embrace the idea of me being her dad. She has actually recently become my little buddy.

I think something that happened on Christmas morning really confirmed and solidified to Courtney and I how Nara feels about us. The week before Christmas I was at home with Nara while Courtney was at work and Nara came to me to tell me that she was wrapping mommy and daddy a gift for Christmas. She went into her room with the wrapping paper, tape, and scissors and went to work. I caught a glimpse of what she was wrapping and it was a Liberty University notepad that I had given her several months back. The notepad is in pretty rough shape and has been scribbled in and on for months. I thought to myself, "Well that's cute. We'll just have to pretend to be really excited about our 'gift' on Christmas morning."

Well Christmas morning finally arrived and we were up at 6:30am with Nara ready to see what the whole Santa thing was all about. Nara walked into the living room and was very quiet and looked around and said, "Mom...dad...where's Santa?" She thought that Santa would be waiting on her when she woke up on Christmas morning. After some explaining we sat down and started on our stockings first. Nara was so excited about her Hello Kitty battery powered toothbrush. Seriously, I really think that was her favorite gift. We finished up with stockings and it was time for gifts. This was this little girls first Christmas ever...it aches me to think of what she was doing on Christmas morning the past couple years...she had gifts and toys from Santa waiting on her to dig into and she says, "Mommy and Daddy open your gift first!" She ran around the tree and grabbed the box that contained her "gift" for Courtney and I. She had written my name and Courtney's name on the outside of the box as well as her name and a couple of smiley faces, ha. Courtney and I proceeded to open the gift and we put on our smiles and unwrapped the shabby notepad. However, upon further inspection, we began flipping through the pages and Nara had drawn, with great care, pictures on many of the pages for us. There were Christmas trees, smiley faces, stickers, and stick figure pictures of our little family.

Presenting mom and dad with their "gift".

This whole time we were thinking, "Well she just grabbed some random notepad and threw it in a box so lets just act excited." When in actuality, she knew she didn't have any money to buy us anything or even own anything that she knew we would want. So what she did was take all that she had to work with, and poured her time, talents, energy, and love into it. She gave that gift with so much joy on her face. That my friends, is what Christmas is all about. I'd even go as far to say that this is what the Christian life is all about! You take what you have to work with, you invest your time, talents, energy, and love and you give with great joy. And most of all, you put others before yourself. Courtney and I love and appreciate all the gifts we received for Christmas, but we can both can say with complete certainty that our gift from Nara is our absolute favorite.

I believe Nara's gift to us displays a level of authenticity that is almost unheard of in the church and our culture in general. She put so much time, effort, and love into her gift. She could have just given us some really lavish, expensive gift, but wouldn't that really just be the easy way out? Yes, those lavish gifts may require the sacrifice of some money, but what else does it really cost you? It requires very little investment of time, talent, or love really. If we could all learn to invest, love, and give with the authenticity that Nara displayed, who knows what the church could accomplish?

So excited about us unwrapping the gift she wrapped. 

One of the pieces of art inside her gift to us. (the stickers are ornaments)

In Him, 

Ryan Thomas

Nara's 4th Birthday and First Ever Birthday Celebration!

On November 30th we celebrated Nara's 4th Birthday and first ever birthday celebration. I have never cried watching someone blow out their candles but this day I did. The expression on Nara's face as everyone sang Happy Birthday is one I will never forget. It was as if in that moment she knew how special she is to us, how much she is loved and that this special celebration was just for her. I think she really felt like a princess. The party was at my parents home with just a few friends and immediate family. The kids enjoyed making their very own gingerbread houses that they were able to take home. 

Happy Birthday Nara Thomas! You are LOVED!

Purchase With A Purpose

Not sure about you but I've already began thinking about my Christmas shopping. I also love to buy when I know it helps someone else. I've compiled a list of a few different companies that are fair trade, give back, organizations etc. You can use your purchasing power to create change in the world and restore dignity to others. 

The first I'll share is noondaycollection.com The have amazing jewelry, handbags, home decor etc. that is all handmade. You create a marketplace for their artisans so they can earn more, work less and families stay together.

Another way to give is through worldvision.org. Honor someone special with a life-changing gift. A few years ago my hubby and I bought a goat for a family in another country in honor of my mom and dad. We were able to print off a personalized card for my parents explaining what a difference one goat can make to a family in a poverty stricken country. My mom cried and I really think it was the most meaningful thing we have ever given to my parents. Another year we helped contribute towards a well for clean water. I never realized how much this meant until our daughter Nara has dealt with symptoms from parasites from drinking unclean water in Ethiopia. 

No. 41 had some beautiful Christmas stockings right now! no41.org is about empowering young women. Our goal is not to give them the world, but to show them that God has already given them everything they need to go out there and take it. When you join with us, you are truly changing the world FOR ONE.

One of my favorites is Better Than One Designs. Two local adoptive momma's making custom vintage signs to help adoptive families seeking funding. I've already ordered a few myself and they are so cute!!! https://www.facebook.com/BetterthanoneDesigns

If you're a coffee lover check out landofathousandhills.com. Drink Coffee. Do Good. Your excellent morning cup is offering hope to developing coffee communities with each purchase.

Another good one to check out is halfunited.com For every product purchased Half United will give Half of all profits to feed children in need. It was started by a brother-sister duo in Wilmington, NC. They did a trunk show in Nordstrom last year and my mom  and dad bought me one of their bullet casing necklaces. I love wearing it because everyone always asks me about it. It's also a great reminder for me that there are children out there who don't even know where their next meal is coming from. 

This Christmas shop with purpose!!!

Riverbend Farm

Nara LOVED her first field trip to Riverbend Farm! Last year after accepting her referral we were encouraged to send her some pics of our family doing something fun together. We had just visited the farm the month before with my nephew Braxten so we sent some of those pics in a little photo album.  She has known about the pumpkin patch for quite some time and was pumped to get to visit it today with her class from Carolina Christian Preschool. 

Nara and her sweet friend Irelyn

 Hayride!

 This is the one mom!