Encouragement is the theme of the day

The beautiful view from our terrace in Greece...imagine birds chirping to get the full impact.

The Temple of Poseidon at Sounion, Greece

John in front of the Temple of Poseidon--his favorite mythological figure!

This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The Lord's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:21-23

Well, my friends, I had to get up at 4am to see Marc off to London, so I have a few minutes to spare this morning, and I thought I'd fill you in on our trip to Greece. We went for our Annual General Meeting, where all the people who work for our company in Europe or with European peoples elsewhere come together. Now, we have AGMs that are smaller--one cluster, two, or even three might meet together, but the big meetings, where it's everybody, don't happen very often. So we were really looking forward to it. We were looking forward to time with friends, to great preaching, to time with friends...you get the idea. And it was just as great as we'd hoped it would be. We left feeling encouraged in our devotion to Christ and to our city. We were renewed as we head into our second year in Vienna. We were also able to spend some time making contacts for Engage Sochi, the initiative that we co-direct with our partners in Sochi. In fact, Marc is going to do some work while he's in London on a piece that points the way toward Sochi in 2014. More on that as we get closer. Suffice to say, we are so excited to part of something that combines our love for the nations with a passion for Sochi. Super, super exciting stuff.

One of my favorite aspects of AGM is the stuff our kids get to do. Hannah had time with her friends from all over Europe, and it was HUGE for her. If you watch her facebook, you'll have a front-row seat for the love these kids have for one another. It is a big encouragement to this Momma's heart to watch her friends love her and lift her up. The move to Vienna has been a tremendously difficult one for Han. She has held up beautifully, but she's only 15. It's a really gorgeous thing to watch her beloved friends (and overseas 'aunts' and 'uncles') hold up her arms when she is tired. She came back to Vienna with a renewed sense of being where God has her for this season. John, too, had a wonderful time with his friends. In fact, even though he stayed in our room, we basically did not see him. He and his friends ran in a pack together, swam together, ate meals together and attended classes together. He loved the freedom of being one of the 'big kids.' (Volunteers from the States come and put on VBS for our kids, so John had the same VBS experience your kids did if you are in a SBC church in the States.) There was a lot of pushing each other in the pool, sunburn, signing each other's shirts, and just general goofiness. He came back encouraged and ready for a new school year.

Of course, you always want to walk away from this kind of big event with a theme or a lesson learned or just something you can hang your hat on and point to as the thing to come out of the time and money spent to put on the event in the first place. If I had to sum it up in one word, it would definitely be encouragement. And not just hey-you're-great-and-things-are-wonderful encouragement. Encouragement to be humble in the face of God's grace. Encouragement to run the race set out before us, even when (or maybe especially when) it is a difficult season. Encouragement to really love people. Encouragement to dig into language and culture and relationships. Encouragement to forgive. And maybe most importantly, encouragement that God is at work. Here in Vienna. Around Europe. All over the world. Europe can be a really discouraging place to work and invest. It's beautiful, the people are lovely, there is a lot of cool stuff to do and see. But Europe is less than 1% evangelized. And unlike places on earth where the Gospel hasn't gotten to, yet, Europe has had the Gospel for a long time and has by-and-large rejected it. The work is slow. The work is often very hard. Sometimes, it's easy to throw up our hands in disgust and just want to give up. But what if this moment, this season of real difficulty in our lives--what if this is the tipping point, the moment just before God is going to do something big? What if a season of unhappiness is going to be followed by something beautiful that God is honing in our lives? Oh, my friends, I don't want to miss that, do you? That's the sweet spot, the good stuff that those who persevere and endure and just refuse to give up get to experience. I definitely don't want to miss that.

Did AGM solve every problem we have? Nope. Of course it didn't. But it did remind us of the great relationships we have with colleagues, of the love we have experienced as part of this organization, and the common thread that weaves it all together--Jesus. His love for us, for our colleagues, and for the nations. What a privilege it is to work in a hard place. What a joy to know Him, to call Him friend, to love others out of the overflow of His amazing grace and love and mercy and compassion. As always, I stand amazed in the presence of the One who knows me so well and loves me, anyway. Wherever you are in the world, I pray that your season of adversity reminds you of His great love for you, and that you are enjoying the Olympics, too. Blessings to you and yours!

His,
Kellye

No worms for breakfast

Someone said I look like I'm waiting for the punchline in this picture. With Sarah Beth, I'm always waiting for the punchline, because she is a funny, funny girl.

At Starbucks with her beloved Aunt Tina

After dessert with her beloved Aunt Stacy

If we are to trust God in adversity, we must use our minds in those times to reason through the great truths of God's sovereignty, wisdom and love as they are revealed to us in the Scriptures. We must not allow our emotions to hold sway over our minds. Rather, we must seek to let the truth of God rule over our minds. Our emotions must become subservient to the truth. --Jerry Bridges, Trusting God

I'm going to be honest--I'm not feeling it this morning. You know--it. The joy and happiness and excitement over what the day might hold, over what God has in store. Nope. I haven't slept well in a week, and I made the mistake of taking Tylenol PM last night, thinking it would make my back better. I was wrong. It just gave me a Tylenol PM hangover. And the very, very long needle that the doctor used to pump anesthetic and steroids into my lower back in order to give me pain relief has given me some pain relief, but I'm still in a great deal of pain. And Sarah Beth went back to America. And my cat died. And...well, you get the idea. It has not been a great few months for us. Poor, poor me. I think I'll go and eat worms. (That's what we used to say to the kids. Now that they're 20, 15 and 11, they don't think that's cute or funny. It just elicits an eye roll.) But seriously--have you ever had a season in which it just feels like nothing goes right? I'm in that season. Right now. This morning. And I'm kind of ready to be out of it.

When Hannah had so many problems when we first arrived in Russia, we said to her again and again, "Emotions are liars." In fact, now all you have to do is say the word emotions, and she robotically fills in 'are liars.' So how come that was the answer for her, but not for me? The answer, of course, is that it IS the answer for me. Sometimes, our emotions tells us stuff that simply isn't true. Thank goodness our emotions are not the only thing we have to rely on, right? That book I open every morning and read and study and devour says that I am never at the mercy of whatever is going on around me, that the God of Everything is in control. His plans aren't mine. His ways aren't mine. But His heart for me is true and good and merciful and gracious. He cares. He cares that my cat died. (Can you tell we're pretty devastated?) He cares that I hurt my knee two months ago, then herniated my disc. He cares about my pain. He cares that I feel yucky from two months of not vigorously exercising. He cares that Hannah didn't really want to come back to Vienna. He cares that we, as a family, are going through a dry spell. I'm not alone. And so, if I am who I say I am, and if I believe what I say I believe, I cannot live my life as one who is alone in the midst of a season of adversity. Because I'm NEVER alone. We as a family are NEVER alone. He promised. And He's proven Himself again and again to be the ultimate promise keeper. Surely there is comfort to be found in that.

And so, we trudge on. In my case, pretty slowly, but trudging still. :) Pray for us as we seek to understand what God is up to in this really weird season of our lives. We leave tomorrow for a time with some folks we really, really love and have for several years. We're praying to encourage and to be encouraged. We're praying for lots of laughter and fun and maybe even some deep conversations in which God reveals Himself. Who knows what He's up to? I know this for sure--whatever it is, I don't want to miss out on it because I'm off eating worms, too distracted by my feelings to see the truth around me. I'm not interested in that at all. Wherever you are in the world, I pray that you are setting aside your emotions to see the truth of God's love for you, and that you are leaving on a jet plane tomorrow to see people you love, too. Blessings to you and yours!!

His,
Kellye