Faith, Hope, and Love

Dear Family and Friends, In February, I participated in a women’s conference called IF: Gathering. The theme this year was all about faith—if God is real, then what? If I believe in His word, then what? If I trust that He is good, how do I respond? At the end of the week, we were asked to think about our “next step of faith” and offered different ways for us to actively live out our faith. One of those ways was through a mission trip to work alongside Africa New Life Ministries in Rwanda. Rwanda is a small but densely populated country nestled in East Africa. During the 20th century, Rwanda reached a height of violence in the 1994 Genocide. Now, over 20 years since the Genocide, Rwanda has and continues to demonstrate to the world the power of reconciliation and forgiveness. Africa New Life Ministries is a child sponsorship organization that provides a comprehensive level of care to the students, ministering to both physical and spiritual needs as well as focusing on the comm...

I can be a major worrier. I hate making decisions because I worry whether or not the choice I don't make would have been the better choice. I worry that others will hate my choices. That I will regret them. Every time I moved, I worried that I wouldn't make new friends,  find a good church, or end up hating my new apartment. I worry that I am not kind enough, or perhaps I'm too kind. That I am not giving enough, or that I give too much. That I am too aggressive, or perhaps too passive. I just worry about everything.  It's actually quite silly. Earlier this week, I heard someone else share about how much of a worrier she can be too. And her place of encouragement,  what calms her and eases her worry are birds. Every time she sees a bird, she stops worrying. The birds remind her of Matthew 6:25-34. Specifically verse 26--"Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns,  and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not ...