Sawadeekah, world! 🙂
<That’s ‘hello/welcome‘ in Thai>
Today I turn 29!
And I am celebrating with my Kingdom Journeys Women’s Team here in Bangkok, Thailand.
I came out here to meet them in Chiangmai a week ago to be a part of their last Beauty for Ashes Retreat in Thailand, to conduct our Month 4 Debrief Meeting, and then travel with them to the Philippines to be a part of the first Philippines Retreat next week.
As I celebrate my birthday today, I want to share with you an awesome practice my best friend Natalie has taught me to adopt over the years: reviewing your year on your birthday!
Thanks, Nat for teaching me to do this. And happy birthday to YOU, too! (Natalie’s B Day is May 29th)
Below you can read some reflections on my 28th year on this earth, what God taught me, and what revelations I will take with me.
Underneath these insights, I have copy-pasted my May Update Newsletter (for those of you who aren’t on my email list, yet) If you would like to be on my monthly email list — please shoot me a message and I’ll add ya 😉
As always — thank you SO much for reading my blog and following along on these adventures. I am so honored and blessed to ‘take you with me’! Love you!
A Year in Review:
Reflections on my 28th Year
This year I….
I made some of the biggest decisions of my life
(notably some of the best and worst, LOL)
I saw God fulfill some of the biggest promises He has made me. I learned that God makes GOOD on His promises — even if they take a lot longer than you thought and even if they play out differently that you have expected.
This is a drawing I colored with crayons at our Beauty for Ashes Retreat last weekend. We do an activity where we ask “God, how much do value me?”
I believe I heard God tell me that He values me as much as His promises. And those are pretty valuable!
It’s always fun praying and coloring 😉
I saw God answer prayers I had been praying for… things I had been praying about for years!
I saw God go even further than making good on His promises and answering prayers … He did things for me simply to make me HAPPY! 🙂 Like getting me upgraded to Business Class on my flight home from Swaziland in March — I did not pray for that, He never promised me that… that was just a perk to make me SO SO SO very happy!
I stepped in faith into my calling: equipping God’s people to do His work. I allowed God to invite me into what He was doing, not vice-versa. And in doing so, I let Him lead me into work that fuses my passions: entrepreneurship, connecting people, and international missions. It’s SO me!
He showed me that my heart is like His heart: to start things, to make fun everywhere I go, to love people at all costs, and to squeeze life to the last drop!
He has shown me that I really DO know His heart and that by His grace I get to bring other people to know His heart, too.
I’d like to think that in this past year I have cherished my relationships more than ever before. I have enjoyed celebrating people, love, God’s work, and God himself in some BIG ways!
I have trusted Him for my financial provision and my heart’s provision… and I’ve had a front row seat to see Him come through with flying colors every time.
In the final days of my 28th year:
-I planned my wedding
-set the stage for my future marriage
-got to travel back to one of my favorite cities in the world
-got to be a part of the healing process my Kingdom Journeys Team works so hard to orchestrate in their Beauty for Ashes Retreats
-I got to encourage my team as they finish the mission God has entrusted to us
– I celebrated as God called some of the most loved people in my life closer to His heart and into His plans for radical, beautiful transformation and fulfillment in their lives
This past year, God stretched me, challenged me, rewarded me, and celebrated me in some big ways — ways that I have never experienced before.
He showed me His faithfulness. And He showed me that His faithfulness is NOT dependent on my ability to keep my act together and be on my A game. (THANK GOODNESS) But when I seek Him, it pleases Him 🙂
He’s invited me into a deeper love affair with Him than I’ve ever known.
And He’s turned the page to start writing a new chapter in my life. A chapter where it’s not just the 2 of us — now there’ll be 3 of us. And I think 3 is one of His most favorite numbers 😉
I believe God is more excited about my marriage than I am (and I’m pretty excited).
I believe He celebrates the time that we’ve had where it’s been just me and Him — but He celebrates this new union to come. He says that it’s good and it’s blessed.
Like one of my friends from home told me when he met Seth, “Jesus picks ‘em well!”
Praise God and bless His name for my 28th year on this earth.
It was my best, fullest year yet.
And God promises… The best is yet to come!
29…bring it on!!! =)
Below you can read my May Update Newsletter:
Hello Friends & Family!
I’m in Thailand!
I write to you from Chiangmai, Thailand!
…one of my favorite cities in the world! 🙂
When I was here in December 2012 on the World Race, I was SO certain that God would have me come back to Thailand. At first, I thought it was to complete the fieldwork for the Master’s Program I hoped to do in Australia. But, it turns out it was to come and work with my Kingdom Journeys Team, this month 🙂
(Note: Thailand is the ONLY country that I am visiting with KJ that was one of the countries I went to on the World Race. My intuition that God would bring me back here for a special purpose was spot on!)
Beauty for Ashes
We conducted the last Beauty for Ashes Retreat this past weekend and it was amazing.
My team had been building relationships with these women for almost 2 months — and we were all praying hard that the women would finally open up and share about their personal stories at this last retreat. You see, the Thai culture —like most Asian cultures, is very closed off to the sharing of personal information. It’s just not socially acceptable to open up and share your pain and your heart, especially with strangers. So my girls were up against a tough hurdle, since the crux of our Beauty for Ashes ministry is about opening up and inviting healing from the process of sharing. But it was no challenge for the almighty God that we serve! 🙂
God came through in a big way and the Thai women felt comfortable enough to share all kinds of hurt that they’d been carrying. There were lots of tears, hugs (also not common in the Thai culture), prayers, and the signs of the healing process that God conducts across any culture, anywhere.
One thing we were especially excited about was the bonds between the women. One of our greatest challenges is building community in the places that we serve so that the work we do will continue on sustainably. The women from this ministry: Lighthouse in Action are continuing to meet for a weekly Bible Study studying ‘Purpose Driven Life’ and we created a Community Bulletin Board for them where they can post Prayer Requests & Praise Reports. Having community around you to encourage you in SO important! And we are so glad to know these women have one another to stay encouraged in all they do.
My Team
I came here to Thailand to conduct my Team’s Month 4 Debrief — and it has gone SO well! I am so proud of these girls: they truly are pioneers and entrepreneurs that are setting in motion a ministry that will impact the lives of women for years…decades…centuries to come!
I got to talk with my team about developing a lifestyle from the experiences, habits, and skill sets that they have developed on this Journey. It’s not a mission trip — it’s a life on mission. So it was great talking about what’s may be next in each of their lives, and how they can continue on the trajectories that God has set them on once they complete this mission come August 2014.
This time of debrief with the team has been so refreshing for them — and for me!
Wedding Planning!
So my own personal life has been far from ordinary as I got engaged on March 31st and am planning for a November wedding!
I am guessing all of you received my ‘Update Email’ from last month where I shared with you the juicy details of our engagement day and all the amazingly romantic antics Seth put together, but if somehow I missed you — let me know and I’ll be sure to send you that one 😉
And since then it has been a colorful blur of details: photography, music, lacey detailed decor, pinterest overload, and more decisions than I ever anticipated!
I am doing my best to try and enjoooooy this process, but my goodness there is a LOT that goes into a wedding!
And speaking of which…. I got my dress ….. IN THAILAND! 🙂
That was a HUGE answer to prayer — I found a dress maker who literally had my dream dress hand stitched over the last 4 days!
It’s amazing 🙂 So please remember my luggage in your prayers…Jesus, please get that dress back to the USA safely! 🙂
You can Help!
So, as I am sure you all know — I support raise for my salary. People (like you) make donations on a monthly basis to Adventures in Missions, and that’s how I take home a paycheck! 🙂
And trips like this one, well — they’re extra.
It’s my 29th Birthday tomorrow 🙂
And in lieu of taking me to dinner, I would be SO appreciative if you would consider making a donation on my behalf. This go to help cover the costs of this trip to Thailand and the Philippines to support my KJ Team at their Beauty for Ashes Retreats and their Debrief Meeting. No donation is too small, God multiplies everything, and I would be SO grateful! I reaaaaally need it (my support account first went into the red when this plane ticket hit my account) and you can consider it a Birthday Blessing! 🙂
But if you happen to be dead set on taking me to dinner for my birthday 😉 … you could opt to make a donation to my personal PayPal account — and I can take that cash out at the local ATM and treat myself to some yummy Pad Thai on you in Bangkok 😉
Here is the link to support my work — donating to Adventures in Missions, a 501c3
And here is a link to donate on PayPal, if you just want to put birthday money in my pocket 🙂
You can send to “[email protected]”
Thank you SO much for your love, support, and encouragement!!
I couldn’t do this work without YOU!
Love from Thailand …and the Philippines in 2 days!!!
Christina
