Redemption.

Brokenness is the child abandoned by his family. It's the 12 year old girl who was raped by her father, only to be later separated from her sisters because of the child she conceived by him. It's the sickeningly hungry bellies of children, which are growling right now across the world. It lives in the place where children are herded along from home to home because no one has turned up to be a family for them. Brokenness is here, a pervading force, no matter how much we try to avoid it or pretend it isn't there.

I will be the first to say that not knowing, a blissful ignorance of sorts, is easier. It's easier to not remember the quiet stare of a wounded child, or to not know about the cruel injustice a 12 year old faced at the hands of her father. It would hurt less to have never met the girl who has a likely chance of falling into the 85% of orphans from a certain country who turn to prostitution because no one placed a priority on their education. Yes, it would be easier, but as a Christian I was never promised easy...and, what's more, I have greater news of victory against the darkness.

There is a power still greater than the brokenness.

Our redemption through Jesus.

He came to right the wrongs and settle the score, to reclaim the hearts of men trapped by the pain and evil of this fallen world. He came to fix, to heal, to redeem. It cost him his life, but it costs us nothing.
First, he redeems us from a deep, dark pit: then we are offered an extraordinary opportunity as daughters and sons of God.

We can become part of the redemption. God uses us as tools to bring His restorative plan to fruition. By His power, lives are restored.

Sometimes, people ask me why I go on these trips. "There are orphans here, you know," they say. "Why do you have to go so far away?" My answer: God's restorative work is not limited by geographical boundaries. It extends across the whole realm of His creation, and the Bible says to go out into all of the nations and preach the gospel (Matthew 28:19). It says to care for the orphans and widows in their distress, not care for the orphans and widows only where you live (James 1:27). Why does it have to be here or there? The redeeming power of Jesus is both here and there, and I've been called to be part of it in both places.

I've recently returned from Costa Rica, and yet again, God has proven to me the vast expanse of His love and power. I heard heartbreaking stories, made personal because I actually met the children to whom these stories belonged. Despite the pain I saw, I saw God's presence still greater.

Tomorrow is THE day!!

The day has finally come...Costa Rica, here we come! Tomorrow, our team will meet up in Houston and begin to make our way to Puerto Limón, Costa Rica, to visit two orphanages in the area.

Your prayers for our team are greatly appreciated! Some specifics...

• No travel glitches: that we would all make our connecting flight in Houston and arrive safely in San Jose tomorrow night, then also make it safely to Puerto Limón, the next day. 
• Good health for all of our team members
• Open and willing hearts to be used in whatever ways God presents 
• Boldness in sharing our faiths with everyone we meet, whether that be the orphans, tías at the homes, even our waiters/waitresses at dinner 
• Willingness to be changed by God through this experience 

So if you think of our team during this coming week, lift up a little prayer for us and for the people we will be with. I believe that prayer is the most vital tool we have as Christians, and I know that fervent prayers on your part will really make a difference. 

I will most likely not be able to blog while we're in country, but if the opportunity presents itself, I will update you all! Check here or on my Facebook page :) 

Hasta luego, mis amigos. Dios te bendiga 

Praise

I ponder in a moment of unbridled beauty found in the benevolent blessing of our Father God...

We rest and are thankful, deep to the core, because of the blessed reassurance that our lives, each moment to the next, have been handcrafted and uniquely shaped according to the will of God. Not a moment has been left out; each relationship formed, circumstance encountered, and situation presented are woven together in a tapestry of immeasurable worth.

Praise be to this Father, this Master Weaver, for by His plan we, the most futile of instruments, can make His glory known.

How can it be that this Almighty One has reached down and invested in such lowly creatures, that He has redeemed this broken creation from the pit, that beautiful restoration and power has been offered to us? For this unprecedented grace, we are joyful beyond words.

Praise be to this Father, this Redeemer, for without Him, we are nothing.

Today is a day for rejoicing, a day for loud praise, and tears of joy, for we have been granted life and life abundant. The power that conquered death on the cross rests in the very depths of our souls. By this power, we are blessed to bring glory to God.

Praise be to this Father, this Giver of Life, for by Him, we have purpose.

Spring Hill Family Camp 2012

This past memorial day weekend, the Billman family + our two "honorary Billmans" AJ and Nate headed up to one of my favorite places on the whole planet: Spring Hill. 

It's a trip we look forward to every year, not only because we get to spend some quality family time together, but also because we get to hang out with all of our favorite Michigan peeps! Although we had one day of rather yucky weather, the long awaited trip didn't disappoint. 

We enjoyed TONS of yummy food, good conversation, and some good 'ole camp activities. 

 Here we all are! 7 families wit 41 kids!! 

This day...

THIS is the day that the Lord has made; let us REJOICE and be glad in it! 

Psalm 119: 24

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,

what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? 

Psalm 8:3-4 

The heavens declare the glory of God; 
    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Psalm 19:1 

 

 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 

How many are your works, Lord!
    In wisdom you made them all

Psalm 104:24 

Who's your library lady?

There's this story. It's about a lady and a library, and it goes a lil like this...

Once upon a time, there was a young Christian woman. In her devotions and church sermons, she had continually felt convicted to share her faith more with non-believers, and so she prayed, "Lord, give me someone to share you with." 

Let it be known, when you ask God to bring you someone to share your faith with, He WILL deliver. 

For our young friend, God uniquely delivered at the library of all places. As she perused the aisles of her neighborhood library, she saw a woman come in the doors. This woman seemed a little out of sorts. Our friend watched as she bumbled down one of the aisles. And then there was that unmistakable knock. 

"She's the one." 

"No, God, no; not at the library; you can't give me a woman from the library!" 

"She's the one; she needs to know about my love. Tell her, tell her." 

The prodding was strong, but the fear of embarrassment overwhelming. "I can't, God, I just can't; not at the library." So she picked up the book, checked out at the counter, and walked out the door. To her knowledge, the library lady didn't hear about Jesus that day. 

That's the story, the story of the lady and the library. 

The story is actually not about me, but I do have many of my very own "library ladies." Last year, I had the privilege of learning about Mormonism, and specifically, how (as a Christian) to share the message of the gospel with Mormons. After that unit in my class, I prayed, "God, bring me a Mormon." That sounds a little silly, but that's what I asked, and that's exactly what I got. In fact, God even made it easy for me. Unbeknownst to me, the girl that I sat next to every single day in my public school Spanish class was a Mormon. After I prayed for God to bring me a Mormon to witness to, I discovered this convenient fact. So one day in class, I invited my Spanish compañera to go to coffee with me sometime with the hopes that we could maybe talk about our beliefs. So far so good, right? Yeah, well, I never followed through. Just like my friend at the library, I let the fear of rejection and embarrassment keep me from sharing my faith. 

God called me and I failed to step up. I failed to share the good news. I failed to proclaim the glory of redemption. 

I think about my library lady often. I wonder if she ever heard the good news; I wonder if she ever will hear the story of her redemption. In the deepest parts of my heart, I long to know that someone else stepped up to be used by God, when I failed to do so. God could have used me to bring Him glory, but I was absent. 

Dear friends, do not be absent; do not fail to step up. Do not make anyone your library lady. 

We have the greatest of news to proclaim. Who cares if we share it at the library or in Spanish class, on the soccer field or in the McDonald's parking lot? 'cause this message is THE ONLY ONE worth sharing! 

Because I should be studying...

Because I'd rather do anything besides study, or really anything productive at all, I think I'll just blog my late afternoon away.

Woah. I have one day left of freshman year. One day until I'm a big bad Sophomore. Pure craziness. 

This year has been unbelievable in more ways than one. God has begun a process of growing me into what I hope will be a young woman serving the least of these with bold, unshakeable faith. You'd do well to notice the process of growing me part, because I have a loooong way to go. 

But I've begun the process nonetheless.  

With one foot in front of the other, I've marched forward this year albiet sometimes reluctantly. I think my idealistic visions of what this year would look like inhibited my progression because, well, my incurable idealism blindly ignored a few barriers that were standing in the way of the road. 

Barrier #1? Otherness. Dealing with, living near, and loving on others, people who are not like me. 

Ok, I'm just going to let the cat out of the bag. People are hard to love (even the ones you like). Living in relationship with other sinful humans is infuriating, painful, just plain hard. Somehow I seemed to have forgotten that fact when I came to school. I thought it was going to be easy to love others like Jesus loves me. I thought that God would surely conjure up in me this uncanny ability to love past the undesirable in other people. heh heh um, not quite. For much of this year, I've struggled to love. Not the people who are close to me, like my friends or family or boyfriend, more like the people who aren't like me. The people who believe "weird" things, who don't share my political opinion, who go to parties and drink, who drive me absolutely bonkers. These are the people I've struggled to love. But I believe whole-heartedly that God placed these people around me to help me vanquish this persistent barrier. He wanted me to see that He loves all of us, not matter the differences! I also think that I needed to see that sometimes I need to rely on the power of God to help me love. 

Barrier #2? Intentionality. 

Confession: Before I came to college, I pulled out my repertoire of colorful markers and paper and made schedule after schedule, calendar after calendar, in anticipation for what my days would look like as a Hope College student. Then I got here, and well, let's just say that those colorful schedules made it about a week. I let the whirr of "newness" demolish even the best of my intentions. I began to procrastinate the very things I promised would never again eliminate from my schedule: time set aside for devotions and focused prayer. With a few days of rationalization ("Oh, I'll do my devotions later today"), my daily time with God became sporadic at best. So how has God been tackling this barrier? Well, He's shown me that being intentional with my time is of vital importance, and that if I am not intentional about it each day, I'll fall wayward. 

Barrier #3? A Full Circle. This one isn't exactly a barrier, more just a lesson, but we'll just stick with the theme. 

The past 5 years or so haven't been the most stable for me. Not that I experienced anything incredibly traumatic, just not really stable. If you read this blog often or know me personally, you know that my family has moved a couple of times the last few years. You may also recall that I don't exactly do the best with change (understatement of the year). Well, I can say confidently that this year God has brought things very "full circle." For awhile, I was just very confused and mad that God would keep mixing up "my" plans, but something funny happened this year. I ended up at Hope, which is unequivocally the place that I am supposed to be for undergrad. I met so many people that I would not have had the chance to know if we hadn't moved. This realization, that God knows exactly what He is doing, has made me fall ever further and faster in love with Him. 

I could probably go on and on about the lessons from this year, but this post is already a million miles long, so I'll contain myself ;) Hope you enjoyed the last post from a Hope College Freshman version of Ellie. 

To finish...here are some of my favorite pictures from this year...ENJOY :D