Returning

As I sit in the Ft. Lauderdale airport waiting for my flight to Lima, I'm thinking about how I got here.  And when I say that, I don't mean driving to Latrobe, and getting on a plane and flying here.  It's the things that God has orchestrated in my life to get me here.

And all of the pieces of it as well! God is constantly working events in your life together for his plans.  Where he wants you to be, he will open the doors and make a way for you to walk through them at just the right time. 

Most of the time, it won't make sense in the moment.  It hurts, or it is something that you have to go out of your way to do, or it leads to what you think is going to be an awkward moment.  But looking back, you an start to see how God is weaving the events of your life into an intricate tapestry of his plan.

He does know what's best, and what is the way to get your attention and get to your heart.

He loves you more than you can imagine, and will never do anything that is to your detriment. I can't promise that you'll never have hurt because God doesn't promise that.  But he does promise that the hurt is for good, and that he will carry you through it.  And someday, you'll be able to look back and see his great plan being worked in that. 

~Moriah
Isaiah 49:6

Noticing

I was talking to a friend a couple of weeks ago and she said something that really hit me. 

     "Sometimes people need to notice tho."

We had been talking about various physical ailments/problems and how we tend to not be dramatic about when we aren't feeling good. But when I said something about normally being able to function fairly normally when I'm not feeling 100%, she said "sometimes people need to notice tho."

And it's been stuck in my head since.  It goes further than just physical problems. Just like it's okay for someone to notice that you need to take it easy for a little while, it's also okay for someone to help ease some of your mental/emotional pain as well. 

God did not place only one individual on the earth for a reason. He filled this earth with living, breathing people. People to cause pain and ease it. People to love you and dislike you. Everyone is part of His plan. And that plan involves community. 

Some things that come along with community are accountability, fellowship, common interests and traits, a 'second family', and the ability to be real with people. And depending on how you look at these things, they can either be good or bad. Accountability is great if you're trying to grow, but not so much if you're trying to hide something. People being there is so helpful for not feeling so alone, but not if you're trying to shut them out. 

"so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. (1 Corinthians 12:25-27 NIV)"

I don't know about you, but if my left hand was broken, I'm sure my right hand would want to know so that it could pick up some of the slack. We in Christ are supposed to work the same way. We are a body. If you're hurting, someone needs to know! You won't feel as alone when you realize that someone has gone through the same things that you are going through. It's so encouraging!!

"And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:24, 25 NIV)"

Believe me, it's certainly not easy to let people in. I've spent most of my life believing that I had to always be strong for other people. But it is a lie that Satan used to isolate me from other people that could encourage me and help me grow (Proverbs 27:17). Believing that I could never show weakness or my failings put so much stress on me- almost to the point of breaking. But I'm starting to learn that it's okay to struggle. It's okay to mess up. 

You are not perfect. 

And that's okay! 

"But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. (2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV)"

It's really, really hard to open up sometimes and admit that I might need a hug, or someone to talk to. 

But so worth it. 

Because sometimes, people need to notice. 

Love,

Moriah

Isaiah 41:13

Beauty

Beauty. 

Our culture is obsessed with it. But what exactly is beauty?  It's probably a perfect face, flawless hair and who has their life all together, just like magazines and the tv tell us all the time. 

But wipe away the makeup, look at someone's hair when they've first gotten up, learn about their secrets. They don't look the same, the 'perfection' is gone. It was all just an illusion. 

But I see beauty in the bruise that reminds you of when you tripped over your own feet and fell. The memory that still makes you laugh hysterically with your friends about your lack of grace. 

A peanut butter smudge on your shirt. The result of the child that was so excited to hug you that they couldn't wait for you to clean them up first. 

The battered car that was full of survivors after the accident. 

The tears that come when someone realizes that they can't do it by themselves... And the friend who holds their hand until they can stop crying and see that things will get better. 

The pair of shoes both muddy and smelly from all the miles they've traveled to help others. 

And the pieces of a broken heart cradled in the hands of God, and put together in his time. 

The beauty in the broken. 

~Moriah

Isaiah 41:13

Why I Like Peru So Much

Those of you who didn't know me four years ago when I went to Peru are probably like, 'that's great that you're going, but what's the big deal with Peru specifically?'

In order to fully explain this, I'm going to have to take you back a little further and tell you some of my testimony. 

At the age of five, I decided to trust Jesus to forgive my sins and provide the way for me to have a personal relationship with God, our loving father. Missions fascinated me. I loved hearing missionaries talking about the countries they worked in and stories about what God was doing there. 

As I grew older though, I lost focus of how I needed to trust God to forgive me and let him carry the burden of the mistakes I make rather than trying to carry it myself. Because I was still trying to be good enough for God (which is a lie, by the way, God loves us the way he finds us and then he works in us to change the parts that don't line up with him), I wasn't able to see how much he loved me, and I wasn't able to love people with his love. I forgot about my heart for missions for a time while all of that was going on. 

I did come back to the relationship that was meant for me with God (another part of my testimony, I'd love to tell you about it if you want to hear!) and in the summer of 2009 I nominated my dad for a contest on the radio station KLOVE. 

KLOVE was partnering with Shoes for Orphans Souls that month and they were doing a contest that you could nominate someone that you knew who went the extra mile.  I wrote about my dad and submitted the story, later that week it was chosen as one of the stories to be read on air, and put in the drawing for the grand prize. The grand prize was a missions trip for two with Shoes for Orphans Souls to Honduras, Guatemala or Peru. Well, my dad won (:D) and we went to Peru together for 9 days. 

During the trip we got to go to many different orphanages and see lots of children who were growing up without parents, and many without Jesus. 

  

It broke my heart. 

I loved those children! It upset me that they had so little and I had sooooo much! It was so awesome having the opportunity to just play with the children, and love on them and teach them about Jesus and his love for us.

Being in Peru for that time was so powerful for me because God showed me the love that he wanted me to have for missions once again. Since then, I've had the opportunity to go on many missions trips and even learn that missions isn't always going somewhere else, it's a lifestyle! (Thanks CE National and Operation Barnabas:) ) 

Even before I left Peru, I knew that I'd be back. I didn't know when, or for how long but I knew that I wasn't leaving for good. 

Since the summer of 2010, I've been waiting till I was old enough to go back as an intern with Buckner International (they run shoes for orphans souls as one of their ministries). I started taking Spanish because I wanted to lessen the language barrier (someday I want to be fluent in Spanish!). I am pretty certain that later in life I'd like to adopt children (or at least be open to what God says about that!:) ).

I am super excited to see what God has in store for this summer and I hope you'll continue to follow my journey!:)

Love,  

Moriah

Isaiah 41:13

Hope

Hope. 

It's a funny thing, ya know?  

It isn't something that you can see, hear or touch. It's the idea that things will get better and they won't always stay the same. And no matter how hard things get, that hope gives you the ability to keep going. 

People try to find hope in so many different things. People, posessions, places, being busy, and so many more!  These are are great in and of themselves, but they're temporary. They don't last. 

People will grow apart, disappoint you, hurt you- maybe you'll even lose them through death. They're human. As much as you love people, they're not perfect and you cannot rest all your hope on them. People are temporary. 

What about possessions?  They too are temporary. You can lose them, break them or even have them stolen. If you rest your hope on the posessions you have or the posessions you would like to have, you'll be disappointed. 

Okay sooooo... Maybe filling your time? If you're always busy, always needed, that'll give you a reason to keep going, right?  Well, for a time it probably will. But it won't always last. Maybe that organization you volunteered for will close, your children grow up, you lose your job, finish school- whatever it is, it won't last. 

So it's all hopeless then? You've pretty much put a damper on everything, Moriah. 

Not quite everything guys:) we can find hope in a personal relationship with God and the promises that he's given us. 

God doesn't need us, but he wants to be a loving relationship with us and wants us to love him. By believing that Jesus took away the punishment for our sins and will forgive us completely if we ask him, we can become a child of God. 

And God promises us so much through that! He tells us in Jeremiah 29:11 that he has plans to bring us a hope and a future. Things will get better because that's what God loves us and never breaks a promise! 

God is eternal. Unlike all of the temporary things in our world, God will be around forever and we can rely on him!

~Moriah

Isaiah 41:13