As you can see I have settled on a new name for my blog and also changed up the template/colors. I figured it was more than time for a change and I wanted a title that reflected something about my life (the fact that it's about the Heldt family is really a given!)When Kevin and I were first married we lived in Santa Barbara and attended a great church. One Sunday there was a special guest speaker giving the sermon, Gary Haugen (that's a picture of him.) We'd never heard of this guy before but he is the head/founder of International Justice Mission (IJM.) His talk profoundly touched and changed our lives. (Before founding IJM this guy was the attorney that led the United States' investigation of the Rwandan genocide. Insane.)
For probably the first time ever we began to care about and grieve over what was happening to young girls in Cambodia and to the millions of hungry people in Africa. For the first time our eyes were opened to the fact that God calls US (as in you and me) to seek justice, help the oppressed, care for the widows and orphans.
One of Gary's main points was, God wants us to "show up." He'll work the miracles, He'll provide a way, we need to just allow Him to use us to do it. This really stuck with us. Crazy to think that as the result of this guy speaking at our church our lives are different today.
We just recently watched this DVD (thanks Troy and Becky!) that followed Sara Groves' trips to Rwanda and also to the area devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Incidentally she has a song called "Just Showed Up" that really resonates with me. I'll post more about that another time.
THUS the new title of my blog. I don't want to sit idly by, I want my life to reflect the love and beauty of Jesus. I want our family to have the faith, conviction and courage to show up.
18 comments:
AMEN! Awesome title now that I understand the meaning.
Oh my goodness Brianna....I just checked your blog today and recognized the face on your post...When I was a senior in college I spent a month in Tanzania. While I was there, I spent a couple of nights at a hotel in Arusha - and I met Gary there (he was at the time working on his investigation of the Rwandan genocide). After several years passed, I couldn't remember his name...and so didn't know what he had gone on to do afterwards. But, I can tell you that there were two very profound moments for me on my trip to Tanzania - and one of them was the time I spent in the bar of the hotel chatting with the man pictured in your post! Thanks for bringing me back to that moment...
Chanda
Lara, Troy and Becky own it, which is how we saw it. You can order it off of Sara's website, otherwise I'm not sure! Maybe Troy or Becky know where to rent it(?)
Love your new title of your blog, it is so so so so true. Sometimes we stop and wait for God to open the doors before we go through them, but quite often he's telling us to start the walk in faith (just show up) and he will open the doors as we walk.
ok - this is totally unrelated to your topic today, but how do you get the highlighted words on your post to link somewhere else?
wait whose blog is this?! just kidding :) love the new title. its amazing how one experience or interaction can change the course of our lives.
The International Justice Mission in AWESOME. Awhile back, the Nugents and I went to a fundraiser dinner for them. It's so exciting to see what they are doing around the world!
amen. it is what God is doing in our hearts as well. may our homes reflect Jesus' love for the world.
Your blog title reminds me of what my dad used to always say to me in High School. He'd say, "You'll almost always do well if you just show up." This was usually in response to me being really worried about a big project or test; and it was a great analogy for life in general! God has really been teaching me about this lately. It seems like God's been asking me, "What's it going to take, until you trust me." But He doesn't show us the bigger vision of His plan until we walk in faith with Him in the smaller steps. It's simple, but it's actually really hard to do sometimes. I was always one of those little kids who was asking, "Why?" And even though I think it's fine to ask, I also think He wants us to do what He says when His response is, "Because I said so." :)
Lindsey when you type your post there's a button up top for a link. Highlight the word(s) you want to be linked and then click that button, and it'll have a box for you type in the website.
Lara, We have the DVD which we ordered on-line. You can borrow it sometime. It always gets us teary. Becky
So this is amazing. I love the title and the message. In light of what we are contemplating these days, this viewpoint is so encouraging. Thank you. I'll be chatting with you soon.
And I love the colors of the blog! I totally was just thinking of these colors yesterday when I was thinking of designing a duvet cover for our bed! Weird!
Kristen you're designing a duvet cover for your bed? That's awesome. You people are industrious. :)
Becky maybe we can entice Lara to leave Florida to come watch the DVD!!! :) (Miss you Lara.)
when you all watch the dvd, let me know.
i'm only starting to think about des ign ing a duvet cover (nehemiah is helping me type by adding spaces as he sees fit, his fav orite key on the keyboard!). we'll see if i actually make this thing... i have so many projects!!
thanks for your help breanna!
i mean brIanna! i'm such a dork!
Wow. Good stuff. Amen.
Amen!
-Angela
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