by Emily | Apr 17, 2020 | Kingdom of Heaven, Love, Pain, Serving
It was 2001. My family had arrived in Kazakhstan in 1996, the first American family in our town, and been joined by other Americans and Aussies over the next several years. It was a fairly isolated place, and we certainly didn’t have Facebook and Zoom to remain...
by Emily | Apr 10, 2020 | Love, Pain, Thanksgiving
by Emily | Mar 21, 2020 | Anxiety, Freedom, Love, Pain, Prayer, Trauma
Over the last two months our perception of COVID-19 has been constantly changing, and with it, our internal and external reactions. When mostly isolated in China, it was something foreign, distant, and therefore not very threatening. But as its territory gradually...
by Emily | Feb 7, 2020 | Anxiety, Freedom, Love, Pain, Persecution, Trauma
PART 2 (Read Part 1 here) As discussed in Part 1, trauma is very real and has been throughout history. We are equipped for survival in the present, but once the danger is past, it is not always easy to move forward “as usual.” Yet, we read of Paul’s accounts of being...
by Emily | Jan 30, 2020 | Anxiety, Love, Pain, Persecution, Trauma
I recently returned from Nigeria, where we work with many who have a heart to help the hurting. They usually relate to the suffering from their own experiences of pain, fear, loss, and sorrow. Some saw their villages attacked, churches burnt to the ground, and family...
by Emily | Aug 20, 2019 | Kingdom of Heaven, Love, Serving
(Click Part 1 or Part 2 for the first two posts.) Leaders are influential not only through instruction of others, but by the example they set. One of the challenges of being in a position of authority is that every word and action is more carefully observed. As a...