I’m on a Wild Goose Chase… Another contest & prize!!!
My hubby encouraged me this weekend to read the book… Wild Goose Chase-Mark Batterson!! It’s one of the BEST books I’ve ever read. It’s inspired me and encouraged me and convicted me!! I’ve been so very blessed living near my family for 42 years and have grown deep roots for 16 years raising our kids in a small town in the Ozarks. I’ve dreamed about simple things…waking up everyday and doing my best as a wife, a mom, a daughter, a sister and a friend. Life has been comfortable and routine. I’m not saying my life has been easy…. Believe me, I’ve been through so many crazy ups & downs I get a little dizzy:)
The book grabbed me from page one!!! “Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.” (Helen Keller) Living dangerously has not been my passion or focus. OK, I’m sitting here with my 4 front teeth still knocked out…its a crazy life, but its my life and I try not to rock the boat toooo hard and I really like safety.
Page 6 got my attention..
“Every once in a while, I have random thoughts that seem to come out of nowhere (me too) Here’s a thought that fired across my synapses not long ago: Do angels yawn? I seriously wonder if angels have the capacity to get bored? More important, I wonder if some of us are living such safe lives that not only are we bored, but so are our guardian angels. If they could, would our guardian angels coax us out of our “cage” and beg us to give them something dangerous to do? Since when did it become safe to follow Christ? Maybe its time to come out of the cage and live dangerously for the cause of Christ!!!!”
Wild Goose Chase theme: God-ordained passion
I have a few very specific passions in my life…. marriage, family, children, Africa, orphans and adoption!!! I’m learning that when God puts a “passion” in your heart, that God-ordained passion becomes my responsibility!! I can be irresponsibly responsible or responsibly irresponsible!! (ahhhh you’ll have to read the book to follow that:)
“Soooo what makes you cry? What makes you pound your fist on the table? What makes you smile? If you want to discover your God-ordained passions, then you need to identify what makes you sad, mad, or glad. And somewhere in the sadness, madness or gladness you will find the WILD GOOSE CHASE waiting for you!!!”
I’m on the hunt. I’m asking the Lord to specifically show me how He wants to use me…all of me from head to toe. I want to pursue the God-ordained passions in my life. I can’t wait to see what adventure He has for my life.
You know I love contests and I love prizes!!! I want to hear YOUR God-ordained passion. What gives you Wild Goose bumps? At the end of the week, I’ll draw a name & the winner gets the book I’m going crazzzzyyy over…
Wild Goose Chase!!
It’s a short week and kids are getting out of school for the summer, so I will draw the winning name on Sunday morning.
How fitting does this book seem in my life right now.I'm always on a wild goose chase-I call it being a dork for God.My newest one- An adoption book. Yep. I want to talk to you about it too.
Sounds great! Have you read Crazy Love?? Another fantastic book on radical Christian living.I'm with you- passionate about adoption, Africa, orphan care, my family and Jesus!!!Still can't believe we are going to be having all of these conversations in person in a few short weeks. How much fun will that be???
Just finished Crazy Love. I also read Just Courage about a year ago. Really motivational books. The trouble for me is merging my life with my passion. I'd like to sell it all and move away, but God hasn't called us to that right now. So, the quest is to do what I can right now with what I have. Wow – that was more than I meant to write. I meant to say – I'll have to read that book too 🙂
My husband, children, God, adoption, Africa :)I will have to look into that book.love, Lenka
(from Kim Gillman)Okay so I didn't bite on the mom story – I couldn't think of one but…. after reading your post I knew I could tell you one of my main passions right away. It makes me sad, mad and glad all at once! It's educating others on the abuse and neglect of children. I know…. hard topic. But, I myself come from a history of abuse and neglect. At a very early age I found fear – way earlier than any child should ever have to experience. All due to alcoholism. Domestic violence reeked havoc on our family and as a kid I was frustrated as to why no one ever stood up for my mom and her two kids. Why everyone stood by with their mouths shut and their eyes closed. I wont go into details but I struggled for years with the effects of the violence. The minute I stepped foot on a college campus I knew my mission – it was to be a voice! A voice for children who could not speak for themselves. A voice of education to others to use their voices for children who were afraid. Today I am a VOICE! I spend my time educating those on how to help families in crisis, how to help children who are being compromised and supporting the creation of safe environments for children. While it's not always easy I love sharing my story with those who care for families and children b/c I know they walk away changed. People leave hearing my voice and the voice of so many others saying "help me!" My story urges them to speak up and speak for children and I know that b/c of it there is a child who will be safe and a family who might not experience what we experienced. I am sad for the things I went through and the things so many other children go through in this world, I am mad that we are in a world of violence and that children are not treated with respect and love, I am frustrated that families in crisis have no one to turn to and feel isolated, but I am glad that I finally have a voice and most important I am passionate about being another's voice! And… without a doubt I am thankful my Lord has turned my ashes to beauty – he creates great things out of our hurts and pains! There you have it – my wild goose chase… or at least one of them. Seems adoption and the life of children living alone in this world has become another for me 🙂
I thought about this all day yesterday. What am I passionate about, besides the obvious-adoption. What drives me and brings me closer to my Lord? What gives me the feeling that I am doing what I was CREATED to do? It's hard to answer that right now. I live in a Veggie Tail, poopy diaper, slobbery kisses world, and I love it. But passion seems like a far away place that I once visited but can't seem to find the time to explore. Then I realized that passion can just be what you're in love with and good at to the point of giving others joy and peace.I am passionate about FRIENDSHIP. I don't have much time, but what I have I give to my friends. Nothing hurts me more than judgement, the feeling that I am not accepted for the person, and the personality that God gave me. I strive to accept all of my friends and those I meet as WHO THEY ARE, nothing more or less. Some days friendship is a hug to a neighborhood mom who's struggling with her marriage. Others its calling those who have failed court to tell them "I've been there. I love you and know you're pain. HOLD ON!" Today it's forgiving and loving my best friend, my best husband, and choosing to let go of my need for justice. And still, the most important friendship is the one I often neglect. The best friend I can make is with the ONE who created me to be me, the ONE who drives me to be better for my friends, the ONE who knows me inside and out and loves every inch.My passion is friendship, with others, for others, because of the ONE. Kim
(from Andrea Kidd:)Kari,I missed the last contest so I surely did not want to miss this one! Here goes:I get Wild Goose Bumps when I CLEARLY see and feel God working His magic in my life. Sometimes, only sometimes, does God show us a "full circle" event in our lives fairly immediately. When this happens, there is nothing that can compete with the awe and the all over feeling that the Spirit is alive within us and giving us "Godly goose bumps".At the start of our adoption journey, my husband and I made our request for a healthy infant girl from Ethiopia. We knew the rate of HIV and also made the decision for our family that this was not the path we felt He was leading us down to our daughter. Fast forward many months of emotion, paperwork, emotion, waiting, emotion, confusion, waiting, emotion and more waiting. We were SO ready for "the call" (anyone not in adoption world- this is the moment the agency calls you to tell you you have a baby). The expectation leading to this call is really something movies could be made of, or electricity could be powered by. So, one day the phone rang, with our agencies number. When I heard that we had a potential referral, my first thought was- why am I not freaking out (anyone who knows me, knows I freak out easily-yelling crying, laughing, etc.). Something in my soul was not reacting. I even said, "Duni, hold on I think I should scream or something". She laughed and told me to wait that this was a special call and a special situation. O.K., I listened intently…………..they had a beautiful baby girl named "K" and she was doing very well and was very strong, but she was HIV+. They went through the list of those waiting, talked to social workers, etc. and chose our family to offer her referral to as they thought we could handle this medical situation well. Wow, I didn't know what to say, this was not what I was prepared for and I was in shock. All I kept thinking was that this didn't make sense. I can't explain the heart-ache and emotion that my husband and I went through the next several days praying and crying and asking the Lord if this was His wish for us. If this was our baby girl, I DID not want to pass her by or not follow God's plan for my life just because of her medical condition. We already had our hearts opened to the HIV+ children in Ethiopia, so this was so difficult. Maybe God was calling us to this mission and how horrible if we did not respond. All I kept feeling was that my mommy soul and heart was not responding, I feared if we waited too long we would mess up her REAL mom getting to her. We told Duni to go ahead and offer her file and referral to others, we did not want to hold things up, but we needed much more time to pray and decide. As I cried during this conversation, I told Duni the only way I could describe it, "When you called me it just didn't make sense to my mommy heart, I pray that this will make sense to another mom, but it isn't making sense to me". The Spirit was so strong in me on this and there was no denying it. We prayed for "k" for months, praying that her mom and dad would find her. My heart broke thinking about how long it would take for her to be adopted, if ever since she was HIV+.
….the rest:)Then one night……… I was on the phone with a dear friend who was also adopting from Ethiopia when she had mentioned her good friend (who she went on a missions trip with and who was with our agency) was in Ethiopia picking up their daughter. I was mad!! There was only one other family ahead of us for an infant girl and they had not even gotten their referral yet!! What was another random family doing there getting a baby girl!!! I told her she must be wrong and she laughed and said, go to their blog, you'll see. As she gave me the address she began by telling me that the baby's name was……….. "K"!!!!!!!!! I almost fell off of my chair, and screamed "THE HIV+ BABY!!!" My girlfriend was upset and confused as no one was supposed to know this child was HIV+. The family had asked her not to share this, she was so afraid she had told me by mistake. I explained my story of how I knew about his beautiful child and all she could say was to go read their story. I go to the blog and the first picture is of a mom holding a tiny 8 week old baby, next picture, same mom with "K". Apparently on the missions trip my friend and this mom went on months prior, this mom fell in love with a baby at an orphanage. She had all her friends take pictures of her with this baby. They told her not to get too attached that she was only at the beginning of her process and would never be matched with this baby. Fast forward……after we told our agency to tell others about her, they sent out an e-mail to all families describing her situation. This family decided to move forward as they were in a great situation to take care of her medical needs. When the family opened her file, the mom immediately recognized the baby as that baby she fell in love with many months before while on that missions trip!!! My final words to Duni rang SOOOO true. It didn't make sense to me, and I prayed it would for another mom. Well, it obviously did!!!! The comment below the second picture I saw was "You were always meant to be ours". All I can say is GODLY GOOSE BUMPS!!!Love ya!Andrea