Ah, the annual beach trip with Dad's family is always such a blast! It got kinda late for blogging tonight, so rather than post a thousand individual pics, I just made a whole bunch of collages....that'll have to do. :)
{What are we gunna do with him?}
{Every morning while the sun is rising, all of us kids take a walk on the beach with Dad .... Done it ever since I can remember :) }
Are any of you wondering about this week's post yet? Well, I guess I need to start from the beginning.
What about here?
I'm pretty sure it started back when my siblings and I were praying for our little brother, Ben who was living in an orphanage in Novokuznetsk at the time. From what some of our friends have related about life in a Russian orphanage, and the stories that Mom, Dad, and even Ben later on brought back with them, my interest in Russia began.
{Ben's baby home}
When Ben first joined our family back in 2005, I used to wonder if there were any caretakers (they are predominately female there) in the orphanages and baby homes that actually took time to love and nurture the kids. After Benjamin had learned to speak some English, he would tell us that there had only been one person in the whole place that was nice to him. - the cook.
I used to think that it would be such a cool thing if one day a Christian woman could go there to be one of the caretakers to the kids just to show them the love of Christ and be an advocate for them. But while I thought of it as being a super good opportunity, I never really stopped to consider that it could possibly one day be myself.
So, not too long ago, I was getting frustrated just trying to decide what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I thought, "everybody else has that one thing that they are good at and enjoy doing, and I haven't found mine yet!" Nothing I came up with interested me enough to say, "That's what I want to devote the rest of my life to!"
. . . until one day . . .
Mom made a suggestion that changed the whole course of my thinking. It basically took the focus off of me, and reminded me of the direction I should have been focusing on all along - servanthood. I immediately thought back to my vision of having a Christian caretaker placed in the orphanages of Russia.
That kinda got my wheels turning, so I told my College Plus coach kinda what I had been thinking, and she made the brilliant suggestion to look into possibly one day starting my own non-profit organization - something along the lines of Compassion International to where you set up sponsors for individual kids to give them a future so that they don't go back out on the streets, have more kids, and start the cycle all over again.
So where do I go from here now that God has given me a unique purpose of my own? Well, I am going to be starting some Russian language classes this year, look into a Russian missions trip for my Senior year next year, and do some major researching! :D
This all might seem a bit sudden and out of the blue to you, as it does to me somewhat, but my parents have been very faithful in teaching me that if there is an opportunity that presents itself, I can not just automatically say "yes," "no," or "I can't." Instead it involves prayer, seeking council, and beginning to take steps of faith - then allowing God to direct my path.
We will see where He goes with this one!
{I'm excited!!} :D
~ Proverbs 16:9 ~
. . . .
{Just a head's up, I won't be able to blog next Tuesday as my whole fam will be at the beach . . . YAY!!!!!}
Yes, I know I skipped last week's post, but I think I had a legit reason...
Last Tuesday at this time, Mom was having a pretty big surgery done, so obviously blogging was out of the question for the day. :)
Thankfully, everything went super well, and she is recovering nicely ... not to mention, we are eating like kings and queens here with all of the meals everyone is bringing us now ;) ...so grateful!
~
From week to week when I find that it's time to blog again, I can't seem to find a lot of inspiration for the next post. I've already mentioned this, but I am not a writer at heart - so while I don't want to be the next random girl who decides to post a bunch of fluff and stuff on the internet, the truth is, sometimes that's simply the easiest thing to do without having to write much and still maintain a good following!
God definitely knew my and many other people's tendencies to do this when he inspired Matthew to write:
"I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
~Matthew 12:36-37
. . .
So what, I can't blog for fun anymore? ....everything has to be sentimental and "Bible-versie"?
Not necessarily.
The last thing we need is more sentimentality, and so many of us use the whole Bible-verse thing, not for the encouragement of others or to make Christ look good, but so that others will think that we are better or more "spiritual" than we really are. I know, cause I've done it too! So what's the point, and what's our motive is what I'm trying to say here.
This post is just a reminder to both me and you to make sure that whatever we do, it has a purpose, and that that purpose - IS CHRIST.
Anybody can put hundreds of pictures and write thousands of cute, random posts on the the internet, but what really stands out, is when you use all of that God-given creativity to build His Kingdom.
. . .
Within the last week, I finally caught a glimpse of what my life purpose could look like, and how I could share it with all of you on Devoted Daughter.
Obviously, my ultimate goal for this blog is to "Glorify God and Enjoy Him" through my writings, but going even deeper than that, He has been faithful in giving me my "mission," so to speak.
I am so excited to share that with you, but hey! That leaves me with a great topic to pick up on next week, now doesn't it? I'll give you a hint though:
Подумайте России
...and speaking of building His Kingdom, here is one of my favorite music videos right now. Can anyone figure out what instrument this guys is playing?? :)
