The Word

I know that I say this a lot, but I so often feel like the things I am learning and are really sinking in for me are such a cliche. I have been in church my whole life and heard the stories my whole life, but every day it seems to come more and more alive. For so long, I have felt like I could say, "ya, ya, tell me something I don't know" ... it felt cold and boring. But. Over the the past few months, I feel like my soul is coming alive. Ginny Owens (have you heard her music? Go take a listen if you haven't. So powerful, such good lyrics.)  has a song on her newest album where she talks about her soul coming alive. She talks about how she was in the dark and now she is coming alive. I feel that way lately.

I have always known that I should read my Bible ... to be a good Christian and to grow in my relationship with the Lord, I need to have a quiet time every day. I also know that in Psalm 42:1 it says, "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God." And so, over the years, I have had my quiet time and I have trusted that longing for Him in this way was possible, but not felt its reality for me. To be honest, I just assumed that it was something that was possible for the psalmist or for other people, but not for me. I have loved Jesus and trusted in His goodness. I have known His love and His comfort. But His Word was not something that was alive for me. 

About six months ago I was talking with a friend who was reading through the Bible chronologically over the year (I love you, Reagan). I loved that idea and decided that next calendar year (2018) I would start doing the same. I didn't want to start in the middle of the year because that would mess up the daily checklist (anyone else feel that checklist need?). So, instead I decided to start at the beginning of the Old Testament, at the beginning of the New Testament, and to read a Psalm and a Proverb every day. At first it just felt routine. It also felt like a lot of reading. But somewhere along the line, and I'm not sure where, it changed for me. I started having a hunger to read more and grow more. If I had a chance to read, I pulled out my Bible instead of pulling out a book, not because I was trying to do the right thing but because I wanted to, because I wanted to read my Bible instead of read a book. Say what? Who am I? What has happened to me? People. The Lord has come over me and shown me that His word is incredible, and alive, and such a ridiculously amazing story. He has also shown me that it is all so interwoven ... each part needs the other parts. I was reading last week just in the Old Testament because I was so engrossed in the story of it all. But the weight of the law started to get me down ... and I realized that I needed to go to the New Testament for awhile because that's where the HOPE is. He is all the hope and all the love. 

And so, I feel like a cliche ... maybe that's the wrong word. But, I feel silly saying to you, "GO READ YOUR BIBLE", because that's what people said to me my whole life and it felt so stagnant. But, it isn't. He isn't. He is alive. His Word is alive. He is speaking to you, to me. He is loving us, challenging us, asking us to make hard choices, to love big and listen in. He loves you. Pick up His Word and ask Him to show you, to give you that soul that pants for Him and His word, to help your soul come alive. You won't be sorry. 

- Katie

Snakes

So. If you follow me on Instagram, you've heard this story. And if you live near me, you've heard this story. BUT. If you don't do either one of those, then you NEED to hear this story. I cannot stop thinking about it. And praying that it NEVER EVER happens again. Like ever.

First thing you need to know is that I have pretty much gotten accustomed to all types of bugs and critters and insects in my house ... cockroaches, ants, moths, scorpions, mosquitoes, you name it, we have them in the house and even in our beds. None of these things even phase me anymore. So ya. But this, this is another thing altogether. And just, no.

It was 8:30pm at night. I was on my way over to my neighbor's house, using the back door of my house. We have a regular door and a screen door. I opened the first door first. No problem. I open the screen door, WHAM, a SNAKE fell from somewhere on the door and LANDED ON MY ARM. People. On my arm. I was standing in my house. Inside my house. The snake fell onto my arm and then onto the floor and then crawled into the house. Into my house. Where I was standing. In my house. I may or may not have freaked out. It didn't look like just any ordinary garden snake. It was black and had yellow stripes. I try to avoid snakes at all cost, including any knowledge about snakes, so I had no idea if it was poisonous, but I had heard something about how black on yellow kills a fellow and I was definitely seeing black on yellow ... just NO. Did I mention it was on my arm? Inside my house? Oh, you got that? Ya. Needless to say I ran the opposite direction and called for Peter. He trapped it with the broom and asked me for a knife. I obviously brought him all the knives, because of afore mentioned arm and house. He thankfully and very bravely cut off said snakes head. And now, I will have nightmares about snakes forever ... so, maybe you'll pray for me too? That I will never have to touch or have a snake in my house ever again. 

(I have since been told by some that this snake is poisonous and others have assured me that it is not ... not sure who to trust, but still happy that it's no longer in my house.)

- Katie

His Incredible Love

          Late last week my neighbor very kindly reminded me that I haven’t blogged in quite some time (thanks, Jordan J). But she is right.  I am due for a blog post. It’s not that I haven’t had anything to say. It’s not that things aren’t happening and moving. The thing is, blogging feels tricky to me these days. The longer we are here, the more this place becomes home and the more these people in this corner of the world are my people. I live here. I work here. I love here. I can honestly say that I am coming to love it here. It has been a long journey for me to arrive at that point, but I can say now after 3 years and 9 months that I love this place. Living here now just feels like life. And people here are my friends. How do I write a blog post about my friends? It feels invasive somehow and not respectful. But. We serve an incredibly big and incredibly awesome God. And He is worth writing about. He is worth sharing about. He is worth SHOUTING about. Praise. You. Jesus. So tonight I write about him and shout his glory.

Have you ever had an experience that just blows you away, that renders you speechless? We have been attending a church started by missionaries that meets in the school building where I teach. It was started by missionaries but is currently being run by an incredible Honduran couple who moved into our area as missionaries of sorts from the country's capital, Tegucigalpa. Their lives shout Jesus and we are so fortunate to work alongside them.

The church is a mixing of different people who have come to Bible studies led in the community and have decided to follow Jesus in a committed and faithful way. It is really amazing to see how the church has grown up. Because it is the result of these Bible studies in different communities, the people come from towns all along the coast. We help give people rides home after church.

Today after church Peter told me about the baptism that was happening and that the people who were riding in our car wanted to go to the baptism first before being taken home. To be completely honest, I didn’t want to go. Our girls have been sick, I’ve been short on sleep, I had a lot of work to do at school to prep for the week, Peter had some ministry stuff happening in the afternoon and I just wanted to go home and rest for an hour before starting our afternoon. However, I didn’t feel like we could say no, so we went.

We got to the beach and I saw the man who was being baptized. I had not met him or seen him before though I had noticed him in church because he had a scarf up around his neck and head. This seemed strange to me because of the heat and because scarves are usually reserved for women. When we arrived at the beach and I saw his face, I realized why he had a scarf. He has some sort of disease that has been eating away at his face. He had what looked to me like a hole in his face. I have never seen anything like it before in my life.

He is currently a patient in our hospital. He is from someplace up in the mountains of Honduras. He went to see a different doctor at a different hospital about a year ago. They did some testing and came to the conclusion that he has leishmaniasis, a parasite that eats away at your skin. Over the past year, the treatment they prescribed has not been working so he has come to our hospital to see if we can help him. We (and by we I mean the amazing doctors we have here, not me) have done some testing that has not been conclusive and are currently in the process of sending away for more testing so that he can get the help that he needs. He faces the very real possibility of having this disease for the rest of his earthly life. But Jesus. Today, today, he received the best treatment he could ever receive. He received Jesus: his salvation, his love, his grace, his forgiveness.

This man is in so much pain. Can you imagine? Something is eating away at your skin, your face, making it difficult and next to impossible to eat and talk? And you know what he was saying through the baptism? “Praise Jesus. My sins are washed away. Praise Jesus. My sins are washed away.”

I am undone. Jesus. Life is so hard and so full of pain. But Jesus. Physical pain. Emotional pain. Heartache. Loss. But Jesus. If that man can praise and thank Jesus, so can I. Jesus. You are good. You are faithful. In the midst of life, the good, the bad, the pain, I will praise you. You, Jesus, only you.

- Katie

It was a typical call night. Rainy. Muggy. It was 7o'clock at night and I got called into the hospital right in the middle of putting the girls to bed. I had been on call every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday for a month straight and it was getting old. I rode my motorcycle down the hill thinking, "Great. Some over-concerned mother is bringing her two month old because he is acting strange. How strange can a two month old act? All they know how to do is eat and poop." I arrived at the hospital and began checking the kid out.
The baby boy was very small for his age, but that was all I could find. His mother said that he had been in a hospital in San Pedro Sula for the last month. She said that he was born there and at first was unable to breathe on his own. They had just discharged him, two days prior from coming to our hospital. I asked her what her concerns were. He had no fever, no GI problems, nothing that I could find that was wrong. She said that he had not eaten well two hours prior for his last feeding. I asked her to feed him and he seemed to feed without difficulty. The mother was very concerned and I thought it would be easier to admit him for the night and do labs in the morning to make sure he was ok than it would be to send them home. I wrote the admission orders and got them tucked in. I drove my motorcycle back up the hill, but less than half an hour later, I was called back to the hospital because the baby had stopped breathing.
Six different doctors were helping me. Dr. Isaac helped me figure out the diagnosis. We came to the conclusion, after talking more with the mother, that the baby was having apnea and bradycardia of prematurity. We breathed for the baby for several hours and he seemed to recover. I had never dealt with this before; I had never even seen this before. In the United States babies who are born this way are not allowed to leave the hospital until they have a week free from apnea and even then, they are sent home on an apnea monitor.
I was never so happy to see Dr. Judy, our pediatrician, as I was that night. She is very familiar with this problem and the treatment. She got to work building a bubble CPAP machine from oxygen tubing and physics. In no time at all, this baby was doing better.
We had multiple set backs, including a collapsed lung lobe and likely pneumonia, but Judy helped me limp this baby back to health.
I was embarrassed that I had no idea what was going on with this baby and that I almost sent him home to his sure death. I was really thankful that God had placed such great people around me and for the timing of this little boy's respiratory arrest. Dr Judy came and brought him to my room and I didn't recognize the little guy. He was huge, with a full head of hair and so active I was astounded that this was the same itty bitty boy that was so tiny his brain hadn't learned to breathe yet. I felt really humbled that God had saved this kid.
I have been humbled multiple times this last month at how powerful God is. He controls time. He controls the timing of everything. His timing is perfect. This precious baby had been born at 27 weeks gestation.  He was discharged from the hospital and lived at home for a day before he came to our hospital and stopped breathing. He was admitted because his mom knew something was wrong. Dr. Isaac is here and helped me make the diagnosis. Dr Judy is here and saved his little life. the hospital is here because Dr Jeff and his family moved here to build it. I am here because you guys have supported me. All of this is Gods timing, his perfect logistics.
He has you where you are in the position you are and with the influence and abilities you have because you are perfect for the role HE wants you to play. He is in control of time which means He can take His entire focus and put it on you since the second you were knit together in the womb. He won't ever stop and He will never leave you, because He has the time to do it. Live today knowing that the most powerful being ever has made time for you, every second you exist.

- Peter