Xapa to the World – Page 19

Xapa to the World

Short Story – Gladys Aylward
I found this in the book I’m reading, Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood compiled and largely written by John Piper and Wayne Grudem. As you can expect with those two authors, I’m still wading my way through the Foreward…and what a trove of treasure in those few pages.

I have, for a long time, enjoyed reading about some of my favorite women of the faith, especially missionary women, and especially those who have worked in the field while single. These are primarily Amy Carmichael (India), Lottie Moon (China), Elisabeth Elliot (single for a time after her husband Jim died and missionary in Ecuador, to the people who murdered him), but I keep forgetting about Gladys Aylward, missionary to China. I haven’t read too much of/by her, but this little story makes me want to raid my personal library for her bio that I know is in there somewhere. The story is related by Elisabeth Elliot in the Elisabeth Elliot Newsletter:

She had been a missionary in China for six or seven years before she ever thought of wanting a husband. When a British couple came to work near her, she began to watch the wonderful thing they had in marriage, and to desire it for herself. Being a woman of prayer she prayed – a straightforward request that God would call a man from England, send him straight out to China, and have him propose. She leaned toward me on the sofa on which we were sitting, her black eyes snapping, her bony little forefinger jabbing at my face. “Elisabeth,” she said, “I believe God answers prayer! He called him.” Then, in a whisper of keen intensity, “but he never came.”

I will not close a door that God may be keeping open, but I am no longer trying to force it to remain open. It can do as it wishes and I will be content to stay on this side of the wall until God gives me a reason to go through it. And the peace of that is amazing.
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October 8, 2010
NightLight
NightLight International.

Check out this great site/organization, rescuing women from exploitation in the brothels and bars of Thailand and giving them skills and industry to maintain a life of freedom. Some of the jewelry is a little expensive, but how much should freedom cost?

“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” Isaiah 9:2

NightLight is an international organization committed to addressing the complex issues surrounding trafficking and prostitution by catalyzing individual and community transformation. NightLight’s vision is to offer intervention to sexually exploited women and children, to enable them to discover their dignity, and to provide a program of holistic transformation, empowering them to live and work in their community.

NightLight’s mission is to build relationships and provide hope, intervention, rescue and assistance to women and children exploited in the sex industry by offering alternative employment, vocational opportunities, life-skills training and physical, emotional and spiritual development to women seeking freedom. NightLight builds support networks internationally to intervene and assist women, men and children whose lives are negatively impacted by the sex industry.

In Bangkok, Nightlight operates as a business (NightLight Design, Co. Ltd) and a non-profit (NightLight Foundation). In the United States, NightLight operates as a 501c3 with branches in Los Angeles and Atlanta.
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October 5, 2010
Lyrics: “Love, Where Is Your Fire?” – Brooke Fraser
Love, where is your fire? I’ve been sitting here smoking away
Making signals with sticks and odd ends and bits, still there’s no sign of a flame
Imposters have been passing, offering a good-feeling glow
But I’m holding out for what you are about – an inferno that burns to the bone
Some urge me to be temperate, lukewarm will never do

[CHORUS]
‘Cause I, I wanna (know I’ll) blaze with you
So I’m holding my heart out to you
Holding my heart out

So I stand, handing out torches
speaking words that are lamps to their feet
‘Til the time when you come an I’m whole and we are one and the fire in me is complete
Some tell me to be moderate but lukewarm will never do

[CHORUS]

[BRIDGE]
Then a doubt comes to lie at the back of my mind
That I’ll offer you me and you’ll politely decline (politely decline)
So I hasten to mute it, I’ll shout and rebuke it – “away!”

————————————
I’ve listened to this song many times, but this morning it just spoke truth to my heart. I love the ways God chooses to illuminate.
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October 5, 2010
Quote: Mother Teresa
I love Mother Teresa quotes. She has had some great ones over her life. One of my favorites is:

I know that God said He’d never give me more than I can handle. I just wish He didn’t trust me so much.”

I just found this one in my perusings of the blog for Love146, a child trafficking abolitionist project : love146.org (you should check it out, seriously…like, now)

I have found the paradox that if I love until it hurts, then there is no hurt, but only more love.

The fear of pain and exposure when loving someone is often a deterrent to continue in loving them. But this is so true, that you go through the pain and find on the other side the love to cover up the memory of that pain and to continue on. I mean, what could be a greater representation of God’s love than that?
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October 4, 2010
Poem: The Moon-Cloud
September 24, 2010

The moon,

Like a rice wafer in the sky,

So light it seems almost like a cloud

To be blown away by a sigh.

Round, defined, translucent,

Like a dream just after waking –

Fading into the pale blue sky of morning –

Soon to be forgotten

With the dawning of the day.

Sarah ><>
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September 24, 2010
We All Married the Wrong Person (via Marriage Gems)
Couples in crisis often reach the point where they decide they are just two poorly matched people. This precedes the decision to leave the relationship and go in search of that “right person.” Unfortunately, the odds of a successful marriage go down for each attempt at a new marriage. Psychiatrist and author of The Secrets of Happily Married Men and The Secrets of Happily Married Women and The Secrets of Happy Families, Scott Haltzman, MD, says i … Read More

via Marriage Gems
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September 10, 2010
Protected: Since the Return (An Update)

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C.S. Lewis and Friends Blog
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So, I’ve had this dream for a while: to have a group of readers called “C.S. Lewis and Friends.” Actually, it’s not really just my dream. It is a brain-child of a group of friends of mine discussed several years ago. The primary draw at that time was the t-shirts we planned to make and wear, but I digress (The book club we never had but desperately love).

I’ve really wanted to have something like a book club relating to C.S. Lewis books and other like-minded or not so like-minded authors. However, it is next to impossible to gather a group of people together at the same time for multiple weeks to read one book, let alone an infinite number of books. So, like a bolt from heaven, a thought came into my mind: Why not a Book Review blog?

Not such a unique concept, by itself, but hang on for the kicker. I can’t read all these books myself, and many times, when I finish a book my only response is, “Wow, that sucked.” or “Wow, that was great!” I’m sure that could get boring real quick. So, my idea is to use your brains a bit by inviting you to write on a blog YOUR thoughts after you’ve read such and such a book. I know…I’m obsessed with the blogging thing, but I’m pretty jazzed about this idea.

The one question that came into my mind was, “What if I don’t agree with what someone is saying?” Well…that’s why they’re called opinions and I really don’t care what someone says (vulgarity excepted) so long as a discussion can be started. The great thing about WordPress is that you can have multiple authors on one blog. (I’ve never seen this on a blog-site before…but then again, my experience with platforms is limited.)

So, what do you say? I know I’ve got some super-smart people out there who like to read. I know that I’ve got some not-so-smart (wink) friends who have had some very smart responses to books and would willingly enter discussions on them. Let me know if this is something you may be interested in. If you are, AWESOME! I will jump for joy and get right on setting it up. If you aren’t, I will scrap the whole idea and be thrown into the depths of despair for years to come. If enough are, I’m sure that one or some of my particularly artsy people would be able to come up with a super-cool banner for the blog (and, yes, maybe even a t-shirt!)

God bless ya!

Sarah ><>
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September 2, 2010
End Modern-Day Slavery in the United States | Pepsi Refresh Everything
This is, by far, my favorite abolitionist group ever. Please, please, please, PLEASE go vote for them in the Pepsi Refresh 50K grant! They are great and amazing and wonderful, and I love them. I don’t have much else to say. 🙂

End Modern-Day Slavery in the United States | Pepsi Refresh Everything.
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September 1, 2010
Pebbles For Thought Newsletter August 2010
Hey everyone!

Our church is putting out a newsletter sharing about the building process and activities for The ROCK, our community outreach center. If you’d like to sign up to receive the newsletter by email, you can email me here.

You can read the current newsletter by clicking the following link. Enjoy!

Pebbles for Thought Newsletter August 2010
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August 31, 2010