Author Archives: amamiot

About amamiot

My family and I are missionaries in Costa Rica. Before that we lived in Mexico and before that we came from Minnesota. I am a teacher, an artist, a "journaler", a quilter, a cooker, a baker, a hostess, a mom, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a friend. I like reading and watching movies (ehem, and quoting movie lines). I would love to be in a Jane Austin movie but I don't know how to ballroom dance or play Whist.

Indescribable God

Standard

We are guilty of thinking too much of ourselves and too little of God.  Expand your perception of God and your perspective on all your problems will change.  Your problems are very, very small in the indescribably large hand of our very, very big God.  After God spent 4 chapters “asking” Job if he understood the world and the universe, Job knelt humbled and speechless before God.  Who is like our God?  No one!

Job 38:4-33

“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone—
while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels[a] shouted for joy?

“Who shut up the sea behind doors
when it burst forth from the womb,
when I made the clouds its garment
and wrapped it in thick darkness,
10 when I fixed limits for it
and set its doors and bars in place,
11 when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;
here is where your proud waves halt’?

12 “Have you ever given orders to the morning,
or shown the dawn its place,
13 that it might take the earth by the edges
and shake the wicked out of it?
14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;
its features stand out like those of a garment.
15 The wicked are denied their light,
and their upraised arm is broken.

16 “Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea
or walked in the recesses of the deep?
17 Have the gates of death been shown to you?
Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?
18 Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?
Tell me, if you know all this.

19 “What is the way to the abode of light?
And where does darkness reside?
20 Can you take them to their places?
Do you know the paths to their dwellings?
21 Surely you know, for you were already born!
You have lived so many years!

22 “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow
or seen the storehouses of the hail,
23 which I reserve for times of trouble,
for days of war and battle?
24 What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed,
or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?
25 Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain,
and a path for the thunderstorm,
26 to water a land where no one lives,
an uninhabited desert,
27 to satisfy a desolate wasteland
and make it sprout with grass?
28 Does the rain have a father?
Who fathers the drops of dew?
29 From whose womb comes the ice?
Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens
30 when the waters become hard as stone,
when the surface of the deep is frozen?

31 “Can you bind the chains[b] of the Pleiades?
Can you loosen Orion’s belt?
32 Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons[c]
or lead out the Bear[d] with its cubs?
33 Do you know the laws of the heavens?
Can you set up God’s[e] dominion over the earth?

 

 

Is God Enough?

Standard

About a month ago I heard a sermon about the woman at the well (John 4)  and I can’t stop thinking about her.  Jesus takes time to talk to a woman who was really messing up her life, and I identified with her… not in the exact same way, I mean, I haven’t had a string of husbands and adulterous relationships.  Jesus met her at the well during the heat of noon when thirst was a natural conversation starter.  He pointed out the fact that her life was like a dry, empty well.  She had a deep, emptiness in her that she was trying to fill with relationships.  That’s what caught my attention.

One night while sitting on my balcony watching the city lights, the Lord started to speak to me about that gaping emptiness inside of me too.  Sometimes I feel loneliness as a tangible force.  Like the woman at the well, I throw things into the yawning abyss to try to satisfy the ache.  I circle around Facebook searching for “human” connection.  I browse the internet reading blogs and news articles just killing time until I can sleep because it’s better than sitting here listening to the beating of my own heart.  Distractions.  For some people the distractions take the form of music, work, sports, TV, video games, going out night after night, or worse vices like addictions.  We all have an ache we can’t fill.  We all should be able to identify with the woman at the well.

As I pondered what the Lord was showing me, I felt him say, “Let me fill you.”  He said that to the woman too.  ”Let me fill you with Living Water so that you will never again thirst spiritually.”  I hesitated.  He asked me, “What are you afraid of?”

“Lord, I’m afraid that you won’t be enough.”  I have not found anything yet that is enough.  So I felt like if I give up my stop-gap measures, the dam will break and nothingness will come rushing in like a vacuum- sucking me down like a black hole.  I looked up at the stars.  Somehow by pondering the bigness of the Universe and the smallness of me, everything was put in perspective.  I am small.  My emptiness, though it feels big to me, is nothing to God.  I am guilty of constructing a very small view of God.

Things in the Universe are so far away, so large yet so spread out through the vastness of space, that we use something called a Light Year to talk about distances.  A Light Year is how far light can travel in one Earth year.  The magic number is 5.88 trillion miles per year- that is a Light Year.  Scientists have calculated that the edge of the “known” Universe is 98 billion Light Years away from Earth.  So if you could travel at the speed of Light for 98 billion years, then you would come to the edge of the what we think we “know” of the Universe… and it most certainly expands farther than that.  Feeling small yet?

Think about this, the Bible says that God holds the whole Universe in his hand- that he measures the sky with the palm of his hand.  So if you could travel 5.88 trillion miles per year for 98 billion years… you might reach the edge of God’s hand.  “Do you still think I’m not enough?”  God asked me.  I lay down my arguments in humble awe of His Greatness.  Like Job, I am speechless in response to His Majesty.

If you want more awe inspiring thoughts about our Universe, watch this YouTube video of Christian speaker Louie Giglio.

100 years of Walking with Jesus

Standard
Just a reminder that today’s story is a repost from my Facebook page from last Sunday.  If you don’t want to read it again, just come back on Thursday.  I’m cooking up a good one!
Sunday in church there was a woman who was 106 years old. I didn’t notice this tiny little white haired woman until the pastor drew our attention to her.  He asked her to tell about when she met Jesus. I couldn’t hear the first part very well since she didn’t have a microphone, but basically when she was a preschooler someone taught her the verse about Jesus saying, “I stand at the door and knock…” and told her that she needed to forgive her enemies. Those are deep concepts for a preschooler.  But she asked Jesus to come in to her heart and has been walking with Jesus for over 100 years!
I wanted to scoop her up and hug her.  My husband asked me, “Do you really think she is over 100?  She doesn’t look like it.”  I reminded him that his own grandma had turned 100 last summer and she still looks the same as ever.
I think this was a wonderful inspiration for all the children’s pastors and Sunday School teachers and nursery workers out there. Those little ears are listening!  You might not see the fruit of your labors, but your reward in Heaven will be great.

Teaching Prostitution to 5th graders

Standard

I knew that title would catch your attention.  OK, I know that several of you readers are also my Facebook friends, so you might recognize today’s story and tomorrow’s.  I am building up to a really good post on Thursday, so if you are bored with rereading my stories, come back on Thursday for a new one.  Thanks Friends!

So I made a teacher mistake the other day.

When we talked about the Bible story of Joshua and the city of Jericho, I deliberately did not say the spies hid at the house of RAHAB THE PROSTITUTE because I didn’t want to explain prostitution to 5th graders. I just called her Rahab. But I forgot when we got to the story of Ruth and Boaz. I told them that Rahab the Prostitute was Boaz’s mother.

This was the following conversation:
“What’s a prostitute?”

“Um, someone who sells themselves” (as I try to move on as quickly as possible.)

“You mean like sells their hair or donates blood?”

“Not quite. Someone who takes money to sleep with someone for one night… like a husband and wife sleep together.”
Blank looks on their faces.

“Why would someone PAY MONEY for THAT?”

“Well, people pay money for all kinds of crazy things.”

Then one boy bursts out in revelation, “OHHHH Now I understand Jack the Ripper!”

Now the Bible lesson was down the toilet. I gave up.  I pulled out my computer and we started watching NASA youtube videos.  I was totally up for a distraction at that point.  Hey kids, look what happens to a wet washcloth in space!  I can’t believe I haven’t gotten any phone calls from horrified parents yet.  If they do call, I’m going to refer them to the family that taught their kid about Jack the Ripper!!  Yeesh!

Celebrate The End

Standard

This week we finished our almost-3-year process to get our permanent residency visas here in CR… which must be renewed in a year and a half.  Yes, that’s right.  You thought you knew the meaning of the word “permanent” but you didn’t.  It really means permanently standing in lines to pay more money.  However, we did it!  I can’t believe that it’s finally over.  I think that has been a prayer request on nearly every newsletter that we have sent out in the last few years.  Now we can celebrate.

steakWe did a combination Mothers’ Day (in America) and Visa celebration last Sunday.  After church we went to the next city over and enjoyed a very rare treat:  Outback Steakhouse.  We have a few American restaurants here, but they are so freaking expensive that they are for “Birthdays only” in our household.  It had been over a year since we had gone to Outback, so we were giddy with anticipation.

I particularly like the Blooming Onion (don’t tell me that it has a million calories.  I already know and I don’t care.).  When we lived in Mexico we went to visit friends in the center of the country.  They had an Outback there too.  I was looking forward to the Blooming Onion for weeks before our visit.  My mouth watered as I ordered it.  Twenty minutes later the server came back out and said, “Sorry, we don’t have any onions right now.”  I just about beat him up.

My point is, it is good and right to stop and celebrate when you accomplish something huge like this.  Celebrating is practically ordered by God in the Old Testament.  Have you read how many feasts and holidays the Jews had in the Law?  I don’t know how they got any work done.  God wants us to celebrate our victories and to remember them with anniversaries and festivals year after year.  Celebration is good for the soul.  It reminds us that God is good and life is not always bad.  It keeps us from feeling like a victim all the time.  And it helps pull us away from our future goals and plans long enough to focus on the past successes and present joys.  God orders us to celebrate!

We have so much to celebrate in our lives.  This weekend, take some time and make a list of all the things that you can celebrate.  Think of successes.  Think of victories.  Think of hard things that you survived.  Think of benchmarks and landmarks and goal posts and mile stones that you have achieved.  Take time to celebrate your Wins with Thankfulness to God.  It’s good for your soul.

Photo credit: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/anotherpintplease/3258810983/”>Another Pint Please…</a> / <a href=”http://foter.com”>Foter.com</a&gt; / <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/”>CC BY-NC-SA</a>

Hold You?

Standard

Every morning when my alarm goes off at 5 a.m. I breathe these words before my feet roll out of bed, “Lord give me strength for today.”  I wake up in pain and there’s nothing I can do about it.  So it’s best to forget about it and get on with my day.  But I ask for help from my Father God.  He slowly infuses me with the energy and strength I need to make it through today.  He has taught me to be thankful for my weaknesses because they force me to rely on Him more.  

He has promised to help me when I call on Him.  And He’s glad to do it!   He is drawn to weakness because it is the white canvas on which He paints His beautiful pictures of mercy, grace and bounty.  With Jesus, I have enough.  With Jesus, I can do today.  Tomorrow I will ask for more, but today He will give me enough of what I need right now.

A friend of a friend posted this on FB the other day.  I liked it because it is how I view my walk with the Lord.  I grow weary as my little legs pump twice as hard as His long strides.  I ask him to hold me.

Hold You?
The other day I was watching a friend’s little 2 year old daughter. We went for a walk down to a nearby swing set so we could play. As we walked down the street, this little gal’s chubby fingers clasped my hand as she took two steps for every one step I took. She trotted along like this for sometime, chattering on about “swing” and “mommy” and “mammie and papa” and “birdies”.

Then she inquisitively said these two sweet words, “Hold you?”cute

She was tired. She was weary. The sun was shining, she had exerted all the energy her little legs could muster.

Her question was simple.

“Hold you?”

“Do you want me to pick you up?” I asked her.

“Yes.”

I picked her up and began to carry her on to our destination.

Today Jesus will do that for me. I am tired, I am weary. The sun is shining, I have exerted all the energy my little heart can muster.

My need is simple.

“Hold You?”

And He picks me up and carries me to our destination.

big hand

“. . . in the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place.” Deut 1:31

Photo credit: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/hanaan/1243333807/”>hanaan</a&gt; / <a href=”http://foter.com/Kids/”>Foter.com</a&gt; / <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/”>CC BY</a>

Photo credit: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/asam/432194779/”>ArloMagicMan</a&gt; / <a href=”http://foter.com/Kids/”>Foter.com</a&gt; / <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/”>CC BY-NC</a>

 

Mission Accomplished

Standard

The scriptures say that when David had completed all that God planned for him, he died and joined his ancestors.  Sometimes we are surprised when death comes to someone young, or someone who appears to be doing everything right.  But the Bible makes it clear that there is a time for each of us to die.  It is not a random thing, nor is it preventable.  The Bible says we die when we complete the mission that God has made us to do, whatever that may be.

This should be an amazingly liberating idea for a Christian.  You can basically do that whole Matrix thing around bullets if it’s not your time to die!  This should essentially set you free of all kinds of fears that might have held you back before.  But sometimes there is actually a purpose to the WAY and TIME that we die.

Lately, a friend of mine has been posting updates about another missionary who is dying of cancer in a “closed country”.  Stewart and Bev* have worked for 20 something years in this hard place, and not one person has been saved.  They spent years traveling into the interior of this country, ministering among the lost, yet no one has responded to the message of Salvation.  They just plodded along faithfully, loving people and hoping that the message was coming through loud and clear.  Then Stewart was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

As they prayed together, the family felt that the Lord was telling them to “live out this death in the eyes of your neighbors.”  So they began to make preparations for Stewart to die in that country.  When they heard that Stewart was dying, the people in the interior where they had ministered all those years asked the family if they would move in with the tribe and allow Stewart to be buried where they live.  The family was deeply touched by this, but it would be impossible without government permission for a foreigner to be buried in the land.

That same day, a lawyer for the tribe came to the house to consult with the husband and wife.  ”Let me take care of everything.  And is there anything else you need?”  He asked.  They needed to transfer the title of their vehicle into Bev’s name so that the government would not seize their property once Stewart died.  The lawyer agreed to handle that paperwork as well.

Within a few days, the family received permission to move to the interior, buy a burial plot, and for Bev to keep the car. All their concerns had been handled with minimal stress on their part.  Now they could focus on dying well, as God had commanded them.  Even as he grew weaker and weaker, Stewart continued to receive visitors.  They would sit at his bedside, sometimes talking, sometimes crying.  They marveled at Bev’s peace and strength in the face of her husband’s failing health.  They began to ask Bev about the source of her peace.  The door creaked open.

Women who had been cautious about the foreigners brought food and sat with them in their grief.  One woman confided to Bev that her husband had passed away that year, and she was so angry and scared.  She asked Bev how she could be so calm and strong.  Bev shared her source of strength and offered peace to the woman.  The door swung wider still.

The family contacted the grown children and asked them to come home to say good-bye.  The children left college to return to the mission field.  The village people surrounded them with love, like members of their own family.  The children are comforted as well as being a comfort to others.  Stewart is living out his death in front of the community.

Precious is the death of the Saints in the eyes of the Lord.  This is a homecoming with a purpose.  No one knows the kind of impact that Stewart’s death will have in this closed, barren mission field.  But there is a purpose, and there will be a harvest of souls.  A peaceful and strong Christian is powerful in death.

*Names have been changed because the country is a Muslim country, closed to missionaries.

Digging Deep

Standard

Once upon a time we were in Youth Ministry at a church.  A young couple that worked with us as youth leaders got pregnant and had a baby.  A few months after wards, it became apparent that something was not right with the little girl’s health.  After months of medical tests, they discovered that their baby was suffering with profound genetic defects and there was no hope for a cure.  She was given just a few months to live.  They signed a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) medical order and took their daughter home to enjoy the last few months of her life.

We prayed like crazy during those couple of months.  We prayed for a miracle.  It did not happen.  When their smiley little baby died, we were stunned and hurt.  We all said the awkward, unhelpful things that people say when friends experience such a tragedy.  None of us knew how to help them grieve.  We were all in our early 20′s, and none of us had the wisdom nor the life experience to know how to handle this kind of sadness.  They retreated into their grief and we stood ineffectively on the sidelines wanting to do something, but doing nothing more than providing a few meals and pitiful sympathies.

At the funeral for their baby girl, the grandfather gave the eulogy for this young life taken far too soon.  I wondered how he found the strength to do it.  But he said some of the most beautiful and life impacting words that I have ever heard.  I’ve never forgotten them.  He talked about foundations.

On his morning commute through downtown, he would drive past an entire city block fenced off with barricades indicating that construction would soon take place there.  As the weeks passed, the buildings that were on the site were demolished.  Heaps of rubble were hauled off the site.  Then the digging machines were brought in.  For MONTHS they dug the hole deeper and deeper, preparing to lay the foundation for the future building.  As the hole got bigger and bigger he wondered what kind of massive building would be built there.

As the months passed and the sky scraper began to take form, the grandfather pondered these things in the light of the impending and certain death of his first granddaughter.  At the funeral he said, “When God lays a foundation, he has to dig deep.  We wonder what kind of structure he will build here.  The deeper he digs, the bigger the building will be.  In order to build something massively ‘upward’, you need to take the time to prepare the ‘downward’ part first.  The deeper God excavates our lives, we can be sure that He plans to build something very big on the surface, but he has to dig first.”

I have no idea if the family even remembers this eulogy spoken through the haze of their pain, but it has stuck with me for all these years.  I think about it when I feel like God is tearing down and digging out too much stuff in my life.  I thought about it when we let go of our life and possessions and family to move to the mission field.  I cried for the pain of the deep digging, but I wanted the results of God’s construction in my life even more than I wanted the rubble I gave up.  The bigger the blue print for the building, the deeper the hole for the foundation.

If God is digging really deep in your life, hauling out a ton of dirt and making a really big hole, then he plans to build a really big structure with your life.  We are the temple of God.  Does our foundation go deep?

A Letter to Friends who are Gay

Standard

I have posted before how I am proud of several of my Christian Facebook friends who are breaking the stereotypes that the world holds concerning Christians.  Recently I read this post by a friend of mine and fellow missionary.  Normally this woman cracks me up with her wit and humor, but today she made me wish I KNEW some friend from high school who came out of the closet just so I could say these kind words to them.  (I actually keep in contact with so few people from then that it’s just pathetic and sad.)  Catherine, you make me proud to be a Christian… the kind of Christian who can extend loving friendship to someone who is gay even though we don’t agree about everything.

Having grown up in the Twin Cities where there is a large gay community I have worked with and gone to school with many people who professed to be gay.  I generally have found them to be delightful, creative and witty people (pardon my stereotyping).  They always know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am indeed a Christian, but I have always tried to show that a relationship with Jesus was not a political position nor a social weapon for shunning someone.  But my relationship with Jesus gave me the FREEDOM to love someone outside of my “tribe”.  

Jesus ate with tax collectors, prostitutes and other shunned people from his time, much to the dismay of the religious leaders.  A real follower of Jesus will do the same- reach out to those who need a friend regardless of their lifestyle.  This does not mean I condone their behavior, it is still sin, but I am deliberate in extending my friendship to them by following the example of Jesus.

odd

Dear old friend from high school that I just learned is gay,

Dude! How’s it going? So, I stalked you on facebook. The snoopy part of me sees bits of your profile, and I have pieced together that you’re gay. I have wanted to “friend” you. I want you to know I remember that nebulous cloud of high school where I was half asleep to the things that really mattered, and more focused on emotionally surviving my day. I wish I had been more bold back then, but everything in it’s time… If you look at my profile, you’ll see that I’m a Christian. A missionary, in fact. You would laugh if you knew the detours I took along the way. I hope that doesn’t bother you. You’re gay, and I love you, like you even.

We’ve all changed since school, but I think we would both fondly remember moments of being with someone and you didn’t have to try so hard. You could just be. I was grateful to you for those reprieves. We laughed a lot. Sweated a lot. (it was the desert after all.) We had acne together that the beautiful people magically avoided. We weren’t goth and we weren’t quiet grunge. What were we? We were awkward together. We dabbled in the more creative electives, and perhaps nerdy pursuits. I remember not feeling like I fit in my own skin. I wish I could go back in time and tell us we were beautiful.

So I’m a Christian and you’re gay. We won’t agree on everything, and maybe we don’t have to talk about everything. But you’re still my friend and I still treasure you. I promise not to hit you over the head with a giant Bible, (until I am overcome by love and concern for your soul, that is. I can only hold it in so long, you know.) But in the meantime, I would only say you are deeply, deeply loved by your Creator. He sang a song of delight over you as you were purposefully formed. And…I still like you. (Not like-like, just like, don’t get all vain.)

Now don’t you think that sounded just like how Jesus might sound?  At least he sounds that way in MY head.  Yes, Jesus says “Dude” in my imagination.  But more importantly, wouldn’t Jesus be the first one to say, “I still like you.”?  I think he would.

Photo credit: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomasleuthard/7186832081/”>Thomas Leuthard</a> / <a href=”http://foter.com”>Foter.com</a&gt; / <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/”>CC BY</a>

Kisses from Katie

Standard

I don’t recall having ever been moved by the Forward of a book before.  But here it is.  These are the first few paragraphs from the book Kisses from Katie about a 19-year old girl who moved to Uganda and become “mother” to 14 orphans and ultimately to the entire village.  I’m just starting the book and I’m already moved.

eyes

“People who really want to make a difference in the world usually do it, in one way or another.  And I’ve noticed something about people who make a difference in the world:  They hold the unshakable conviction that individuals are extremely important, that every life matters.  They get excited over one smile.  They are willing to feed one stomach, educated one mind, and treat one wound.  They aren’t determined to revolutionize the world all at once’ they’re satisfied with small changes.  Over time, thought, the small changes add up.  Sometimes they even transform cities and nations, and yes, the world.

“People who want to make a difference get frustrated along the way.  But if they have a particularly stressful day, they don’t quit.  They keep going.  Given their accomplishments, most of them are shockingly normal and the way they spend their time each day can be quite mundane.  They don’t teach grand lessons that suddenly enlighten entire communities; they teach small lessons that can bring incremental improvement to one man or woman, boy or girl.  They don’t do anything to call attention to themselves, they simply payattention to the everyday needs of others, even if it’s only one person.  They bring change in ways most people will never read about or applaud.  And because of the way these world-changers are wired, they wouldn’t think of living their lives any other way.”  ~Forward by Beth Clark.

That inspires me.

Photo credit: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/noxstar/3072400338/”>Espen Faugstad</a> / <a href=”http://foter.com”>Foter.com</a&gt; / <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/”>CC BY-NC-SA</a>