The Gift I Never Asked For

As I reflect on this year of 2013, I can't fathom how much has happened.

My dream became a reality in February when we raised enough money to open and operate Hope for Life home in Swaziland.  My heart was overflowing when my family--Mom, Garret, and Laura-- experienced my second home for themselves over the summer, and they fell in love with my Swazi children as well.  It is so refreshing to finally have people close to me know why my heart remains in Swazi.  When I returned from the summer, my sister became my roommate as we moved into a house together on a little farm.  She has blessed me so much with her cooking and kindness, but mostly just her presence.  I am blown away by the incredible class of new freshmen that entered my life in September.  They have truly captivated my heart.  In addition, my basketball girls continue to be a love of mine, as I strive to make them not just better athletes but better women, too.  And the list goes on...

While there is much to be thankful for and many lessons to identify, there is one in particular that stands out: the never ending battle of what our society calls "singleness."

     

I wished for nothing more than to be "saved" from my singleness.  However, (though most of the time it's hard to see it this way), I've realized that singleness is by far the greatest gift I've been given.  Because I am not devoted to or consumed with one individual, I have been able to share my heart with more people than I could have ever dreamed.  While my greatest desire still is to be married one day and have kids of my own, I've grown this past year to accept that marriage is not the end goal, as society had once told me.  Marriage is not the key to contentment or happiness or satisfaction.  Marriage is not the cure to loneliness.  Singleness is not a punishment or bitter trial.  Singleness does not mean you're not good enough.  

Singleness is a gift--a beautiful gift that this world has twisted and turned into something ugly.  Singleness does not mean something's wrong with you, and it doesn't mean "freedom," as culture also states.  Singleness is an opportunity of a lifetime, literally.  It is a chance to live in humility and servanthood, to take on the characteristics of a spouse in all different areas of life, serving different people, not just one.  (Now, I'm not saying that once you're married, you only serve one person; but the nature of the situation is exactly as Paul states in Scripture--a married person has a divided heart because she is called to serve her spouse/family.) I wish more people would see singleness as an opportunity to change the world, to be saved THROUGH singleness rather than trying to be saved from it.  

My desire for my husband and children will always be a part of me and will never go away; however, a my deeper purpose outweighs it.  I hope to change the world.  Because this has been my goal and the way I try to serve the Lord, He has blessed me by seeing the fruit of my labor through my singleness.  I would not have accomplished even half of these dreams had I been in a relationship or even married like I thought I'd be.  There is no way I could devote as much attention, compassion, and time to my students if I were in a relationship.  The mission overseas would be crippled or even non-existent had I tied myself down too early.  My heart would not be this big if I dove into relationships of the past that would stunt my growth.  

My singleness has multiplied my mission and most of all my heart, and that is why it is the greatest gift I never asked for.   

Rebuilding the Ruins

Proof that God's plan is far greater than our own.

The parallels between Hosea's Heart and Awakening Coffee are astounding, and the point at which we have crossed paths could be dictated by no one but God.  Partnering with Awakening Coffee seemed to come from far out of left field, but to God, it was just another link in His puzzle.  The Good Lord knew what we needed, before we even knew we needed it.

Meet Cherie: a wife, a mother, a teacher, a volunteer at Awakening Coffee, a young woman whom I met in college at UW-L.  Cherie and I are both English teachers and had several classes together throughout college.  At the time, we were more of aquaintences and I would have never imagined we'd be friends this many years later.

Cherie has always been interested in my work in Swaziland, but I never thought much of it...until this summer that is.  While I was in Swazi, Cherie contacted me about this coffee shop called Awakening in Winona, MN.  She had asked if we, as Hosea's Heart, would be interested in having their partnership.  They needed an answer or a confirmation from us, but caught up with the daily life in Swazi and limited internet, I read the message and let it slip my mind without responding.  When I returned home after the summer, I remembered the email and thought we had missed out on an opportunity.  That was far from true.

Cherie contacted me again and told me she didn't need my confirmation, that she had already received it from God.  When I finally met with her to hear her story and see how they could help support Hosea's Heart, I was in a complete state of awe.

One night, Cherie's husband, Ben, felt the Lord telling him to take Cherie up to the bluff to watch the sunrise the following morning.  When morning came, Ben woke up his less-than-happy wife to a misty, dreary, early morning.  Of course the weather would try to get in their way, but Ben wouldn't let it.  So he and Cherie watched the sunrise together, anticipating something or some reason for why they were up.  All that happened was different cloud formations, but at one point, the clouds formed a clear lion, mane, mouth open and everything--a clear lion.  Not thinking too much of it, the two went on about their days.

When Cherie returned home after work, she went to her Bible for devotion time.  As she was thumbing through it to find Jeremiah, she flipped her Bible open to a page in Hosea.  At the top of the page, the very first words she read were: "the Lord who roars like a lion."  Immediately, Cherie hit her knees in amazement.  "God couldn't have spoken any clearer!"  She knew right then that Hosea's Heart is what God was telling her to support.  Furthermore, the verse she opened to finishes with "And I will resettle them in their homes, says the Lord."

Now meet Al and Danielle:  Al and Danielle own Awakening Coffee and are two incredible people called to be missionaries right where they are.  Listening to the Lord and following in obedience led them to radical things, including Awakening Coffee.

Al and Danielle never had any desire or intention to start Awakening Coffee, but the Lord had called them to it.  In fact, the Lord initially called Al to buy a run down bar.  He had no idea why in the world he should buy a bar or what in the world he would do with it.  But God tends to work in mysterious ways, and Al followed in obedience and bought the run-down bar.  The place, in ruins, needed to be rebuilt; it needed extensive work, and Al and Danielle and no money or means to pay for it.  With a miraculous loan from a banker and God's provisions through people at just the right time, they were able to turn a bar into something beautiful--a coffee/cafe/ministry center.

The greatest parallel to our missions revolves around the idea of "rebuilding the ruins."  We rebuilt a house into a home for girls in Swaziland, Al and Danielle rebuilt a bar into a mission center.  Another neat connection is "from trash to treasure."  The girls at our home in Swazi collect bottle caps and we turn them into beautiful necklaces.  Most of these caps are from beer bottles, another connection to the idea of transforming the old bar.

The last connection is with my sister, Laura.  While in Swazi this past summer, Laura talked about a dream of hers would be to start her own coffee shop where she could bring over the girls from Swazi to have them train and work and learn job skills at the coffee shop.  This is her heart in being able to bridge these two worlds together.  It just so happens that Al and Danielle were looking for someone just like Laura, so they hired her as the assistant manager!  We are so excited and eager to see how God continues to grow both of these two ministries in the upcoming years!