These last two months have been months were I have realized once again how short life can be and how we never know when God is going to take us to heaven to be with him. We think we know our plans for our future but God is the only one who really knows.
At the beginning of April my Grandma was taken to the hospital and the Drs. told us she had had a heart attack. She was in the hospital for a week and it was a very scary time for my family. She is doing much better but she still can’t go out a lot and gets very tired easily.
Also at the end of April we found out that our sister in law, Charmaine’s mom, Judy had passed away suddenly from a heart attack. The news was shocking and devastating to the family. Travis and I went to the funeral to be with family and it was a very emotional time. We are very thankful that Judy knew Christ and loved Him and we know that she is up in heaven with Him and that one day we will see her again. That gives the family peace. Charmaine has had an amazing strength and it has been inspiring to see her faith and trust in the Lord during this hard time.
Just after the funeral I went up to spend time with Charmaine since my brother in law works away from home during the week. It was great to be able to spend that time with her. During the day while Charmaine was at work I was really able to focus on things I needed to do. I took a couple of books with me and read them to prepare me for my speaking engagement in November. Though I am still nervous about speaking I was really encouraged by one of the books I read. It made me realize that a lot of other people that are or were well known speakers also had fears of getting up in front of people. Even Luther had fears but he preached because he was ordered directly to do so.
In May I was also able to go with the youth from our church to “Overflow” which is a conference that is for youth that happens every year. Rich Wilkerson who is the nephew of David Wilkerson spoke and he was very powerful! He really challenged the youth but he also spoke to my life. One of the things he said which goes along with my fear of speaking in public was “Run to the things that scare you. If you’re not scared then you’re not relying on God.” During this weekend I was also able to talk to some of the girls that I was staying in a room with. They all shared similar things they were going through and we were able to talk openly about their struggles and what they can do about them. Since we have been back I have been in touch with these girls and they have shared what God did in their lives through Overflow since we talked. One girl shared with me “I’m totally happy I went to Overflow it opened my eyes and my heart to so many new people and things that God has set me to do and now I’m really excited for the future of things.”
Another exciting opportunity has come up for me. 🙂 I have been asked to speak at Urban Promise in Toronto on July 21st. Urban Promise is an organization that was started by Dr. Tony Campolo and works to create safe environments where children experience nurturing care and attention during the critical hours for inner-city children. In July they will be studying Jesus as the truth and so I have been asked to go and share my testimony. I will be speaking to ages eleven to fourtenn but these kids are very street wise and older then most kids their age. Please pray for me as I prepare and go down to the city to share with the kids how Jesus has been the truth in my life.
Once again thank you to all of you for supporting me in all the ways you do! I have really appreciated the encouraging emails and letters I have received from you that are full of wisdom and truth.