Through my Eyes

"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the  Lord's favour and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve In Zion - to bestow on them a crown of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair." Isaiah 61: 1-3 This is my prayer for the most vulnerable around the world. God is reviving the world and will continue to; bringing hope to the lost and the broken. I am thankful for the blessing of living in Canada, but I know that I am not simply to sit silently while the most vulnerable live being oppressed and broken down! My calling is bigger then that!

These last few weeks, I've been thinking about my mistakes and my past.  I've done and said things that I'm not proud of.  I've been feeling a lot of shame and guilt over that. I think somehow I thought that coming back from Africa, I would be perfect. I would have everything figured out and be good to go. However…thats not the case. I came home from Africa completely transformed and a new person but that doesn't make me perfect. I still make mistakes and I still have to kneel before the Father and ask for His forgiveness and thats a hard thing to admit. God never said that He would make me perfect coming back from Africa..what He said is that I was transformed and love by Him Throughout this whole transition, the main thing that God has been revealing to me more and more is that I am His. I am adopted into the family of God and nothing can separate me from the love of God. How amazing and freeing that is? Romans 8:31-39 says,  31  What, then, shall we say in res

I've been back from Africa for just over 7 weeks and I still am unsure of what to feel. In one way it feels like I was just there and in other ways Africa feels like such a long time ago - even though it wasn't. Since returning, it's been extremely challenging. I've struggled with a lot of guilt over spending money and how we live in Canada. This has consumed me. It's extremely challenging finding the balance between living in our western culture and living in a way that is honouring to our Father and the children in Africa, but hey I asked God to continue challenging me right? I've asked God to continue to break my heart for the things in Africa, but also for what is happening here in Canada. Returning home, I've found it difficult because my heart would love to still be in Africa and I hope to return in the future yet God has been challenging me to trust in Him. Trust that He has placed me in this season of my life for a reason. Trust that He knows exactly

It feels surreal to be home. I feel like I am a visitor in the place that I grew up in. I feel as though I am only in town for a few weeks and then will be heading home but that is not the case. I miss Africa so much already that it physically hurts. I miss the people, the culture, the natural beauty, the smell, the dust and the way that everything that we do is community based. I know that its only been 3 days and that it will only get more challenging but my heart aches. Of course I am excited to see my family and to get to know them again, but I can't hide the fact that it is challenging. Despite that,  I have chosen to trust God in the tough seasons. I have made the conscience choice to follow God and surrender my worries and expectations to Him even though it is one of the most difficult things that I have ever had to do. I've surrendered my expectations of what life will look like in Canada and I've surrendered my expectations of people because if I don't it will

After 13 months of serving in Africa, I will be returning home to Canada. It will be a huge time of transition for me as I adjust to living back in Canada and as I start attending university to complete my social services diploma. As I contemplate what going home looks like and my feelings about that, I wrote in my journal my thoughts, my tears, my prayers, my joys, and my laughs from this past season of my life. I wanted to share an excerpt of my thoughts as I begin this next season!  As I begin to think about going home and as I start packing up my life I don't think the fact that I am leaving has hit me yet. Even though I had my big goodbye this morning, I don't think its hit me that in 4 days I will be on my way to Johannesburg - leaving the place that has been home for the last year - and then on to Zambia. I don't think its hit me that in 4 weeks time I will be waking up in my room back in Canada, thousands of kilometres from the my home. I wonder what are the thin

If I said that the last few weeks have been only a little bit busy that would be a major underestimate. At the beginning of June, I prayed to my Father that He would give me an adventure in my last two months in Africa; that I would see more of Him. About two weeks later, I found out that I was being given the opportunity to go to Swaziland for three days. Of course, I jumped at the chance to go and see more of the beautiful continent that our amazing Father created. I had one day to work in the office and then I headed straight into the young leaders camp that happened over that weekend. The day after the camp finished, I headed straight to Oshoek to say my goodbyes to my community family, as it as the last time that I will see my family for a significant period of time. Since returning home from those crazy two weeks, I have been busy in the office catching up on work and starting to say 'see you later'  to the individuals that have played such an important part of my life o

Last year, Maranatha Workshops were held in each of our communities across Africa. In it's literal translation, Maranatha means “Come Lord Jesus Come.” That is exactly what took place. God came and He did what He needed to do in the lives of the care workers. The key leaders of Hands came to realize that in order to help heal the wounds of the children and eventually the primary care givers, we had to help heal the wounds of the Care Workers first. The Care Workers can’t properly love and care for the children, if they are still dealing with the inner wounds that they had as a child and still endure now. The reason being is that these Care Workers were once the children that they are now caring for. What the Care Workers want is to love the children and be able to play with them and properly care for them, but that is inhibited by the lack of healing and restoration that has taken place in their own lives due to the trauma that they have experienced as a child or even as an adult.


In the past month and a half, I have been doing a mix of different things, ranging from going out into community as a part of the RST and as well spending the majority of the week in the office as a part of the communications team.  One of the main things that the communications team had been busy with was the International Office Celebrations, that took place in the middle of May.  It was amazing to get to be apart of that and hear all about what is happening in the International Offices and to hear their struggles, and challenges, but also the exciting news as well. Aside from that I am still on the communications team, which I absolutely love, and on the RST one day a week. The RST (Regional Support Team which supports the Service Centre who supports the community) Days often vary. Some weeks I am out in community and other days I am in the office helping out in whatever way that I can.  I recently had the privilege of going back to Sthobela, Oshoek to visit my community s

I realize that I haven't posted anything for over a month and for that I apologize. The reason, if I'm allowed to give one, is that I haven't been sure what to post. As I was thinking I decided that I would share something that I has been challenged with lately and that I had the opportunity to share at one of our weekly meetings last week.  
Last week, Tuesday, I had the privilege of sharing at Ladies Prayer. Ladies Prayer is a time where the ladies come together to share the things that have been on our hearts lately and a time to pray together and bring those things to the foot of the cross. There is a typically one lady that facilitates each week. Anyways, I had the chance to share with the group something that had been on my heart for the last few weeks. I shared about the Art of Surrender. I'm going to share a brief excerpt of what I shared below: 
 Surrendering is so hard. Every time that I think that I've surrendered my struggles to God, they some

I've realized over the last several days that I never posted a blog showing where I actually live. I thought that it was about time for a picture blog with brief captions explaining where I live, who I've met, and what I've seen. I'm excited to give a snapshot of what my life looks like. I've learned a lot over these last 9 months about who I am, my flaws (which at the time was hard, but looking back I'm so happy I learned them - cause now I can grow which is always important), and I'm learning more about my Heavenly Father than I ever thought possible. I've uploaded some photos of where I live and the people that have so captivated my heart: I decorated my dresser with pictures from home to make it feel more like home My view whenever I eat breakfast!  Some of the wonderful children in the community of Share, South Africa Look at these beauties… So in love!!  Aren't these clouds magnificent? 

As I sit in my room contemplating what to write, I am conflicted. I am conflicted because although more than a month has passed since my last blog past I feel as though nothing has changed, and yet I also feel as though so much has happened. As I debated what to share, I came upon the conclusion of sharing on my most recent community stay. It is fresh in my mind and I am fresh with emotions revolving around the poverty that I see and experience on a daily basis.  The poverty that I am surrounded by never ceases to overwhelm me. Whenever I go into community and look around at the children with tattered clothing, runny noses, cuts, scrapes, protruded stomachs from a lack of nourishment, my heart shatters more every time. It never becomes easy going into community and seeing poverty. I don't think that anyone can every become ammuned to it. When I think about poverty, I question how it can exist when the western-world in comparison is so wealthy. I think about my home which is a