Lizzy's Footprints

Love is the most complicated thing.  It's a concept I'll constantly be trying to wrap my head around.  It is the reason behind everything.  We celebrate Easter and good Friday, knowing the reason why Jesus died on the cross and saved us from our sin is that He loves us deeper than can be fathomed.  In 1 John 4:19, we discover that we love because Christ first loved us.  The hardest thing to do is love but to love is also the easiest thing to do. Recently I've discovered some amazing things about love.    Distance makes the heart grow fonder.  Whether the distance is physical, spiritual, or both spending time away from the ones you love in some strange way only makes you love them more.    To let go and let God, is a pure kind of love.  When you are able to do hard things for the ones you care about you experience a new depth to love.    A broken heart is a blessing.  In order to have a broken ...

For many years I have felt like God has been playing this big joke on me.  He created me very people oriented and then placed all my people hundreds of miles away.  I've struggled with but also thrived in my long distance relationships.  I've had relationships that have formed entirely over long distance and relationships that simply continued to be long distance after meeting at a camp or on a mission trip.  In the beginning, these friendships taught me the importance of being a prayer warrior, and how prayer can bring people closer to one another even miles apart.  To this day the long distance relationships that support my life are the best gifts God has ever given to me.  As I started to complain to God about my relationships all being long distance, He gracefully reminded me that everything He does is done for a reason. Distance is physical, not spiritual.   Distance builds spiritual strength.  I've come to reali...

I walked into God's presence today.... I heard the ground praise.   I saw the plant trust. I watched as the dust served. The water showed me how to thirst. The wind taught me how to breathe. My eyes saw His grand beauty  My ears heard the earth praise  My nose smelt the wonder of God My mouth fails to express the glory He deserves My hands felt the detail in His creation This week the earth taught me how to worship.  In all that nature does it praised God.   I got lost in my wilderness.  While I'm not like the Israelites and I haven't been wondering in a literal wilderness, I found myself wondering through life.  Just like the Israelites I was paying attention to all I didn't have and not the blessings that were constantly being poured on to me by Christ.  Instead of being in awe that God was giving them manna daily and providing water through rocks, they spent there time looking for the things that weren't th...

"What is love?"  This question circulated my thirteen-year-old mind, and for years I've tried to understand love long enough to write a post about it.  The question circulates the world around us in songs and movies.  Often all of us say "I love you" to family and friends without even thinking about what we are saying.  We also say that we love food or love sports.  The overuse of this four letter word has filled its meaning with confusion.  What is love?  If we do not know what love is, then how are we to love? No matter who or what we are loving, love gets messy.  Love is passionate and often all-consuming.  Love is both the basis of good and evil.  We use the word love when other words just don't quite fit the bill for the levels of emotion we are feeling. Our first problem in understanding love is realizing that there is only one word in our language for love.  You could use like or adore, but they aren't the...

The day has come.... the world will finally have me in the realm of "adults."  I've never felt more like a child.  It has been in the days and months leading up to my adulthood that I have been most reliant on my parents for support and discipline.  I've also been more reliant on my heavenly father than I have ever been.  I've made my biggest mistakes and lived missing people 24/7.  As my age tells me, I am an adult, and I've never wanted to be more like a child. I've done a lot of stupid things over the years, I've made tons of mistakes.  As I have gotten, older my mistakes have lost the innocence factor that they once had.  Most of the time I even give myself a bop on the head for making stupid mistakes.  Recall when you were young, and you made a mistake but you know it was in the most adorable way possible.  Then your parents had this mental battle going of reacting to your adorability and punishing you.  I miss bein...

Here is a short update.... Today was our sleep in morning!  I got to lead morning devotions which were very nice.  We had a guest for breakfast which was nice.  He told us about different things from the community and his own personal story.  Then we did the leadership webinar and our team split up into groups.  Each group secretly completed a challenge and my group actually won!  It was a good bonding experience.  Then we all went to jump off the bridge.  After lunch, we went on our way into another Haitian community.  I have absolutely loved doing bible and food distribution! Now it is evening free time/ dinner prep.  Some people are playing cards, some are playing magic and overall the house it very loud. I love you all so much and can't wait to tell you all every detail and story!

I can not believe that it is already Thursday.  We spent our whole day in Blackwood today.  Many of us taught ESL, played with the children, and did food/bible distribution.  Personally, I was on the food/bible distribution team.  I can't even put words to how amazing it was to get to talk to the adults and truly experience the culture.  Even though there was a major language barrier with some of the Haitians, overall it was amazing to talk to each of them.  Praying for them and asking them how we could pray for them personally brought such sweet smiles to their faces.  One of the ladies towards the end even jumped for joy at receiving a bible in Creole.  Walking through praying over individuals and handing them food brought so much peace to my soul.  My heart broke for all of their different situations but getting the opportunity to listen to them share their personal struggles and prayer request is what strengthened...