Life.
Never simple, never perfect, never crystal-clear. We never have everything we want, we never have all the people we love within hugging distance, we never have all the money we think we need.
And yet, through it all, there's God. God. My miraculous, loving, omnipresent Father, never leaves me, never deserts me, never walks away.
My God offers me tough times, times to fully rely on Him, times where I have no other choice but to lift my hands up to the stars and say "God, this has to be You, because there's no physical way I'll be able to do it on my own."
"Blessed to be a blessing." What a great theme for a school year! Here at Concordia, the focus, at least for the first three days, has been that quote. We've heard some wonderful speakers, one on her own mission trips this summer, one on how "genius" simply means helper, and that we can all be geniuses. But they all tie in: How blessed we are to be blessings.
That turned my thoughts to Russia immediately during the first two days of chapel. How blessed I was to be a blessing to the children and the patients who I reached out to! But tonight, I was reminded of my own belief in witnessing where you are, where God has put you.
So many people who I know and love have come to trust me with their issues, their ups and downs in life. How blessed I am, to be approached and trusted by friends who are struggling. As I prayed with a friend tonight, we finished up and did what any two confused and wandering girls would do: held each other and cried. Not necessarily totally out of sorrow, but maybe because when all the emotions in the world get mixed together, tears are the result.
When we had finished, she said "I'm sure that God has sent you tonight to help me." What a powerful, wonderful, and totally moving statement. That's when I remembered, "blessed to be a blessing." I am blown away by the number of times God uses me, as I said earlier in my Russia journals, to reach out, to be the hand at the end of His arm. All the glory to God! I praise Him and thank Him for the wonderful friends I have, not only to reach out to and to pray with, but who I know, in a heartbeat, would do the exact same things for me, when I need them.
God the Father has truly blessed me, continues to bless me, on a daily basis. I can not express, in words, how amazed I am at His constant love, His never-ending mercy, His compassion that extends further than I can ever understand. I look forward to the day when I can sing about His grace and love and wondrous might forever in heaven.
Blessings on all that you do!
(And may you be "blessed to be a blessing.")
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Saturday, August 25, 2012
So Much Junk
Every time that I pack, be it for a short vacation with my family, a week with my dad, a summer at camp, or a year at college, I always have to look at the things that I've piled together and say to myself, "Holy guacamole, I've got a lot of junk!"
For some reason, I always pack more than I need. Freshman year was a sad example of that... I moved into my first dorm ever and realized that I had brought childhood dolls, clothes for the wrong seasons, enough pairs of shoes to cover the British army's feet, and enough pillows to make another bed out of. I recanted my dolls and let my mom take them home to be stored away, but everything else I kept, mostly because "I just don't know when I'll need it!"
I have to look at this as some form of insecurity. Why is it that people, (mostly girls, for some reason,) can't seem to let go of worldly possessions? Girls like to shop as a past-time. (Guys, if you're out there and like to shop to kill time, I'm not judging. Just stereotyping.) We end up socializing with each other and coming home with way more than we can afford, let alone than we need. And yet, at least for me, I keep going back, keep shopping on the internet (which has really become too easy of a way to spend money, in my opinion,) and the "junk" that keeps getting boxed up every school year continues to grow.
This summer, God opened my eyes to so much need, in the eyes of Russian orphans, Santa Fe homeless people, RFKC children. These people have all been given a life, a chance. And either life's been more cruel to them than the average person, or they've thrown it away. No matter what the case may be, they're still needing, still worse of than I am.
Those faces all crossed my mind as I was packing up my things, as I was looking in dumb-struck awe at the number of boxes I had piled up, things that I was going to need to fit, with the help of a miracle, into my side of a dorm room. I tried to pick out things that I didn't need, didn't use, and that, let's be honest, would never probably leave their hangers again, at least while in my possession. Even after I cleaned out all these unnecessary things, here I am on pack-the-car day, and my mother's cross-over is packed with the "big things", and I'm in the process of filling my tiny Dodge Neon with what's left, praying it will all fit.
I'm not trying to look down on people who have materialistic things, because I know that many of us (including my own self!) not only have them, but treasure many of the things we have bought or been given. I simply mean to reflect on how much importance we place on things that, in reality, will mean nothing, absolutely nothing, once we are able to gaze upon the loving face of our Savior in heaven. Glory be to God, who gives us Jesus and his ultimate sacrifice so that we have something, something so incredibly precious, to look forward to other than boxes of clothes and Disney movies. ;)
Blessings on all that you do!
For some reason, I always pack more than I need. Freshman year was a sad example of that... I moved into my first dorm ever and realized that I had brought childhood dolls, clothes for the wrong seasons, enough pairs of shoes to cover the British army's feet, and enough pillows to make another bed out of. I recanted my dolls and let my mom take them home to be stored away, but everything else I kept, mostly because "I just don't know when I'll need it!"
I have to look at this as some form of insecurity. Why is it that people, (mostly girls, for some reason,) can't seem to let go of worldly possessions? Girls like to shop as a past-time. (Guys, if you're out there and like to shop to kill time, I'm not judging. Just stereotyping.) We end up socializing with each other and coming home with way more than we can afford, let alone than we need. And yet, at least for me, I keep going back, keep shopping on the internet (which has really become too easy of a way to spend money, in my opinion,) and the "junk" that keeps getting boxed up every school year continues to grow.
This summer, God opened my eyes to so much need, in the eyes of Russian orphans, Santa Fe homeless people, RFKC children. These people have all been given a life, a chance. And either life's been more cruel to them than the average person, or they've thrown it away. No matter what the case may be, they're still needing, still worse of than I am.
Those faces all crossed my mind as I was packing up my things, as I was looking in dumb-struck awe at the number of boxes I had piled up, things that I was going to need to fit, with the help of a miracle, into my side of a dorm room. I tried to pick out things that I didn't need, didn't use, and that, let's be honest, would never probably leave their hangers again, at least while in my possession. Even after I cleaned out all these unnecessary things, here I am on pack-the-car day, and my mother's cross-over is packed with the "big things", and I'm in the process of filling my tiny Dodge Neon with what's left, praying it will all fit.
I'm not trying to look down on people who have materialistic things, because I know that many of us (including my own self!) not only have them, but treasure many of the things we have bought or been given. I simply mean to reflect on how much importance we place on things that, in reality, will mean nothing, absolutely nothing, once we are able to gaze upon the loving face of our Savior in heaven. Glory be to God, who gives us Jesus and his ultimate sacrifice so that we have something, something so incredibly precious, to look forward to other than boxes of clothes and Disney movies. ;)
Blessings on all that you do!
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Talking To My Shadows
Today has been an awesome reminder of how blessed I am, how much God has given me! Today, I was reminded of the awesome support group that I have at home. Not only do I have friends and family who are with me to comfort me through every trial, to laugh with me through every high point, and to just sit and talk during the "normal" moments, but I've got a great church family, a collection of teachers still looking out for me, and a community that prays for me and checks up on me.
This morning, I had the extreme pleasure of hearing my interview with My Bridge Radio aired! I had taken off work for a presentation (more on that in a minute,) so I was able to be home for it! I'm going to be honest, I like hearing myself talk. Honestly, I think we all do, to a degree. It's probably a great downfall of mine... None the less, though, I really enjoyed hearing my radio conversation from everyone else's perspective, not just my own. Stan and Gordon, the morning radio hosts, were so much fun to talk to, and they really made me think about why I went on the trip, why I'm going again, and what impact these trips are serving for both me and the people who I meet! My mom was listening with me, and commented on how my 2012 trip quite possibly will never stop impacting people. She said "What if someone knows Pastor Reehl, and never thought they could go on the trip until they heard your interview??" All the glory to God, should someone be able to go on the trip after being inspired by my interview! It is my Father in heaven who gives me the words I speak, the experiences I share, the stories I write and tell.
(By the way, here's the link to the interview, if you'd like to listen:
Steph's Interview with My Bridge Radio)
Following the radio show, I began to prepare myself for possibly my most challenging presentation thus far: going back to my own K-8 Lutheran school to share my experiences with the students in chapel. It's one thing to talk to adults about where I've been and what I've done, how much the special-needs orphanages impacted me, how angry the Russian government made me when I walked into Hospital 8. However, it's a completely different "game", if you will, to talk to kids as young as 5 and as old as 13 or 14. I was really nervous about the whole thing, the new presentation, talking to kids who I've watched grow up (tell you what, if you ever need to feel old, just watch the babies you rocked to sleep file into the chapel with their kindergarten class...)
However, when I got there, the Holy Spirit did His thing, as always. I was able to share with the kids a few pictures from the orphanages that really impacted me, some of the Russian orphans who left their handprints on my heart, and some of the moments that will never leave me. My audience was very respectful, and I believe that God helped me get my message across!
The coolest thing, though, about getting to talk to the kids was knowing the whole reason behind my being invited there. They are planning on giving their first-semester chapel offerings to help a program that buys Sunday School materials for kids in Russia! Isn't that amazing?? God blows my mind, pretty much on a daily basis, but today's just been kind of full of explosions... First, My Bridge Radio picks THIS summer to do a theme on "Reaching Out to the Ends of the Earth", and I'm able to contact them and share with them about my mission trip! Then, my old school chooses to send their offerings over to Russia, and I'm able to share my experiences with kids who are the age that I was when I first decided I wanted to go to Russia on my first missions trip!
God reaches out, in so many ways, ways that I think often go unnoticed by us mere human beings. But the times when we do notice, I think those are the gifts that are meant to be kept, treasured. Watching the kids react at the pictures of Hospital 8, or seeing the curiosity grow as I shared about the lives of Russian kids, just makes me wonder, if somewhere in my audience today, was there a little girl, say maybe 9 or 10, who thought to herself "...Gee, I wonder if I could go to Russia some day..."
Blessings on all that you do. :)
This morning, I had the extreme pleasure of hearing my interview with My Bridge Radio aired! I had taken off work for a presentation (more on that in a minute,) so I was able to be home for it! I'm going to be honest, I like hearing myself talk. Honestly, I think we all do, to a degree. It's probably a great downfall of mine... None the less, though, I really enjoyed hearing my radio conversation from everyone else's perspective, not just my own. Stan and Gordon, the morning radio hosts, were so much fun to talk to, and they really made me think about why I went on the trip, why I'm going again, and what impact these trips are serving for both me and the people who I meet! My mom was listening with me, and commented on how my 2012 trip quite possibly will never stop impacting people. She said "What if someone knows Pastor Reehl, and never thought they could go on the trip until they heard your interview??" All the glory to God, should someone be able to go on the trip after being inspired by my interview! It is my Father in heaven who gives me the words I speak, the experiences I share, the stories I write and tell.
(By the way, here's the link to the interview, if you'd like to listen:
Steph's Interview with My Bridge Radio)
Following the radio show, I began to prepare myself for possibly my most challenging presentation thus far: going back to my own K-8 Lutheran school to share my experiences with the students in chapel. It's one thing to talk to adults about where I've been and what I've done, how much the special-needs orphanages impacted me, how angry the Russian government made me when I walked into Hospital 8. However, it's a completely different "game", if you will, to talk to kids as young as 5 and as old as 13 or 14. I was really nervous about the whole thing, the new presentation, talking to kids who I've watched grow up (tell you what, if you ever need to feel old, just watch the babies you rocked to sleep file into the chapel with their kindergarten class...)
However, when I got there, the Holy Spirit did His thing, as always. I was able to share with the kids a few pictures from the orphanages that really impacted me, some of the Russian orphans who left their handprints on my heart, and some of the moments that will never leave me. My audience was very respectful, and I believe that God helped me get my message across!
The coolest thing, though, about getting to talk to the kids was knowing the whole reason behind my being invited there. They are planning on giving their first-semester chapel offerings to help a program that buys Sunday School materials for kids in Russia! Isn't that amazing?? God blows my mind, pretty much on a daily basis, but today's just been kind of full of explosions... First, My Bridge Radio picks THIS summer to do a theme on "Reaching Out to the Ends of the Earth", and I'm able to contact them and share with them about my mission trip! Then, my old school chooses to send their offerings over to Russia, and I'm able to share my experiences with kids who are the age that I was when I first decided I wanted to go to Russia on my first missions trip!
God reaches out, in so many ways, ways that I think often go unnoticed by us mere human beings. But the times when we do notice, I think those are the gifts that are meant to be kept, treasured. Watching the kids react at the pictures of Hospital 8, or seeing the curiosity grow as I shared about the lives of Russian kids, just makes me wonder, if somewhere in my audience today, was there a little girl, say maybe 9 or 10, who thought to herself "...Gee, I wonder if I could go to Russia some day..."
Blessings on all that you do. :)
Friday, August 3, 2012
My Surreal Summer, Overflowing With Gifts
It's August 3rd, already! The next 23 days are going to fly by, and before I know it, I'll be starting my sophomore year in college. (Maybe that doesn't terrify anyone else like it terrifies me...) On the way home from the Grand Canyon the past 19 hours, I had a lot of time to think, mostly about my summer, my first summer coming home from college, getting a job, and almost living on my own. I've had so many "God moments", so many times where I have just taken a step back and said "Holy cow, this is ME!! I am the one living this life!"
First off, my summer in general is just a huge blessing. The fact that I'm able to come home and see my family and get a job because I'm that close to school is a gift from God. I was able to meet my two cousins' new babies, only weeks after they were born! That was a huge privilege, and a great way to spend my time at home before I left for Russia.
Russia. If you've been reading my entries, then you know what an amazing experience I had, what an awesome, long-awaited gift from God that trip was! Even now, almost three months later, I still can't believe that I have actually been to Russia. That trip had so many eye-opening moments, so many "God-is-so-totally-in-control-that-it-blows-my-mind" moments, and I still can't quite grasp that I was able to experience them. Moments like giving Valerie his Bible, or meeting a family of kids who are still together in an orphanage, or stepping into the Baltic Sea, or looking at my passport and knowing that I've visited four new countries. Moments like that don't come very often, at least in my life, and now I've experienced them!
Coming home from that, I was able to work, all summer. In today's economy, it was a huge gift to have a full-time job, coming straight out of a first year of college, and that job will help me get back to Russia next summer! (AAAAAAAH!!! RUSSIA AGAIN!!!!!)
There are little moments in my summer that simply can't all be recorded. Time with my family, teaching moments from God, catching up with high school friends, getting to see friends from out of town. Little things like that, that I take for granted! God has given me so much, and I have so much more than many people... I often forget that, often find little things to complain about. And it was my trip to the Grand Canyon that kind of hit home for me, how much I really have to be thankful for.
We drove through (let me count...) four states, two of which were new to me. Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. In the final two, we saw a lot of need, need that doesn't often come to our minds when we think of America and how well-off we all are. I saw homeless people in Santa Fe, we drove through many, many desolate Indian reservations, and saw several people in need of something more. It kind of hit me, then, just how much I have. I have a car to travel through four states with. I have a family to go on vacation with. I have the means to stay in a hotel and go inside the Grand Canyon National Park. I have a healthy body to hike into the Grand Canyon. I have medicine to help cure the stupid head cold I got. :)
It just kind of hits, when you're standing over the biggest "hole" in the United States, how awesome God is, how powerful He is, how in-control He is. One of my biggest struggles is entrusting all my problems, my worries, my concerns to our Heavenly Father. But after this road trip, after my little moments with His precious children, after my two-week, long-awaited mission trip, it becomes easier for me to see: We serve an awesome God, one who is worthy of our praise, our trust, our worship, our everything. To God be the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
Blessings on all that you do!
First off, my summer in general is just a huge blessing. The fact that I'm able to come home and see my family and get a job because I'm that close to school is a gift from God. I was able to meet my two cousins' new babies, only weeks after they were born! That was a huge privilege, and a great way to spend my time at home before I left for Russia.
Russia. If you've been reading my entries, then you know what an amazing experience I had, what an awesome, long-awaited gift from God that trip was! Even now, almost three months later, I still can't believe that I have actually been to Russia. That trip had so many eye-opening moments, so many "God-is-so-totally-in-control-that-it-blows-my-mind" moments, and I still can't quite grasp that I was able to experience them. Moments like giving Valerie his Bible, or meeting a family of kids who are still together in an orphanage, or stepping into the Baltic Sea, or looking at my passport and knowing that I've visited four new countries. Moments like that don't come very often, at least in my life, and now I've experienced them!
Coming home from that, I was able to work, all summer. In today's economy, it was a huge gift to have a full-time job, coming straight out of a first year of college, and that job will help me get back to Russia next summer! (AAAAAAAH!!! RUSSIA AGAIN!!!!!)
There are little moments in my summer that simply can't all be recorded. Time with my family, teaching moments from God, catching up with high school friends, getting to see friends from out of town. Little things like that, that I take for granted! God has given me so much, and I have so much more than many people... I often forget that, often find little things to complain about. And it was my trip to the Grand Canyon that kind of hit home for me, how much I really have to be thankful for.
We drove through (let me count...) four states, two of which were new to me. Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. In the final two, we saw a lot of need, need that doesn't often come to our minds when we think of America and how well-off we all are. I saw homeless people in Santa Fe, we drove through many, many desolate Indian reservations, and saw several people in need of something more. It kind of hit me, then, just how much I have. I have a car to travel through four states with. I have a family to go on vacation with. I have the means to stay in a hotel and go inside the Grand Canyon National Park. I have a healthy body to hike into the Grand Canyon. I have medicine to help cure the stupid head cold I got. :)
It just kind of hits, when you're standing over the biggest "hole" in the United States, how awesome God is, how powerful He is, how in-control He is. One of my biggest struggles is entrusting all my problems, my worries, my concerns to our Heavenly Father. But after this road trip, after my little moments with His precious children, after my two-week, long-awaited mission trip, it becomes easier for me to see: We serve an awesome God, one who is worthy of our praise, our trust, our worship, our everything. To God be the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
Blessings on all that you do!
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| Colorado River |
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| Overlooking the Grand Canyon |
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| Grand Canyon |
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| Small, Beautiful Part of the Grand Canyon |
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