May 2022 Update: It's Really (and Thankfully) Not About Me
Recently I've been thinking about how I'm out of control, and when I think that I am in control, I realize that I shouldn't try to be. The obvious point here is that God is in control; not me. Our kids are not ours; they are His. Our home, cars, and bank account are not ours; they're borrowed resources. My job at school is not mine; it is a place He has me to honor Him. Our ministry is not about us; it's about Him. It's this last one that has been pressing into me this week.
This week we are focusing, for the first time, on sharing this ministry of global Bible translation with our friends here in Colorado Springs. We have not had a ministry event in a long, long time, and frankly we feel a bit rusty. That makes me nervous. What will we say? What will we write? What will we show on the slides? What will people think of us? What if people write us off? I don't like asking for help; I feel embarrassed.
Thankfully, when I get to that point in my anxiety, God has been reminding me that it is NOT about me; this is about HIM, and I'm just thankful to be along for the ride. Obviously, getting the Bible into the hands and hearts of those who don't have it is an exciting, amazing, and joyful journey - I really am grateful to be even a small part of this mission. And when I think of it that way, I'm not embarrassed or nervous about asking friends if they would like to be on the same journey with us.
Of course we would love to give anyone the opportunity to come along what God is doing in revealing Himself to people around the world! But how can they know about this endeavor unless we share it? How can they know about the 1,800 language groups who still need a Bible translation started unless we talk about them? God has put us here, in this city, for some great reasons. Sharing this ministry is definitely one of them. I'm thanking God that again He has brought my thinking and my feeling back to what He is about, and away from myself and my fruitless attempts to control.
And if you're in COS on 5/22, please join us for dessert and to hear more about this journey! 411 N. Weber Street at 6:30; Harvest Downtown
The Worldwide Status of Bible Translation:
Recently I've been thinking about how I'm out of control, and when I think that I am in control, I realize that I shouldn't try to be. The obvious point here is that God is in control; not me. Our kids are not ours; they are His. Our home, cars, and bank account are not ours; they're borrowed resources. My job at school is not mine; it is a place He has me to honor Him. Our ministry is not about us; it's about Him. It's this last one that has been pressing into me this week.
This week we are focusing, for the first time, on sharing this ministry of global Bible translation with our friends here in Colorado Springs. We have not had a ministry event in a long, long time, and frankly we feel a bit rusty. That makes me nervous. What will we say? What will we write? What will we show on the slides? What will people think of us? What if people write us off? I don't like asking for help; I feel embarrassed.
Thankfully, when I get to that point in my anxiety, God has been reminding me that it is NOT about me; this is about HIM, and I'm just thankful to be along for the ride. Obviously, getting the Bible into the hands and hearts of those who don't have it is an exciting, amazing, and joyful journey - I really am grateful to be even a small part of this mission. And when I think of it that way, I'm not embarrassed or nervous about asking friends if they would like to be on the same journey with us.
Of course we would love to give anyone the opportunity to come along what God is doing in revealing Himself to people around the world! But how can they know about this endeavor unless we share it? How can they know about the 1,800 language groups who still need a Bible translation started unless we talk about them? God has put us here, in this city, for some great reasons. Sharing this ministry is definitely one of them. I'm thanking God that again He has brought my thinking and my feeling back to what He is about, and away from myself and my fruitless attempts to control.
And if you're in COS on 5/22, please join us for dessert and to hear more about this journey! 411 N. Weber Street at 6:30; Harvest Downtown
The Worldwide Status of Bible Translation:
- At least 7,000 languages are spoken or signed around the world.
- At least 1.5 billion people do not have the full Bible in their language — that’s more people than the entire continent of Africa!
- At least 1,600 languages have access to the New Testament and some portions of Scripture in their language.
- More than 700 languages have the complete translated Bible.
- At least 1,800 languages still need a Bible translation started.
- Work is being done in more than 2,200 languages worldwide and over 2,100 of these projects involve Wycliffe Global Alliance partners.
June 2020 Update: COVID-19 and our Family Life in the Midst of the Pandemic
We've just finished writing our summer newsletter, and in order to keep it from getting too long, I've decided to post some notes about our family life here instead. Many of you get my short clips via Facebook, but in case you don't use Facebook, you can catch up a bit here.
Back in March, when life was flowing normally, Jack was starting his first season of lacrosse. Tessa was finishing her workouts in her first attempt at soccer with try-outs starting on Monday. That was the Monday when school was cancelled, and soccer didn't happen at all. At least Jack got to play in one tournament before that all ended, and by then he had converted into a true lacrosse player. On Friday, March 13th, all the kids went to the orthodontist on the last day they were fully open (though the office didn't know it at the time), and Cooper got braces to match those of his siblings.
In spite of those endings, we still planned to go on vacation for spring break, which was one week away from that weekend. We scrambled to switch our trip around because it would have been international travel, but the day before we left, we canceled it all and stayed home just to make sure we would all be safe and healthy. Well, we were safe and healthy, but pretty sad and discouraged. You can all relate; we all grieved our losses and stayed tightly fixed to news releases.
Our cancellations continued: school, Boy Scouts activities and trips, overnight summer camp, Tessa's first mission trip to Cleveland, piano lessons, church gatherings, Dusty's trip to Nigeria, Tessa's 8th grade stepping-up ceremony, Jack's school award assembly, our annual summer trip to Dallas, and Tessa's and Cooper's March birthday parties. Again, these ring true with everyone around the world; we have all had our normal plans cancelled or postponed. We've experienced anger, frustration, loss, confusion, discouragement, dismay, and sadness with each cancellation. There were times when I definitely experienced a touch of depression, which I've never had before.
And yet, life continued on at a new pace. We've been healthy, and we've had our nice, spacious house in which to get some alone time. We've had great weather, and we adopted new routines. We began gratefully eating free school lunches. We adjusted to meetings and meet-ups by video conferencing and school by Infinite Campus. We started reading more e-books when the library closed, and Jack read the entire Harry Potter series. The kids did some Zoom cooking classes with a friend from church. We were able to join a local pool with redirected funds from summer camp's closure, and Cooper completed 2 weeks of swim lessons today! Tessa started taking drivers' education classes via Zoom and gets her permit (God-willing) this coming week; there will be plenty of empty parking lots and slower streets for her to practice her new skills safely (yay!).
When we lived in Africa, we learned how to hold our plans loosely. We saw people's lives unravel so unexpectedly and quickly. Proverbs 16:9, "In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps," became quite realistic to us. I am having that same sense again - we made so many plans that were then erased (literally) from our family paper schedule. God is good, and He is sovereign. In the middle of our wonky erasures, He has a perfect plan for the Hill family and for each of His children, and this pandemic season is certainly helping us to trust Him in new ways. He is using it to teach us how to be grateful for the small things, how to talk to him, how to make the most of every opportunity, and how to take rest when He offers it to us. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
May my eyes remain open to the goodness of God with each loss. My my heart be turned toward Him when my eraser is scrubbing away at another scheduled event. May I hold our plans with open hands, looking to see how He can use me to bless others who are suffering losses. And may I be grateful for each gift, each day, each challenge with His peace flowing through me.
We've just finished writing our summer newsletter, and in order to keep it from getting too long, I've decided to post some notes about our family life here instead. Many of you get my short clips via Facebook, but in case you don't use Facebook, you can catch up a bit here.
Back in March, when life was flowing normally, Jack was starting his first season of lacrosse. Tessa was finishing her workouts in her first attempt at soccer with try-outs starting on Monday. That was the Monday when school was cancelled, and soccer didn't happen at all. At least Jack got to play in one tournament before that all ended, and by then he had converted into a true lacrosse player. On Friday, March 13th, all the kids went to the orthodontist on the last day they were fully open (though the office didn't know it at the time), and Cooper got braces to match those of his siblings.
In spite of those endings, we still planned to go on vacation for spring break, which was one week away from that weekend. We scrambled to switch our trip around because it would have been international travel, but the day before we left, we canceled it all and stayed home just to make sure we would all be safe and healthy. Well, we were safe and healthy, but pretty sad and discouraged. You can all relate; we all grieved our losses and stayed tightly fixed to news releases.
Our cancellations continued: school, Boy Scouts activities and trips, overnight summer camp, Tessa's first mission trip to Cleveland, piano lessons, church gatherings, Dusty's trip to Nigeria, Tessa's 8th grade stepping-up ceremony, Jack's school award assembly, our annual summer trip to Dallas, and Tessa's and Cooper's March birthday parties. Again, these ring true with everyone around the world; we have all had our normal plans cancelled or postponed. We've experienced anger, frustration, loss, confusion, discouragement, dismay, and sadness with each cancellation. There were times when I definitely experienced a touch of depression, which I've never had before.
And yet, life continued on at a new pace. We've been healthy, and we've had our nice, spacious house in which to get some alone time. We've had great weather, and we adopted new routines. We began gratefully eating free school lunches. We adjusted to meetings and meet-ups by video conferencing and school by Infinite Campus. We started reading more e-books when the library closed, and Jack read the entire Harry Potter series. The kids did some Zoom cooking classes with a friend from church. We were able to join a local pool with redirected funds from summer camp's closure, and Cooper completed 2 weeks of swim lessons today! Tessa started taking drivers' education classes via Zoom and gets her permit (God-willing) this coming week; there will be plenty of empty parking lots and slower streets for her to practice her new skills safely (yay!).
When we lived in Africa, we learned how to hold our plans loosely. We saw people's lives unravel so unexpectedly and quickly. Proverbs 16:9, "In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps," became quite realistic to us. I am having that same sense again - we made so many plans that were then erased (literally) from our family paper schedule. God is good, and He is sovereign. In the middle of our wonky erasures, He has a perfect plan for the Hill family and for each of His children, and this pandemic season is certainly helping us to trust Him in new ways. He is using it to teach us how to be grateful for the small things, how to talk to him, how to make the most of every opportunity, and how to take rest when He offers it to us. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
May my eyes remain open to the goodness of God with each loss. My my heart be turned toward Him when my eraser is scrubbing away at another scheduled event. May I hold our plans with open hands, looking to see how He can use me to bless others who are suffering losses. And may I be grateful for each gift, each day, each challenge with His peace flowing through me.
