It’s amazing how quickly things can change. Just a few months ago, I had never heard of the COVID-19, yet today it has become a household threat. Honestly, I’ve never seen our nation so full of fear. With the presence of 24-hour information via social media and news sources, anxiety seems to be amping up at record speed.
When my husband Brennan was growing up here in Oklahoma City, he claimed he virtually lived at his best friend’s house. He told me all about late nights playing ping pong, swimming in their pool, destroying each other in basketball, and taking plenty of sodas from the refrigerator. Sure enough, when I started dating Brennan, I was also welcomed into that home with the same open arms.
As she peered up at me, her little eyes unfocused and strained, I smiled. Her tiny fists pressed tightly to her chest as she adjusted to the intrusive, outside world I had known for some limited 25 years. My arms more than gathered her tiny body to my chest. My very own niece… miss Tobi Faye. My sister, Jess, had labored and waited for hours for this baby girl to come into the world, and had further more labored and waited for years to become a mom.
Amy Carmichael, unmarried her whole life, raised hundreds of children as her own. Sherri Hanzel, with five kids in tow, crossed oceans to spread the Gospel in a Muslim country. Gladys Aylward, with little to nothing on her back, led a village of children across communist lands to safety. Susannah Spurgeon, ill and unable to leave her own bed, began and managed a pastors’ resource ministry…
Hopefully by now, you have heard that this year’s Missions Month is going to be a bit different because it falls right in the middle of Lent! Our mission theme of “Live Simply, Give Generously” is a perfect fit as the Lenten season already calls us to simplify our lives in some way so that we can deepen our attention to the cross…
“I’ve been in the Beth Moore Entrusted Bible Study and she’s talked a lot about mentoring. I really feel this is something I’m supposed to be doing. Can you help me? Do you have a place for me somewhere?” That question was my introduction to the amazing Amy Morreillon. She has become such an immeasurable gift to CRBC and the host of young women she has befriended that interviewing her seemed the perfect ending to this February’s month-long emphasis on friendship.
