Leah Stirewalt

Out of Deep Waters

The Good Times

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I’ve often spoken of my difficult childhood – one plagued with drama, chaos, pain, and difficulties. But…something I often like to do when my mind wants to wander back to those days is to remember the GOOD times, those times when I smiled…a lot! And, those times that continue to bring smiles to my face, even now, as I remember. No matter the pain…no matter the gloom…God still sent many rainbows, many expressions of His hope! Sometimes we have to look hard to find them, but I promise you – it’s worth the effort!

Some of my favorite childhood memories:

  1. Visiting Disneyworld and getting on the monorail headed the wrong direction (I still don’t know how *that* happened). Our mistake led to getting to ride in the very front with the conductor! Fun!
  2. Camping!
  3. Visiting my grandparents in Kansas. My brother, sister, and I were their only grandchildren, so we were a tad bit spoiled when we visited. 🙂
  4. Getting haircuts with my granddaddy at the barber shop on Saturday mornings and then getting to go shopping or out to lunch with him.
  5. Christmas Eve open houses at a neighbor’s home.
  6. My 5-year-old birthday party at the Pizza Hut!
  7. Learning to swim and dive in our neighborhood pool!
  8. Playing in the woods. All. The. Time. (I grew up in the woods from age 7 on…)
  9. Getting to ride on the back of a motorcycle with our neighbor (the one and only time I did it in my 41 years).
  10. My best friend and I having appendectomies at the same time. While having an appendix removed wasn’t all that great of a memory…I thought it was pretty cool that we both had to have it done at the same time. We were 8 and spent nearly a week in the hospital (those were the days before “day surgery”).
  11. Spelling bees! Yes – I was a word nerd even then. 🙂
  12. Getting to interview one of my favorite childhood authors, Beverly Cleary!
  13. Watching Star Wars at the drive-in theater!
  14. Pretending my baby sister was a doll, by rolling her around in my doll carriage.
  15. My peekapoo, Susie, who would answer to ANY name! 🙂

Enjoy your Saturday – make some fun memories today!

 

And She’s Off…

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IMG_0705The day is finally here. This journey began nearly nine months ago. And no…I’m not talking about pregnancy, at least not in the traditional sense of the word. 🙂 However, my daughter (Anna) has been “pregnant” with a dream – a dream that has been going on much longer than nine months. It just finally took root back in October, 2012. Her dream? Living out her call to serve on the mission field in Africa – specifically, Uganda.

Since her mother (er…uh…ME) traveled to Liberia, Africa on a mission trip in June 2010, Anna has sensed the call to follow in similar footsteps. Last year took her on her first international mission trip to Guatemala. While it was life-changing and some of the hardest days she’s ever worked in her life – she still sensed the call to serve in Africa.

The opportunity arrived last fall when she was invited to serve on a team of teenagers traveling to Uganda for FOUR weeks this summer! Then began many months of prayer, preparation, and fundraising! Lots and lots of fundraising. Anna knew that if she were going to go – the money had to be raised. And…God provided.

Then came the supply purchasing and packing. Trying to determine the least amount you can live with and still have enough was a challenge in and of itself. I dare say, Anna probably packs more for a week of vacation than she’s packed for four weeks in Uganda. But, she won’t need all that “stuff” there.

I know she’s about to embark upon a life-altering adventure. One that will forever change the way she views everything around her. She already has a heart for the “least of these” but to see the “least of these” first-hand…wow…just impossible to put into words.

My prayer is that Anna returns even more Christ-like; that she truly understands life’s blessings on an even deeper level; that God speaks to her in fresh ways; that she learns to love even more deeply…not just the poor but even those she encounters in her everyday life in the USA, as sometimes they are the hardest to love; that she remains “sold-out” to the Gospel and chooses to obediently live out the remainder of her days in such a way that one day Christ will say to her, “Well done, my good and faithful servant!”

And so…today my husband and I will take her to Gainesville, GA and leave her for a few days of training camp with her teammates. Monday at 5:42 pm ET she flies out of Atlanta and heads to Amsterdam on a nearly nine hour flight, where she will then connect to another plane that will carry her for the next 7.5 hours all the way to Entebbe, Uganda – landing on Tuesday at 10:15 pm (3:15 pm our time).

The day we’ve been preparing for is here. Will you join me in standing in the gap for Anna, through prayer, until she returns safely on August 2? Thank you!