He restores my soul: a reflection on this season of the year

Dear friends,
my how long it has been since I have written anything. I have been in a season of transition and moving, and my personal blog has been way too far down on my to do list. I mean, I love writing and sharing with my friends, so why is it always the first thing to suffer? Well, for now, I wanted to just post a link to an article I wrote last month for Gateways Beyond International--the ministry I work with overseas. It is the type of thing I would like to share on my blog; but rather than doing all the work twice of uploading the pictures to go along with it, I thought I would just give you the link. Enjoy! I hope you are encouraged in this season of your life.
Click here to read my article
Blessings,
Hannah

You can help Somalia

Dear friends,

My heart is breaking for the suffering around the world and in our own neighborhoods. The world is definitely shaking and groaning. With so much grief swirling around us, it is so easy to get caught up in two opposite responses: coming under the spirit of defeat and letting go of hope, or ignoring everything and filling our thoughts with entertainment or just the day to day concerns. But there is a higher way, a greater call. There is a God of Hope and we are His children. That means we have the capacity through Him to walk in the greatest levels of both compassion and victory--to allow the light of God to shine on us and then shine out into the shadows of this earth. 

There are countless ways to help and make a difference, and I encourage you to follow through with your own unique opportunites where your heart is pricked. 

I specifically want to plea with you to consider Somalia and the entire Horn of Africa during this drought crisis. Those of us in Texas should be able to realize the reality of drought, but imagine our discomfort and inconveniences multiplied by a million. Instead of thinking to go out and check on neighbors or homeless in our area, what if we were confronted by starving children and adults and a quarter of our population displaced from their homes? What if we had to move to a foreign country to a refugee camp bursting at the seams with over 4 times its capacity? What if we had to lead our starving family and fainting children to walk accross country fighting for survival? These are dramatic images that are easily put out of mind, but what if we could make a difference? What if one small donation could save a life? What if a sacrificial gift could pull a family up from their grave and give them hope to cling to life?

Governments have a role to play for sure, but they can be so limited by guidlelines and protocalls. Private donations can do so much to get immediate help to suffering people. 

Here is my plea to you. Would you consider one thing that you could sell, one thing to sacrifice, and use the money to sow into LIFE? By all means, if you have money and want to simply donate an amount on your heart, then do that. But many of us in this economy have our own needs and families that we are trying to provide for and may not be sure how we can give anything more. But let me encourage you that you CAN. You CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. Maybe you have a bag of clothes or an old computer. Maybe you even have an old car.  Whether it is something small or something big, what a privalege it would be to let go of an earthly possession to gain life for someone we will likely never meet. How freeing would it be in a society ruled by consumerism, to make a choice to put our heart and treasure into saving lives? 

I propose that everyone finds at least one possession to sell and, in turn, sow that money into providing relief to those who are desparate for help now. Take time today to read from the Beatitudes (Matthew 5-7) and ask the Lord how we can live them out today.

I am in the process of researching reliable and effective ways to give. Please contact me if you are interested in giving through a trusted, reliable organization already making a difference on the ground. Or you can do your own research and give where you are led. 

PRAY: this is the vital response that all of us must be doing. There is power in prayer, and we must actively give of our energy to lift those suffering up before the Lord. Don't just say that you will be praying, PRAY. Fast, petition the Lord. And listen to what He is saying. Somalia is under Muslim control, but many refugees are fleeing to neighboring countries that are more open to the Gospel. Ask the Lord to raise up a bold witness and that many might come to know the truest and greatest freedome through Jesus Christ. 

Outreach in Europe

Hi everyone,
I am currently in Geneva, Switzerland on outreach. I am travelling with Cas Cordova, and we will be in Geneva for two weeks serving the Gateways Beyond Geneva team. We have been travelling for just over a week and it has already been such a rich and blessed time. We began in Herrnhut, Germany where we joined with the larger group from Cyprus. We then moved on to Dresden for two days before travelling by train for 16 hours through beautiful countryside, past villages and towns, lakes, and mountains. We are so happy to be here in Geneva for two weeks and we look forward to all that God will do.
I want to give you the link to Cas's blog so that you can see some pictures and read about what we have done already. Hopefully I will be able to post my own blogs, but since we will have a full schedule, if we are only able to keep one blog, then I will continue to post links to her blog whenever she adds new posts.
Many blessings!

Navigation

This is an article I wrote for the GBI enewsletter. If you are interested in receiving this newsletter, please send me a message.

I love maps. Some of my favorite childhood memories were the long road trips I took with my dad. I loved looking at the maps and telling my dad which way to go (he probably knew, but I like to believe that he trusted me to find the route). On our family trip from Texas to New York I sat in front most of the time while others slept and dubbed myself the “navigator.” I currently refuse to use a GPS device, not so much because of the technology, but more so because I think it saps the fun out of life and robs from us the pleasure (or terror) of stopping to ask directions—I like to take everything as an adventure.


I admit a lot of this is just my own personal quirks, but I really feel that the whole subject of navigation is a huge issue in life and in ministry. When pondering the name of this ministry—Gateways Beyond International—I am struck by the implication of direction. I realize that there is nothing static or stationary in that name, but it is active. It is not a locality or personality, but an invitation, a call to discover. It does not tell me where I am, but it challenges me as to where I am going.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” The depth of the power in this verse is profound. This is a life-changing, a life-yielding word. It is a challenge and an invitation. We are invited and commanded to trust and to let Him light our way; after all, He is the Way. He not only invites us to come to Him, but also to follow Him. He wants to take us on a journey. We are so easily tempted to lean on our own understanding, but this is exactly what leads us astray. How often I catch myself trying to "figure things out" rather than listening to the Lord. But when we get down to it, here is the beautiful invitation; "in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths." With every step, every breath, every desire in my heart, I get to think on Him. I get to set my gaze on Him, to praise Him, to ask Him his opinion, and listen for His answer. I get to "roll off onto" Him the things that try to weigh me down; decisions, desires, hopes, fears, accusations, everything! I give it all to Him!

It's like we're hiking through a mountain in thick woods, weighed down with a heavy pack full of cares, following a compass of half-conceived dreams and hopes, led off-course by trails blazed by lost wanderers, and following a map that leads to fool’s gold. When all the while we have the option of following a guide who knows the journey (both the short-cuts and the scenic routes), who will personally carry our bag of dead weight in exchange for His lighter and easier pack, and who is leading us—not to fool’s gold—but to a treasure field more vast and beautiful than our wildest dreams. I want to walk in this guide’s ways and follow His steps.

Gateways Beyond is committed to a life of obedience to the call of our Messiah. We are His disciples and He is beckoning us to follow Him. As we do that, He takes us beyond ourselves and our individual abilities; he multiplies us as we commit to one another.

We are now in full-swing of our 12th GTS here on the island of Cyprus, and it is such a privilege to see how the hand of the Lord has been guiding and positioning us through the years. Yeshua took twelve disciples and released them “to go into all the world and preach the Gospel.” Now walking with our 12th group of student disciples, we are brimming with excitement at how the Lord is releasing this ministry to go out and be multiplied throughout the earth, making disciples, teaching them to observe all the things that He has commanded us and knowing, deep, deep on the inside, that He indeed is with us always—even to the end of the age.

For that is what we yearn for, to see His return. So, now as we walk through the process of multiplication, we are reminded that our focus is not on any one thing, but on the One. We say, “hineni,” here I am, send me. We will go; we will follow; we will obey—no matter the cost, no matter the price. We believe that He will take us beyond ourselves, beyond our limitations, beyond our imaginations.

Getting old? Cool.

I thought I had arrived at the age in which you no longer enjoy getting older, but for some strange reason I still do. It doesn't bother me that I've now entered my "late" twenties. I look at my life and feel thankful at everything the Lord has allowed me to do, to be a part of, to experience. Growing older simply feels like maturing more into who I was meant to be. And maturing does not mean becoming boring: it takes maturity to truly be child-like because you maintain who you are while being lost in the freedom, trust, and joy of a child. It is the childish who always want to act older or  younger than they are. It is the child-like who don't give thought to their age but just be--just play, just think, just act, just be sincere. Here's to 27: may it be a year of learning to walk more and more as both a child and a woman of God.

Dear Readers,

Dear Readers,
I never really thought I had any readers. I am only recently discovering that there are a few of you out there. I just wanted to say thanks--thank you for stopping by! Seeing how a blog is supposedly an "online journal" (I think), mine has been quite random. I don't think that will change; nevertheless, I am remembering my original purpose for this particular blog. I titled it "Hidden Royalty" because I really wanted to write to inspire and encourage people to discover the greatest and truest identity for which they were created and designed. No matter what you are doing and how you are living, no matter if you feel you are lacking or you feel on top of the world, you were meant for more--for even more! Let's think about that today and let's turn to the One who really does know our potential.
Wow, and I am going to go celebrate the fact that I just wrote a blog that actually said something and was also short, hooray for me! I'm in the process too.

Rights and Duty

In the United Sates of America, we are blessed to live in a nation built upon the rights of people, the rights of human beings created equal in the image of God. These rights were won for us by the blood of our forefathers who laid down their lives for our freedom. For this, I am profoundly grateful. This is good. This is worth protecting. This is worth fighting for.

Now, in the Kingdom of Heaven, we are blessed to be citizens under a King of perfect justice, perfect righteousness, and perfect love. We are indeed created in His image, AND we are being restored to that image daily, from glory to glory. This Kingdom is also built upon rights--rights won back for us by the blood of the Lamb who laid down His life for our freedom from sin and death. It is our right to be called the children of the Most High God. It is our right to be holy and righteouss, the stains of our past completely washed away. Though the enemy desires to deceive us and make us believe we are still bound by the contracts of this world, it is our right to truly walk in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. This is our right as citizens of Heaven.

Now, when we let our guard down, it is easy to be deceived. It is easy to let these lines of alleigence blurr. We must be grateful, faithful, and responsible citizens of our natural country; yet, we must remember that the Kingdom of God is our own true country. And the Kingdom is not a democracy; the Kingdom is the realm of the King, the place of His rule and reign.

Now, from this point I could go into a thousand directions, but this is what is on my heart now concerning living in this Kingdom: how we handle and understand our rights.

In the U.S., we covet our pursuit of happiness. In the Kingdom, we are instructed to pursue "righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, [and] gentleness" (I Timothy 6: 11). Through our terrible history in America of slavery, we fervently uphold our right of personal freedom and determine ourselves to fight against continuing forms of slavery in our day (may the Lord give us grace and boldness to continue to fight and defend the weak). This is also our cause in the Kingdom of God; however, we must remember one vital difference: As we give our lives to defend the helpless, we must lay down our own rights and count ourselves as bondservents for the work of the Lord. We must never relenquish our right to live as children of God, but we must lay down every right afforded to us by the world for we are not of this world. Where our lives are concerned, when the world would cry out "injustice!," we must take up our cross and follow Jesus in every way. Today, I was reading in I Timothy, and this is what really struck me and spoke to me:

"Let as many bondservants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and His doctrine may not be blasphemed. And those who have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brethren, but rather serve them because those who are benefited are believers and beloved. Teach and exhort these things" (I Timothy 6:1-2).

Wow, this is challenging. We know that the Bible commands us to honor those in authority, but here, He is talking about a more painful situation, when one of our own brothers or sisters holds us as slaves or servants. What? I thought the Body of Christ was supposed to forgive each other our debts and serve one-another. This is easy enough to accept as long as it is going both ways, but here Paul is speaking to people who live in real-life servitude. In a day when there were masters and slaves, what happened as not only the slaves became Christians, but also the masters? I think this situation gets at the very heart of the Kingdom. Jesus's disciples were at first looking for Him to come as the triumphal and militant King who would subdue all their enemies and raise their cultural status as rulers in this new Kingdom; however, He surprised them indeed as He went to the cross and gave up His life. He is the King of Kings, but He came to lay down His life, to suffer, and to be the sacrifice for us all, to give us the best rights and freedom--the right to be transformed into His image and the freedom from the slavery of sin. Now, as the Gospel was preached and men and women began to be saved, they had to learn the way of this Kingdom. Though free from the bondages of this world, they must lay down their lives and serve this world. Though called to a higher standard as citizens of Heaven, they must be willing to love and bear long with one-another with patience and holy love.

We MUST love one-another. The Body of Christ is being perfected, but through the process, we must learn to love each other according to the end promise, not according to our present actions. For believing slaves with believing masters, this lesson must have come at great struggle, but imagine the victory won when they could choose to serve their masters, not only through obedience to honor, but through true brotherly love. Though treated as inferior, they must love as dear brothers. I believe that as these men and women began to grasp this commandment and obey, that they must have gained a reward so rich in Heaven and a joy on earth that went beyond human understanding.

For us today, we may not be enslaved by our brothers in Christ, but we may be treated injustly or uncharitably by some. What must our response be? Should we rise up and assert our rights? Should we demand apologies and proper respect? No. We cannot demand and please the Father. In doing so, we are taking a step backwards and, in that moment, actually giving up our greater rights--our rights of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Here is Paul's warning if we do not serve with love and even joy at blessing our brothers and sisters:

"If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords us godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitue of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself." And here is an incredible verse: "Now godliness with contentment is great gain." And it continues, "For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content." (I Timothy 6: 3-8) Godliness is not to be viewed as our ticket to gain and success; godliness is to be our gain and success.

In the United States, there are citizens and military. It is the job of the military to lay down their lives to protect the rights of the citizens. In the Kingdom of God, every citizen is a part of the army of God. It is not the clergy and ministers alone who must live according to a higher standard and defend the rest of the believers. No, it is the duty of every believer in Jesus to follow His example in battle. It is each of our duty to lay down our life to protect and serve our brothers and sisters. We are truly a class of warrior prince and princesses--the highest identity as co-heirs with Christ, the highest cost of committing to the war, to every battle big and small.