Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

"Give our Lord the benefit of believing that His hand is leading you, and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete."

This quote by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin impacts me in more ways than one. Being in the suspense of not knowing when I will have all my support in so I can move to Italy and feeling incomplete as a single can derail me at times. But the truth that God is in control and that God is leading my every conversation is what keeps me on the right track.

friends

I have had a group of girlfriends that has been pretty consistent for over 7 years. I do not really remember when we started meeting together as a group.. but all of us have either been roommates, known each other since we were children, went to high school together, and/or worked together. Annie got married a few years ago and moved to Chicago. She comes back once in a while to see family and friends, but I have missed these times since I live in Europe. Well... on Friday we got to hang out together!  It was so good! I love these girls for their honesty, their love, their care, their encouragement, and the fact that there is no need to explain myself with them.

Feedback

What do you think when you hear the word "feedback"? 

Are you excited?

Are you afraid?

Do you enjoy giving feedback to others because you want to fix them? Or because you genuinely love them and want them to be all that God intends them to be? 

When someone gives you feedback do you accept it graciously and thank them? Or do you lash out at them in retaliation? 

Are you afraid that they just mean to cut you down?

Do you wonder if they think they are better than you? Do you think that you are better than them?

In Agape Europe we are striving to be a "feedback culture" in a healthy way. 

We are striving to give feedback and to receive feedback in love and truth. 

We are not asking that everyone looks for ways to criticize each other.

We are not asking everyone to begin offering feedback whenever and wherever they desire.

We are asking that everyone genuinely care about the growth and development of the other. 

We are asking everyone to lay aside pride and to ask for specific feedback in order to grow into the people that God has designed us to be. 

We are asking that everyone gives feedback with grace and truth, not to smash the other, but to encourage and exhort the other.

Can you imagine if your group, team, family, organization, church, class, etc... developed a culture of healthy feedback? What if every time someone asked for and received feedback it was followed by prayer? 

Or what about "feedforward"? Try this in your group... have everyone write down an area that they want to improve on a piece of paper. Then everyone approaches 3-5 people (one at a time) to ask for their ideas in how to grow in that area.

How often do you get to ask for help in growing in an area?

these days

I had a lovely time in Estonia and it is hard to believe that I returned over 2 weeks ago. I thought it was less than 2 weeks ago until I just looked at a calendar. Wow... Here are a few photos... The first one: 

we had our main meeting in the press room used by the mayor and other top officials for press releases. The two with raised hands as if to ask a question are Hans Pruis and Javier Garcia. Javier is the Agape Europe area team leader and Hans is his very necessary Associate leader. 

The second photo is from a viewpoint over Tallinn. It is a beautiful city of over 410,000 people.

 

And lastly, a photo of me in the Baltic Sea. I can never resist going into the water.

I put a lot more photos of my time in Estonia on Facebook... click me!.

I am learning a lot about the Lord and myself in these days. And more than anything I am seeing more and more evidence of how He provides for me and guides my life.