Bloom!

Here are two resources for you as you seek to let His Word permeate your heart and life. Look at the Book When a friend showed me John Piper's "Bible labs" with his "Look at the Book" series, I was hooked.  Each lab is around 8-10 minutes long and is about a portion of Scripture that Piper delves into and beautifully and clearly explains.  Some of the passages that I had never been able to quite understand were clearly shown by Piper and I am so glad to have found this incredible resource!   Wycliffe Bible Translators Take a few minutes to peruse Wycliffe's site and find out more about this incredible ministry.  Wycliffe is working hard to get a Bible translated into the nearly 1,900 languages that are still waiting for a single word of the Book - by 2025!  Take a look around and read some stories like these of how God is working.  See how you can partner with them, whether through prayer or financial giving.  Together, let's help bring Go...

Recently I shook hands with a man who had been imprisoned for his faith for several years in a country hostile to Jesus Christ.   We smiled and conversed, praising God for his release and all that God did in and through his time in prison. Suddenly, I can’t believe it.   I can’t believe that I’m standing face-to-face with a Brother who surrendered all to our Jesus and lived through a hellish experience – and he’s overflowing with joy as he talks!  He looks familiar, too, but I can't make sense of why that would be.  I know I've never met him. Then this Brother said that if I ever make it to his country, I’m invited to his church.   His underground church.    I try to take it all in.   I’ve just been invited to an underground church.   Definitely first time to receive that kind of invitation! My eyes are burning with unshed tears as we talk.   The joy of Jesus is so evident in this man’s life and I’m struck again wit...

Dear Bloom! sisters, As I sat down to write this post, I looked back at what I wrote for my previous Where I'm At post and started smiling as I re-read it.   God has done so much since then and I'm so glad He has!  When I last wrote, it was October 2013 and my life had taken a much different turn than I had expected.  It was hard at first, seeing my dreams and plans die.  That summer I had been planning to continue doing missionwork in the same city in Taiwan when God changed my course and sent me to a new city instead.  It turns out, of course, that He always knows best. Right now I have so much joy in my heart as I write this because God is sending me back to that second city again - next month!  You see, I spent six months in City One and one year in City Two.  Then I came stateside for a year, praying, healing, resting, traveling and even working on a Christian movie .  In May, I went back to Taiwan for a three week mission trip...

It's crazy to think that it's been a year and a half since I went to Taiwan and Hong Kong on a mission trip! Time has flown by, but I wanted to share a bit more with you all. You can read my first post about my trip abroad here . I also wrote some about it in my last Where I'm At post. While in Taiwan and Hong Kong, we went to four different places and did a program like VBS for the kids while their parents attended a Christian seminar.  Here are a few snippets of my trip that I wanted to share with you: Benjamin In one of our first cities, seven-year-old Benjamin and his sister were on my team. They were both such a joy to be around and I loved their spirit. One of the lessons I taught was the salvation story. At the end of the lesson, I asked if anybody had any questions or were interested in becoming a Christian. Little Benjamin raised his hand and his sister piped up that they were both already Christians. I said something like...

Summer always seems to leave me more time for exercise. But recently I've been thinking as I walk on the treadmill or do some crunches, what's my motivation to do this? We all know that exercising is right and healthy and good. We hear about it everywhere--from the back of cereal boxes to magazine ads. But what is our main motivation for exercise? Perhaps beauty. Or health. But how does exercising fit into glorifying God? I recently read an excellent article answering this question on the Blazing Center blog written by Stephen Altrogge. Here's a preview: Nowhere in the Bible will you find a scripture that says, “You must exercise three times a week (and make sure one of those days is a good cardio work out).” But we do read in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Every minute of our lives is to be lived for the glory of God, and exercise is a wonderful means of helping us live for the glory of...

Looking for some new books to delve into this summer?  We've got good news - we have ten encouraging and inspiring reads for you! 1.   Sacred Singleness by Leslie Ludy:  In my opinion, this is the most helpful and inspiring read on the topic of singleness.  Leslie takes the topic and shines light on it with Scriptural truths.  She shows that instead of bemoaning over the fact that you haven't found "the one" yet, you should instead be focusing on "the One" who gave His very life and blood for you.  I love this book - it causes me to take my focus off of myself and puts it where it belongs - on Jesus. 2.  Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss: Megan actually introduced me to this book years ago,  I believe, and it's been a favorite ever since.  If you want to read fiction, check out Stepping Heavenward .  Follow 16-year-old Kate as she journeys from a teenager to adult and seeks to discover what it really means to live a...

Elisabeth with Jim before his death in 1956 Elisabeth Elliot Gren was called one of the most important women of the 20th century.  Her grace, bravery and joy in Jesus are some of the attributes that she was well known for, especially when her husband Jim was martyred for his faith in Ecuador back in 1956.  Not long after Jim died, Elisabeth took her little daughter and went back to the very tribe of Indians that killed her husband, sharing the love of Christ with them, and eventually seeing many of the tribe come to Christ. This past June, she went Home to be with Jesus at the age of 88, after a long battle with dementia.  She's always been one of our favorites around Bloom! and we've learned so much from her humble and beautiful example over the years (you can see what Emily wrote about her here ), so we wanted to honor her life and share a bit about this woman of God. Growing up, one of the first missionary stories I heard was about Jim and Elisabeth Elliot in ...

Dear sisters, Sometimes you never know exactly where the Lord will lead you next.   When I flew home from Taiwan back in the end of July 2014, after having served there 1.5 years, I wasn’t sure what God had in store next.  I really, really missed my kiddos, friends, and co-workers from the island but thought perhaps He was guiding me to start on a new adventure.   In January 2015, He brought an amazing opportunity to work with a Christian movie called Beyond the Mask (if you haven't seen it yet, you're missing out, so make sure you get to see it!).  I still wasn't sure where God was calling me next and spent a lot of time praying about it.  In May, God led a friend and I to travel back to Taiwan for a three week mission trip.   Here’s some of the amazing ways He worked during our time: ~ One day we went to visit some Buddhist friends at their house.   We first met this sweet family back in February 2013, back when my Chinese was limited...