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Saturday morning in good ol' Norman, Oklahoma began with how my "favorite" Saturday's evolve:  lovely french press coffee in hand and an episode of Barefoot Contessa on laptop (Ina Garten, if you are reading, you are my favorite!).  Happy as a little clam in our new apartment, I sat and sipped and watched and felt at peace.  Now, feeling at peace in an apartment with a list of essentials I need to get from Walmart open on my "Notes" phone App with no idea how long this temporary residence will bear my mark sounds weird.  But weird is something I am comfortable with and so sit in peace I did!

After Ina and I had spent quality time together (insert big cheesy smile here), I turned my attention to my Bible and journal.  Joshua 22: 1-8 left me speechless and feeling empowered.  Israel, wanderers in dessert places, were on the brink of entering land longed promised.  Before unpedicured toes and feet stepped into promised places, Joshua had a list of do's and don'ts:

  • Love the Lord your God
  • Walk in All His Ways
  • Keep His Commands
  • Remain Faithful to Him
  • Serve Him with All Your Heart


Why these basics?  Why the need to be reminded by Papa Joshua that the Lord needed to be loved?  Seems weird.  To love God was given as a command.  Leaves me thinking love is so much more than a gushy feeling.  It's about decisions.  And given the circumstances the Israelite desert dwellers had come through, a decision to love God during the "tough" in life was essential.

Walking in His ways was a struggle for Israel.  A lot of folks didn't get to step into their Promise for not walking in His ways - including Moses.  His ways didn't always make sense.  Walking in them meant walking into prosperity.  Prospering meant receiving God's best.  God promised Israel they would get His best when they made deliberate steps toward Him.  It was a promise.  Walk the way I show you and you will have the best I've planned for you!

Keeping His commands was non-negotiable.  He said it.  He meant for commands to be obeyed.  I get that it sounds harsh.  But only when viewed through a lens that says God is a dictator.  When we look through the intended lens - God being a loving, kind, gracious Father - we want to obey.  We know His ways will take us to good places.  A new land with new inhabitants would offer new commands from foreign peoples that could make a whole lot of sense to these newcomers.  God knew that.  He was protecting His kids by giving them a command to follow Him - even if it didn't make sense.

Remain faithful seems like a basic no Brainer as well.  How many times do you tell a newly married couple to be faithful to one another?  However, God knew Israel's limited perspective would leave room for them to be unfaithful ... and us, too!  When I look at circumstances,  and those circumstances look daunting, I tend to lose perspective.  Disappointment, discouragement, depression are all culprits to swaying me from believing God is faithful and my faithfulness is key to experiencing His best for my life.

Finally, serve God with all your heart and soul.  Really?  Did Israel, these holy ancients that are to be admired for being the chosen, need to be reminded to serve God?  Apparently.  God knew that living in the Promise would require serving Him when it cost.  Heart and soul are a high price to pay ... but it's worth it.

So, why all the Bible lesson stuff?  Because out of this place of peace, coffee and Ina by my side, I heard God and His Truth.  The timing is perfect.  Because, later that day, we had an appointment with our Realtor/Friend to look at four houses.  But wait ... let me insert a quick chaser here

We've officially looked at houses since January.  Quite frankly, I wasn't feeling "it".  We just moved into our little apartment this week.  I had the impression that God used this apartment as our "Jordan".  Before Isreal could enter the Promised Land, they had to take a deep breath and cross over a flood-stage river called Jordan.  Scary.  Yet step over they did.  After the Jordan lay the Promise.  In my mind, our Jordan could last 3 months ... or more.  I have tried to lay a timeline at the feet of Jesus and live loosely bound to a schedule in terms of how long we call yet another temporary place "home".  As Libby and I lay in her new bed the first night of our stay in our apartment, I shared this with her.  It made sense to me as I said the words out loud.  She got it.  And I was trying to.

After looking at the first three houses, faint of heart and weary from looking, my Jordan was before me. House number four brought little expectation.  However, after walking through the front door, heart began to palpitate, eyes began to brighten, pulse began to pick up and ears perked at the favorable comments being made by my Libby and Parker.  This was good.  Turns out, it was really, really good!  So good ... we made an offer!!  

This house that we've prayed for seems to be laying in front of us.  For months, we've crossed things off imaginary lists that were criteria for the "perfect" house.  Because this house has been a dream we know God has put on our hearts to bless others, to be Fahrenheit's headquarters, and house our sweet family, the criteria at times felt daunting.  Yet, yesterday, when we least expected it, here it was.

We've made an offer.  We are praying and believing for this house.  Peace passes our understanding.  Fear lurks at the door of faith.  But the words of Joshua to beloved Isreal keeps me focused.  

Love the Lord your God.  I am going to continue to love God.  Today, that means loving God and trusting Him fully for the house He desires for us and the financing to make that a reality in spite of any fear.  I choose to love.

Walk in all His ways.  I am going to continue to walk in the ways He tells me and my precious Chris.  Today, that means trusting His leading to this house and trusting the last month's journey to get us here had a unique purpose for my good and the good of others.

Keep His commands.  I am going to continue to keep His commands.  Today, that means giving all my fears, and stress and concerns to Him through my prayers and laying them at His feet.  I will believe God's Word over my faulty feelings and know His good chases after me.

Remain faithful to Him.  I am going to continue to remain faithful to Him.  Today, that means trusting Him for more.  More finances, more perspective, more provision, more peace.  My eyes stay locked on Him in the middle of everything else. He was never let me down.

Finally, serve Him with all your heart and soul.  I am going to continue to serve God will all my heart and all my soul.  Today that means bearing all that is in my heart and soul to Him.  I serve by being obedience ... even when I have no idea how it's all going to come out.  I will serve by believing His Word over my feelings.  I will serve by knowing without His leading, I would be a fish out of water.  









Because I believe in a foundational truth that words have power, I pay attention to words.  This morning while I was reading Psalm 115 the word trust jumped out.  Usually, when the word trust is set into a sentence, there is an implied recipient.  Trust will often then be followed by the word in.  In is then proceeded by a direct object.

Let's take a look at the following sentence.:
 (You) Trust in God.

Keeping it simple, the implied recipient is You.   The direct object here is God.  Now let's reframe the sentence.  You, trust in God.  Simple.  We've just completed English 101.

Yet, people of God, we are missing the mark.  I'm not being hateful just observant.  We've come to see the word trust as an elusive, self-sustained, Noun that catapults us toward super believe, hyper-faith and out-of-this-world experiences we feel we can not achieve.  However, trust is not always a Noun.  It can also be a verb.  As a verb, trust is defined by synonyms like bank on, count on, rely on, be sure of.  As a verb, the direct object is always a Noun.  So if I say I trust in a chair to hold me, I will sit in the chair.  I won't stand around and not utilize the chair for fear it will not hold me.  I don't take time to analyze if the chair is strong enough, can be depended upon, or will hold me up this time even though it's held me up plenty of other times in the past.  I put my trust into action.  I trust without a second thought.  I trust and sit my po-po in the chair.

Point:  I will either trust God or I won't.  I will hand all my concerns, fears, wrong-believes, and expected outcomes limited by my imagination to God in a given situation or I won't.  Trust must be an active verb in a faithful Direct Object.

I am trusting God for a house.  So what does that look like?  How am I activating my trust?

I pray.  I pray back the promises God has given us for a place called Fahrenheit House.  It's not a wishful whisp of a hoped-for place but a knowing that God has given us a vision for such a place to accomplish a plan way bigger than ourselves.

I cancel fear with God's truth. Emotion gets in the way of activating my trust.  I get discouraged when I look at the reality of the price of the house against the reality of the balance of my bank account.  I get overwhelmed thinking about details of obtaining the house.  Emotions lead me down paths that go against God's truth.  God's truth says His plan is to prosper me, not harm me, to give me hope and a future. God's truth says that His people flourish.  My emotions have to be kept in check under the authority of God's truth.

I surround myself with others who have affirmed God's promise and vision.  I allow them to speak life to me.  I invite them to come alongside me.  I get others actively involved in what God is doing so they can be encouraged, challenged, and hear from God along with me.

If we are going to see God change the communities in which we live we must have active trust.  We must actively trust God for those things He has spoken to us about in the quiet places.  Usually, that for which we are trusting involves a vision for a desired end that will result in good both now and for eternity.  Others are counting on our active trust.

How might your corner of the world ... my corner of the world ... be affected by active trust in a powerful God?

Makes you wonder,
Christina




"It may look like I'm surrounded but I'm surrounded by you." - Ellysa Smith
"Through You, we drive back our foes; through Your name, we trample our enemies."  - Psalm 44:5
This morning as I was battling a horrible headache, an upper respiratory "thing", bad hair and cold toes, I read about a Father - my Father - who battles for me.  At first, I had to clear the clutter of my physical ailments and push into the deeper things.  The deeper things in my heart hold a dream for a place of our own called Fahrenheit House.  Fahrenheit House will be a place for people to come to find refuge in a crazy world.  It will be a place to lay your head for a few days and find that still, small voice of the One who loves you like crazy.  It will be a place we can hold intimate conferences on how to know the One who loves us more than we can think or imagine.  It will be a place where young couples come to strengthen marriages over cups of good coffee.  

It will be ... but it's not yet.

It's just a dream placed in the hearts of me and my Chris for two years that we've put legs to in the form of faith.  

I gotta be honest.  I don't pretend to know God's immediate plan, but I have a great hope in one particular house here in Norman.  It meets the criteria of what we believe God wants for such a place.  The only problem is the price and our lack of resources.

However, most days, those obstacles don't phase me.  That's how I know this dream of Fahrenheit House is from God and not from the rather imaginative places in my brain.  I've come to realize that when God deposits a dream within you, it's usually so crazy only He can do it.  

I've got it on good authority that this is usually the way He does things.  Check out his track record: 
  • saves the world from a flood by asking one man to build a huge boat/zoo and brings the animals from all over the world two by two
  • speaks to a rebel Hebrew raised by Egyptian adoptive parents through a bush that seems to be on fire but isn't and asks him to bring millions of his Isreal countrymen out of the hands of a powerful Pharaoh
  • supernaturally orchestrates events so that a young virgin will give birth to His Son
  • allows His Son to feed 5,000 plus with a boys lunch of 5 fish and 2 loaves of bread
  • delegates 12 men who are just ordinary humans to spread the message of an extraordinary Father's forgiveness and restoration through His Son

God does big things in big ways through small avenues.  And since that is true, I want explosive faith.  I want the kind of faith that explodes through any human understating that is contrary to God's truth.  The kind of faith that illuminates, like a lantern, my steps and sees the impossible as possible.  

Explosive faith doesn't come by chance.  It's active.  It's deliberate.  It's not based on what I see, what I can do, what I can manipulate, what I can orchestrate, what I can fabricate.  It's based only on the power of what God can do.  

When it looks like I'm surrounded by obstacles, doubt, reality, God can do the work.  When it looks like the thing that is between me and my dream is too big, it's God who can work on my behalf and turn the impossible into possible.

Explosive faith says "I can't ... but YOU can."

Explosive faith isn't a blind claim of absurd things.  Explosive faith puts action into what God's Word says.  He says I can't trust in my own ways but I can trust in His ways (Psalm 42:4-8).  So, when I practice explosive faith, I trust Him to bring the finances for a dream of a house that seems out of my reach so that He can use it to bless people and I can pour cup after cup of good coffee and brag on what my Father did on my behalf.

Letting faith explode,
Christina




Recently, a dear and long-time friend sent me an email.  Throughout the year, a "tell me what's going on in a nutshell" request comes from her.  I sum up the months I've lived in a few paragraphs and she reads between the lines.  She does the same with me.  She's been through a hard time - a shocking scandal erupted in her community that demands her attention.  She is soul-tired.

And because life is often tragic, another friend is in a battle.  Politically motivated decisions by leaders who should know better are trying to oust him from his position.  In the past, he received nothing but praise and accolades from the very ones who are trying to defame his character and ruin a stellar reputation.  He is soul-tired.

A young cousin has undergone a major life transformation.  Both hands and feet had to be amputated.  Let the gravity of that sink in just a moment.  Her young life looks very different now and she has battles to fight and hills to climb that most of us could only imagine.  Without a doubt, she ... and all those around her ... are soul-tired.

We operate a nonprofit.  We never intended on being fundraisers, business owners, supervisors, trainers, legal experts, and problem-solvers.  We simply knew that what we were called and gifted to do meant doing it outside any box that had been created.  We exist on the financial support of donors.  This week, a donor had to pull their funds.  This has come during a time when funding is down for the first time since our three year existence.  Thinking about the repercussions of potential outcomes I fabricated in my mind, I began to get soul-tired.

What do you do with soul-tiredness?

We are equal parts Spirit, Soul, and Body.  What I find most often is that when the Soul is tired, it affects the Body and potentially the Spirit.  When our Body, our physical being, gets tired, a good nights sleep, a good meal, or a good laugh can cure most ills.  However, when the Soul is tired, it often takes time to bounce back.

Mind, will, and emotions need time and attention.  When I'm soul-tired, my mind wanders.  Usually, it wanders away from TRUTH and toward fear.  When I'm soul-tired, my will gets weak.  Getting up early gets pushed aside for one more hit of the snooze button on the alarm that pushes me to the brink of disaster and upsets an already tight schedule. When I'm soul-tired emotions are minefields that must be trodden upon lightly.  A simple statement can be received as criticism and a casual answer gets translated as an apathetic declaration.

What do you do with soul-tiredness?

It sounds simple.  It may even sound offensive.  Soul-tiredness requires attention from the maker and keeper of your soul.  We know God as Father, as Creator, as King, as Judge.  When we are soul-tired, we've got to cultivate our relationship with him as Shepherd.

The Bible refers to God as the Good Shepherd*.  So good that Jesus sacrificed his very life for the good of His sheep (that's you and me).  He says that He came to give us life.  He also tells us that there is another power at work in the world.  This power is a thief.  He comes to kill, steal and destroy.  When we listen to his power and the works of his hands, most likely, we get soul-tired.

The scandal that is wreaking havoc on my friends' community and her heartstrings has been used by this thief to steal my friends' joy, to kill her hopes of recovery and destroy the good things that the one at the center of the scandal had previously done.

The job harassment that is creating uproar and uncertainty for my friend and his family has been used by this thief to steal his vision for the future, to kill his reputation and destroy an establishment that has been founded on a rock-solid foundation.

The loss of physical hands and feet of our cousin has been used by this thief to steal her hope of being normal, to kill her self-esteem and destroy a family.

The dropping of a donor has been used by this thief to steal my trust in a providing God, to kill my desire of developing further the visions we have for our nonprofit and destroy my confidence in my calling.

Soul-tiredness requires time alone with the One who knows you.  Allow yourself to be tired without guilt.  Allow yourself to identify the source of your tiredness.  Allow yourself to vent about those who may have been the cause of your tiredness.  And then ... stand firm in the knowledge that the One who created you - see's you.  He sees your soul and the tiredness that invades it.  He also sees the promise that you stand on:  to never leave you and to never abandon you.  He knows that a good shepherd endures the weather and beasts and the long night because His commitment to his sheep far exceeds any temporary hardship the thief may try to convince you is lasting.  He is always with you.  He will renew your mind.  He will refresh your will.  He will refuel your emotions.  Ask.  He's right there with you.

As for myself, I spent time with my Shepherd friend.  He listened.  He reminded me of His love for me.  He also reminded me that His Father is my provider, not any other source.  And He did this all in the quiet of my room, in my favorite chair, overlooking the fall leaves from an urban apartment.  He's with me.  And He's with you.

Overcoming my soul-tiredness,
Christina



* John 10:10-11




It was good.  Oh - my heart - it was good.
My heart could not be more overwhelmed by having many days filled with these three humans.  These humans - who happen to be my girls - showered each other with hugs, smooches, snap chats, and tacky comments on wardrobe choices (all in good fun - no hate here!).  Collectively they would gang up on me  and fire "old" jokes straight to my heart.  And lest you think for one minute they are not equal-opportunity-handers-out-of-hard-times, their Dad got his fair share of  "You're wearing a fit bit AND a watch?" googly eyes of shame and fashion heresy.  It was great.  All of it was great!  And it went by fast.  Way too fast.  So fast I'm left scratching my head wondering where exactly did the time go.

It was reflective.  Oh - my soul - how I reflected.  Every morning spent waking up at parents homes and waiting to have coffee in my PJ's and sit and talk and just look at the faces of one of my parents, I basked in the moment and tried to capture it as a living video in my head that I will replay after I return "home".  As I drove by places that held memories of a former life with young girls in size 3T dresses and trips to the library and visits to the doctor, I reflected.  Time slips through fingers that don't grasp the brevity of a moment until it's long gone.

I was encouraged.  Oh - that place that needed it - how I was encouraged.  Meeting with a group of people who partner with us and happen to be called Board Members of Fahrenheit encouraged me in my life's work.  Having eight individuals see a larger vision for a greater purpose fueled my creative juices and fired a drive within to do the next thing.  Meeting with a young woman who I have not seen in a few years make such progress in her personal life that she is launching into a new stage propelled me to see the bigger picture of mentoring and encouraged me to continue do the thing that I know I've been called to do.  And seeing my girl - that Addie - find a faith community that has embraced her and she them grew my heart and my faith.  I loved those who love her.  For them I am forever grateful.

I was fed - oh my stomach and my heart - I was fed.  Conversations with women who I call my "tribe" fed my heart and reminded me of who I am and who I am not.  Hearing the year in review of their journeys with God, what they discovered about Him and themselves, left me hungering for more.  Reuniting with old friends who have left deep indention's in my heart was an unexpected surprise and vitamin boost.  Laughter, tears, observations over the dinner table with family members enlarged my foundation of home and made me even more grateful for that little thing called "blood".  Insights from mentors and friends over chips and salsa that peered into my heart and dared to point out the deeper things ... no words.

And then ... the friends that I simply did not have time to meet with, the things on my imaginary list of things I wanted to try to do that flat out didn't get done, the phone calls I missed or the Target runs that didn't get made ... I just leave to God's timing and trust Him. On this eve of boarding another plane to go "home" to a place that I live and work and do life separate from a "home" here ... where so many I love and keep captive in my heart live and work and do life ... it's a weird thing.  I call this a life divided ... yet totally at peace with the division.  Knowing that life is short, calling is paramount, and obedience brings blessing - I hand my boarding pass to another airline worker and do the next thing.  For now ...

Leaving "home" to go "home",
christina

Q:  What do you do for a living?
A:  Mentor.

Silence.

Mentoring seems to be a mysterious cosmic transaction that we don't understand.  We either conjure images of an aged professor taking a youth under his wing or we put a suit and tie on a professional and allow them to write down secret things on legal notepads all the while listening to a talking patient with body horizontal on an IKEA couch.

Mentoring is a natural, one-on-one relationship.  You know, I know this really great website that can give you all you've ever wanted to know ... And MORE ... About mentoring:  http://www.fahrenheitmentoring.org/

At it's core, mentoring is about relationship.  As a young woman, I lost my Mom.  A young Mother myself, I needed someone older and wiser to come alongside me and "show me the ropes" so to speak.  Fortunately, God brought me several women who guided me, were intentional with me, loved on me where I was at, and valued me.  This is a picture of mentoring.

Once a week, I usually camp out at a cafe table, order my favorite coffee, and listen - a lot - to a friend of mine.  She is younger.  She is in a life transition that I have already passed.  She pours her heart out.  I get the privilege of hurting with her and helping her.  I get the honor of offering my past, my experiences, my journey with trusting God as a gift for her to unwrap and apply in her own life if she chooses.  This is a picture of mentoring.

My Chris can be found just about every evening checking his calendar to see what's on his docket for the next day.  On this particular day, he has gone to volunteer at a Salvation Army Men's facility where men who have had particular hardships can live life together.  He prepares breakfast.  He shares during a group study time.  He listens to their stories and struggles.  He shares a few of his own.  This is a picture of mentoring.

This morning, I read about John. John was born about 6 months B.C.   He knew his life's call - to prepare the way for a future leader who would change the world.  He shared his simple message with others.  These "others" recognized the leader John spoke of and began to follow him.  His name was Jesus.

Jesus, when asked by John's followers, who he was replied, "Come and see."  Come and see.  I love this!  This is the message of mentoring!  Come - take a risk to follow alongside another and see how to  live life.  Come - take a chance on sharing your heart with another and allowing vulnerability to build strength you never knew you had.  See - how trusting another can sharpen you as well as them.  See - that lives journey isn't meant to be traveled alone, but rather together with others who can pour into you, speak life into you, and see potential in you.

And the best part - anyone - anywhere can be a mentor and be mentored!

Q:  What do you do for a living?
A:  Mentor.
Q:  Can I do it?

The answer is always "Yes"!,
Christina

I love this photo for so many reasons.  What you can't see in this photo is what is guiding these two men.  The one on the left, my Chris, holds his cell phone - using an App to direct us to a new restaurant - while our friend E looks on.

Here's what is going on behind these two:

The rest of the group follows ... blindly ... because they trust the one doing the leading!  

And me ... I'm in the middle taking pictures ... watching the whole thing unfold ... being an observer.

What a great picture of mentoring.  In mentoring, there is a guide (one who takes the initiative to find the right course ... then leads ... alongside the one he's leading),  those who follow (they trust the one guiding, they trust they know the plan ... they are intentional about pursuing the direction being taken) and sometimes there may be an occasional observer.

To me the first photo illustrates how the Mentor and Mentee are side by side ... walking the same pace ... working together.  Mentoring can be this intimate.  Mutual trust, authenticity, and often times ... time ... help foster this kind of intimacy.  It's in this kind of mentoring relationship that the Mentor gets the privilege of helping the Mentee navigate through life.  The Mentors experience, age, well-traveled shoes enables him to be a trusted confidant, a capable encourager, a shoulder to lean on.

Different mentoring relationships take on different "looks".  For example, I love how the second photo illustrates how a Mentor may need to walk ahead of the Mentee ... navigating the charted course.  They know they are being followed, they are mindful of the one behind them ... and they wait for the Mentee to narrow the gap between them.  This relationship may be for a season (pushing through a particular issue or set of circumstances) or  it may be a picture of what some Mentor/Mentee relationships look like at the beginning of the journey.

And then ... most times without either party (Mentor or Mentee) realizing it, there are casual observers.  They are the ones noticing the relationship, asking questions, wondering why there is change.  Ultimately, the observer is the one ready to enter into a similar relationship.  And thus, a cycle of mentoring is born.

At it's heart ... and in real life photos ... this is the core of Fahrenheit!

watching and mentoring,
christina

Fahrenheit.  For those of you who don't know, Fahrenheit is a non-profit mentoring agency that Chris and I founded last August (2014).  It was born out of a desire to see the spiritual climate of cultures changed one person at a time ... through mentoring!

One-on-one mentoring, business place mentoring, virtual mentoring ... this is what Fahrenheit is doing in Vienna and desires to do wherever God wants to move into!  To help spread the word about mentoring ... and specifically Fahrenheit in Austria, a dynamic duo came to shoot footage for a Promotional Video.

E and J came and plopped right smack down in the middle of our lives and happened to have a camera nearby ... at all times ... to catch clips of what goes on.  Of course, we "planned" interviews and some directed shots of friends ... but we also spent lots of time wandering the streets to get candid shots of life here in Vienna.

We are thrilled at how God uses talents of others.  E and J's vision and talent was/is a huge blessing!  We can't wait to see the finished product!  We had a ton of fun - times of great talks - lots and lots of coffee drinking - many laughs around the diner table - lots of giggles - and not enough time for Floh Market shopping!

Here are some visual images of our time together!!


E and J

Coffee was always in the agenda!

I know this is blurry, but these are a few of a fantastic group of people that we meet with every Sunday for House Church!

E and J ... and coffee!

On the UBahn ... with another friend, M who is going to be a Fahrenheit Intern!

Ubahn traveling ... me and Miss Libby!

E and Chris ... love this photo!


Schnitzel!!

J "on the job"!!

Making a little music with our friends!


Fahrenheit has two primary "tracts" in which to change the spiritual climate:  the University and the Workplace.

During the university years, students seem to be more open to new ideas than any other time in their lives. We offer university students friendship, trusted confidentiality, life experience, practical advice, and spiritual insight to life’s problems. The uniqueness of mentoring students offers them the opportunity to impact their future workplaces for Christ.

Fahrenheits goal for mentoring is two-fold:  to see individuals place their faith in Jesus Christ and to challenge Christian students to see themselves as climate changers by intentionally living their lives as an effective Christian witness.

Real life story:

A few years ago, we had to move apartments.  We knew that God desired for us to work with students and we felt drawn to move closer to the university.  Facts:  being closer to the main university meant closer access to our place but also meant higher rent prices.  Long story made short, we got an apartment just two stops on the subway from the main campus at an insanely low rent for our district.

Guess what?  We moved!  We moved having no relationshisp with any students but knowing God had given us a vision for what He desired.  A few months later, not only had God given us a relationship with a university student ... this student worked in a Christian ministry on campus that desired to reach other students for Jesus Christ.  Not long afterwards, we hosted a Thanksgiving event in our home in which we hosted 46 students.  Later that Spring, we helped with an 8 week International Cafe for students.  Every week, students heard personal testimonies about how Jesus changed someones life for the better as well as had opportunities to openly discuss what following God really looks like.   Do you think God has a plan for students in Vienna?

Now, God has given us a partnership with OESM (http://oesm.at/de/oesm-home/) which is a Christian University Student Organization with the same vision:  to reach students with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  We had the privilege of leading Mentoring sessions at their annual Retreat in which we introduced the concept of mentoring and Fahrenheit.

God is working in Vienna, Austria.  In the next blog, I want to devote my time to sharing the exciting opportunities YOU can have to partner with Fahrenheit through a program called "Virtual Mentoring".  You will also notice the new "Donate" button on this page.  Your financial support helps students reach their potential in Christ and share the transforming news of the Gospel!

excited,
christina

You will never lighten any load until you feel the pressure in your own soul.  - Ravi Zacharias

For the last 5 years, my Chris and I have felt the pressure in our soul for Vienna, Austria.  It was more than apparent that God was making a way for us to use our talents and professional abilities in a full-time mentoring capacity.  Thus, Fahrenheit was birthed.

Fahrenheit is a non-profit organization.  It's goal is to use mentoring to change the spiritual climate of Vienna.  Life is often blemished by crisis, trials, and hardships.  However, everyday brings its own challenges, doesn't it?  It's a  delicate balancing act.  How do I balance my roles, maintain healthy relationships, and live in harmony as a person who is triunal:  mind, body and soul?  We believe Mentoring offers the answers.

Mentoring, by our definition, is having another person come alongside you in a one-on-one relationship to help guide you through life's challenges.  We've seen success stories.  We've been recipients of the benefits of mentoring.  Through mentoring, we believe in it's simplest form, we get the opportunity to be the hands, feet, and ears of Jesus Christ.  In mentoring, we extend the opportunity to help another grow whole in their relationship to Christ.

This is one of many entries in which I want to share the heartbeat of Fahrenheit.  First, it begins with our own beating and burden hearts for the souls of Vienna, Austria.  God has used His love for Vienna as our passion for our future!

In classic mentoring form:  What is your passion?  What is that "thing" that you feel in your own soul?

first among many entries,
christina

I love how this picture symbolizes our family right now:  steps.  Steps can be surefooted.  Steps can be made with a pit in our stomach.  But, one thing for sure ... steps take us from one place and lead us to another.

Our family is stepping out ... again.  This time, four sets of steps will lead us back to Vienna while another set of steps stay here.

Surefooted steps lead my Chris to lead the rest of us back to a new thing with a new sending agency in Vienna:  Fahrenheit!  Fahrenheit is a mentoring agency, allowing us to use our gifts and talents to do what we love to do.  It is birthed out of a dream, I believe in God's heart, to see university students and business people connected with mentors that will live life- intentionally - alongside them.  Partners have come alongside Fahrenheit both financially and as mentors.  As we step out in the beginning phases of this venture ... we are surefooted.

At the same time, I have discovered that surefooted steps can also bring a pit in the stomach.  The pit is not lack of desire to follow the dream.  The pit is the willful knowing of what is being given up to follow that dream.  Pits have no bottoms.  Yet, the pit drives me to cling to God.  God brings peace in the pit.  The pit is not bigger than the one who carries me through it.

More information on Fahrenheit and this journey to follow.  I simply wanted to express this leg of our journey ... the steps ... the pit ... the surefooted.  On my own and in my flesh ... this journey would be impossible.  The fear of the unknown is so ... unknown I would turn back and settle for normal.  However, because the Spirit of God is active, adventurous, calling me to deeper places ... and deeper pits ... I have to step ... into the unknown ... and in the stepping I discover more of God.  It's a sacred holiness ... this stepping into the unknown.  These steps are taking me ... and my family ... from one place (spiritually) to another.  I can't go back ...

Stepping,
christina

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I love to write. I love to tell stories. I've been writing since I was a kid; it's just something I do. With a cup of coffee in one hand, I attempt to show our ordinary life in an up close, personal, and authentic way. I make no apologies for my belief in a Life Author, God, who desires to show us who He is. Thus, I see our journeys as purposeful adventures. I am a wife. My Chris and I have been married since 1991. Everyday I wake up and find him in my bed, looking at me with no makeup on and dark circles under my eyes, I thank GOD he is a man of faithful endurance! I am Mom to 3 girls: Addison, Parker and Libby. They challenge me to be all I was created to be. I hope you come away with something useful, inspiring, humorous, or helpful. That's my goal ... and why I scribble words on a page. Enjoy!
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Fahrenheit Mentoring

Fahrenheit Mentoring is a mentoring agency designed to help peole along the journey of life. My husband and I founded Fahrenheit in 2014 out of an expression of what we've done for over 25 years: mentor. To learn more, check out our website.

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