Yes, Lord, I Will Trust You Without Borders

As many of you know, my family and I are moving to the Dallas area. This is our tenth move in 6 years. My parents are not fond of Louisiana (where we live now) so they are OK with the move. I, on the other hand, have just gotten where I feel comfortable here. I have friends. I have a best friend for the first time in my life! So I am comfortable here. I really don't want to go, but the Lord has made is incredibly clear that I am suppose to go. Go where? I don't know. I just know that I am not suppose to stay in Louisiana.

So in my searching of where I am suppose to go I have applied to 2 different schools. One in Dallas and one here in LA. I have been so confused! Do I go with my parents or do I stay in LA. At the school here in LA, I would have friends. I mean that is where my best friend is going! It would be easy! But in Dallas, I would not know a single soul! But I have done that many times. Moving and making new friends is no big deal!

In all my confusing and searching I was trying to think of how things would/should work out. How God would work all things for the good where ever I went. So basically I was trying to figure out where would be most comfortable for me/try to be superwoman and do it all on my own (which I seem to do often and God continues to teach me that I can't do that...)

So yesterday, it was my last time to worship at our church which I LOVE! We sang a song I hadn't heard before. Oceans by Hillsong United.

You call me out upon the waters
The great unknown where feet may fail
And there I find You in the mystery
In oceans deep my faith will stand

I will call upon Your Name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine

Your grace abounds in deepest waters
Your sovereign hand will be my guide
Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me
You've never failed and You won't start now

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Saviour

I will call upon Your Name
Keep my eyes above the waves
My soul will rest in Your embrace
I am Yours and You are mine 

I love this song! It was such and encouragement to me and very much needed yesterday. They verses that stuck out to me I put in bold. "You've never failed and you won't start now" A reminder that in all of the 9 moves, I would NEVER give up one of them! EVER!! So if He hasn't let me down in 9 moves, why would He let me down with number 10? 

And the other verse that stick out was, "Spirit, lead me where my trust is without borders, let me walk upon the waters, wherever you would call me." And going along with what I said before, if He hasn't let me down in 9 moves why would He start with 10? So why am I reluctant to trust him with this move?? 

So my prayer is that I would learn to trust my Father with everything! I would learn to trust without borders and I would be willing to go wherever He calls!

Following His lead,
Kati C. 

Favorite moments from the week

We call this the poop line. =)

Night on the town

Play time with my babies

Favorite pic of the week! By Far!!

Last moments holding my sweet Abner

Saying goodbye

What is a mission trip without crazy people???

Sweet Abner

Our amazing intern, Megan

Ovideo!!

This baby walked for the first time while we were there! So exciting!

Mischievous Vilma!

We had an amazing pediatrician with us! Such a blessing! 

Hope and Heartache

The last day at the center was a doozy...

Having to say goodbye to my sweet babies was so hard. How my heart aches to just take all these babies home and raise them as my own!
I often question God on how long I must travel overseas and come back before He allows me to devote my life to serving overseas. I have know for a long time that I was not called to the United States so leaving the States only fuels that fire. But as I was questioning God this week on how long I must wait He reminded me yet again that He is faithful and He is worthy of my trust. He is worthy of my praise. He is my Rock, my Shelter. He is the healer of the broken-hearted. He is the healer of broken bodies. He is my comforter. He is trustworthy. And I WILL trust Him. He has a plan for my life. And He has a plan for these kids lives.
Most of these kids have been through more heartache in their lives that I will go through my entire life. But even though my story is so different than these kids, our God is the same. And just like He is all of those things to me, He is all of those things to those precious babies as well and He WILL take care of them.

Another passage in Matthew that stands out to me when I think of these precious babies is Matthew 6:25-34.  

 

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life ?

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

 

So even though I only got to raise these kids for a week, I give them back to God. I entrust them in His hands and know that He is so faithful. He is so trustworthy. And I know He will take care of these kids and protect them and protect their hearts. So I have hope that even through the heartache that these kids will face and the long way that some of them have to go to be healthy babies again, my God will take care of them! 

All for His glory,

Kati C.

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Oh Poop!

Well, first of all I apologize for not posting while I was in Guatemala. We had some crazy days!

So I will catch you guys up on all of the happenings of the week!

First off, can we just talk about poop, poop, poop, and more poop. Oh also projectile vomit and snot. Tuesday, our second day at the center was a tough one. All 13 of my babies had diarrhea, one vomited, and the rest had so much snot!
That day we probably changed 50 dirty diapers. I wasn't thrown up on, but cleaned up 5 children covered in vomit. And then right after I sat down after cleaning up vomit, I picked up a child and poop started pouring out of his diaper and onto my pants like I had turned on a faucet...

Tuesday was the hardest day to say the least. Not just because of all the poop, but because the reality of the situation of these kids hit me. That morning I helped with bath time and as I was undressing my baby, Abner, the reality of how skinny he was hit me. This baby has no meat on his bones and no muscles. As I picked him up to place him in the bath I just started crying. I had to hand him off to the nanny because I couldn't handle it.

As we were headed back to the hotel that day and the day was hitting me, a verse came to mind. I know it is a cliche verse for a mission trip, but it gave me hope that even in the short days that I was there, I truly had a purpose and God will use this time. Matthew 25:40 says, "For what you have done to the least of these you have done unto me." I am so thankful that even in the midst of all the poop and vomit and snot, all of it was use for HIS glory!

All for His glory,
Kati C.

Zipline!

Our College Group

All of our Guatemalan market finds!

Day One!

Hey guys!! Well, we made it through day one in country!
Today was our sightseeing day. We went zip lining and then ate at McDonalds for lunch and than went shopping at a market. It was so hard for me to not be able to see the kids today! I am so ready to get there and met the kids and love on the kids! But today was a great day to get acclimated (and brush up on my Spanish).

The hotel that we are staying at is a very, very nice hotel!We got here and they had fresh juice waiting for us. And it was wonderful! But as wonderful as it was, it was just as hard for me to be here in such nice conditions. We sat down to dinner last night and had a full FOUR course meal. My first feelings were feelings of guilt. I have come down to work with these kids that are malnourished and I am going to get fat because of all the food I am eating. And then we sat down to eat dinner tonight and it was the same thing! As I sit here and type this out it has been 4 hours since I ate and I am still stuffed! And the same feelings of guilt came back. Then, Andrew Reilly, the leader of our Broadmoor group said something in our group reflection time that stood out to me. He said that even though we came to serve yet are being served by the hotel staff, we are serving these people by giving them a job. This hotel has been chosen by Orphan's Heart and this is where they bring all of their teams. They bring a lot of money to this hotel and that gives these people jobs and livelihoods in this poverty stricken country. And the lady that is leading our whole team from Orphan's Heart said that one of their reasons for choosing such a nice hotel is so we can come back to the hotel at night, be rejuvenated, and then go to the malnutrition center and work our tails off and pour ourselves out.

So I say all of that to say, my first day I have learned that service doesn't always look like we imagine it. And to be open to other forms of service. Because I am such a hands on person, I want to be the one serving and doing and pouring myself out. But sometimes our service comes in different forms than that. And if we can show the hotel staff that there is something different about us and if the Lord gives us the chance to minister to the people that are waiting on us, how amazing is that??

No matter what our service looks like, our main goal should be that God get the glory! To God be the glory! To God be the glory! To God be the glory forever and ever!

In His hands,
Kati 

Guatemala, Here I come!

Hey guys!

Well, I am getting ready to head down to central America again. This time to Guatemala!! I am getting so excited! I got a package from the group I am going with (Orphan's Heart) today and it had a t-shirt in it. I immediately put the shirt on! I couldn't wait until the trip to wear it! Haha!

Like I said, I am going with Orphan's heart. They serve all over the world, Haiti, Uganda, Guatemala, and a few other places. I am going down to work in a malnutrition center. Most of these children do have families, but they families were unable to care for them, so they brought them to the center. My main job is going to be loving on babies all day long. I will be put with an age group and will have them from the time they wake up until they go to bed. If any of you know me, you know that that is the most perfect job for me! I cannot contain my excitement!

I will be down there only a week. I am already getting sad thinking about leaving those precious babies and I haven't even met them yet!

Please keep out group that is going in your prayers! 

For more information on the ministry I will be working with, feel free to check out their website!
www.orphansheart.org

Thank you guys!

Kati C.