SOUL CrossTraining

African Women's Leadership Training - in partnership with Grace Church and ALARM (African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries).. These women are leaders in the communities and churches .  They are participating in a 3 year leadership program.  They will graduate in the summer of 2018. (Rwanda, Africa) www.AfricanWomensLeadershipTraining.org I am undone by the stories of these women.  Their perseverance and strength amazes me.  They may live thousands of miles away in what we see as a remote pat of the world. However, we must realize that we share this world .  We must open our eyes and hearts to OUR world .  We must be willing to look around.  Take a look and you'll see some of the broken places of  OUR world .  It's heart wrenching.  Yet, there is beauty as we look through  windows bursting open with hope  in some of the most difficult places.   I invite you to join me as I link arms wit...

What if there were another way? Another way to be. Another way to live. What if we could be like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.   - Psalm 1:3 WOD Conference Session 1 • Corinne Gunter from Grace Church on Vimeo . I had the chance to speak to this way of life.  This way of being at the Way of Discipleship Conference at Grace Church -- it begins with our own walk and journey with God.     

At the beginning of a new year, it seems natural to pause and reflect.  I have to be honest last year was hard.  Sure there were great things, fun and excitement.  Yet in midst of living our family experienced a life-altering loss on October 10, 2013.

The years have flown by.  It seems only yesterday I was a little girl living in the back bedroom. Days spent helping my mom with laundry or gardening.  Or at least pretending to be helpful--you would have to ask her the truth. My mom has always worked tirelessly -- from early morning to evening.  Not only did she manage our household and create delicious meals from the produce she grew from their enormous garden, she also was an entrepreneur and business owner.

It takes time and intentionality to establish a rhythm.  It takes time and intentionality to develop a relationship. And sometimes we need a CHALLENGE to get us moving.        So, here's one!  31 Days -- reading and engaging in Bible.   Just 3 questions to guide your reading! 

Have you heard about this?  Real time life logging no pen or paper required.  "What if you recorded every second of your life and were able to replay it at a moment's notice? For two months, Esquire editor A.J. Jacobs did just that. He talks about what he learned by being able to rewind his life to catch anything he missed, and how the people in his life reacted." Take a look.   A camera or camcorder to be worn that literally records your life as it happens.  Every word, every conversation, everything you see and everything you do.  Honestly, I'm not sure I'd like to see a true representation of some of my days. Like most everyone,  I'd find that my words don't reflect my heart or my intentions OR maybe they do more than I want to admit.  Somedays, I'd wish I did more of this and less of that.  Maybe seeing an accurate picture isn't such a bad idea at least everyonce in awhile.  At least if that picture pro...

Today I finished filling the pages of this particular journal.  As I look back and recount where I've been I realize the necessity of journaling.  Page 1 --  South Africa - May 4, 2011 (visiting a township school) Even writing these words seem unbelievable.  Today was our first full day here.  From a distance the children here appear to be like the children I see at home, dressed in their school uniforms scurrying between classes.  But as I come closer, as I step toward them and only slightly deeper into their world I begin to see the evidence of their hard lives.  A scarred face, a deformed hand, the blind eye that wanders.  Some of their eyes are dulled by what they have seen.  The hearts ache because of what they have endured.