Posted in General Posts by Sarah Taylor on 3/7/2012
The Face of the Girl I Know Now
It was the month of January just a year ago that I began my journey on the World Race and I remember thinking what have I gotten myself into. Little did I know that the Lord was taking me down a path where I would be forever transformed and never look back. Sometimes we have no idea what we are getting ourselves into when the Lord calls us to things, but God knows. He says I knew what I was getting into when I chose you and I was just waiting for you to choose me back.
When people ask me, "how was the race?", I find myself in an almost numb and frozen state of not being able to sum up the wonders of God and the ways that I have seen him move in my life and the lives of many over the last year. There are no words to express the multitude of experiences and things that God has done because they are beyond our comprehension. I feel like I have lived eleven years instead of eleven months but at the same time that those years have flown by like a blink of and eye. When I see myself today I see an almost unrecognizable person compared to what I knew of myself before the race began.
It is a mere separation in my mind between who I once was and who I am now.
So as I walk as this changed daughter of God I have to think now what am I going to do with this change. These things that the Lord has imprinted and written on my heart's tablet how I am going to move and act in these things. My dream is to worship Jesus with my life, to waste my life at the feet of the cross because that is the only thing that makes sense. I know the beauty that is carried in the depths of my soul. The beauty of the Lord that has changed my life and renewed my mind. That beauty has captivated my heart and captured my soul. That beauty is where my perfection is found. And so I live not as the face of the girl I once knew but as the face of the girl I know now. I live to spread the dangerous and furious love of Christ so that his beloved can know this beauty and be set free.
2 Corinthians 12: 9 says...
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient
for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness."
My hearts cry is that the Lord's goodness and faithfulness would be made known through these weak things in me. That I would be able to proclaim that it is just because of his grace that we have been made sufficient. That a generation of people would come to know who their father really is and that the more you know who God is the more you know who he says that you are. And the more you know who he says you are the more you can live as he has called you to walk. The very core root of it all is that we have to know the beauty of the Lord that lies within the depths of our souls. My heart is to awaken people to this beauty. It expands so far beyond what we could possibly imagine and starts deep within our hearts, it starts with knowing the lover of our soul.
Most people would ask, "so what are you going to do now." The beauty of the Lord is that my heart is this place of surrender to him. I will go where he calls me to go, I am a worshiper of him and a lover to his beloved. This house of the Lord that is built inside of me, this house will stand for Jesus and testify of his great love. Through faith, the Lord has taken my heart to Spain.
On February 8th I flew to Spain to be a part of a family in Madrid for five months. This is an incredible opportunity to invest in them and to be a small part of their lives. I have the privilege to be a big sister for this period of time and speak life and love into this eleven year old girl and single mom that I am living with. Shortly after that I will be going to Mijas, Spain in July to be a part of a missions based leadership program called G42. This is a mentorship and discipleship opportunity and their main focus is to inspire and develop leaders who are passionate about giving their lives to the message of Christ. They believe in taking your kingdom dream and passion that the Lord has given you and making it a reality. So at this academy I will be ignited with more fire, awakened to more freedom and then
unleashed to go to the nations to change a generation for Christ.
When the Lord called me to yet another season outside of the United States, my comfort zone, and support raising all I could say humbly is, "yes Lord." So why G42 and why Spain?
During my six months here I will be individually mentored, live in community again of incredible people who love the Lord, be challenged, and grow this passion and dream that the Lord has placed inside of me to speak into his people about his beauty and how he loves us.
During this next season that the Lord is bringing me into for July, I have to raise $6,300 dollars that will go to completing this rigorous missions-based leadership academy. This cost will cover all of my expenses for being an intern through this program from transportation, to housing, to food and living and serving there. I absolutely believe that the Lord is calling my heart to G42 and to another season of being mentored so that with everything he gives I can give it back to him.
If you would like to be a part of helping this passion and dream that the Lord has put inside of me for missions and discipleship I would love to partner with you!
Here you can find the link for the website, click on the donate tab, enter Sarah Taylor as an intern, and donate to me specifically as an intern there through paypal. G42 is a non-profit missions organizational program:
G42, the 42nd generation is registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Donors will receive receipts for their gifts with the understanding that the disbursement of those gifts lies completely at the discretion of G42 and that the gifts are non refundable and non transferable, per IRS regulations.
If you would rather pay by check, make checks payable to G42 and mail to:
G42
P.O. Box 130611
Houston, TX 77219-0611
Memo: Intern Sarah Taylor
Thank you for believing in the work of the Lord and for partnering with me on
the journey of the World Race. Thank you for the prayers, words of
encouragement, and funding that you have sacrificially given so that my life and
the lives of many people in the nations could be transformed. The more that we
sow into the Lord and the things of him the more that we reap the harvest of his
blessings. So let this story of how my life has changed be a blessing to you of how you have sowed into me and please pray with me in this next season that I will sow into a generation of
people so that God and him alone can reap a harvest of true worshipers. Please
pray for my heart that it would continue to burn to abide with the Lord
and that I would stand strong and be courageous as I continue to walk as the
face of the girl I now know.
I absolutely believe in community and using my voice to share about the Lord and all that he does. So here is my new website that I will be continuously blogging on about the goodness of the Lord.
http://sarahsjourneyoflove.weebly.com/index.html please feel free to check it out, subscribe to my blog feed, or just be a part of what the Lord is doing!
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Posted in General Posts by Sarah Taylor on 2/24/2012
Journey through My Eleven Months
1. The Dominican Republic- The first month of my race was spent tenting on top of the beautiful mountains in the DR. Here we got to walk three to four hours every day to bring hope to villages of people who have never heard the name of the Lord. Without bathrooms, showers, running water and eating chicken feet soup this month was a pretty big culture shock to say the least but one of my favorite months. Some times we would spend our days picking coffee beans to help out local farmers, playing with beautiful children, or teaching Sunday school in the mornings. This month the Lord showed me what a life of worship looked like. People in this area of the DR have almost nothing but those that know and love the Lord live a life of worship completely sold out to him. As you walk around the mountains you might hear some of them singing songs of praise to the Lord continuously throughout the day and praying to him. What a sweet sound it is the Lord's ears and an example to us of living in constant worship.
 
2. Ecuador- I spent month two in South Quito working with a ministry called Inca Link teaching English at a school. Living with a host family this month made it completely different than any of my other months on my race. I would spend my time in the days teaching English to kindergarteners and in the evenings loving on my family. There were days when the mom and I would just start laughing because of the language barrier but somehow I knew when she smiled that her love covered all. This month held a lot of unexpected circumstances and the Lord began to teach me how to live under the umbrella of his expectations and not my own. The Lord let me know that whether I was ready or not he was bigger than my grasp and beyond what I could see. This was the month when I really started believing in the things of the Lord that I could not
3. Peru- Month three my team was in the city of Trujillo, Peru. During the day we did painting for a local church in the area that was renovating their building. This month was particularly difficult for me because I love ministries that interact with people but the Lord was teaching my heart how to be faithful and serve him in the small things. So often we expect to see the fruit of our labor but the Lord asks us to serve with the same fervor whether we are seeing the outcome or not. What a privilege it was spend my time painting the heading on the front of that church building even though I may never see the people whose lives will be changed there. Halfway through our month we visited the local garbage dump in the area. My heart was broken as I watched a generation of people scavenge through the rubbish for recyclables as a means of living. I met a beautiful mother of two that day and as I worked alongside her helping dig through the trash I began to ask her story. I prayed over her as we left that day as tears streamed down her cheeks I saw the love that her father in heaven has for her.
 
4. Honduras- The fourth month of my race was spent on a farm outside of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. This month we worked alongside a man named Tony who has a heart for teenage boys who have bad home life situations and are wanting to break their addictions to glue and other various painkillers. The boys spend their time on his farm learning responsibilities, trades, and that the Lord loves them. We had the wonderful opportunity to spend our time with these boys that month. Some of what we got to do with them included painting, making a garden, dying Easter eggs, campfires with smores, a baptism, and various other activities. The Lord taught me what his relentless love looked like that month and that it is his love that draws us to him. I absolutely feel so blessed to have walked out that month loving on those boys and sharing those moments with them.
  
5. El Salvador- I got to wake up to the beautiful faces of twenty children in month five when we were living in an orphanage in San Salvador. We spent every day with these sweet kids whether it was taking them to the park, zoo, movies, or just baking cookies we had our hands full! The Lord really taught me how to be a prayer warrior this month through intercession for my team and the children in that place. The owner of the orphanage has an incredible testimony of how he was a very successful business man in the states. When the Lord asked called him to start this home over seas he gave up what was good for something better. The Lord was alive in that place and that home and what a blessing and incredible opportunity it was to get to spend my days there with those children.
 
6. Thailand- Month six was one of my favorites on the race! We spent our time in Chiang Mai, Thailand working with an organization called Lighthouse Ministries. This month we had the opportunity to serve in a local coffee shop that provides a means of income for girls who are coming out of the sex trade industry. Along with the coffee shop we spent time at the local Chiang Mai University getting to know the students and sharing about the Lord with them, playing with beautiful Thai children in the slums, and going to the Night Bazzar district every night to spend time with the girls in the bars speaking truth and love into who they are. I had the privilege to become good friends with some of the girls in the bars and to spend time with them outside of their vocation in the city. Loving on these girls and sharing about their worth to them was very near to my heart. Seeing these broken things and hearing the stories from these girls the Lord put a fire in my heart for people to know who they are in him and that their worth and beauty comes from him and him alone.
7. Kenya- I was in Kitale, Kenya month seven on my race. This month we shared the Lord's love with people wherever they were at. We might have been painting a school building and playing with kids, visiting and orphanage and heading up soccer games, walking around to local villages meeting people and helping them out, or spending time with the local street kids loving on them. One of my most memorable days on the World Race was the day that we visited an abandon babies home here in Kenya. What an honor it was to spend time with those precious children that had been left on the streets or back alleys and to love them like their father does.
  
8. Uganda- Three years ago I started praying for the opportunity to return to Busia, Uganda to see the kids from New Hope Orphanage again and this month the Lord answered that prayer! Month eight we got to spend time ministering to the street children every morning through tea and bread, prayer walks through the town, house visits to the local people, and of course at New Hope spending time with the kids. What an incredible opportunity and blessing it was to go back to Uganda. I had no idea when I started praying years ago when the Lord would answer my prayer but I know a God that is faithful so as I kept asking I waited in faith for the Lord's response. This month the Lord reminded me to wait on his perfect timing for everything! During our time in Uganda my team was also able to get two of the street boys off the street and into a school system, clothed, and supported to be able to get an education. Praise the Lord for moving in these young boys hearts!
9. Tanzania- Month nine of my race I was in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. This month we worked alongside the Masai tribal people building relationships with them and encouraging them in the Lord. These people really do live a tribal way of life hunting lions, ritual dancing, war-painting, and many other things. It was such a blessing to get to work with them and share about the love of Christ. Teaching Sunday school and giving messages were a normal part of everyday living this month as well as praying over many of the sick for healing. The Lord showed us that he works in ways beyond our understanding when a man who had a broken leg began to get up and walk normally after our two teams prayed over him. I saw the vastness in the beauty of the Lord this month in the way that he has created so many tribes and nations yet his love burns for each one of them the same.
 
10. Vietnam- I spent month ten all over the beautiful country of Vietnam! During my time there we had so many incredible opportunities working with the underground churches, deaf and blind ministries, and people who are sold out for Jesus. The people of Vietnam who know the Lord treasure their faith and are willing to give it all even their life for the sake of the gospel. This is a closed country so talking about your faith and portraying it out right could get you imprisoned, beaten, disowned from your family, or many other things. We met countless individuals who had spent years in prison, or had been abused physically for believing in the Lord. Sitting in an underground church service with people praising and passionately crying out the Lord was one of the most moving experiences on my race. I have never seen a people so sold out for the Lord before and constantly reminded me of what an honor and treasure it is so bear the name of the Lord.
 
11. Cambodia- My last month on the race I spent in the rice fields on the outskirts of Phenom Penh, Cambodia. We were partnering with an incredible young man named Vuthy who has a heart for the young generation there and wants to see a people rise up to know the Lord. During the day I taught English to the youth and visited the people in the local area. It was such a blessing to take these kids on a camp retreat while we were there and pour into them. Besides Bible studies, game activities, and worship we were able to build relationships with them. Most of the youth in Cambodia who know the Lord are the only person in their family who believes and more often than not endure persecution from the family. It was an honor and blessing to spend that time with them and encourage them to keep on running the race with the Lord.
Where do I even begin to thank all of you who have blessed me so that I could be a blessing to others?
Thank you thank you so much for supporting me on this journey. Thank you for sowing into the things that the Lord is doing and praise God for all that he has done and will continue to do. Thank you for your encouraging words, prayers, and funds that you have so generously given. This would not have been possible without all of you! Let everything that I have said and all that the Lord does be a testimony of his faithfulness, who he is and his furious and great love for us. Thank you so much!
A new blog about where the Lord is taking my heart in the next season and my new website is coming soon! Blessings
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Posted in General Posts by Sarah Taylor on 1/20/2012
I Surrender All
Is there anything you are not willing to give up for me ...no, then you have nothing to lose, and if you have nothing to lose now, are you going to trust me?
Yesterday morning I woke up on January 19th and heard the sweet words of the Lord reign through my head so clear saying are you going to trust me to today? Yes Lord I am going to trust you. How much are you going to trust me? I said I am going to trust you with everything.
As I sat up in bed I started thinking about what the Lord was speaking to me about this simple question that he has been asking me lately, about how today it was even louder even more profound. I was sharing later on with a friend where my heart was and he just asked what I thought that those words meant to me. Instantly I knew it was surrender. I said I knew that the Lord wanted me to live from a place of surrender even more than I have been, even more than I was a couple months ago on the World Race, even more now...
The word surrender means to place beside, to put at someone's disposal. The dictionary definition is to give up possession or power over, to yield to another, to resign oneself. What would it look life if we lived a life that was yielded over to Lord, to live from a place of having no power? What would it be like if you literally resigned yourself from control? The beauty of surrender is the very thing that brought us to the cross. The fact that we said I don't want to do this without you Lord, I can't do this without. The plead with the Lord that we wanted him to take control, that we knew in that moment that there was nothing better than resigning our self and yielding to the power to God. Somehow along the way though our fists have been clenched and tightened. We have forgotten that sweet surrender of letting it all go into the hands of a God that is so far beyond what we could possibly ever know or imagine. It's the fear of the not knowing that makes us hold tightly, the exasperating attempts of trying to stabilize ourselves out of our own stability instead of letting the Lord be all the stability we needed. Surrender propels us towards Jesus and I know that there is no better place and no place I would rather be than in the arms of my father.
I got a call from my sister a couple hours later that day. She simply said, "Sarah I need you to pray, there is a brushfire and it is about to burn our house down." Oh how things can change on a moments notice, and it was at that time that I knew why the Lords words were louder in my head that day. That was my moment of surrender of saying God I am in a different state, a different time zone, I am away from my family and I can control nothing. At that time I had my arms up, palms open wide and I said here is everything I have Lord it's yours, you can take it if you want, I am resigning. All I could do was pray and ask the incredible body of believers to pray with me.
Within minutes there we so many people praying for that fire to quench and those flames to leave. I have been so blown away once again by the vastness of our God and how he moves his people. That his people run to him in surrender and in surrender of a sister and her family who is hurting and ask him to take control. That they know that we serve a powerful God that hears our prayers. So here were just living from a place of surrender and propelling ourselves towards Jesus because we have nothing to lose.
God works in incredible ways and it just so happens that before the news of the fire came to me I was on my way to church. So I find myself at this church that I have never been to before, surrounded by people I have never met. I am getting messages from my sister that are saying the houses on the left and the right are burning to the ground and the house in back is leveled and the flames they are on our doorstep. So I share my heart to this church and once again surrender it all and say will you ask the Lord with me to take control. So as this extension of Christ's body is laying hands on me and praying I get overwhelmed by the love of Christ once more. As I am in church and tears are streaming down my cheeks, the pastor starts sharing about the in between time and knowing that no matter what else is going on whatever tragedy you are going through the Lord is still sovereign. The Lord is just speaking so loud and so clear and I get some words from a friend. He says as I was praying over you and your family just now God said your house Sarah, it's a house of God, a house that serves God and that house, your house, it is not going to burn.
He says I am playing the song let it rain right now over you and your home.
As I am weeping I just started praying and I said God I am your house, your temple of the holy spirit and I will stand always in proclamation of you and your great name. I will stand to tell of you and the testimony of your faithfulness, your glory, and there is nothing that will ever tear this house down.
Only about a minute later I get a call from my sister and about and hour and a half has gone by since everything started happening. I ran out of that church service and I said what is happening and she said Sarah we are going to be okay. She said that the house in back of us in burning down and the house on the left of us is still on fire but I am telling you that the flames when they got to our house they turned and moved the other direction. She said it literally skipped over our home and it has started to sprinkle. She said the only houses left on our street are these people and its crazy because they are all our friends from church, they are houses who serve the Lord. All I could do was praise God and speak of his glory.
So here I am standing outside and I have no words but praise for this God that I know and trust, this incredible God that I surrender to everyday, and my friend looks at me and she bursts into tears. She says Sarah I have been on the edge of wanting to know more about God, but if this doesn't make me want to believe in God than I don't know what would. She says I want to know this God that you know and I want to know him how you know him. She says I want to go and pick out a Bible Sarah and will you help to learn more about him. I said everything that has been given to me and poured into me you can have. What an honor and a privilege it would be to pour it into you and I can tell you that if I don't know something then I will find someone who does know for you. So as the Lord is moving in my heart towards surrender and my family and everyone who is praying and this church he starts moving her heart towards surrender. All I can say is what a beautiful God that we serve, a God that calls us to divine appointments, and a God that we can trust.
I got home from the World Race the day before Thanksgiving. The moment I got home God asked me that question, "Is there anything you are not willing to give up for me?" My answer was no God no I will give it all! Since that day he has asked me are you going to trust me then. I have been moved by nothing but the Lord, and my heart longs to walk in nothing but the Lord with my heart rendered to him and him alone. He speaks and I move what a simple and wonderful concept. I want to share with you that when I got home the Lord said go and I said where and he said I will tell you Sarah. I booked a one way flight to Nashville and I said I have no idea where I am going after that but the Lord does. He has asked me to choose to lose control in him. The more I get to know the Lord and the depth of who he is more he asks me to choose to trust him and the more my heart says yes. And so the Lord is taking me on this crazy ride of just showing me one step and then the step after that and I get to live from this incredible place of trust and surrender where everyday I say God I don't know? I have no stability but you Jesus and I don't know what is coming next but God constantly says Sarah when you don't know I do, you are my beloved, trust me.
Words cannot express my thanks for your prayers for my home and my family! Thank you body of Christ for surrendering to the Lord with me and for me and alongside of me. You speak volumes of the magnitude of the love of the father and I saw such a clear glimpse of Jesus in all of you yesterday. God says they will know me by your love and that collision is when people encounter our wonderful God. So thank you for your powerful prayers, support, and for sharing in the collision of God and my beautiful friend that I have been praying for two years to come to know the father. Praise God for everything!
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Posted in General Posts by Sarah Taylor on 9/27/2011
Hakuna Matata
Hey everyone! First of all I want to thank all of
you for making this incredible journey this year possible. The Lord has greatly blessed all that you
have poured out into making this opportunity a reality through the amazing ways
he has worked and moved in me and those around me. So thank you so much for blessing me, so that
I can be a blessing through the Lord to others.
This month I spent my time in a small village in
the beautiful country of Tanzania working with the muslim people. Our ministry was building relationships with
the people and sharing the greatest gift we have to give: the love of
Christ. We truly learned the power of
prayer this month as we jumped at the chance to pray over every healing and
sickness we encountered, we learned the power through restless nights of
interceeding for what the Lord is doing, and the power through living moment by
moment in tune with the Lord's voice through praying without ceasing. My world turned upside down with all the
incredible ways the Lord moved in Tanzania. He reminded me to give it all away.
Everything that he has given me, for it's not my own to keep but an honor to
pour out and give back to him. We loved
like crazy this month and when we got tired we prayed for some more energy so
that we could love some more. There were
days where we encountered people from the early morning to late night and every
person was such a divine appointment from the Lord. We saw people get healed, brokeness redeemed,
and a people who have no hope begin to yearn and move towards something more:
the only thing and one who can wholly satisfy.
Hakuna Matata is my favorite Kiswahilli phrase
that they use in Tanzania. It means
"no worries," and this is where my heart rested this month. Admist all the business and incredible work
of the Lord he saturated me in his peace. I know that this came from living every day, moment by moment, led by
him and the holy spirit. When we rest in the shelter of the Lord we capture a
small glimpse of what his peace that surpasses all understanding feels
like. This is exactly where the Lord
wants us to be, and when we are here it is then that the Lord can bless us so
that we can be a blessing to others.
I absolutley believe that this year is a year of
the Lord's favor ( Isaiah 61). The Lord
has sent me to preach the good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted,
and to proclaim freedom for the captives. There is absolutely no way that I
could be walking out this season of life except through the hands of the
Lord. Back in July of 2010 something
inside of me knew that I wanted more and this is when the Lord started stirring
a passion to go on this journey. A small
voice inside of me deep within my heart asked the Lord to bless me to be able
to go so that I could be a blessing to him and his people. I can testify today that the Lord loves when
we live from a place of wanting to be a blessing to him and to give back to him
everything he has given us. So once
again thank you for your prayers and support throughout this year. It is beacause people like you belive in me
and the incomprehendbile work that the Lord can do through us that people all
over the world from every tribe and nation have been blessed.
I want to challenge you today to remember that
your prayers are powerful and effective ( and to remember that we serve a BIG
God who is more than capable of Big things. Don't be so afraid of the outcome or what the response will be that you
don't ask the Lord for things and for his blessings. Live from a place of dreaming and with a
heart of faith and know that with every blessing you are given it is an honor
and blessing in disguise to give it away.
"The best things to do with the best things in life
is to give them away." -Mother Theresa
Here are a few pictures from my month in
Tanzania...
 
Next month my team and I are heading to Vietnam! Please keep our team and
this month in your prayers. Vietnam is
an extremely closed country but I believe in the work the Lord is doing in this
place. What an increible opportunity to
to share the love of Christ and to stand beside, hand in hand with people who
are persecuted daily for their faith. These people are relentless pursuers of the Lord and they know the cost
and priveledge of bearing his name and making much of it! I will not be using
much internet this upcoming month because it is extremely unsafe but just know
that I am sure I will have many wonderful stories to share when the month is
over. Thanks again for your prayers they mean the world!
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Posted in General Posts by Sarah Taylor on 8/18/2011
Made More Faithful
At nineteen years wide eyed and ready to take on the world, the Lord took me on a journey to Busia, Uganda. I spent my summer at an orphanage called New Hope and fell in love with 72 children's beautiful smiles. As I left that season of life I knew I was going home with a family of African brothers and sisters. The images of their precious faces were burned in my memory forever.
Three years later it is like deja-vu as I walk the same streets and visit the old familiar things I used to know. One of the biggest things the Lord has shown me on this race is how faithful he really is, and in turn how we can give that same faithfulness back to him. Three years ago I started praying for an opportunity to return to New Hope. The Lord said, "Sarah, be still before me and wait patiently on me." Most of us have things in our lives that we pray for and would love to see happen. Sometimes, however I think we forget what it means to live by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). Oh how easy it is for our hearts to get weary when we do not see immediate results for the things that we want. We forget that we serve a God whose faithfulness endures forever; a God who makes things beautiful and perfect in his good timing. The Lord calls us to be persistent in our faith and prayers, to live with expectancy and hope, that he as our heavenly Father has good things for those he loves. I once heard a pastor say, "Push, and pray until something happens!" If the prayer you have been praying has not been answered yet than why have you stopped asking, why have you stopped persisting?
In the entirety of my life I can say that there is not one time where the Lord's faithfulness did not prevail. The Lord never promises he is going to answer prayers the way we want or the way that we imagine them happening. But God is faithful in keeping his promises and he turns his ear to us when we pray. A lot of times when we see nothing happening we think he is not there or he must not be listening when in fact it is quite the opposite. But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise (2 peter 3: 8).
This month I experienced the incredible faithfulness of our father again. I had no idea that at this time in my life I would be on the World Race, or that this was the perfect season and timing for the Lord to answer my prayers. Three years is such a small sacrifice of persistence. The Lord knows and searches our hearts, and my heart's desire is to be made more faithful to the Lord. This life is not our own and our faithfulness to the father is such a small price to pay for what he has done for us.
There were many days in those three years of praying that my heart had to learn patience in waiting. But even through the wait I rested in the peace of knowing that the Lord is always faithful. Don't stop asking and waiting in faith for the Lord but be encouraged that you are being made more like him, more faithful.
When I can't feel you I have learned to reach out just the same,
When I can't hear you I know you still hear every word I say,
And I want you more than I want to live another day and
As I wait for you maybe I am made more faithful
- Brooke Fraser (faithful)
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Posted in General Posts by Sarah Taylor on 7/20/2011
Owen
"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and
you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I
needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in
prison and you came to visit me. "
"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry
and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a
stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see
you sick and in prison and go to visit you?'
"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the
least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' Matthew 25:35-40
Last Monday on our day off I went into the small town of Kitale, Kenya near
our ministry site to see a movie with four other racers. On that day we met
Owen, and for me this was one of those times where I caught a glimpse of what
it truly looks like to live out feeding and clothing Jesus through the
"least of these."
When I walk the streets here I see the hardship of people not knowing if
they will have anything to eat, I see the trials people have endured in their
eyes, and I see the brokeness of homes as thousands of street children run
rampant without anyone to care for them. When I pass these children I ask myself who are they? Where did they
come from? Doesn't anyone care about these children: "the least of
these."
We met Owen outside of a bank on the side of the street that monday
afternoon. He had a bottle of cement
glue in one hand and he was asked if he would give up his glue for a loaf of
bread. It seemed like he gave up his
bottle with ease; we have no idea when the last time he had eaten anything
was. So this began our day of blessings
with Owen. We found a vendor on the
streetside with boys sweaters and replaced the ripped and worn one he had
on. Next we took him into the grocery
store and one of the girls took him to pick out his bread while I scanned every
isle for a pair of shoes for him. We
decided on blue flip flops. We asked him
if he would like some cookies and a huge grin crossed his face as he looked at
my friend Katie and said, "milk too?" After the grocery store we
decided to take Owen to see Batman at the movies.
During the movie as I sat next to him I ws overwhelmed with emotion and
thoughts. Can you imagine spending every
night on the streets as a young child? Can you imagine "sniffing"
glue every day to erase your pain a worries for a while only to have them
return with the morning? I have no idea what Owen's story is, but even with the
communication barrier between Kiswahili and English I can't imagine that he
didn't feel the father's love. I know
that it was a divine appointment that we ran into him that day. For that one night he didn't have to spend
his time on the streets numbing himself. God calls us to love the "least of these," with an
unconditional love. Sometimes we think
well I don't know them, where they came from, or why they are in the position
they are in. But God says to treat
others the way you would want to be treated and to love your neighbor as you
love yourself. Sometimes it is hard to
put ourselves in our neighbors shoes but in doing so just like with Owen, we
are doing it for Jesus. Who of the
"least of these" can you have an impact on today?
Hey Everyone I wanted to thank you all for your much needed prayers and
support on this trip! You have all blessed me more than you could possibly
imagine so thank you so much for being a part of this incredible season!
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Posted in General Posts by Sarah Taylor on 7/20/2011
All For a Good Laugh
Oh the things that happen on
the World Race... here are some of my most awkward/biggest laughs on the race,
I hope you get a laugh out of them too.
The Dominican Republic- So during the month of the DR my team was
staying in the mountains and living a very domesticated life. One night after we finished eating dinner I
went around back and decided to wash my dishes. I must have been spaced out because I started washing my dishes in the
first black bin out back that I saw. After washing I asked my teammates if that was the dish washing bin only
to find out that my teammate Joe Bugg had just got done washing his dirty
underwear laundry in the bin I had washed my dishes in. My teammates had a laugh for a while!
Ecuador- One day when we were working at
this school in South, Quito I had just finished drinking my pop and decided to
throw it away. There are two bins for
trash at the school Inorganic and organic. I could not figure out which bin to throw my pop in so I said to my
teammate Justin, "Hey is my pop organic or inorganic?" He just busted up laughing at me.
El Salvador- I was watching the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie with some friends
and I got real thirsty after I ate a piece of popcorn. So naturally you learn to share everything on
the race without thinking twice about it, I grabbed my friend Nancy's starbucks
and took a sip. Yeah there was definitely
something funky in the drink because I told her that it was kind of gritty and
slimy at the bottom. What I didn't know
is that my friend Liliana had just spit her "Lugie" in the bottom of
the cup right before I had a sip!
Thailand- We were so blessed to have a washing machine in Thailand so that we
didn't have to hand wash our clothes! Well I think during the lack of having a
machine I forgot how to wash my clothes or I was just having another spacy
moment. One night I went downstairs to
grab my laundry to hang dry them and as I started pulling the clothes out of
the washer I saw that everything I put in had been dyed pink! I now have a new
wardrobe consisting of eight pinks shirts thanks to my Thai maroon pants I put
in, and my team got a good laugh!
Kenya- On our way to our ministry site
from Nairobi our bus stopped at a rinky dink store and bathroom for a quick
brake. Well in case you didn't know the
"bathrooms" in these parts are called squatty pottys and basically
consist of a hole in the ground and you aim. So I decided to take a short call to the bathroom and forgot my
sunglasses were hooked to the front of my shirt. Needless to say I left the bathroom with no
sunglasses because they had accidently fallen down the squatty hole and there
was no getting them out!
These are just some of my awkward
moments among singing karaoke during bar ministry in Thailand, falling off my
bike into the ditch while I was riding through the Andes Mountains, or eating a
cockroach in Bangkok! The Lord has definitely blessed this year with good times
in ministry as well as laughs from the most ridiculous moments!
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Posted in General Posts by Sarah Taylor on 6/18/2011
What am I worth?
Take it all, Take it all: just give me Jesus...
Do you know what you are worth? I used to wake up two hours every morning before I had to be somewhere to make myself my version of "beautiful" because I cared so much about other people's perception of me. I used to worry, is my life ever going to be enough? Am I ever going to make a difference? Will I ever measure up? What if I fall away and what if I stumble? Can I even begin to pick up my cross, let alone follow the Lord with everything that I had? This idea of perfectionism consumed my life. I cannot tell you how many mornings I woke up and repeated Psalm 139, "For you created my inmost being and knit me together in my mother's womb, I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made." I wanted to be perfect by every standard. When I would fall short of this standard I would sink in my guilt and shame. I forgot so quickly that the Lord's redemptive love covers all. I never understood the fullness of God's love. That He sees not my imperfections but my perfection in him. He sees the very being of who he created me to be and says I still want you, I still love you. So the Lord took me on this journey of understanding the vastness of His love and the beauty of His redemption. There was one point in my life where the Lord shattered every mirror I had access to and said Sarah I want you to know your worth and that worth comes from me because I am the only way your heart will be satisfied. As He began stripping me of everything that was consuming my life, the Lord spoke not to who I wasn't but to who He says I am. He redeemed my heart and taught me that redemption is about recovering who we are in Christ. Through that time the prayer of my soul was, 'take it all Lord, take it all but give me Jesus.'
This month I have been spending my time in the bars in the night Bazzar district of Chiang Mai, Thailand. I have learned during that time that sometimes ministry looks very different than what we think. Sometimes is looks like buying a drink and sitting next to a girl in the bar and speaking to the Jesus inside of her. The Lord doesn't see a prostitute when he looks at her, he sees a beautiful child created in His image. He is less concerned with what we are not and more concerned with who we are going to be. The Lord sees these precious girls and says 'I know your worth and it is far greater than what any amount of money could pay.' Two days ago I had the opportunity to spend an afternoon with my friend from the bar we have been visiting. She is sixteen and started working in February selling her body every night to give her family nearly every dime she makes. Her mom sent her to the bars to work, and after at first refusing to sell herself as a source of income she was beat until she agreed to go. She says maybe I can run away, maybe I can get out when I turn eighteen two years from now. As I listened to her story of brokenness I wanted so badly for her to know her worth, to know the redemption of the God and to know that there is no shame. She is so worth fighting for. Jesus wants so badly to bind her heart with is love.
The Lord wants you to know your worth just like my beautiful friend from the bar. The Thai government admits there are over 20,000 to 30,000 children alone in the sex industry in Thailand. Please pray for my friend and so many other girls like this all over the world who do not know there worth in the Lord. Pray that they would know that the redemption of the Lord is so much better than perfection. Pray that people would see them through the eyes of the Lord.
"So, the poor have hope, and injustice shuts its mouth." Job 5:16
The darker the night, the brighter the day
The fiercer the fight, the stronger the faith
So I place my hope in you
The deeper the sin, the stronger the blood
More to forgive, more reason to love
So I place my trust in you
In your ways oh God, redemption
So much better than perfection
In your ways oh God
Over and over you prove yourself faithful
Over and over you prove yourself a redeemer
-Song by Kristine Mueller
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Posted in General Posts by Sarah Taylor on 6/3/2011
Known By Your Love 
What do you want to be known for?
You can tell more about someone by what other people say about them, than what they say about themselves. - unknown
I spent last week in the beautiful city of Antigua, Guatemala and someone asked me this very question: what do I want to be known for? While I was thinking, there were a million responses that came to mind. I want to be known for God of course, but what is God? God is love. So my answer to this question is I want to be known by my love.
What does this really look like though? How can I be known by my love and change others through that love? What would it look like if we lived in such a way where people could literally see God's love in us and pouring out of our lives?
This is what God is currently teaching me how to be known by his love inside of me and how to honor and love everyone I come in contact with. People are changed when you believe in them, you see them for where they are and through the Lord's eyes, and when you call them up into more righteousness.
This month I am going to be living in Chiang Mai, Thailand and I will be working with another team from my squad named Wreckonciled. We are going to be working with Lighthouse Ministries spending our time with and loving on college age individuals. We will also be working with a lot of homosexuals, prostitutes in the bars, and possibly helping out with a local coffee shop during the day. This month I want the people that we are working with to know we know Jesus simply by our love. You can never motivate out of condemnation, and so my heart's prayer is that the Lord will show me how to love like he loves, break my heart for what breaks his, and give me his eyes to see the beauty in every person and thing he has created.
This month I am praying that the Lord will teach me how to live by :
Galatians 5:6 The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
I want to say thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone for all of your prayers and support. This trip would not be possible without them. If you would like to still partner with me in what God is doing for his kingdom please click on the support button on the left hand side of the screen. I still am in need of 2,500 dollars to be fully funded on this race and have I a deadline of July 1, 2011! Praise God for everything he has already done and everything that he is going to do. Thanks everyone!
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