To be or not to be....free, that is.....

I have been thinking since Easter about sacrifice and love; about being willing to give up what we are holding tightly to for those around us. What that looks like and what that means for our own lives. How hard it is in this world, in our society, to give up self, our agenda or our wants and desires.The next step of course, is to lay down our freedom, to become a slave, a slave of the One True God.

I was reading this morning from Revive our Hearts on the qualifications of being a servant and how it goes against every grain of our culture and world. Are we willing to be nothing more than, yet everything we could ever be, in the servant hood of Christ? I am not Kristin Choitz, blah, blah, blah....whatever those titles after my name could be. I am only and from now on, a bond servant of Christ. A slave of Him to whom I owe my life. I want no other title.

It is interesting that in what I do, I talk a lot about women's issues and "freeing" women spiritually and emotionally from abuse, strongholds, and literally from being held captive by prostitution, etc. and in that I am nothing more than a slave myself. One who has given up my right to do as I will. I have FREELY given up the rights to my own life to take that ear piercing as Nancy talked about in Exodus 21:5 in her radio program. To be marked, as one who is owned. She went on to say, that as a servant you would not take on this permanent mark of slavery to a Master unless you believed it was in your best interest. I have to be willing to believe that being a slave of Christ is better than anything else I could want, desire, have, be, own or experience in life. I am marked for all to see and in that, free to live the life God has laid out for me.

Freedom and slavery-two words that do not go together other than in the context of a perfect, loving God. My desire for the women in Zambia is that they would come to know true freedom through being a bond servant, one owned, by the lover of their souls, the One who came as a servant to FREELY die for them and for me and for you. Again, I surrender-I ask you Lord, to pierce my ear, that all may know, I am Yours...

Matthew 20:27-"...and whoever wants to be first must be your slave-just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Is it Spring yet?

Longing.  I would assume most of us right now are longing for spring amidst all the snow and cold.  Longing for not just the word, "Spring" but an all encompassing sense of Spring.  We don't want Spring to arrive and not have warm sunshine, flowers pushing through the cold ground and  the smell of newness in the air. That is what we want.  We know it's coming, it's just a matter of time.

Wanting what is not yet here seems to be how we live.   

Living for today and longing for tomorrow is a fine line to walk.  Let us long for God in our tomorrow's as we live for Him today.  Longing for Him and not things, wanting hope and not worldly security, desiring peace and not prosperity. Longing to praise Him tomorrow for what He did today. We can long for the newness of what each new day will bring because it is Him we want to know more.  In that, whether our tomorrow is here on earth or starts out in eternity, it is with Him.  Let our longing be focused on Him who is eternal.  Worry is then cast aside as a pointless sin because tomorrow can only bring us closer to God.

Longing for God is much more certain than even Spring.  It fills our lives with much more than fleeting moments of color and beauty.  Let us long for what lasts. But I have to say....God, "Thanks for Spring!" He is good!  Enjoy every moment!

February-the month of love!

I am continuing my thoughts on love this month as it was just Valentine's Day this past week.  I realize my  January post was about love as well BUT you can't not talk about love in February!

I work part time in a flower shop in town and Valentine's week is always hectic.  It is funny to observe how many people, or men, I guess I can say, wait till the last minute to call and order flowers for their significant other.  Interesting since Valentine's Day never changes...it is always Feb. 14th.  Do they forget?  Or are they hoping the world ends before Valentine's Day so they won't have to go buy anything? Well, maybe they are just creatures of habit.  When they do call on Valentine's Day, we tell them, "of course we can do that for you!".  Maybe it's our fault:)

See, Valentine's Day is not just about saying, "I love you", but about showing it.  Putting those thoughts of love into action. Mostly the action of buying something for your love.  That, somehow, is the proof that we care. It is the action of taking the time and going to the mall or traveling to that special candy store she or he likes, or calling the local florist for her favorite flowers that shows you truly love. 

Love is action. Love is a verb, not a noun.  What actions of love are you taking today to show the people in your life that you love them?  It is much more than words.  It is in our sacrifice and our giving up of self that shows we love.  It is how Jesus showed us He cared.  It is how we show the world we care.

Let our actions to those around us show our love, not just on Feb. 14th, but all year long.  We have a team of people going to show love this summer in Zambia. They will be sacrificing much to go...because love compels them to act.  They will be ministering to abused women, talking to men about gender based violence, hopefully building a classroom off a school in a village, handing off a piggery to some women in the bush, and touching the lives of many others that need to see love in action. 

Our world is small.  Let our love be big.

To be an "active" part of this years trip and help in the funding go to www.extendinghands.org to the donate button.  Please be praying for God to show up in His great love as we will need much help in reaching our goals for this trip!  The conferences, the building project, the piggery and more will need lots of loving sacrifice from those of us who want to show how much we care to the least of these...
Thank you Jesus for showing us how to love...

Praying over a women with AIDS in a coumpound

Another Year!

Boy, it's 2013....

While I have been a little preoccupied since the first of the year enjoying time off with my kids and doing, well, nothing much; I have also been anxiously anticipating starting school (and everything else) this past week So, needless to say, break is over and I am back at here at Extending Hands AND in every other area of my life!  Here we go!

We are again in the beginning stages of planning our next team trip this coming summer which is exciting, overwhelming and time consuming. Looking for funding, doing training with I-Teams, taking care of the daily needs of Extending Hands and many other tasks will consume us for the first 3/4 of the year. Some might ask, "why?".  Why do I do this?  Why sacrifice so much?  Why care so much?  Why give up your vacation time?  Why go and why pour out myself to the women of Zambia?

I read a good quote a while ago that said, "Asking "how" leads only to information, while asking "why" leads to wisdom, clarity, and understanding." The 'why' is very important! 

My why?  LOVE.  This is my addiction, my adrenaline.  It is why I get up in the morning and continue to look to a God who first loved me, for the 'how'. It is in His love, by His love and because of His love that we ask, "How".  How God, do you want me to show the love You have so freely shown me?  I am listening to the song, "This One Thing Remains" and my favorite part is the chorus....'Your love never fails, it never gives up, it never runs out on me'....it is in that power, the power of LOVE that I am willing to risk it all and jump off the cliff to touch one women who needs to know she is loved, not only by me but by the God of the Universe who created her.

When you know the 'why' you then have to ask 'how'.  Where that leads, you never know!  For me, it means going half way around the world to be Jesus....nope....it doesn't make sense....but love is kinda like that....

Merry Christmas from Extending Hands!

A couple of years ago my husband and I were asked to share at church about surrender in our lives and what that looked like. It was the word that God had given me for that season. At the time we were surrendering a lot and didn't know where that would take us. Well, it took us to a place of much pain, hardship and struggle. We had the opportunity to praise God during this time or to blame Him and walk away and be bitter. We chose to stand firm and bless the name of the Lord despite what He gave or took away.

During this Christmas Season another word represents this month for me – contentment. “Reality minus expectations equals contentment.” I remember this quote from a pastor a long time ago! I will never forget it. It seems that as we have surrendered, we have been wrought with hardship, probably as training and stretching for our future full-time missionary work. So, I have felt that contentment needs to be a word I claim this season. I must choose to be content with all that I have and all that has been stripped from me. I must be content despite testing and trials because that is my reality. If I have expectations different from my path or the journey that God has laid out for me, I am envying others’ journeys and am being jealous of the "nicer" path it appears they are on. If I do not accept what God is doing in my life, keeping my eyes on Him, but instead am looking at other people’s paved walkways as I compare, I will miss out on what God is growing and stretching in me.

What if Jesus had wanted to go His own way when he came to earth? What if He was not content with how God allowed Him to come into existence here on earth? What if Jesus went around saying that He was better than being born in a manger or that He wanted disciples with master’s degrees instead of fishermen and a horse and chariot instead of a donkey. Jesus walked His path with the acceptance of divine and eternal contentment with His life here on earth. He knew the path would get very rocky, yet His eyes were kept on His Father's will until the very end.

That I might so live. Let it be that the rocky terrain and mountains and valleys and obstacles would be the journey I can't help but follow and that the word contentment would be the reality I choose to live out.

What are you contented with this season? How peaceful are you in your reality? God will meet you where you are and give you contentment this year. Just ask Him! Let us rest in Him!

Have a Wonderful Christmas and Holiday Season from all of us at Extending Hands!

Thanksforgiving!

This week is Thanksgiving, and I thought it appropriate to write about this wonderful holiday we are so graciously allowed to celebrate here in the good ole US of A. It is an honor to set aside a day to give thanks for all that we have. We are praying about how our family will celebrate this holiday in light of the needs of people in Third World countries. I think of the precious women we work with in Zambia, how little they have, and how thankful they are to be alive for another day.




So how do you prepare for Thanksgiving? Of course, there is much cleaning and cooking in advance of the big day. Are you stressed out and filled with anxiety? Do you realize the luxury we possess in having homes to clean and food to prepare? Please do consider the tasks at hand as an opportunity to pray for those less fortunate than ourselves. Could we dust and lift up those who are living in garbage dumps or roll out pie crust praising God for a full pantry? Let us be ever mindful of what we have been blessed with and of those who have been blessed with less.



In humbly accepting this day as a reminder of our blessings, some of us are actually living in a place of need ourselves and are wondering what we are going to be thankful for. For some the neediness is financial, for some relational, and for others spiritual or emotional. I would challenge all of us to receive whatever struggles God has allowed in our lives, especially in this economy and in light of all that is going on in our country, to draw us closer to Him. Let’s remember that despite our earthly needs, we always have God. If you were sitting at your dining room table with nothing more than mac and cheese – or maybe you don't have your dining room anymore – would God be enough for you to gather with family and be thankful? I would venture to say that perhaps we will understand more as a country about God in our years of want than in our years of plenty.



I believe this is the time, this is the year to take seriously the day of Thanksgiving, being thankful for trials and for struggles, that we might think more about the needs of those who don't have – don’t have food, don't have clothing, those who don’t yet have God. He alone is worthy of all our Thanksgiving.



We thank all of you who have given to Extending Hands over the years to help us minister to the women in Zambia. We are so grateful for the partnership with all of you and all that you have given so we may show the love of Jesus in a country far away that doesn't have a day set aside to give thanks, though many hearts are thankful each day for another day of life. Let's celebrate extravagantly our thanksgiving to God who is our everything no matter how much or how little we have in this present world.

Excited in the little things...to make something for themselves, a name tag that reflects them! Wow!

A Light of Hope by Sandy Woznicki

Thirteen years ago, I remember standing on the square of my hometown, Woodstock, Il and partaking in a candle lighting ceremony amongst a group of women who had, in some capacity, been affected by Domestic Violence. It was October, which is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and I was an intern in my Master’s Program at a Domestic Violence shelter.  Little did I know at the time, how my heart and eyes would be opened and changed with regards to the impact of abuse in our society.


The statistics of Domestic Violence in America are alarming: 1/ 4 women and 1/6 men suffer abuse in a relationship (this only reflects those cases reported). Approximately every 9 seconds, a mother, a wife, a sister, a daughter, an aunt, a friend, a partner are being assaulted or beaten. Compounded to that are the verbal, emotional, financial, and spiritual abuse that is pervasive and ongoing. If these travesties are cultivated in a country that stands on a foundation of freedom and equal rights for all, imagine then, a culture where a woman is still considered property, where she is part of a population where 78 % live in poverty, and chances of her receiving an education beyond 6th grade are marginal, at best.

This past summer, I was exposed once again to the tragic costs of this societal epidemic traveling to Lusaka, Zambia in Africa with an incredible a team from ExtendingHands, a nonprofit organization of which I am proud to be a board member. One of our main goals was to create and carry out a conference to educate women on abuse: what abuse is, the types of abuse, and its impact on their minds, bodies, and souls. Many of the women have been abused since they were young girls--they grew into womanhood way before their time. Most have had to ignore their own needs, let alone their hopes and dreams for a better future, in order to care not only for their own children, but for other family members who became orphans as a result of their parents succumbing to HIV/AIDS.

The costs of DV are great and are not limited by economic, racial, religious or even regional boundaries—this truly is a global problem. It results in many losses: loss of lives, loss of a sense of self, loss of a healthy family system, loss of a healthy and flourishing community at large. The impact of abuse not only affects these systems at an emotional and physical level, but also creates financial, medical, and legal burdens that most of the time, are beyond the ability of the victims to resolve for themselves.



'The Gathering' Conference in Lusaka, Zambia
June2012



It was important for our team to bring to these beautiful women in Zambia, some hope---the Truth about who they are, not what they have come to believe from the lies and abuse of others, not through the cultural laws under which they have been oppressed, but the Truth of who they were created to be. And once again, I had the privilege of participating in a candlelight ceremony, amongst a group of very strong and resilient women who had a contagious faith of Hope. And in that Spirit, we stood together, holding a light to the truth that we were created out of love, to be loved, and to live out our potential in love. And that Truth has no geographic, no cultural, and no legal limits!