This past year, I was pretty confused with myself, my faith, and my life in general. This summer my dad got diagnosed with cancer and no one was happy about it. We all had to step up and take care of ourselves, but also take care of dad. We couldn’t think about ourselves, not even for a minute, we were instead living on prayer and praying for another day with him. Through it all though I learned responsibility. I learned to take full care of myself, but also how to care for dad. I feel like God will use me in the future to somehow care for others and show them the love they deserve.

This fall, my neighbors started to do Safe Families. They started out by taking care of a  baby named Avah and she was the sweetest like 4 month old I’ve ever seen. Close to Christmas, they got two sisters, Ariana and Mia, ages 4 and 7. I was a little bit upset because all their time was spent with them and if I wanted to hang out, it would turn into babysitting. After one visit with them, I totally fell in love with both of them. They were so sweet, but yet they had a lot to learn. We would go for walks to the park, make a “water park” in the bathtub so they would cooperate, we were like their family. One day I was sitting by them at Ally’s volleyball game and Ariana told me she had to go potty. We did not make it to the bathroom, but instead on my shirt. Yes, I was mad, but God gave me the patience. They still come back and visit and every time, it is the happiest moments of my life. I feel like through those 14 weeks of them being my neighbors, God was trying to possibly show me what my future would be like. I feel like he wants to care for not only my kids, but the kids of others as well. They made us laugh until we cried. They made  us dance until we couldn’t breathe. They showed us what true love really is.

I am forever changed by both of these things, and I can’t see my life without these two things. I found a gift of care. I found what God’s love really is. I found what life is all about. I was taught very unique and different things through both events. I now have found who I am and whose I am.

The country I have been studying is Laos. The main religion is Buddhism and many people are forced into it. I have seen many stories about people being pressured out of Christianity by their family. This is a terrible thing and I wish it would end.

I think that it is good to study this topic because in Zeeland and Holland, we are not aware of everything that goes on around us due to the comfort that we feel. We are so used to only hearing of violence, but never experiencing it ourselves. Persecution definitely shows us a different side to the world that isn’t all flowers and sunshine. Believing in God is an excellent thing, but it comes with many difficulties and I think it is a great thing for us to learn about. Although reading stories of people getting persecuted for their faith is not fun at all, it is a time to forget about ourselves and look into other’s lives.

In Bible, we made a list of how we wanted our church to look like and a list of what the Early Church looked like. They were similar in one way, but different in many ways. I felt quite guilty when we compared our lists. The Early Church was all about being together with everyone and sharing everything. On our list, we had a lot of the things we want, but never talked about sharing or being together but instead on everything we needed for ourselves. Our church was not focused on God completely, but on making us happy in the process of giving God praise. The one thing that was in common, and has stayed the same since is that we are all worshiping the same God.

This weekend I went to Chicago with some friends from church. I saw God through the beautiful cityscapes. They were so big and tall, but it was mind blowing to think God is much bigger than all of them.