When I think of the word sacrifice, I picture many different things.

I see Abraham with his knife raised obediently over his son. I can picture a long line of people waiting for a priest as he makes preparations to offer the next lamb on their behalf. I see Elijah who called down fire from heaven to consume a very wet altar.

Then, if I dig deeper, I think of God and the sacrifice he made for us by sending his son to die in our place. I think of Easter and a miraculously empty tomb. I’m reminded of communion cups and chunks of bread.

But if I look inward and make my definition of sacrifice more personal, I think of powerful sermons with equally powerful altar calls. I feel challenged to say no to worldly things and say yes to the disciplines of faith. I think of phrases like “lay it all down” and “all in” and “with everything.”

I think of giving up coffee or Instagram for a month at a time in an effort to grow in my relationship with Jesus.

Those are just a few of the things that come to mind when I think about sacrifice.

Continue reading Unexpected Sacrifices at Our Goodwin Journey.

Read More

The topic of intimacy in married life is not the easiest thing to talk about let alone write up a whole post and throw it on the world wide web for all to see.

We may joke about that side of married life with a sister-in-law or whisper about our questions with a friend while our kids play on the playground or maybe even laugh with a group of married couples from church as everyone shares a funny story or marriage memory. All in good, clean fun, of course—reminding each person in the room that we are all normal, all walking through a marriage journey.

We laugh and joke and kid around; but honestly, the subject of intimacy in marriage is a very difficult topic for many couples.

When thinking about this post, I kept coming back to the old saying of “Not tonight… I have a headache.”

That seems to be to be the coded, universal “PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH ME” phrase, right?

What about when it isn’t just a headache?

What about when intimacy in married life is hard?

What about when there are huge challenges and major obstacles standing in the way of connecting with your spouse?

Continue reading Not Your Average Headache at Our Goodwin Journey.

Read More

I heard an overseas friend recently say, “Waiting is just part of it all.” But what do you do on the days when you are still waiting?

I found myself begrudgingly nodding my head to her statement. I recognized the truth of her words as they resonated deep with my soul. The wait is a part of it all. Honestly, the wait is a rather HUGE part of it all.

As overseas workers, we’ve waited for many, many things. We continue to wait for many, many things. The process is slow, the work is slow, the change is slow, and the emotional impact is also slow. Even more, the results are often so slow they are unseen… The whole process is one big, monumental, hurry-up-and-wait task.

We wait for the door to open to go somewhere overseas. Wait for the application process. Wait for interviews and budgets to come in and travel documents to arrive. Wait for pastors to call, wait for spoken pledges to become reality, wait for the numbers to climb, wait for God to fulfill promises and do extremely big things through our efforts. Then, there is the agonizingly difficult wait for that first flight to leave on a timing very much not our own.

Continue reading When You Are Still Waiting at Our Goodwin Journey.

Read More

Learning to capture joyful moments, or capture the fluffy moments, in overseas life can be challenging.

Stopping, smiling and enjoying the simple joys can quickly get lost in the stress, busyness and unknowns of the passing hours.

Yet, each day is an opportunity to capture joyful moments, to see what God is doing around us and to lighten our heart with the wonderful, light, happy things we see each day.

Twice a week, a soft knock taps on our gate, alerting me that our vegetable lady has arrived.

She is a sweet lady who comes with her sister with baskets of fruits and vegetables on their heads. She might offer me her cell phone and ask me to translate an English text from another “toubab”, the local name for foreigner, into French. She might ask me to teach her the name of a specific produce item in English. I ask her for the name of the same item in Wolof, the local language.

I ask her about her sick son and she asks if my girls like school. I tell her that the fabric of her dress is beautiful and she smiles at my t-shirt.

Continue reading Learning to Capture Joyful, Fluffy Moments at Our Goodwin Journey.

Read More

Coming to the end of me has been a long, beautiful, terrible, difficult journey. Overseas life continues to bring me to this place of surrender, laying down the me I thought I was and allowing Jesus a chance to mold a new creation.

I wrote a post called “The End of Me” for Velvet Ashes. The moment I wrote about was during our last few months of living in France and just before our move to West Africa.

You can tell by the rawness of it that is has been a very real journey from the beginning. The process of coming to the end of me is one that I’m still walking.

I’ve rewritten this post to share here with you.

I’ll just say it at the beginning. I like knowing what’s coming for the day. I like managing and leading and directing. Multi-tasking is my favorite so those roles often fit my gifts. If you need someone to organize the grand picture of a project and manage how to get it all done? I’m your girl.

I love working with people, finding strengths, building a team, and finishing tasks quickly and efficiently.

Continue reading Coming to the End of Me at Our Goodwin Journey.

Read More