Infinitely More

Who are we?

We started writing the playbook this week and our first chapter is all about who we are. We started to write down who we think we are without any input from each other. We didn’t have an outline or a template for how to write it, nor did we know what information needed to be included. It was difficult to describe ourselves without being too vague but at the same time trying not to come across as arrogant. We learned a lot about ourselves, what Christ thinks of us, and who we think we really are. Over spring break, we made a list describing each other and went back to see who we think we are vs. what people see us as. The correlation is amazing. So here it is, here’s who we think we are and what our fellow interns see us as.

Kelly Scott, spirited, optimistic, energetic, musical, genuine, wise.

I am what the Lord says I am and He says I am His. I am a daughter. I am created. I am a lover of His presence. I am worthy. I am loved. I am pure. I am beautiful. I am desired. I am pursued. I am set free. I am a child. I am an heir. I am a worshiper. I am wise. I am adored. I am confident. I am alive. I am listening. I am full. I am still. I am accepted. I am poured out. I am lovable. I am cherished. I am secure. All of this is for Him, because of Him, by Him, through Him, and to Him.

In Isaiah 62:4, the Lord gives Zion a new name and says she is no longer forsaken or desolate but her new name is “Hephzibah” (my delight is in her) and “Beulah” (bride). When I read that verse, I know that the Lord is speaking that over me.

My past holds a lot of shame but because of Christ, I am not defined by anything apart from Him and what He says of me. My experiences have certainly shaped me into who I am today but they do not label me. The world has a whole lot to say about who I am or who I should be but I am believing what the Lord says about me.

Blair Marini, compassionate, tender, energetic, hospitable, nurturing, personable, caring.

I am a lot of things- I am a daughter; I am a student; I am an intern. I have been a lot of things- I have been wounded; I have been freed; I have been healed. I have been called a lot of things- I have been called emotional; I have been called nurturing; I have been called joyful. I am not a lot of things- I am not quick-tempered; I am not organized; I am not apathetic. I want to be a lot of things- I want to be impactful; I want to be loved; I want to spend my life fighting the good fight of faith.

Kate Miller, unique, unafraid, witty, artistic, trendsetter, dreamer.

Kate Miller, that’s who I am. I am rarely referred to as Kate without the Miller quickly following, which reminds me that I am not just half of what the Lord has named me. It’s not really the sounds of my name or the girl behind the name that I love so much though, it’s the meaning of the name. In Greek, the name Kate literally means “pure,” while the name Miller is of Old English origin meaning, “one who grinds grain.” My past is full of impure thoughts, words, actions and desires, and saying my work ethic was lackluster is the understatement of the year. My Savior changed that though. He washed me of my sin and clothed me in white. He clothed me in purity. My Savior changed my heart, and placed inside of it the desire to give all that I can for the furtherance of His kingdom. My Savior taught me how to purely grind grain; how to search my heart for His intention, and with that as my foreground, work as hard as He has equipped me to. My Savior has, and will continue to teach me how to view myself with new eyes, how to remember each day that I am pure and forgiven. My Savior has, and will continue to teach me how to be diligent and wholehearted when I take on the tasks He has equipped me for. In Matthew, Jesus tells the parable of the mustard seed where He says,“The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” I know that even if I can only grind the smallest of grains, it is beautiful and important to Him as long as I do it with a pure heart. So yes, I am a child of the King and I am a devoted disciple of Jesus Christ. But in my heart, I am what He calls me. I am a pure grain grinder.

I went down to the river to play

Days seem to be moving faster then the hummingbird’s wings I am fixated on. Between reading books, driving up and down the mountain into town, praying over the city of Asheville and collecting data from roughly nine-hundred sex trafficking articles, I sometimes forget to take a second to breathe.

Breathe.

Today I had every intention of getting to work as soon as I woke up, but thankfully the Lord arranged for a sweet friend to come and visit, and when she asked if I wanted to go to Lake Lure for a few hours I took up the invitation without a flicker of hesitation. We didn’t end up going to Lake Lure(It costs eight dollars a person. What is that?!) but instead found ourselves laying out our towels on a huge rock in the middle of a river on the side of the road. Corbin and Blair basked in the sun while Kelly allowed me to indulge in my risk seeking inclination as we made our way down the river hopping from rock to rock, sliding down waterfalls and stubbing our toes on countless edges of slimy rocks. We eventually found ourselves sitting in the middle of a waterfall (don’t be too impressed, it was rather small) pretending to be selkies. We laughed at our meager attempts to keep our feet from giving in to the waters force and pushing them off the rock while we allowed our childlike spirits to enjoy the moment. There, amidst all that beauty of sitting in the middle of a powerful river with mountains on either side with a dear friend, I remembered to breathe. I remembered how sweet Jesus is and how deeply he cared for me. He cares not only for the disputably diligent worker I can be, or the silly girl that gets the “giggles” but he cares for EVERY part of me. Every aspect of who I am, He died for so that I could please Him through it. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” and as I sat in that river today, I remembered that I am indeed God’s masterpiece. I am created ANEW in Christ Jesus so that I can fulfill my purpose here; I am created ANEW in Christ Jesus to sit in a river and play pretend with a sweet sister because HE IS PLEASED when I am joyful. What a dear morning He provided for me, and what a sweet Savior He is.

-Kate Miller

discovering ourselves

After one week, a nail in my tire, and some crazy curvy carsick roads I have finally arrived here to Asheville to work alongside Kate and Kelly on The Hundred Movement Summer Project. I have already seen some beautiful things- both in the Asheville environment and in the hearts of my beautiful fellow interns. When thinking about what I wanted to write on this post I thought my expectations for the summer would be a great things to log, but I realized I was quite sure what exactly my expectations are. Rather than having multiple specific expectations, I have one big expectation. My goal and expectation is to experience the power of God, the heart of Jesus, and the connection of the Holy Spirit. I want to fall even more in love with the Lord, and learn to see myself as He sees me.

Kelly, Kate and I have been taking personality tests for the past two days. We have found ourselves getting overly excited about learning more about who we are and why we are that way. One issue we ran into though is that while some aspects of the results of the tests were dead on, other aspects missed the mark completely. We noted that no matter how much our personalities may fall in line with what psychological theories and tests may say, we have a uniquely identifying feature. That feature is Jesus. Who he says we are is what and who we are. We are uniquely ourselves defined through our unique relationships with Him and what he’s done in our own lives. I am rejoicing in that truth today and allowing that to be my expectation for the summer: finding my identity in nothing other than Him and his calling on my life. Thank you Papa!

Till next time,

-Blair

Adventures Thus Far (part two)

Learned more about loving each other well

And finally Blair arrived in time to take our Sabbath in one of the most beautiful chapels I have ever been inside of.

We are loving Asheville but still need you help to stay here. If you haven’t already checked out our GiveLoud site, please do and share it with all of your friends and family! https://www.giveloud.com/project.aspx?i=455

Kate Miller

Adventures Thus Far

Kelly got a haircut, and boy does she look cool.

 

We camped out at The Dripolator for a few days, working on the Playbook.

Treated our sweet tooth with some Kilwins

Explored the glorious area around us

(continues on next post)

who is your cause?

We seem to be a generation of folks who are in love with causes, and at this point in history we have many to choose from. This world is full of brokenness, full of people in need and full of people who have an abundance of money or just “things” to throw at the needs. When we attach ourselves to a cause we feel alive and like what we are doing matters. But what happens when we feel tired of giving? Or we lose interest or motivation? We are only human and can physically, mentally, monetarily, spiritually only give so much. Is there a cause that actually fills us up after we have poured out all we have? What if this cause is a person?

The thing is, I have come to the conclusion in my heart that Jesus is the only real solution for any brokenness, for any need, for any one and any thing. He is the one who brings restoration and healing and apart from Him, we cannot really experience freedom or be made whole. 

But, I still hear the world screaming, “What cause will you live for?” Since I first heard about sex trafficking 2 years ago and learned about the heartbreaking realities of people stuck in the sex trade, I have desired to see freedom, justice and restoration. And recently, God revealed to me that my heart was attached to the cause of sex trafficking. I found myself losing hope, being tired, and not being able to give anymore of myself. It was in this moment that I heard God asking me “Who are you living for?” Pretty much He was saying, “Have you forgotten who I am? Have you forgotten that you are nothing and can do nothing apart from me?”

If we give our all to a cause, we can give and give and give but we will run out. The awesome thing is, God never runs out. He is eternally gracious, loving, and just. He is the one who fills us up with all of our souls desires and needs and then allows us to pour out His love on the hurting world around us.

Christ is the answer. Christ is my cause. Partnering with God in this spiritual battle is the best tactic we have. Because in reality it is not about a “bad guy” that is making sex trafficking occur. It is much deeper than what we know or even what we see. There is bondage in the hearts of all people involved in sex trafficking and God desires to see His children set free. Christ died and then was raised to life for us all.

Are we willing to live for Him, and not the newest, most popular cause?

-K. Scott

learning to love

    Summer. Gosh, I never thought it would get here and now that it finally has, I feel nowhere near ready for it. It took Kelly and I hours to even think about packing, since last summer we both packed for countries on the other side of the globe. We didn’t know how to pack for a summer in America, much less the trendy city of Asheville, NC. Somehow we managed to cram all of our things into her car and make the drive down the mountain with little expectation for what our summer would hold.
    The first morning, we woke up to the curiosity of what our new routine would look like. We made breakfast with the little food we could afford the night before and headed out to spend some sweet time with Jesus. The morning was peaceful and full of eager hope for what is to come in the next three months. As I flipped through my bible searching for a verse, another one stood out to me, funny how Jesus does that. Psalm twenty-seven verses eleven through fourteen says, “Teach me how to live, O LORD. Lead me along the right path, for my enemies are waiting for me. Do not let me fall into their hands, for they accuse me of things I’ve never don’t; with every breath they threaten me with violence. Yet I am confident I will see the LORD’s goodness while I am here in the land of the living. Wait patiently for the LORD. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the LORD.” The Lord has been laying it on my heart lately to CHILL OUT and wait PATIENTLY for His plan and His timing on revealing to me what He has for me. Patiently waiting for things has never been my strong suit, but as I enter into a summer of discovering more about myself, I anticipate that I will be enduring quite a bit of it. The rest of our day was spent learning about each other. Sure, Kel and I have been spending quality time together for almost a year now, but that’s really all we have done. Yesterday was good for learning about each others strengths, weaknesses, tendencies, desires and ways in which we feel loved. We ate cake, called each other by our nicknames, sang Justin Bieber’s, “One Less Lonely Girl” and learned how to love each other well. I also learned that Kelly is going to cut her hair this summer and learn how to truly depend on Christ for her identity, so stay tuned for trendy, new-haircut pictures. Later that night we made our way to the Gopal’s (so cute.) for dinner and an overview of our first week of work. We left will full bellies, generously given bags of food, a new computer case(why Amanda didn’t love my teeshirt substitute for a computer case, I don’t know), and a head full of goals for the summer. We prayed over our house and entered into a night of hard sleeping and sweet dreams of drinking root beer.
    Today, we have been experiencing God’s sweet love for us through meeting new friends, learning to receive gifts and forgiving ourselves. These past two days have been filled with so much learning, I can’t even begin to imagine the growth that will come of it as a whole. Thanks for reading all of this, I can’t promise the next one will be less word vomit and more insightful wisdom, but I’d like to think it will be! We love y’all and we’re grateful for you.

peace, love and food stamps,
Barb and Margeaux
(Kelly and Kate)

P.S. We would love your prayer this summer. This week you can be praying for:
- Financial support, we need about $11,780 more dollars to live this summer.
- A way for us to give back to this community. We want to be able to invest in people well and share Christ’s love with those we meet in an intentional way.

One Dress, One Month

The Hundred Movement at Appalachian State University will be promoting One Dress, One Month for the month of April to spread awareness about sex trafficking and to advocate support for the Hope House. 

To raise awareness for sex trafficking victims who cannot change the circumstances that they are in while being trafficked, we will not be changing our clothes for the whole month.  Women will be wearing one dress and men will wear one purple shirt for the entire month of April.  The color purple relates to justice, which we are trying to promote for survivors and current individuals enslaved by trafficking. 

Participants are encouraged to donate $10 to the Hope House, representing the money they would have spent on clothes for the month.  Finding sponsors, such as family, friends, churches, etc., is another way to raise money for the Hope House.

The Hope House is a nonprofit organization in Boone and Asheville with a mission “to provide a place of seclusion, restoration, and healing for domestic victims of sex trafficking.” 

Donations can be:

• given through the Hope House’s website (http://www.hopehousenc.com/#!__do-something) via Paypal.
• checks or cash mailed to P.O. Box 9737 Asheville, NC 28815
• or cash given to one of The Hundred Movement interns

Join our One Dress, One Month Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/196566113786639/?context=create

Please join us in recognizing the injustice of sex trafficking both in the United States and worldwide while also raising funds for our local trafficking shelter, The Hope House. April 1st-30th!!

yet I will rejoice in the LORD

Habakkuk’s Complaint to the Lord:

“How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen?  Or cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not save?  Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong?  Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.  Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails.  The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.”  Habakkuk 1:2-4

The Lord’s answer:

“Look at the nations and watch-and be utterly amazed.  For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.”  Habakkuk 1:5

Habakkuk’s second complaint:

“You have made men like fish in the sea, like sea creatures that have no ruler.  The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks, he catches them in his net, he gathers them up in his dragnet, for by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the choicest food.  Is he to keep on emptying his net, destroying nations without mercy?”  Habakkuk 1:14-17

The Lord’s answer:

“Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it.  For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false.  Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.” Habakkuk 2:2-3

Like Habakkuk, we must wait for the Lord.  Although we are surrounded by the sex trafficking industry’s evil and destruction, we must remember that God has appointed the right time for justice to arise. 

“yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.  The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.  For the director of music.  On my stringed instruments.” Habakkuk 3:18-19.

Sydney