I am excited to kick off my media fast and week of guest posts with one by Wynne Elder. You can check her out on her personal blog or her photography site. I first stumbled across Wynne’s blog back in the fall and fell in love with her heart for missions and orphans, it’s no surprise that’s the topic that she chose to write about. So without further ado . . .
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hi!
my name is Wynne & I blog over at http://elderadventures.
I love Jesus, I live in Texas, I do a little photography, I am an ambassador for an amazing company that sells beautiful items hand made from artisans from all over the world (Noonday Collection), I’ve been married for 5+ years to my best friend, Stephen and we are getting ready to welcome our first son home from Ethiopia!
If you read my blog at all, you will notice that my heart and passion is mission focused. I think this looks different for everyone, but we are all called, as Christ followers, to live life ON MISSION. That has been ignited in me the past year. I’ve had the opportunity to serve with teams places like El Salvador, Uganda, Rwanda, and Ethiopia. I have fallen in love with the people, with there desperate dependence on the only ONE that can save, and their passion and joy in the small things. I desire to know God more & when I am on mission outside of my home town, it becomes more real. There is almost an “old testament” kind of feel, everything is more real and more alive. I long to make that my reality at home. But it’s hard. How do we live here in total dependence on God? How do we follow His will?
Well not that I have figured that out, but He has made me really passionate about something along the way. While we can’t all GO, we can all do SOMETHING. I think it’s very normal to think, “well I can’t do much so I shouldn’t do anything”, or “I don’t know what to do so I won’t do anything”, or “I can only give $1 and that won’t help so I won’t give”. All of those things, my friends, are lies! We CAN all do something. and if we all did SOMETHING, we could change the world.
I believed the lie for a long time that missions wasn’t “my thing”. I didn’t “have a heart for Africa” and I didn’t “always know” I was going to go there one day. I simply said YES to what God put in front of me. and saying YES to missions and to adoption was one of the best things I’ve ever done. I can’t EVEN imagine what my life would look like had I said no. Had I thought that I couldn’t change much so I shouldn’t try. We give and we go and we love out of the overflow of what HE has done for us. He has loved us in a way that we don’t deserve!
I encourage you to say yes! to try! to do! to ASK God what it is He wants from you. Whether that’s going on a mission trip (we love Visiting Orphans), sponsoring a child, supporting a missionary (if you don’t know any, email me- I do!), helping a friend fundraise for her adoption/mission trip, use your gifts & talents! Chantel was amazing to me over Christmas, she donated the proceeds of her etsy shop to our adoption fund! We’ve never met. She just has a passion for changing the world.
So pray. give. go. ASK God boldly and prepare your heart to say YES to potentially the biggest adventure He could have you on!
I have resources on my blog under “pray.give.go” if you are looking for a place to give/support! Or feel free to email me – wynne.elder@gmail.com
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