Let’s see here. What have I been hit with over the head this week? Here’s one for ya:
“stop trying to be perfect, it will NEVER happen, no matter how hard you try”
I seriously beat myself up all the time trying to be, well not perfect, but trying to be “put together” or accomplishing it all, or being everywhere. Both with my family and my business. Last year taught us so much. I finally had my business “put together” but I lost sight of why I was doing it in the mix of it all, as well as our marriage started to fall apart. This year, I have been focusing so much more on my family that my business has suffered. I cannot win and last night I was at my girl’s bible study and wise woman talked to us about what she wish she could have told her 20-something self…among other things the thing that I took to heart the most was”stop trying to be perfect”.
I use the term perfect lightly…never did I think I was going to get to perfection, but man I have tried to be the mom with the most energy to do EVERYTHING, or the home owner with the most put together house or the wife who is the most supportive…ok so that one I still totally sucked at…but you know?!?
And where has all of that gotten me? Nowhere. No amount of pinning on Pinterest makes me a better home owner…in fact it probably weakens my marriage because I expect Joe to get all these amazing projects done in the already insanely small amount of time he has to spare. No insanely extra amount of time or lack there of is going to make my kids think any differently of me if my attitude sucks a lot when I am with them because I am thinking about all the other things I need to do.
There is nothing, nothing, nothing I can do to ever get to “perfection”
I could screw it all up and you know what because God is God He can make it turn out exactly how He wants it to. He sent Jesus to be the perfection and I have to be thankful for that perfection and lean on His grace to get through the totally un-perfect days that I create.
God has slowed down my business this month. He has been glorious in doing that. I CANNOT do it all. I was trying, and I failed. I have realized in this time that there is so much beauty in being still. I might not be buying all the clothes that make my family super cute or involving us in every single organization or trying to get every single client or make everyone happy throughout it all. Because who am I serving?
I know I am a much better wife, mother, photographer whenever I take time to breathe…allow God to control my schedule and not me…and really stop and smell the roses and look beyond my measly old self again.
In the midst of it all I feel like God has given me an exciting calling to serve again. I had totally lost sight of it…and Joe and I both know that because of that lack of serving it was one of that major reasons in our struggles through marriage this past year.
Service is but an outpouring of our Faith; it is doing that which “God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Eph 2:10)
As we have grown as a family, both in numbers and in our Faith, our hearts have begun to become broken for the things that break God’s heart. He has moved us to try and ascertain as to how we can help “the Least of these,” all with the goal of furthering the Kingdom of Christ.
It just so happens that for the past few years, Joe, through his job with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, has had the opportunity to serve alongside an amazing orphan care ministry in Costa Rica. God moved on the hearts of Phil and Jill Aspegren (themselves proud parents of three awesome young men) to come to Costa Rica with a Vision for helping to address the burgeoning orphan problem in Central America.
While you can read about their ministry here (
www.casaviva.org), to put it rather simply, they partner with the Costa Rican government to identify orphans or children in rough (not USA rough, but third world rough) circumstances and then partner with various churches to place these precious children in loving families. These same churches then come alongside those families to help provide for the children.
It’s beauty and efficacy lies in its simplicity: Casa Viva is about finding orphans and matching them with willing, adoptive families, and having the church come alongside to support those families.
So here is my question for you:
Have ever had a heart for missions, a desire to serve, or a passion for adventure in the Name of Christ? If so we would ask you to pray about making a trip with us. We’ll be traveling the weekend of October 11-13 (it’s a 3 hr direct flight from Houston) during which we’ll see pieces of the ministry, ascertain how we can help play a part, and see some of the natural beauty of Costa Rica.
Crazy, right? I know, I have literally read this post over, and over and over again praying over if I am saying the right things. I have such a bubble in my stomach (no other way to describe it) even writing this post because I know that I have been called to call you to this so out of the box and a little off the wall trip.
Pray about it and let us know! But whatever your answer, know that God calls ALL of us, wherever we are, to serve the Least of these, to minister to widows and orphans, and to share the Good News of Jesus Christ intentionally with those around us. Not only should you serve in this type of capacity, but serve everyday in the little stuff all around you.
Seriously, this blog post was so scary to write and has taken me so long to put to “paper”. Literally I have had this trip on my heart for over a year now. It has been so broad for so long that I didn’t even know where to start, who to ask, or how to go about doing it…and so without any formal “perfection”…I offer you all this.
It is no where near perfect in it’s plan or it’s presentation. It is merely our family asking your family to come and serve with us.
Nothing more. Nothing less.
We even plan on taking Jake with us…so if having children is a reason to not go, consider that, if you are able. We are so pumped to go love, serve, photograph, love and serve. Anyone and everyone is welcome. This will not be the only time we do this, so if it doesn’t work, then no harm…but go serve somewhere…anywhere. Pray about this…if you feel any tugging at your heart then let’s make it happen. We are soooo pumped and are looking forward to hearing back from you!
Contact me kelly@kellyhornberger.com if that weekend works and if you want to make the trip with us!!
