are you pen pal material?

i am at SOS for the summer in memphis.
would you like to be my penpal?
if so, please right me at this address.

becca lewis
c/o sos
2505 poplar ave
memphis tn 38112

the unknown.

it is funny how scary it can be to have the Lord answer our prayers. over the past month, there have been many prayers coming to pass. these just aren't prayers that i prayed last week. these have been prayers that i have cried out to God about for 5 - 8 years. just prayers for the future.. who God would shape me to be.. my future husband.. things of that nature. it is interesting though to see God beginning to give me my heart's deepest desires. things that i only dreamed would be a part of my life one day. now, they are here & i don't know how to react. i feel so unworthy to have them. it isn't as if i doubted that God would work for my good & ultimately, give me the desires of my heart. but i just didn't ever know what to expect when they actually came. there is no way to know. we pray for things in faith knowing that God will be faithful in preparing us for the unseen parts of our lives. so, God is allowing me to see. i have a small glimpse of what God has for my future. & it is really really humbling.. & exciting!!

so, here i am in the unknown. it is beautiful. it is exciting. it is something so different than i have ever seen before. it is unexpecting. but, im too excited to see what the future will hold for me. i love that our God is faithful. he gives rest and peace in the unknown. so, i will continue to trust in his character & his promises. our God is so worthy of all honor and praise.

i pray i will continue to latch myself to his word. i pray that he'll be a lamp unto my feet and light to my path. i love our God. he is great! i pray for his will to be done in my life. for his glory & his name's sake.

grace & peace.

just a thought.

.
radiating joy is real
because Christ is everywhere--
Christ in our hearts,
Christ in the poor we meet,
Christ in the smile we give
and in the smile that we receive.

--mother teresa.

i wanna live with a radiating joy.
in every moment, i desire Christ to be so evident in my life.
i pray that this can be true in my life. God transform me.
change my heart to look like yours. i need you.

grace & peace.

fyi: i will be updating this again.
so updates on my life will be coming very soon.

the surreal life.

fyi: i left minneapolis wednesday. flew to san francisco to debrief for a few days with the other innerCHANGE interns who were either in boston, denver, or san francisco. i flew home yesterday, to nashville. this is a time of transition, reflection, and diligent prayer.

pray that i can let God continue to do the things he began to work in me this summer. i am in the so-called real world again and it isn't as normal as i thought it would be. i want my summer & my present season in life to combine. pray that i'd continue to seek Christ in how to do that. pray that i'd be available and vulnerable to the Spirit at this time. i wanna look like Jesus. pray that he'd continue to show me how.

grace & peace.

ps. coming soon: a full update/summary of the things God worked in my heart this summer. ill update you later this week once i settle in some.

minneapolis bridge disaster!

hello friends.
i just wanted to let everyone know i am alive & well. i wasnt involved in this tragedy at all. if you didnt know already, the i35 bridge collapsed here in minneapolis around 6:05 pm yesterday evening. the bridge was about 10 minutes away from our neighborhood. it was on the east side of the city. we live in south minneapolis. over 50 cars were involved as well as a school bus full of children. this school bus was actually from a neighborhood center less than a block away from my house. so, those children were my neighbor's children. but, thankfully all of the children are alive! some do have injuries, but lets continue to praise God for his hand on those children yesterday. God has been so gracious to us. also, the mother of the family we are living with usually goes over that bridge between 6pm - 6:10pm every day. but yesterday she had to pick up her son two hours early due to someone waxing the floors in his lab at work. so, by the grace of God, she was removed from that disaster. so, we are praising God for that!

also, i wanted to thank all of my friends & family for all of the phone calls, voicemail messages, text messages, & emails i received last night as well as today. it definitely has been an encouragement to know that God has blessed me with so many caring people. oh & i know that my phone hasnt let you leave messages for me. it has been messed up due to the cellphone towers getting overloaded last night. but, if you need to reach me, just keep calling until it goes through. it will eventually! or you can just email me.

with all that said, i hope you can join with us in prayer for the families that were affected by this tragedy. just pray that Gods peace will cover these peoples lives. itll be interesting to see what God plans to do with this incident. pray for Gods will to be done.

grace & peace.

artfest!

so, im slow on my updates as always. we've had some long days these past two weeks. but, this will be a good one. i promise!

last saturday was a breath of fresh air to say the least. we went to this community-wide artfest extravaganza, which totally made my week. there were over 30 local artists there with booths. some booths included hands on demos of whatever type of art they did. mrs. patti olson, [my mom for the summer], does pottery. so, she had a booth where you could create things out of clay. she even had two potter's wheels going for people to create their own pots! lindsay & i were able to help with that for the day. along with pottery, there was probably every medium of art represented that day from painting, to clay, to music, to dance, to screen printing, to mosaics. art was basically exploding out of the streets!

artfest was such a great time for the community to come together and experience the freedom that comes from creating things. this can directly point to the freedom that comes from living for our Lord. as i walked around, i was just overwhelmed with joy watching people experience the freedom that comes in creating things! they truly were experiencing the freedom to be who they were made to be. no matter their level of "skill", they participated & experienced freedom as a result. also, i loved that there were people from a wide range of cultures, ages, and economic backgrounds participating in the festivities. it was such a great representation of the universality of art. no matter the skin color, language, religious, or economic background, everyone came together on common ground. also, there was free food. so, if they didn't come for the art, the food was the common ground. but, you can choose which commonality to base it on. :) nonetheless, it was such a refreshment to see people experiencing community & freedom in some way.

after the day's events of art & fun, the night ended of course with a drum circle/worship time with "enter the worship circle" who are musicians in love with jesus. maybe some of you have listened to their music or maybe not. if not, go check em out! anyways, the evening continued with the same spirit of freedom as the hours before. people just sang, shouted, drummed, and danced for our King! i know my spirit was refreshed & renewed being amongst other believers who were desiring to worship our God!

with all that said, im so thankful for this wonderful day! praise be to our God for it! now, if you scroll down some more, you'll see some images of this festive occasion! enjoy!

grace & peace.

everything comes to an end.

first, i wanna thank all of you lovely friends who have been diligently praying for my time at the somali center. your prayers have clearly been heard and they have produced much fruit. i really have had a hard time balancing my time between loving & disciplining those kids. if you look back to one of my previous blogs, you'll see that my first two weeks were indeed a battle. i mean.. i almost got stoned by one boy. [aka. a rock was launched at my head followed by some profanity]. there was alot of spiritual warfare going on to say the least.

their were days i left in tears just doubting my ability to love anyone well. of course, Christ was faithful to encourage my heart. but, i wasn't sure if i would have much of a chance to showcase my love for them clearly. i was worn out most days. but, as the days went on, slowly but surely i was being accepted by the children. they really grew used to my presence there. into the third week, i really was able to bond with the kids and most were expressing their love for me. expect for the "stoner" child. he really was battling with me daily. but, i prayed everyday that i could love him well despite his crazy antics. now, it's the end and i can look back & say God answered my prayers.

thursday [july 19] was our last day at the somali education center. God was just gracious to me. i really felt as if there was closure there in so many ways. all of the children who had previously been so difficult for me were so loving and compassionate. i was so surprised to see their response to our final hours together. i don't think their was a minute when a kid wasn't attached to me. this response was such a gift from the Lord. the boy who tried to stone me totally was joking with me at times/he was smiling! i mean, i was shocked to say the least. but, his response really let me with a much needed peace. i know i really needed their love in those moments. it was as if God was saying, "becca your labor was not in vain." i just desired to love them well & be jesus to them. i feel as if i can look back in confidence & say i was able to do this. man, im so thankful for my time at the center. i really learned alot about my role as a teacher/someone in authority. also, i learned a great deal about the somali culture. i really have grown to love the somali people. i pray that i would be open to the Lord increasing my love for these people who so desperately need jesus.

so, continue to pray for our interactions with somali's these last few weeks. pray that we can just love them as Christ would.

grace & peace.