Shannon's Corner

    SHANNON’S CORNER Merry Christmas! When you are around children how do you react to them?   What feelings are invoked in you?   What is your perspective of children?    What image of Jesus with children comes to your mind? I have loved being and playing with kids as far back as my preteen years when I began to babysit.  This love for kids continued throughout my life until present day with working at a kid’s summer camp, volunteering at Children’s Hospital, teaching Sunday School, helping with youth program, substituting as a school nurse, serving kids in Peru, mentoring youth, playing with missionary kids and with all of my nieces, nephews and my friends’ kids.  Kids just have a way of grounding me.  They bring joy and laughter to my life.  Kids can exhaust me as well from all their energy.  But they have a simple faith because they simply trust.   My image of Jesus with children was what ...

    SHANNON’S CORNER November 2020 Equipping and Mentoring for optimal health  to do ministry that bears much fruit for the Kingdom of God… Do you remember when you were in elementary school and you would do fire drills so many times a year?  I remember in my elementary and high school years; we not only did fire drills but also tornado drills.  Years later as a nurse, I did these same drills as well as mock codes.  Why, you may ask, was this necessary?  It’s preparing us for when the real thing happens that we know what to do and not just freeze and panic.  Doing this, our bodies are programed as an automatic response when these specific situations occur.  Equipping is important just like practicing drills.  Why, you may ask?  So that the missionary will have the tools and skillsets needed for the various circumstances and situations he/she will face while ministering and living overseas. Dur...

    SHANNON’S CORNER October 2020 C aring for the wounded and brokenhearted… I felt like a ball that is out of control and on the course to emotional breakdown.  I was highly stressed, in high burnout and on the path leading towards depression.  I would sleep a good eight hours each night yet every morning I woke up exhausted.  Small things that people would say or do would irritate me to no end.  I felt disconnected from my family.  I felt guilty for being one more person in abandoning the kids at the children’s home.  I had no idea what the future looked like.  I felt purposelessness, unsettled, numb, confused, anxious, displaced, identity crisis, homeless and floundering spiritually. I later went to a Debrief and Renewal Retreat in Colorado that helped me to process my time in Peru.  It showed that I was not alone.  I felt a oneness with those present because we have suffered for Chris...