Shannon's Corner

  SHANNON’S CORNER Celebrations… …hearing stories and testimonies of how God is transforming the lives of the women who I met at the retreat Bethann, and I facilitated for Light of Life Mission.  Being invited into their pain, hurt, and unresolved grief as they felt safe to share those parts of themselves.  Just like the blindman in Luke 18 shouted, “Son of David have mercy on me.”  The crowd tried to shush him, and he shouted even louder.  Again, the crowd told him to shut up.  The blindman was desperate for Jesus and so he shouted even more loudly, and Jesus stopped.  What is it you need from Jesus that you need to shout out to him?  One area that was prevalent in the stories shared was so much unresolved grief.  Giving them language around grief.  How unresolved grief stacks up like a tower and eventually it will fall over if we do not take the time to unstack each block – the loss – by naming, acknowledging, validating its impact to ...

   SHANNON’S CORNER What a beautiful blessing from God is the gift of friendship.   Those folks who not only love you but know you, a deep connection.     I spent a few days with my friend, Fanny, and her family.     I got to be a part of her everyday life, participating in her women’s bible study, helping her to m ake papa relleno (stuffed mashed potato), staying up late talking, and finishing the final edits of the book, The Invitation into Spanish.     In translating this book, Fanny and I talked about how we felt the weight and responsibility of staying true to the author’s message yet in a way that makes sense to the audience.     It gave us a small glimpse into the work of Bible translators as they translate God’s Word into the various languages so people can read and understand God’s word. Lent, Holy Week, and Easter Sunday can be described as riding a roller coaster where your emotions and thoughts are at times the lowest of...

  SHANNON’S CORNER God’s goodness, beauty, and truth… Safe Place Ministry did a field trip to the Dominican Republic for nine days to serve the 20 missionaries serving with Kids Alive International and one intern.  I was a little apprehensive in wondering if I was the right person to be on this team because I believed that Bethann would be carrying most of the load because of the dual relationships I have with the missionaries.  But God assured me through Bethann’s words of wanting me to be a part of this team and the privilege of being asked to join in conversations that pleasantly surprised me in an honoring way.  How amazing to grow deeper in connections with these missionaries. We started our time with a one-day retreat studying John 14, especially looking at verse 18.  Jesus is speaking to his disciples in this passage, and he tells them, “I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you.”  We looked at how we see orphans and how they...