It's been awhile since my last posting, and I apologize for that! I returned from Colorado a little less than a month ago now, and it was hectic as soon as I got home. Good, but hectic. I was given an awesome opportunity to take the youth from my Church to a youth retreat in Pennsylvania. Though there was little sleep, and it was freezing, we had a great time. It was a reminder that I'm right in pursuing the dream that has been divinely set in my heart. I love being able to watch kids learn about the unconditional love of God.

The unconditional love of God is something that has been circling in my mind a lot lately. It all started with one specific event--an event that left me just a bit broken. When I was in Colorado, I spent three weeks with the amazing international staff group! We were small in comparison to the 200 domestic staff group, but lovely all the same. On our very first day there, we were assigned prayer partners with whom we'd meet every other day or so to pray and process what we were discussing and learning and going through. My partner was Beatriz.

Beatriz, I promise you, was sent to me directly from Heaven! She's a Brazilian woman, married to a wonderful man and together they are setting up Young Life in Mozambique. Not only did Beatriz speak Portuguese and pray for me in Portuguese (love it! especially now that I can understand a lot of what she said!), but she was a constant source of sweetness and love for everyone around her. At our first prayer meeting, I learned that her father was in a hospital in Brazil, and they did not expect him to live long. She was clearly broken-hearted, for not only could she not be with him, but he did not believe he deserved the love of God and had thus rejected faith altogether.

Though her father's health continued to decline, she remained a rock-steady force in my life. She encouraged me, hugged me, and loved me so well every single day. The day before we left Colorado, her father passed away. That same night, I was struggling with my own feelings of faithlessness. Fundraising has been a slow process for me, and often left me feeling like a failure in what I felt God wanted me to do. I was emotionally drained and exhausted. The truth is, I was lost in my own sorrows and focused entirely on my frustration and disappointment.

As I fought the tears that were welling in my eyes, Beatriz caught sight of me. She came over to me and gave me a hug I will never forget. In that moment, I felt such sincere love and grace--as if it were God himself hugging me.

Beatriz, who lost her father only hours before, took the time to comfort me when clearly my situation was so much less critical than hers. She didn't say anything that night, but her love spoke volumes.

I walked out of that room that night feeling like I had just encountered God. I had just felt the tangible arms of God, holding me, loving me, caring for me. And I was changed.

I hope that I can be a Beatriz to others. I want to be the tangible arms and love of God to people all around the world. I want to be so focused on how very blessed and loved I am that it spills over into the rest of my life. And when I face trials and heart-ache, I want to still be able to reach out to those hurting around me, and help them feel peace.

Beatriz has now returned to Mozambique where she and her husband are reaching out to high school kids, and I never told her how she changed me. But I pray everyday that God will bless her and her beautiful heart.

Beatriz and her husband, Gustavo.