Hello!

Hello!
My name is Autumn Buzzell and I live and work in Ghana, West Africa with City of Refuge Ministries. Here, I run our school, Faith Roots International Academy, and get to be a part in rescuing and the healing of children who have been trafficked into the fishing trade, orphaned, abandoned, and those who just need a little extra loving. What an amazing gift this life is!

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Monday, February 25, 2013

Love Does, Part 1

So, I'm obsessed with this new book.  It is just...well...speaks straight to my heart.  I think the author's favorite word is "whimsy".  And I think that is part of why I am loving it so much right now.  I desire to live a life of whimsy.  I want to live a life that is incredible.  I want to see God in the ordinary moments of my life.  I think this is even part of why I love Pride and Prejudice...and well, at this moment, pretty much anything BBC puts out...it all has this air of whimsy...of a beauty that we can't quite put our finger on...on this gentle pursuit of life.  I love it.  So, I thought I would share some of my favorite's so far out of this book.  These quotes really have no connection to one another...just little nuggets of joy that I've found so far.

Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary Way
By: Bob Goff

"Living a life fully engaged and full of whimsy and the kind of things that love does is something most people plan to do, but along the way they just kind of forget."

"I learned that faith isn't about knowing the right stuff or obeying a list of rules.  It's something more, something more costly because it involves being present and making a sacrifice.  Perhaps that's why Jesus is sometimes called Immanuel--God with us.  I think that's what God had in mind, for Jesus to be present, to just be with us.  It's also what He has in mind for us when it comes to other people...But the kind of love that God created and demonstrated is a costly one because it involves sacrifice and presence.  It's a love that operates more like a sign language than being spoken outright."

"People who follow Jesus, though, are no longer typical--God is constantly inviting them into a life that moves away from typical...What Jesus said we could do is leave typical behind.  We could leave all of the comparisons and all of the trappings and all of the pretending of religion.  Jesus told the people He was with that it's not enough to just look like you love God.  He said we'd know the extent of our love for God by how well we loved people."

"Being engaged is a way of doing life, a way of living and loving.  It's about going to extremes and expressing the bright hope that life offers us, a hope that makes us brave and expels darkness with light.  That's what I want my life to be all about--full of abandon, whimsy, and in love.  I want to be engaged to life and with life."

"Failure is just part of the process, and it's not just okay; it's better than okay.  God doesn't want failure to shut us down.  God didn't make it a three-strikes-and you're-out sort of thing.  It's more about how God helps us dust ourselves off so that we can swing for the fences again.  And all of this without keeping a meticulous record of our screw-ups....I've realized that I used to be afraid of failing at the things that really mattered to me, but now I'm more afraid of succeeding at things that don't matter."

More to come...

 

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