A lot of times, what God calls each of us to isn’t always fun, or easy or safe.
Many times, obeying what God calls us to is scary and
uncertain.
Having faith isn’t easy.
Walking in what He calls you to isn’t easy.
Putting one foot in front of another isn’t easy.
There is always a risk.
You don’t know where that next step will lead you.
You don’t know if the path will be smooth or rocky.
You don’t know how any of this life is going to work out.
All you know is that God is calling you and all you have to
do is run towards Him, knowing that our trust isn’t in our steps or our path,
but in the firm, loving voice that calls us forward.
This past week, Noonday Collection, along with International
Justice Mission announced that they had gathered a team together to travel to
Rwanda and through that Mission they hope to share with the world that “when we use our purchasing power for good and pursue the
cause of justice, hope for the poor is possible.”
They have also created an amazing
opportunity for one woman to join the team and advocate with them.
One of my dearest friends, Robyn
Jungeblut has entered the contest. She has put aside all doubt and fear and has
heard the voice calling her and saying, risk everything and follow me.
I had the privilege of
interviewing Robyn and to hear of the dreams, callings and passions that God has
placed on her life and I am excited to introduce Robyn to you and share with
you her heart.
My prayers is that you will be
moved by her words and her story and will want to vote for Robyn and send her
to Rwanda
with Noonday Collection. Please read her interview and be inspired and encouraged!
We met at Panera and caught up on
our lives and families. Laughing and being "healthy” as we ate our salads and
savored our baguettes. I have been privileged to call Robyn my friend for over
8 years! And in those 8 years, she has been one who has always been such a source
of encouragement for me. Her words are always filled with the spirit, always intentional
and full of love. This meeting wasn’t any different.
As I started asking her questions,
her passions and love for Jesus began to pour out in each answer. She was
inspiring, full of hope, humility and passion.
In February, you were able to attend the if:Gathering, what did God reveal to you at the conference?
Angie Smith said at the
conference, ‘When I get to heaven, I want my cheeks to be flushed from working
out my salvation,’ and that hit me. I want my cheeks to be flushed. I want to
be panting! And He opened my eyes to that and to walking in that abiding.
Another thing: while at the If:
Gathering, I was having time with the Lord and I said, 'ok Lord I am happy with
where you have me. I love the fact that I get to be a mom to these 4 great
kids. I love the fact that we are starting a church soon, I love the fact that
you give me opportunities for me to speak; but you will not leave me alone with
the fact that we are called to adopt and you will not leave me alone with the
thought of these women and children who are being trafficked…' The Lord knows I
can not physically be with those people right now, but I also know that God is
God and He is gonna allow whatever He wants to happen, happen. I’m putting that
all before the Lord and say, ‘so what do you want me to do?’ What is my
response to this, as a girl in my thirties who wants to do what He wants me to
do, but I have a baby at home?
That day I went down and ran into
Noonday, and of course, I was attracted to it because of the adorable jewelry.
I got some information, bought some earrings and left.
I got home and asked the Lord,
what do you want me to do with all this, ‘cause I already told you I would do
anything.' He very clearly told me to go and look at Noonday, so I did.
What is the Noonday Collection?
Basically, [Noonday] is a company
that was started out of Austin
and the woman who started it wanted to save for her adoption. She wanted to do something
to save financially and to help women from different countries. You support
these women, as their ambassador, so that they have a job creating jewelry and
are not drawn into the sex trade and so they aren’t sold into slavery. They
have something that gives them dignity as well as a portion of the sales goes
to adoption. So God told me to pursue this and with the money I could earn, I
would put it in a savings account and it goes to Jungeblut number 5. And I
could do this where God has me planted right now. It’s my way to help.
What prompted you to enter the Style for Justice Contest?
On Tuesday, I found out I had
managed to save enough money so I could become an ambassador for Noonday.
On Wednesday morning, I open my
email and the contest is all over my email and it blows my mind!
The idea of being able to not only
go to Rwanda, but to go and meet these women that I think of constantly, its obsessive,
really...I love the fact that there is an opportunity for them to know that
they are loved by our mighty God, that He is providing for them and that they
can have a job that they can be proud of... So many times we as believers go and
love on them, but we don’t help them to get out of their situation. These ladies,
they need jobs, they need money to provide for their families, they need help
and somebody is doing that! To get to go
and meet these women and love on these women and create relationships, it’s so
awesome.
Also, on a side note, Adam (Robyn’s
husband) went to Rwanda
in 2007 and that’s where God gave him the call for adoption. Ever since then, we
have tried to get me or us, over there and I have had this longing to go…knowing
that I would go one day, but I didn’t know how or when.
What is your hope or desire if you do win this amazing opportunity?
This is so much more than the easy
answer, like 'I want to go and encourage them'. But, what do I have to offer them
except for Jesus? I don’t have anything to offer them, I really don’t. I want
to go and I want to love the heck out of them. I want to let them know how much
they are loved. I want them to know that what they are doing is huge.
But, it's
so much more than that; I want to come back here and use my people…I have such
a burden or passion to mobilize the people in my life, because we have some of
the most gifted friends, who have resources that they don’t even realize they
have. To bring back these ladies stories from Rwanda and be a representative for
them and speak out for them. To get out of our comfort zones and start doing whatever
we can to partner with them and help them in the situations that they are in
and to love them from here. To realize
that we as moms who have kids, WE can still do things.
If I can do anything, I want to
bring the stories back to mobilize the community.
As moms, we wear lots of hats. And of course, our greatest ministries are to our husbands and children, but how do you balance and pursue the other dreams and callings God has placed in you heart in the midst of motherhood?
I’m still trying to figure that out,
but I don’t think you can separate them. I wake up in the morning and
squeeze in my time with Jesus…but it’s throughout the day too…in my
conversation with my kids, while we are doing the dishes, do I have worship
music on? Are we having dance party right there? When Adam comes home, are we
encouraging him? What are we talking about around the dinner table? Are we serving
as a family? Who are we praying for?
I know that for us, for example,
the girls who were kidnapped in Nigeria…I have a 10 year old, a 7 year old, a 4
year old and an 18 month old, so I can’t give them a bunch of details, but I
give them a story they can comprehend and we are spending time everyday praying
for these girls by name, and oh my word! Hearing my kids…they are little missionaries
inside of our school! Throughout the day we talk about them and we pray for
them right there.
We work ministry into our family.
When Adam calls and says, ‘hey I’m about to go into a meeting or into an
interview,’ we pray for daddy throughout the day and so everything we can do as
a family, we intertwine it and I realize I can’t separate it. The only thing I
separate is my personal time with the Lord, because if I can’t get that, I
can’t pour out. I will tell you some of the sweetest times I have had with my Lord
has been with my kids right there. It’s cool, because that’s the season of life
that we are in right now and it’s very intertwined.
On a side note, I think Adam and I
have had to back up and say, we see a calling in each other and I am going to
provide space for him to go and do what God has called him to do; and in that
same way, he has provided space for me to go and do what He has called me to
do. Whereas, so many times we would feel like we couldn't leave our spouse with
the kids because that would be asking too much, but now we are championing each
other!
What Has God called you to right now?
Right now, I think more than
anything He has called me to be his child and to sit and be loved by Him and to
love Him. He has called me to be the wife of the most amazing, fun, loving, leader of a man that I have ever met in my life and that comes with all kinds
of things, but it is awesome. He has called me to be the mother of these four
children that I could not have dreamed up; they are unbelievable. He has called
me to be a speaker for women and every opportunity I get to do that, I am just
blown away and so honored by that. He has called me to love on my extended
family, he has called me to be a good friend, he has called our family to adopt
and we are very much pursuing that and very much seeking that, and I am very
excited that he has called me to pursue Noonday as an ambassador.
If God could use you to do anything…what would astound you?
If Adam and our kids, or even just
Adam and I could go and love on the people groups that God has called us to and
represent them by mobilizing others…I keep coming back to that.
Us, traveling
and speaking together to mobilize the church into action for these amazing
people…BUT, I wouldn't want to do it without spending an intense amount of time
with these people. You know, getting to know their faces, their names, their
stories. Being able to hold their hand and look them in the eyes and say, what
is it that you need? Laughing with them, really getting to know them and coming
back over here and being able to represent them and mobilize our church! Mobilize
the Christians!
To be able to go and be the hands and feet of Jesus. That
sounds so cliché, but to be able to go and have a ministry where we can just
travel and speak about stuff like that…it would blow my mind! I could pictures
us in a bus with homeschooling on the side (laughter) how fun would that be!?!
But to take my kids! I will never forget watching Avery do missions and her
heart…How the Lord opened it up, and getting to be her mom! She wasn't taught
to do that it was just in her, and if Adam and I could just go for it…that would
be…
What is one thing that God called you to that was hard or scary?
The scariest thing I ever walked
through in my entire life is when I carried Elle And yet, it was the most
amazing time that I have ever had with the Lord, because every single day I had
to trust Him that things were going to be the way that He had called them to be. I didn't know what that looked like. I didn't know if I would be carrying a child that was missing limbs. I didn't know if I was going to carry a child
whose brain didn't develop completely. I had no idea what was going to come,
but every single day trusting Him.
And it was physically hard, because I couldn't stand up straight for nine months.
That was definitely the hardest and
scariest thing. Trusting God that he did this for a reason and I don’t think
its over, I don’t think the reason is over or that she was born and it was
done, but that was definitely the hardest.
[You can go to the link to hear Robyn's testimony provided at the end of the post!]
There is nothing I can do to make Him love me more or less. I've always wanted to be his favorite and I already
am. We all are. I really think I use to wake up everyday and think, 'I have got
to make you proud of me, tell me what it is that will make you proud of me and
I’ll do it'. And I would get so frustrated, because he wouldn't tell me and I
think what he wanted me to know was that, in John, it says that He loved me
first and He did! I always felt I had to earn that love, but to be able to walk
in that and know that there is really nothing I can do. He hasn't skipped over
me, I haven’t missed it, I haven’t missed him! There have been so many times where I have woken up and think ‘well, I've missed my chance!' I’m not a young 20 year old with reckless abandonment anymore! I have responsibilities, a
husband and four great kids. I can’t just go. So many times I think I have
missed it, I have I missed my calling, but that’s not how it works. My yeses come
every day in very small ways and God uses all of it. Storms are brewing and he
has some stuff in the works and it’s good.
What’s the one thing you could tell moms like me and you about pursuing our God given dreams?
Do it! Do it scared. Take one step
at a time. Take a risk. Commit to the yes.
God says I’ll bring it, you follow
through.
Ok, so what happens if you don’t win the Noonday contest
and trip to Rwanda
I've been obedient. I've been
faithful. I've taken the risk. I know there is something He wants to work out
in my calling and whether it’s through the winning or something else, He’s
working.
Ok, last question, if you could choose one object to represent you life’s journey so far, what would it be?
When I gave my life to the Lord I
got the picture of a blank piece a paper and I signed it at the bottom (Rick Warren
has so taken this for the Purpose Driven Life and I promise this happen before
I read it, so don’t think I’m stealing it from him- we laugh!).
But literally, when he called me
to the ministry, I wanted so many questions answered. What are you going to do?
What is the fomula? How do I …? And He was like no, trust Me. Here’s a blank
piece of paper: You get on board with me and give it back and when I have an assignment
for you I’ll slide it across the table and you read it and say, 'ok' and I’m
gonna take it back and I’m gonna keep on writing your story. But you have no
idea how that blank piece of paper is gonna be filled! He’s writing the story
and I’m just going ok, what’s next.
CLICK to VOTE for ROBYN!
Don’t you want Robyn to win this
amazing opportunity! Click here and vote
for Robyn!
Her heart and passions are so
evident and I personally can not wait to see what God does through her life and
her callings!
Go Vote today and everyday until
May 28th! You can vote using all of your electronic devices
daily!
*Robyn Jungeblut is married to Adam
Jungeblut, Campus Pastor at Parkway Fellowship North Campus in Katy , Texas
Robyn enjoys hanging out with her
husband and kids, worship, coffee and laughing with friends.
You can hear Robyn’s AMAZING
testimony of her carrying her baby girl, Elle, who’s pregnancy was deemed a
miscarriage, but God protected that sweet baby despite the DNC procedure! What
a Mighty God we Serve! Hear her story here…
You are His beloved,
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