New

Hey followers!
I am changing the address of my blog. I know....I just sent the address to everyone that I know, but I need to change the address. So, if you are still interested in following my blog and knowing what is going on in ministry, please respond to this message so that I can send you the new web address!
Thanks!
Heidi

Fathom

We cannot fathom heartbreak, until our heart is broken. We cannot fathom betrayal, until we are betrayed. We cannot fathom what it is to identify in HIS sufferings, until HE allows us to walk a mile in HIS shoes. And when HE does, we begin to understand the tears HE cries, the LOVE that drives them, and the reason HE asks us for ALL.

Please join me in prayer for my sweet friend who is struggling to figure out how to follow God's call. My heart longs to see people fulfill their destiny in Christ. When they cannot embrace it, my heart breaks. Please pray with me.

Struggle

A man found a cocoon of the emperor moth and took it home to watch it emerge. One day a small opening appeared, and for several hours the moth struggled but couldn't seem to force its body past a certain point.

Deciding something was wrong, the man took scissors and snipped the remaining bit of cocoon. The moth emerged easily, its body large and swollen, the wings small and shriveled.

He expected that in a few hours the wings would spread out in their natural beauty, but they did not. Instead of developing into a creature free to fly, the moth spent its life dragging around a swollen body and shriveled wings.

The constricting cocoon and the struggle necessary to pass through the tiny opening are God's way of forcing fluid from the body into the wings. The "merciful" snip was, in reality, cruel. Sometimes the struggle is exactly what we need.

"Quote" Magazine

10th Anniversary Gala

Sunday evening we Celebrated 10 years of God's faithfulness to Crossover International! We had a great turn out with many people getting to see the ministry of Crossover for the first time! We learned a lot about hosting an event of that magnitude and plan to have an annual Gala to celebrate what God does each year on the overseas tours.

Below are some pictures of the Gala: (You can see more pictures on my Facebook page)

Our Staff: Zo Azubuike (President), Me (Director of Operations), Kirby Beneventi (Discipleship and Community Development), and Troy Cohen (Director of Recruiting).

Me with our good friend John Johnson. He gave us great advice and helped us pull the event together at the last minute. Thank you John!

Colorado State Representative Ken Summers, NBA Player Kelenna Azubuike and our good friend TJ Doyle during the opening Prayer.

A few of our alumni enjoying the event. (Lauren Labat, Jenny Vieira, Adaeze Azubuike, Amanda Sanders and Susan Beardslee)

Alumnus, Jimmie Maggette with Troy

The Crowd at the Gala

Crossover Board Member and Master's College Women's Head Coach, Dan Waldeck speaking.

Gala Emcee Kyle Speller (Voice of the Denver Nuggets) with his lovely wife.

Keynote Speaker, Pastor Chad Bruegmann (Teaching Pastor at Red Rocks Church) addressing the crowd.

For my Benefit

"The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, “Go down to the potter’s shop, and I will speak to you there.” So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel. But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over.

Then the Lord gave me this message: “O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand. If I announce that a certain nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed, but then that nation renounces its evil ways, I will not destroy it as I had planned. And if I announce that I will plant and build up a certain nation or kingdom, but then that nation turns to evil and refuses to obey me, I will not bless it as I said I would." - Jeremiah 18:1-9

It is my desire to be a vessel that God is pleased with. You and I can attempt many things for God, but it is HIM and HIM alone that is the source and shaper of our destinies. When we are torn down....it is for our good. Not to destroy us, but rather to shape us into people that HE is pleased with. He shapes us so that we can stand before HIM one day to hear HIM say "Well Done". That's what I live for.

Today, I choose to believe that Brokenness is for my benefit.

"One Time"

My Boss, Zo and I met this weekend and we prayed a lot! God moved in an amazing way!!! I got really fired up about some of the things God is speaking. I talked with my team this summer a lot about how the enemy tries to steal, kill and destroy us. We talked about how to guard the seed that God has planted in us and give it a good environment to grow in.

One of our guys would always say "One Time" after everything! "Can I get a coke, one time?", "Where is my shirt, one time?", "Let's go get ice cream, one time."...you get the picture! He got all of us sayin, “One time” and it cracks me up!

I was reminded yesterday of the ULTIMATE “One Time”…..“Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit.” – I Peter 3:18

I don’t know about you, but that humbles me. We deserve death and he took it for us ONCE and that was enough. One thing that I have been seeing a lot lately is that as sinful creatures, we slap Him in the face a lot by the way we live our days. He asks us to do something and we have the nerve to say “No” or “Later”. He asks us to be Righteous and Holy and we say “It’s too hard.”, or “I can do this and still be a Christian.”

Don’t slap Him in the face by compromising. He Died for you….it is not too much for you to LIVE for Him. It REQUIRES sacrifice, but the joy of HIS journey and the lightweight of HIS burden is Worth it!!! “Then he said to them all: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me’.” – Luke 9:23

This Life is NOT about YOU!

Let that sink in ONE TIME!!!

Beautiful People

Late night thoughts are sometimes dangerous. But, I am going to take a risk....

I have contemplated life more this year than I EVER remember. Just stopping to take in the mountain view or to THINK about what is actually going on around me. I don't know if we do that enough.

This summer, I was challenged in more ways than I can adequately describe in words. ALL of my dreams, hopes and wishes were challenged. I examined my heart in ways that I never thought was possible. I asked myself HARD questions, and I made some BIG mistakes with my attitude and the way I perceived my circumstances.

As fall approaches, I am coming to my 4 year anniversary with Crossover, and Crossover is celebrating it's 10th Birthday. I am standing on the brink of our "New" year in ministry and I ponder the depth of God's promises and the shallowness of my belief.

I am inspired by friends of mine who are living a portion of my dream by pursuing adoption of a Chinese orphan.

http://www.nogreaterjoydad.com/2011/08/testimony-matt-peterson-in-china-says.html

I am curious about God's timing and the fact that His biggest promise to me still lays unfulfilled in my heart after 14 years of waiting. (That's longer than Joseph waited....just sayin'! ) Haha!

I am dust. I am reduced to a pile of dirt in the hand of my Father God. My hope is exasperated. My needs seem ignored. My hurts are unrecognized or scoffed at. Yet.....HE remains STEADFAST.

One of the girls on my tour sent me this quote. I feel that it describes our lives so beautifully.

‎"The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These people have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen." — Elizabeth Kubler Ross

My heart aches for the Tree of Life as described in Proverbs 13:12. May it not tarry as it has in the past. For HIS Glory and HIS renown.