Anne Marie Miller

Author: Anne Marie Miller

  • raw [trust]

    certain things trigger painful memories. and then i do allow myself to feel them. deeply.

    saturday night, i had one of those experiences.

    a person i have been getting to know lately reminds me of someone in my past.

    someone who i looked up to tremendously. someone who led me. someone who i cared for deeply. someone who pastored me. someone who i trusted uninhibitedly.

    someone who had been living a lie. the entire time i knew him.

    i have forgiven this person. i still love this person. but this person has forever changed me.

    and tonight, as i was reminded of my old friend again; my heart, surprised me.

    achingly raw.

    bleeding.

    tears well up even as i type now. for past pain. and present fear. of future trust.

    [trust is not a four letter word]

  • 30 hours to thailand

    last night i got to meet a couple from lifechurch.tv who are moving to bangkok. they are both from there, but have been living in the states for a long, long time. god really worked in their lives over the little while and they are pretty much packing up and leaving this weekend to go. talk about crazy quick obedience!

    the woman talked some about her mom, who lives in thailand, and is culturally buddhist. her mom really wanted them to move back, so the woman challenged her to pray. and wow, her prayers were answered quickly! her mom had even been praying for employment to open up and sure enough, the woman’s husband found a job!

    it was so inspiring to see god working in this couple’s life. i would imagine the task of moving 30 hours away to another country would be quite overwhelming (i moved only 4 hours from dallas to okc and i remember how stressful it was). but the only vibe i got from our time was joy! from the job, to finding a place to live, to their excitement about starting this new life…their happiness and vision were contagious!

    the hour i got to spend with them last night inspired me even more to think globally when it comes to the church and reaching people. even though they are moving far, far away, we can stay connected through technology, and we can help support them in their efforts to reach people for christ. and i can’t wait to hear what happens!

  • picked up on the side of the road

    pastors.

    i talk with pastors a lot.

    i email with pastors a lot.

    i love pastors.

    maybe because i was a pk.

    hmmm…i don’t know why.

    i just know i do.

    so yesterday, i was talking to a children’s pastor. he has a budget of $500/year. in a church of about 150.

    he didn’t have a chair for his office. he’d been using an old metal chair.

    so he went shopping.

    by driving around.

    and he found a chair on the side of the road.

    picked it up.

    cleaned it off. says it’s better than new.

    he was SO excited. it was really the highlight of our conversation.

    wow.

    we take so many things for granted.

    every time, before i spend that next dollar, i’ll think of my friend…

    his mismatched bookshelves.

    and the chair he picked up on the side of the road.

  • the BIG announcement – February 10, 2008

    A few months ago, Carlos asked on his blog,

    What could be done if bloggers put the influence of their blogs together to create change in a single moment?

    Well…On February 10…

    From all over the country we will fly to Chicago and meet.
    From Chicago, we’ll head to Brussels, Belgium.
    From Brussels to Nairobi, Kenya.
    From Nairobi, to Kampala, Uganda.

    We’ll spend several days in Uganda with Compassion International, visiting villages, meeting children and sharing this experience with you through video, photos, and our words. We will bring these children to you.

    They need you…

    Here is a list of everyone who’ll be going. Visit their sites. Pray for us. We return on February 18. Over 20,000 miles round trip. I can’t wait.

    Joe Carter http://www.evangelicaloutpost.com and http://www.frcblog.com/
    David Kuo http://blog.beliefnet.com/jwalking/
    Randy Elrod http://randyelrod.typepad.com/
    Chris Elrod http://www.seekersolutions.typepad.com
    Carlos Whittaker http://www.ragamuffinsoul.com/
    Heather Whittaker http://whittakerwoman.typepad.com/
    Shannon http://rocksinmydryer.typepad.com/shannon/
    Sophie “Boomama” http://www.boomama.net/
    Anne Jackson https://annemariemiller.com,
    Phil Ware http://blogs.heartlight.org/phil/
    Doug Van Pelt http://www.hmmagazine.com/blogs/doug
    Shaun Groves http://www.shaungroves.com/shlog/

    Compassion Staff

    Spence Smith http://spencesmith.typepad.com/spence
    Brian Seay http://brianseay.wordpress.com/

    Photographer

    Keely Scott – http://keelymariescott.blogspot.com/

  • this video needs no explanation.

  • kidnapping+yellow fever=my life in one month

    this has been my day…


    mr. ragamuffin soul, his lovely wife whittaker woman, the wonderful shlog, blogfather randy elrod, myself, and a few other secret participants (who will be revealed at a soon but not soon enough date) will be taking a very long journey.

    one that requires vaccines for lots of scary diseases. that’s the nurse who stuck my arm with live yellow fever buggers at 3:30 today.

    one that requires me to sign a release form that says this:

    The undersigned has been informed of the U.S. State Department briefing on this country and understands the risks that may result from such participation including, but not necessarily limited to, acts of violence perpetrated upon the undersigned individually or in a group, kidnapping, piracy, hijacking, and/or the possibility of accident, disease, or death. The undersigned nevertheless has voluntarily chosen to participate.

    NEVERTHELESS…i have voluntarily chosen.

    ominous.

    exciting.

    watch monday for a huge announcement that the blog world has never seen before!!!

  • missing post about kidnapping?

    if you see a post in your reader about kidnapping….
    if you’ve commented on a post about kidnapping…
    and you no longer see it here…

    there’s a reason.

    stay tuned.

    really.

    you’ll find out later tonight about that….

    muahahahahaha.

  • this post is meant specifically for YOU. yes. YOU.

    i love you guys.

    thanks for reading.

    i really think you rock.

  • hellooooo… naked lady

    last night i was reading intensely about the life of david. how the bible says so many times that others knew god was with david, or how david himself would claim god’s power over a situation. god was so faithful to him, and then made one of the most well known and important covenants in the history of mankind.

    later on, as we all know, david screwed up pretty big. he was a successful king. he was a successful warrior. kicking other nations square in the pants. during one particular spring time, when most kings went to war, he stayed back in jerusalem. he was hanging out on the roof and saw bathsheba.

    hellooooo……naked lady.

    i’m sure the memories of god’s faithfulness of times past flew out the window. or off the roof, as the case may be.

    we all know what happened. as the deadly vipers call it, boom chicka wah wah.

    bathsheba must have been beautiful. stunning in david’s eyes.

    and that one beautiful distraction contributed to many, many more terrible mistakes from david. lying…murder…

    beautiful distractions are all around us. and not just in naked-lady form (although there’s plenty of that). power. pride. attention. obsession. status. facebook. television. the perfect suburban life. getting marred. the internet. becoming single.

    they may look good. feel good. some of them may not even hurt us immediately.

    but they distract.

    from what’s best.

    what’s your beautiful distraction?

    [aside: the original title for this post was simply “beautiful distractions.” however, upon learning of the content of this post, my friend suggested my title should be “hellooooo……naked lady.” i figure that would be a smart move for the googlebots, so i obliged.]