This isn't the kind of post that I wanted to come back with but I do want to share a prayer request with you for some family friends.

Yesterday evening I got the news that there had been a horrible tragedy in a family that we have been friends with since I was a small child. They have suffered a huge loss.

 

On Wednesday night their 12 year old son, Gabe, took his own life.

Picture from mom's FB page

At this point no details have been shared and no one knows why he did this. It was a complete shock to all. So many people have been wrapping around their family and showering them in love and prayers in this difficult time. All are asking the one question that we may never get an answer for...

"Why?"

There must have been some kind of hurt deep in his heart that he was struggling with and managed to keep hidden. What we don't know is what that hurt was. What we do know is that Gabe was deeply loved by his mom and dad. He was deeply loved by his seven siblings. He was deeply loved by his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. He was loved by his church family.

Photo from JoLynn Coleman's FB page

This situation has been heartbreaking for so many and few know the pain of losing a child in this manner. We can understand that the pain is unimaginable. All we can do is lift the family up in prayer as they walk through this situation. The grief is heavy now and the stages of processing and healing with be difficult and different for everyone. May we pray that God's hand be on each and every member of the family throughout the days, weeks, and months ahead. May we pray for comfort and peace in the midst of so much doubt and uncertainty. May we pray for strength and discernment as mom and dad explain to the younger kids and help them walk through this situation as well. 

Sadly there have been many, many hateful and cruel comments and messages sent to the family about why Gabe did this and how they played a part in this. Their mom posted a screenshot of one of those very messages this morning as an example of the things that people have been sending them along with a brief explanation of the hiatus she is taking from Facebook due to these things.The message was cruel and the person was telling them that they knew the family had played a part in killing him. It was just so cruel.

May we pray that they are surrounded by a hedge of protection, especially the children, in the midst of so much negativity and cruelty being aimed at them. May we pray that they are continuously surrounded by people who will love them, pray for them and be the strength they need in the coming days. May God help to keep their eyes on Him and not let all of the cruel and negative things blur their vision. May they remember Gabe for the amazingly smart and talented, Godly young man that he was. May God use this situation to bring about much greater things. 

It is so sad to know that this precious boy was hurting so bad somewhere inside of him that he felt the need to take his own life. It is hard to process how someone so young can feel that way. Yet we see it happen in our world all the time. It is just hard to see it happen to someone you know, to a family you know well. While words fail more often than not I simply pray that God is with everyone and that He provides to each individual what they need to get through this situation.

To read more about their family and to read more about Gabe and his other siblings' adoption stories you can head on over to their family blog, The Coleman Crowd. Please continue to join me in prayer for this family in the days ahead.

An Obligatory Post

A photo posted by Shelbi Huntter (@shelbihuntter) on Jul 28, 2015 at 4:06pm PDT

  Well hello!!  It feels like it has been forever since I have been able to post on here. Things have just been crazy busy lately and it has been one thing after another. It's been a great summer but so much has happened!!
I will write a big post or two this week about things that have been going on lately but I just wanted to pop on in and say that I haven't forgotten about this space!! I am looking forward to posting some new content in the coming weeks and months! Things that have happened lately have just demanded my time and attention so unfortunately this space has been put on the back burner. However, I am ready to get back here and get things going again!
Keep your eyes on the lookout for some new posts later this week!!
Sincerely, Shelbi

A Bittersweet Summer

Summer. 

A season that is known for all the awesome, fun, good things that happen. Summer is a sweet season, a sweet stretch of time in their lives every year. It is usually filled with family vacations, fishing/camping/boating trips, late nights making s'mores and telling stories around a campfire, lighting fireworks and celebrating independence, and so much more. Summer is known for many, many sweet memories.

I could list of a lot of sweet memories from summers past as well as several from this summer. Stories filled with laughter and joy. They are sweet glimpses into my past, into my life. They are a time to reminisce and look back at how things used to be. They are a chance to remember people who used to be in my life and share a smile or laugh with those who are still in my life. They are full of so much joy, so much good.

I had hoped that this summer would be filled and overflowing with its own fair share of sweet memories and stories. Yet as I find myself her in this moment I feel as though the memories are few. We are already almost halfway through July and we are just passed the halfway mark of summer. The days and weeks are flying by fast. Life is in full swing.

And here I am curled up on a couch under a blanket at 12:30am. I am processing the summer so far and all that has taken place. There has been some good. There has been some bad. Yet I find myself feeling like the bad has outweighed the good. I haven't written much in this space because of that. I am not entirely sure what I am feeling and for someone who finds comfort in writing the words just haven't been coming. My mind goes blank and any ideas for a post disappear.

I desperately crave the sweetness of life that is associated with summertime. I want more of it in my life. But it seems to be being taken over by the bitter. From a situation that one of my sisters is in that I can't condone and am struggling to come to terms with to a possible relationship that is challenging my thoughts on relationships as a whole to the tension and pressure being turned towards Christians due to issues such as Jenner and the Supreme Court. I could list off more but I think it is easy to see where I am coming from. The bitter seems so overwhelming.

And yet there are those sweet moments that counteract the bitter. Good days with my kids at work, watching fireworks with "family" that has welcomed me in, good conversations with friends, brunch with former roommates, and so much more. They are the small but highly impactful moments that aren't caught on camera or generally talked about beyond a brief mention. Yet they change the tone of life. They take what was bitter and make it taste better. 

It is often these contrasting moments where I find God teaching me the most. Reminding me of things that I know but can find hard to put into practice. This summer has proven to be a great reminder of what love, grace, and mercy look like. So many moments and situations have given me the opportunity to be an example of these things and to lavish them on others. Even in the difficult situations I have been learning of just how important they are and how much of an impact they can have. 

So while there are days and nights where it seems like the bitter is overtaking, there are indeed many, many sweet moments and situations that counteract the bitter. This results in a 'bittersweet' summer. A summer of lessons to be learned, new memories to be made, and healing to take place. A summer for so much more than the typical summer activities and memories. A summer that I will look back on for the impact it has on my life.

I am learning to embrace the bitter moments for the lessons they provide and be open to realizing just how sweet the small moments are. The days and weeks left are short but I can't wait to see what they hold.

Sincerely,

Shelbi

We Are Called To Love

This is not the post that I originally planned on writing or posting but I couldn't help myself. If you have been on social media yesterday or today then you likely know about the current top trending issue is. The articles and pictures are endless and keep popping up on my news feed throughout the day. If you aren't aware of this particular issue is then let me enlighten you....

Bruce Jenner.

Or as he is referring to himself and asking of others to do the same, Caitlyn.

**I haven't read the article the link this pic goes to, just forewarning**

By now you have more than likely seen the Vanity Fair cover all over Facebook (if not, a headshot is above) alongside numerous videos of interviews that Jenner has done recently. It is also likely that you have read an article or two about the issue, positive or negative. Or maybe you have been avoiding any contact with this issue whatsoever. In this day and age news travels fast, especially controversial news. And the story of Jenner is just that.

I must admit that the first day I saw the Vanity Fair cover plastered all over my Facebook I quickly scrolled past and I didn't read a single article. I didn't want to be drawn into keeping tabs on a story like this. But the next morning I reminded myself that avoiding issues like this one doesn't help at all. It actually is more likely to do more damage than good. Yet as I began to read articles and skim through comments on Facebook I found myself faced with a dilemma. Share my stance on the subject and deal with the backlash or stay on the sidelines making no 'noise' and be labeled as the ignorant Christian. By reading the articles I was allowing myself to learn more about the situation, what lead to what is going on now, and how it is being handled in various circles.

I have seen a lot of acceptance of Jenner's lifestyle choices and people talking about him being a hero and how he is paving the way for the transgender community. I have also seen a lot of hatred being shared in regards to Jenner's choices and people talking about how disgusting it is and so on, most of which is coming from the Christian community.

Christians' responses to this issue make me sad. For people who claim to want to share God's love with everyone they come in contact with we sure seem to have a lot of exclusions. I don't get it though. God didn't command us to love only those who look like us or act like us. God also didn't tell us that we are free to judge those who aren't following His path. In fact it is quite the opposite and we can see that in Scripture...

'Love your neighbor as yourself.' -Matthew 22:39b

"There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you-who are you to judge your neighbor?" -James 4:12

Now these verses, although not the only ones I could have chosen, share a common word. Neighbor. This isn't referring only to your friends in the dorm room next to you, the people across the hall in your apartment complex, or the family in the townhouse next door. In biblical contexts the word neighbor, when used in these general contexts, refers to every man not just the person living near you.

As a Christian myself I believe that God is the Creator and Sustainer of creation, of the universe, and is therefore the One True Judge. One day we will all have to come before the Father and He will handle the matters of judgement. This judgement is not something that we are given license to dole out as we see fit here on earth. As Christians we have been told that we are not to judge because we will be judged in the same way that we judge others. So taking that into consideration....imagine that we were all judged by how we are currently judging Jenner and his choices. It wouldn't be very pretty for a lot of us. It would be pretty harsh. While we are on this earth we are called to love. Now this in no means is equal to total acceptance of what everyone else is doing and the choices they make. We don't have to agree with someone's life choices in order to love them like Christ loves us. We aren't told to accept and agree with what everyone does because that is contrary to the very way we are supposed to live as Christians. However that doesn't give us free range to judge and hate on those who do things that we don't agree with. God is the only judge, not us. We are called to love.

Like the verse states, "love your neighbor as yourself." A seemingly simple concept that we unfortunately mess up a lot. I have seen a lot of unloving comments and articles dealing with Jenner. Comments and articles that hurt to read. Now I do not agree with Jenner's lifestyle choices at all but I do believe that he deserves to be shown love regardless. Despite his life choices God did create him and God loves him. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that it hurts God to see the way Jenner is choosing to live his life but I also have no doubt in my mind that God still wants us to show him love. We are called to love our neighbor as ourselves. Jenner is our neighbor. Where and how is love being shown to him? How are we showing him the love of Christ in our responses?

Jenner desperately needs to be shown the love of God and yet it saddens me to see how little seems to be being shown. This does not mean that we agree with his choices but that we show love for who him as a person, as a human being. Everyone deserves that...even Jenner.

Now you may not agree with me at all and that is totally okay! I didn't sit down and write this in an attempt to win you over to my point of view but rather to share my point of view on how we should be responding to the issue. If you disagree with me I would love to talk with you more and see where you are coming from! Go ahead and shoot me an email!

Before I go though I want to leave you with a couple thoughts...

1. PRAY. Pray for Jenner and his family. Pray for those who have written articles and done interviews. Pray for those posting and commenting on Facebook and other social media platforms. Pray for yourself as you think through this issue and figure out where you stand if you don't know already. Pray before you write a post, comment or talk with others about it. Pray that God shows you a healthy, positive way to respond and discuss this subject and everything connected with it.

2. SHOW LOVE. While you may or may not agree with Jenner's choices, remember that he still deserves to be shown love regardless. And remember that there are others who are dealing with similar situations who need to be shown this love as well. Whether you know someone dealing with the issue personally or have friends who have friends dealing with it, be conscious of how you are responding. They are people, human beings, God's creation....they deserve to be loved just like you and I.

I could go on but I will leave it at that. This is indeed a touchy subject right now and my intention is not to anger anyone. I just think that we as Christians need to be more aware of how we are responding in this situation (and others), myself included. Sometimes we find ourselves unintentionally following gut instinct but we have to be conscious about our actions. Our responses to this are shaping how people views Christians and Christianity in regards to this matter. What kind of an impression are we making? Are we positively breaking the stereotypes?

Sincerely,

Shelbi

I'm Back!

Hey y'all!! It's been quite a while since I have been in this space and the reasons for that are many. While I want to say sorry on one hand, on another I think putting this space on the back burner for a little while was necessary. I definitely need to do some update posts soon because a lot has happened in the last month!! Some of these posts will start to pop up this week along with some others that I am working on. I hope that now that my internship paperwork has all been turned in I will be able to spend some more time in this space.

I absolutely love writing in this space and I have some things I want to try in the near future. The summer is full of possibility and I look forward to what it holds. God also has done so much and is continuing to do more than I can imagine. I am excited to share some of this with you! I also find myself looking forward to sharing some college "prep" posts with some tips for what to bring with you freshman year and some college care package ideas. So many ideas are running through my head!! :)

For now I will leave you with a thank you for sticking out in my absence recently and a welcome to anyone new my little corner of the world wide web!! Praying for you all!

Sincerely,

Shelbi