L'Abri by Edith Shaeffer

-
L'Abri is French for "The Shelter."

Francis Schaeffer and his wife Edith felt that God wanted them to move to the Swiss Alps and open their home to anyone who desired to discuss the Lord and spirituality. They had Buddhists, atheists, agnostics, and so on come to stay with them. What a powerful testimony of hospitality and truly being willing to share your faith. The L'Abri organization has spread worldwide in many forms. There are places you can live and learn for months. 
This book is one of the most beautiful and challenging books I have ever read. It truly opens up what it looks like to be hospitable and how to rely on what is true. Christ is true. Our homes are meant to be open and inviting to those seeking. We are meant to do much more than we are conditioned to do. Love is a much broader concept than we have in our minds. The brilliance and humility of this family is a testimony to all of us.
Reading this book was a great comfort to me personally. It made me feel that what we are doing here has been done and ordained by God before. God delights and provides for this work in an overwhelming way. Seeing this played out in the lives of real people is such a gift from God. As we try to explain what it is that we are desiring to do here at Gomer's House, we are often met with crazy looks or confusion. If you want to know our hearts, read this book and see what the Lord has done and is desiring to do in us. Read it and be challenged. 
I did not receive this from the publisher.Tricia Kurtz gave me this book as she saw the similarities in our ministries. Thank you, Tricia.
©stephaniecrry.com
he

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

David Crowder's House Restoration

-
Image
A recent edition of Waco Today featured David Crowder's six year renovation project(we had to go check it out). I said a quiet prayer that God would let our house be completed before six years was up for us and then I dove in to the details. David and his wife bought the home of the man who invented Dr. Pepper. It is encouraging to see something that took so much effort and energy come to completion. May we soon see the same thing. You can read the story of the Crowder renovation here .
Read more

A Writer's Callous

-
Image
Alright, baby photo below. Quit emailing me! ;-) I remember having a writer's callous when I was five years old. In my adolescence I hated it. Now, I find it fascinating. Almost as long as I have been alive I have borne a mark that declares I am passionate about something in such a way that it bores into my skin. I have been blessed with wonderful Apple products to use and I still prefer writing things out. I heard Michelle Pfeiffer say David Kelley writes out all of his award winning shows on yellow legal pad. I like that. I prefer a journal and a real wood pencil (the kind that are stained, not the yellow ones.) There's something romantic about it to me. Writing is a choice medium in my relationship with God . I love to prayer journal. I pour out thanks for every minute that I get to spend doing it. In last weeks post I told you that God broke my Mac so I would spend some time alone with Him (then I can have it back in January). Shortly thereafter the enemy came in tel...
Read more

Miscarriage | Infertility | Hope

-
Image
I encountered Jesus as a young child in a church pew in the balcony of an old country church. Through a lifetime of trial, I knew he was there. I did not always know or understand what he wanted of me, but I knew I was wanted. We could go through all of the pain and abuse of my life and unpack each tiny detail, but that is not what this is really about. I love what Frederick Buechner said, “Pain is not the biggest thing that has ever happened to you.” That is true. I have beheld far greater glory. As I clung to his word through all of this, I knew he was there.   My story about trying begins long before I began trying to have children. I tell you this because almost half of the population has been abused in some way. The attack on my uterus began when I was four-years-old. I spent most of my life believing that I was broken and I was crippled by shame. I carried that shame into every relationship I had. As I encountered people in the church, I never felt safe enough to ask for...
Read more