FIRST BLOG.... I never saw this coming!

Well Blogging world, here I come and I can honestly say I never thought I'd be a blogger.  Ha!  Well so I'm not exactly sure how this works, so hopefully I don't bore everyone (or anyone I should say since I obviously don't have anyone following me at this point, lol).

I have been married to my wonderful husband, Joel, for 10 years this year and we have a beautiful and very active 2 year old daughter, Taylor Grace.  I am a wife, mother, and Labor and Delivery nurse who has actually always enjoyed writing, but never, ever thought I would be one of "those" people who blogged about their lives, lol!

So you might be wondering, if I never thought about blogging, how in the wold did I get here?  Good question.

You see about a month ago in our MAPS group at Pathway Church, we had a guest speaker, Rick McNary, come speak to us about Numana, a non-profit food packaging organization hers in KS who reach out to the starving.  Now you might be thinking... "Ugh!  World hunger?  We've ALL heard about world hunger!"  But I challenge you... have you REALLY?  I have thought that same thing many times, but until I had it in front of me and heard personal testimony of the effects of hunger not on the "world" but on people- people just like me, I can honestly admit, I didn't really get it!

As I was sitting there listening to Rick speak on his personal experience with these people who are starving, these children who are dying, these parents who have to make the unthinkable decision to leave behind a sick child, in hopes that the rest of the family can make the journey to a better land; my heart became heavy and joyous at the same time.  A very weird feeling, but one I've come to know as the Holy Spirit nudging me to take a leap of faith.  So at the end of his presentation, I walked up to Rick, introduced myself and told him that I would like to help!  I wasn't sure how or where or when, but I knew in my heart that God was opening a ministry opportunity for me.  An opportunity that I had been praying and searching for!

I went home and discussed what God had laid on my heart with Joel and we decided to move forward in faith.  Just a couple weeks later I found myself touring 2 red barn looking buildings in a field in El Dorado, just standing in awe at the awesomeness of God.  He CAN move mountains people!  In the beautiful, quaintness that exists in and around these red buildings, I became more and more excited,  knowing the lives being touched here and through this organization and blessed to have been chosen to be part of such an amazing effort!

With that, we decided that I would volunteer as a fund raiser for Numana, working directly with their new program Messages of Hope.

Through my training, I've had the privilege of meeting with numerous of the wonderful Numana staff, learning about the dream of Numana as well as the mission!  I will be working closely with Caleb McNary, who is Rick's son, along with Courtney James who both came up with Messages of Hope idea.  Further more, I must give credit (or place blame.... I'll let you decide) to Caleb McNary who has highly urged me to "blog" about my new journey I was about to embark on. ;-)

Just a few months ago, I felt as if I were spiritually "in the dessert" (Matthew 4:1-4), watching and waiting on God to give me some type of direction in my Spiritual life.  When I heard about Numana and started praying about it, I couldn't help but get more excited about the lives I would be able to minister to through this opportunity.  I felt like Isaiah when he answered God's calling on his life (Isaiah 6:8), saying "Here I am God, send me!".  It was definitely an answer to prayer, one that I am anxious to watch unfold!  If you've ever felt unsure about your life or feel like you're "in the dessert waiting on God's direction", stand strong, remain obedient to His will and be patient!  God is always faithful!

Last Friday, my family allowed me to do my first presentation for them at our family Easter dinner.   

What a great kick off!  I am extremely excited and waiting with great anticipation to see what doors God will open with this ministry!

Please contact me (JuliaAtherton@gmail.com) if you would like me to come do a presentation on Messages of Hope for you, your family, your co-workers, etc!  I would love the opportunity to partner together to feed the starving!

Matthew 25:34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in," 40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’