Keep Your Eyes on the Prize!!

When you see a man walk free,
It makes you dream of Jubilee.

When you see a child walk free,
It makes you dream of Jubilee.

When you see a family free,
It makes you dream of Jubilee.
Keep your eyes on the prize,
Hold on.

Have you ever heard of Sara Groves? If not, you have GOT to check her out! She has an incredible voice, but what's more is she has a sincere, down to earth personality and writes honest lyrics about every day things that you and I struggle with. Drew and I have both seen her live on more than one occasion and she is just as real and honest in person!! She is one of our favorite artists.  

Just recently, Sara wrote a song specifically for International Justice Mission! She is a great supporter and proponent of IJM and we immediately fell in love with the song, "Eyes on the Prize" that she wrote for them. Here is a little snippet of the song:

What an encouraging message! So often we get bogged down with looking at the here and now that we cannot see any hope for the future. Drew and I are struggling with this right now! Sometimes we feel hopeless that we will raise 100% of our support in time to get to Uganda by June 1st. We let the unknowns and uncertainties overwhelm us... Will we raise all our money? Where will live when we get to Uganda? How will we deal with seeing orphans and victims of violent oppression on a daily basis? Will our adoption go smoothly? Where will we live and what will we do when we come back to the US? Sometimes things seem impossible. BUT NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH CHRIST!! Through this song, God reminded us to keep our eyes on the prize! We are not to worry about the potholes and roadblocks on the path. We are going to take one day at at time, keep our eyes on our goal ahead and let the Lord worry about the rest!

"Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today." Matthew 6:33-34

If you would like to listen to the whole song you can do so here (I really encourage you to- it is beautiful!):

By the way, on a side note, my incredibly sweet, romantic, and thoughtful husband e-mailed Sara to see if she would call me on my birthday earlier this month. While she didn't get the e-mail in time to call, she did e-mail me for my birthday!!

Amber,

Your sweet husband sent us a note that your birthday was coming up November 5th!  Well, I missed it completely, and I'm sorry, but I thought I would still send a note and word of encouragement to you as you guys take on this big move to Uganda.  I learned about the work of IJM when I was 33 and had two children and a full career - if I had learned about their work when I was in college (not to date myself, but they had not started back then : ) I would definitely be signing up to join this incredible team!  I know no organization is perfect, but the gospel brought in this way, in defense and protection of the most vulnerable, is a beautiful thing.  I hope you had a great birthday and that you are encouraged as you raise funds to take this next step in your life.

Grace and peace in Christ, and Happy Birthday!

Sara Groves

If you are interested in hearing more from Sara I encourage you to check out her songs: Generations, When the Saints, and I Saw what I Saw.