LOVE JOURNEY, DEPARTURE

COME FILL THE GAP
Written By ELISABET FOUNTAIN
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Above the clouds the restraints fall away. Gravity seems less oppressive, and I can feel again the kind of air my lungs were meant to breathe, albeit this is actually the cabin-pressured airplane environment. I can see differently from here. I can feel same the freedom I experienced as a child, laying on my back looking up into the clouds.

I lean my head on my man’s shoulder and nestle into that familiar nook by his neck where I am home. His faint body fragrance wraps around my senses like a child’s security blanket, and I relax.

It’s been intense. While battling the classic pastor’s burnout, he was knocked out for a month by a severe flu. Then the hurricanes and the magnitude of need all around us in their aftermath. A wedding. A suicide. Before boarding this plane, both of us have really wrestled with the seemingly selfish decision to go ahead with our planned anniversary trip to Spain, knowing how much needs to done everywhere. Knowing how much our invaluable colleagues carry – How can we just skip out like this?

Resting against his chest, I feel a lightness there I have missed for longer than I can remember. Over coffee today, my dear friend reminded me of the many stories tucked away in that chest; his own complex experiences as well as those of the flock he pastors with more empathy than any of us grasp. Most of his responsibility is invisible to the human eye, and only those in similar shoes know the weight of aching to meet meet every need with tangible compassion, but being unable.

He knows he isn’t God.

He knows God is beautifully at work through His body, arousing action and esprit de corps within our community like never before. Such beauty in response to disaster. Stronger faith and deeper commitment, as together we move into the new normal of being shaken “that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.” (Hebrews 12:27)

All the people we love are in the best of hands. His heart and mind clothed in human skin.

So we feel the lift of eagles’ wings under us and the firm leading of His Spirit to take us higher, above the fray of the daily demands, to see from 30,000 feet the world He so loves. We pray to return with fresh perspective and passion to the call we gratefully embrace.

Till then…

ELISABET FOUNTAIN

A former lesbian, Elisabet Fountain has spent three decades in global ministry connecting the Word of God with the unique design of every woman. A native of Copenhagen, Denmark, and the daughter of a refugee, Elisabet enjoys exploring the intersections of culture and Kingdom in communities around the world. Her particular passion is inviting women to see how the colorful, nuanced Words in the Bible speak directly to the unique design and purpose of their souls.

Trained by Youth With a Mission (YWAM), Elisabet’s ministry service has led her from the Ucayali jungle of Peru and rural Mindanao, Philippines, to the cities of Antigua, Guatemala, and San Jose, Costa Rica. 

Elisabet currently leads the thriving women’s ministry, Oasis, at Calvary Chapel Miami Beach, a church she and her husband planted in 1993. Elisabet is featured on 70 radio stations across the United States each week. She also shares weekly Bible studies with nearly 2,000 sisters on Facebook. Her messages are regularly translated into Spanish, and they inspire women of all languages and nationalities to see how the eternal Word can speak into their lives and circumstances. 

After a few years as empty nesters, Elisabet and her husband now share their tiny house with two grown sons and two grandchildren, while her brilliant best friend across the street keeps the household fed and flourishing.


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