Sarah Fauth: Connecting Beautiful Pieces

By Gaye Bunderson

Can little children really accept Jesus into their hearts and comprehend the value of what they’ve actually done? Sarah Fauth would answer that question in the affirmative. “I accepted Jesus in my heart when I was in kindergarten in Michigan,” she said, “and I felt very close to Him.”

Now in her 50s, Sarah remains near to her Savior and pledged herself to His service while a teenager. She explained: “Growing up, when I was in high school I was in youth group and it gave me the knowledge of serving others. I went to a national youth ‘Make a Difference Conference’ in New Mexico and made a commitment to God at that time.”

Sarah trained to be a nanny in Omaha, Neb., where a young man she was dating told her they should move to Bolivia and become missionaries. She countered that a believer doesn’t need to go all the way to Bolivia to be a missionary, that service can be done right at home – and at home is where she ultimately started her own work of helping others.

In the early 1990s, Sarah met a man from Montana, married him, and lived in the Big Sky state close to her in-laws, who served as pastors. She moved to Idaho in 2002 when her husband received a job transfer. Some 15 or so years later, her husband got his Christmas bonus check and wanted to give his wife something special, so he asked her what she’d like. Sarah told him that two of her favorite Christian singers were coming to town and she’d love tickets to go see them. It turned out that she got to do a lot more than see her favorite faith singers in concert. “I got to serve God at their concert, taking care of their needs,” she said.

After that, she wanted to serve in that way whenever and wherever she could. She really liked helping the performers and thought she could do more of it with other performers and other events. So when Winter Jam – an annual program featuring a number of Christian artists who travel around the country – was coming to perform locally, she contacted the organizers and was given the go-ahead to work backstage.

The next step in that journey was in 2018, when a good friend of Sarah’s was on The Extreme Tour. The Extreme Tour consists of a group of artists, athletes, and others – all referring to themselves as “a mosaic,” “an alliance,” and “a movement” – that travels nationally and internationally to team up with organizations, churches, and other institutions to “meet the needs of the disenfranchised and underserved” (from https://www.theextremetour.com).

In 2019, Sarah was motivated to start making hygiene kits to give out locally and offered to share them with The Extreme Tour members to take and give out to people during their travels. “The hygiene kits help people physically but are also a way to make a spiritual connection with them,” she said. In other words, the kits serve as contact with people who aren’t likely to show up in church, but who can still be reached in practical, meaningful ways.

That same year, The Extreme Tour invited Sarah to go to Nashville. One of her dreams had always been to be a singer. But God had other plans and told her, “You’re not going to serve Me on the stage; I’m going to use you behind the scenes.”

The hygiene kits aren’t the only way that Sarah Fauth serves the Lord out of the spotlight and behind the scenes. Her other acts of service include an online project called Beautiful Pieces, an annual holiday Blessing Tree, and work helping victims of human trafficking. Her giving pleases God, aids others, and has also touched Sarah’s mother’s heart. “My mom had gone to a church camp when she was young and had been asked what she wanted to do with her life. She’d said, ‘I want to be a missionary.’”

Sarah explained that her mother’s desire to be a missionary was dismissed by an adult close to her, so she never pursued it. “But she told me in 2019, ‘Sarah, I prayed for years that one of my kids would grow up to be a missionary.’” And now Sarah was doing missions work of all kinds. Though she has at times questioned God, she has not wavered in her belief, and He has not vacillated in His constancy. In 2016, she tore up her shoulder and said she was angry at God, telling Him, “I can’t serve or work or take care of myself.” But He replied, “Just be still and wait on Me.” Waiting on God was her pathway to service. Her compassion for people trapped in the prison of human trafficking started while she was sitting at a table with other volunteers during a concert. She said she learned some disturbing facts about trafficking in the local area. “I was told that on average 3,000 people were for sale right here in our valley – daily,” Sarah said. “It broke my heart to think children my daughters’ ages were going through that. The next day I laid in bed crying to God and praying how I could help. I started to see the border of a puzzle, with God in the middle, and I kept hearing ‘Beautiful Pieces’.”

Later, God gave her Jeremiah 17:14. In The Message it reads, “God, pick up the pieces. Put me back together again.”

“There it was. Things were coming together. I wasn’t able to work physically because of my shoulder injury so God gave me a ‘gift’. He gave me Beautiful Pieces, a mission I got to do for Him,” said Sarah.

Beautiful Pieces was born on November 17, 2017. It thrives on Facebook and Instagram. Sarah takes puzzle pieces and types prayer requests on them. The requests go wherever people around the world follow on social media, but it is only one of her many areas of service.

She launched the Blessing Tree in 2018, so far benefiting over 200 people in two states. The Blessing Tree is hosted through Blazen Burger in Nampa.

By Jason Herring

Perhaps you’ve heard about the Spartan Race. It’s an obstacle course race (OCR) that runs between 4 to 17 miles with anywhere from 20 to 40 obstacles. The distances are divided into Sprint, Super, and Beast, and if you can manage to do all three of the races in a calendar year, you earn your Spartan Trifecta. All of these races take place on trails through dirt, rock, mud, and sometimes rain or snow. I’ve raced in extreme heat reaching close to a hundred in the mountains outside Ogden, and I’ve raced in near freezing temperatures at Tahoe. I’ve choked on the dust clouds in the dry hills of Southwest Idaho, and I’ve sloshed through a cold downpour near an equestrian ranch outside of Seattle. So you get the point. It’s basically a crazy race for crazy people that lack the good sense to come in out of the weather.

The Spartan Race was designed to push you to your physical and mental limits. There’s so much to prepare for. Besides the elements, you have to factor in elevation, terrain, and the obstacles. Some obstacles test your strength, like pulling a 90-pound sandbag 25 feet in the air in the Herc Hoist or carrying a 100-pound bucket the length of a football field on the side of a mountain in the Bucket Brigade. Other obstacles, like the Spear Throw, test your coordination as you launch a 2.5-pound spear over 30 feet to hopefully find its mark in a 3-foot target. Some obstacles, like the Multi Rig and Rope Climb, will test your upper body and grip strength as you haul yourself vertically up a 16-foot rope or across a 20-foot apparatus where you swing from rings to a bar to a rope with a knot on the end.

So what happens if you fail one of these crazy obstacles or lack the skill to even attempt it? Burpees. Yes, that weird and dreaded word that defines an exercise that goes from a push-up in a plank position to a jump squat. Chest to the ground in push-up and feet off the ground in the jump-squat. Thirty times. For every single obstacle you fail. If you’re wondering what kind of sadist would invent an event like this, his name is Joe DeSena. This is a guy who did the Iditarod on foot, 14 Ironmans in one year, and the Ukatak – a 250-mile race in the most extreme winter weather conditions in Quebec, Canada. So he’s actually the biggest masochist on the planet to punish himself that way and get pleasure out of it. Why not package that much fun in manageable increments and share it with the rest of the world?

When I did my first Spartan Race in the summer of 2016, I was told by my coach to run hills on dirt and build my grip strength. I had been running since I was 6- or 7-years-old, but I felt like a novice when I started hill running for the first time. I could easily bench press my bodyweight but working on rings and monkey bars exposed my grip strength. Little by little, I made progress, however, to get ready for my first Spartan Race. I finished the Boise Sprint without failing a single obstacle, and then it was on to Super in Utah.

On the website, the Ogden Mountains looked lush and green, nothing like the arid dusty desert outside of Boise. I was in for a rude awakening. The Utah Super was Boise 2.0. Just as hot, just as dry, breathing in just as much dust except at a higher elevation over a longer distance with even more obstacles. Of six thousand registered participants that year, 1,500 either quit or had to be

taken off the mountain. That’s one out of four! Then came the Tahoe Beast on my birthday weekend in September. Because it was the site of the Spartan World Championships, the obstacles were doubled in length, and the course was a lean 17.2 miles, topping out at Granite Chief Peak at 9,000-feet elevation. The race opened with three giant ditches filled with freezing water that you had wade through at chest height. The windchill on your soaked skin reminded you that were still alive and yet a mere 15 miles from the site of the Donner Party. Over halfway through the race there was a swim in an alpine pond. Lifejackets were mandatory, which made sense given the temperatures, but only made the swimJason Herring ming more difficult. I can honestly say that I’ve never been that cold in my life. I came out of the water and trudged around the corner to face an 8-foot vertical wall. This was an obstacle I could have easily done under normal conditions. But I couldn’t stop shaking and wondered how in the world I was going to make it over the top. A friend of mine who is a certified personal trainer had to quit because he was hypothermic. Famed NFL wide-receiver, Randy Moss, was competing that day as well and almost quit until Joe DeSena put him in a pickup truck with the heater running. But there was no heated cab waiting for me, and it took me over two miles to get my core temperature back up. Somehow I managed to successfully finish all of the obstacles before I came to the last one with the finish line in sight just behind it. It was a 40-foot Spartan Rig, and I made it to within a few feet of the end when I slipped and fell. Exhausted and depleted of every electrolyte in my body, I went to the designated burpee area and did all 30 of my burpees, even as I watched other racers cheat and cut their numbers short. The following year I was back at Tahoe to earn my second Spartan Trifecta. That year there were signs saying that you didn’t have to complete an obstacle if you lacked the skill or strength to do so. Exactly. But you still had to do 30 burpees. And if you couldn’t do that, then you needed to consider a bubble run or color run. I always tell people who ask that at the very least they need to be able to do 30 burpees without feeling completely gassed in order to seriously consider a Spartan Race at the entry-level Sprint distance. Throughout the course that afternoon, I kept passing these contestants and wondered how we were leapfrogging each other since they didn’t appear to be in very good shape. Then at the next obstacle I noticed them just walk right past it. No burpees. No effort. They didn’t even try. They just kept walking. The thing is they got a nice t-shirt and medal to show off to their friends at the finish line, but they did a 15-mile hike in the mountains, not a Spartan Beast. Life is full of obstacles, and seldom if ever do we get to determine the obstacles that we face. We certainly don’t get to skip them, nor do we get to opt out of the burpee penalties that life makes us pay. We have to prepare to the greatest extent that we can and remember that failure is a wonderful teacher. Every time I failed an obstacle it gave me experience and a way to improve. You can’t go around your obstacles, but you can grow through them. And each victory will make you more ready for the next test waiting around the corner. n

Beautiful Pieces Continued from page 12

She worked at a nursing home during the shutdown that resulted from COVID-19 in 2020. During that time, she helped the elderly residents connect with their families via video because of the isolation orders. “I had the honor of serving God that way,” she said.

In February of 2020, over Valentine’s Day weekend, she started a Beautiful You project in local homeless shelters to demonstrate the Father’s love to His daughters in the shelters. “It was to show the women there how beautiful they are to God, and how He sees them.”

The hygiene kits for The Extreme Tour were a Beautiful Pieces project too.

She said she feels an inner sense about people she encounters who might be struggling. She also prays, “‘God, will You show me who’s struggling, and who I can help?’ I ask Him to give me discernment.”

She hasn’t worked as a nanny for many years. Now she helps people of all ages in so many different circumstances. She never abandoned her desire to help those who are trafficked. She once was a crime victim herself. She was not trafficked and prefers to keep the details private, but it was nonetheless a hard experience. “It gave me a taste of what trafficking victims go through,” she said.

When asked how she was able to get through that difficult time, she replied, “God gives me strength.” In October of 2021, she was the host of a virtual world conference on equipping, empowering, and informing people on how to collectively combat human trafficking.

Sarah Fauth uses puzzle pieces to write prayer requests on, such as the one shown above. She then puts the prayer requests online.

If she sometimes comes off a little different from others, she’s okay with that. “Some people think I’m weird, but I don’t care, because God is the only one who can define who I am.”

The way she approaches her ministry is simple, and her advice to others is uncomplicated as well. She said: “It’s saying, ‘I’m going to serve you, God,’ and then just being obedient to Him.” n Beautiful Pieces is now a non-profit as of late January 2022. It is a ministry of Innovative Ministries International. As of early February, Beautiful Pieces became part of the website at https://actintl.givingfuel.com/beautiful-pieces. Sarah also maintains her presence on Facebook and Instagram and is planning a slate of ministry events for this year.

16201 Idaho Center Blvd. Nampa, ID 83687 Call or Text: (208)880-5039 Email: wixy@sellidaho.com

For the best place to fi nd homes for sale, Or to sign up for automatic updates, go to…

“For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation.” Psalms 100:5

We all feel the same commitment to care for our families. Helping you meet your insurance needs is part of my commitment to you. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.® CONTACT AN AGENT TODAY.

Miyauchi Insurance Agency, Inc

Garrett Miyauchi, President 2024 Blaine St Caldwell, ID 83605 Bus: 208-455-9717 Chelsea Stutzman, MBA Owner-Agent

600 S. Rivershore Lane Ste. 140 Eagle, Idaho 83616 Bus: 208-908-6500 Lic. ID 693162

chelsea@chelsinsures.com

statefarm.com®

By Joan Endicott

Outside on my deck that spring afternoon I was in the fetal position struggling to breathe through the long, deep, guttural groans and uncontrollable sobbing. My whole soul hurt. Every fiber of my being felt broken after receiving tragic news of a loved one. The shock was something I couldn’t process and didn’t know how I ever would.

“Ohhh God—Please help me—I am completely broken. I can’t do this. I am empty. I am broken. I have nothing left…” My heart was broken.

I used to think they died from a broken heart was just a line in a country song or simply an expression to emphasize someone’s level of grief when they died. And now I know people really can die from a broken heart.

The medical term is Takotsubo syndrome (TTS) or stress cardiomyopathy. Just recently I know of two women diagnosed with this and according to Harvard, the Mayo Clinic and the American Heart Association, Broken-Heart Syndrome is, unfortunately, on the rise. For many of us, this isn’t a surprise.

We humans are all broken, aren’t we? In addition to being broken, we have experienced broken promises, broken dreams, broken relationships, broken hearts.

For that reason, I love mosaic art because it uses the broken, otherwise discarded pieces and makes something beautiful. In my travels (and on the Internet) I’ve seen some extraordinary pieces made of recycled broken glass, broken dishes and tile retrieved from the trash pile, where the artist created something completely unique and one-of-a-kind.

Something extra special!

Now more than ever, we live in a society that screams judgment, criticism, and unforgiveness to anyone who dares to be authentic, transparent, and real. (FYI: Reality TV…well, it just isn’t!) We are pummeled with pictures that promote the impossibility of perfectionism. No wonder we learn to be critical and condemning of ourselves and others—to anyone posing as anything less than perfect!

I recall the criticism of dear Mother Teresa years ago when her personal writings were published.

After Mother Teresa died in 1997, though she requested her writings, journals and correspondences be destroyed, some were posthumously released to the public in a book. I remember how bewildered I was to hear that some people were extremely critical of her, even suggesting hypocrisy, after reading about the times she struggled, doubted her faith, or felt disconnected from God. Personally, I felt less alone in my faith walk to find out how even our beloved Mother Teresa’s faith wavered.

The reality is, we feel a much greater bond when our brokenness is shared because we know we aren’t alone. Yet, it can be so hard to share our mistakes, missteps, and misunderstood moments, can’t it?

The ancient Japanese art and philosophy called Kintsugi, also illustrates life’s journey. Kintsugi (金継ぎ, “golden joinery”), also known as kintsukuroi (金繕い, “golden repair”), is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise. (Wikipedia)

Both mosaic and Kintsugi art wonderfully demonstrate how we can be even more beautiful for having been broken.

When we go through any crisis, trauma, or heartbreak, we change. But how we change is what makes us unique. We’ve all seen people go through similar tragedies, yet how they come out on the other side of it can be as varied as one’s DNA. Some are critical, angry and bitter, while others come out better, with even more care and compassion for themselves and others.

Life is hard. Life’s battlefield can leave us battered, bloodied, bruised, and broken. As humans, hurts and heartaches are inevitable—however, our response is optional.

Giving all our heartbreak to the only One who can reconnect those heartstrings, rebuild the broken, and fill the cracks and crevices to heal us completely, is the Great Physician.

Yes, we are all broken. We are all lost. We are all insufficient, inadequate, and incapable of self-repair. That’s why we all need a Savior. We need Someone we can surrender all our broken pieces to. Then, as only He as Creator can, construct something indescribably beautiful that will reflect His face, His character, His hope, His love to every broken heart around us.

Isaiah 53:5 (TLB) reminds us that Christ’s brokenness was what saved us: “But he was wounded and bruised for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace; he was lashed—and we were healed.”

Though He was sinless, Jesus’ willingness to be beaten and broken gave us hope and healing—not just for now, but for eternity.

On that spring afternoon years ago, while still in the fetal position outside on my deck, in those moments I would have welcomed being done with this thing called life. It just felt too hard. Exhausted spiritually, physically, mentally, and emotionally from the uncontrolled and painful wailings (I am empty. I am broken. I have nothing left). In my spirit I felt The Lord say to me, Now I can really use you!

Are you turning 65 soon, new to the area, or want to change your current plan? Call me for the help you need regarding anything Medicare. Matt Faller Medicare Insurance (208) 258-1470

Hope, Inspiration & a New Perspective Just

$12.00 A year

Get Christian Living Magazine delivered to your mailbox!

Two Ways to Subscribe:

Online: ChristianLivingMag.com under “Shop” Tab - or - Mail: Name, Info & Payment Christian Living Magazine PO Box 867, Meridian, ID 83680

Unplanned pregnancy support that is; Free, Confidential, Non-Judgmental. Here for You.

1530 W State St, Suite A Meridian, ID 83642 208-342-1898 www.birthrightofboise.com 24 hour support 800-550-4900

“Really, Lord? Really—It takes this kind of tragedy and indescribable pain for you to use me? WHY? Wasn’t I willing enough before?” Transparently, that is not what I wanted to hear and was a bit confused and frustrated by it.

I’m so grateful we can tell God exactly how we feel and He holds us ever closer as our loving Father, reminding us of how deeply and unconditionally He loves us. The things we may not understand at the time can become clearer to us later—or not. But as I look back on my life and think of how independent I was in some ways, and how interdependent I was when it came to craving others’ acceptance, approval, and affirmation, that was a personal prison for me until I realized I was the only one who held the key.

Now I can look back and see that every moment of humanness, neediness and brokenness has driven me to my knees to find comfort at the Cross.

Just as a broken bone can actually mend stronger if taken care of correctly, we can be stronger when we surrender all our brokenness to the Great Physician and receive His healing.

I don’t know where you are on your journey, but I hope you will take a few moments to pause, ponder and pray and ask yourself if it’s time to start learning what it looks like to appreciate all the beauty that’s come from life’s bruises, betrayals and brokenness. Start by asking yourself what it represents

to you. For me, it represents a greater yearning for a closer walk with Jesus—the Prince of Peace—to heal my brokenness. It also is a powerful reminder to me that no human can give me what only God can. We all long to be loved and to belong! What an enormous difference it makes when our faith takes us to the foot of the Cross and we can count on and claim God’s promises of making beauty from ashes (Isaiah 61:3) and Joan Endicott that He will work all things together for our good (Romans 8:28). Friend, isn’t it so comforting to know that nothing is wasted or overlooked? No tear, no fear, no sorrow nor grief is unseen by our Creator. No part of your heart that’s broken off will go to waste. When surrendered to Him, all the pain of your past will become something beautiful because, in The Master’s Hands, it becomes a beautiful Masterpiece. n Grab your FREE copy of Joan Endicott’s “I Get To!”® book at www.JoanEndicott.com. Joan is an Award-Winning Keynote Speaker, Author and Coach who’s coaching has reached over 30 countries. Meet her and enjoy her encouraging messages on Facebook and Instagram. Image by SEBASTIEN MARTY from Pixabay

By Gary Moore

In every relationship there come those times when what we expect doesn’t match what we experience. What we usually do then seems more like a reaction than a decision. We really don’t think we have a choice at that point and so we just react to the situation. But happy couples make a choice.

What is that choice? It’s found in the book of 1 Corinthians – specifically in chapter 13. Even though chapter 13 was not written to address marriage, many of us had all or a portion of 1 Corinthians 13 read at our weddings. It is popularly known as the “love chapter”.

Reflect on your relationship as we look at what Apostle Paul says love is. Beginning with verse 4 and reading through verse 7, he says, “Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

Let’s look specifically at verse 7: “It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” If you look closely at this verse, there is one characteristic that doesn’t make any sense. It doesn’t make any sense because it’s not dependent on the lover, it’s dependent on the lovee. And that is, “always trusts”.

Always trusts – that’s stupid, even naive. Always trusts? Really? What happens when what we experience doesn’t match what we expect?

Every time this happens there is a choice we make. Again, most of the time we don’t even realize or recognize that we’re making a choice because it feels like a response, like a reaction. The size of the gap between what we expect and what we experience is dependent on how much mutual understanding we have. The more mutual understanding, the smaller the gap. When faced with this gap we always have two choices – and, they’re the same two choices every time. We either choose to “believe the best” or we choose to “assume the worst”. Happy couples choose to believe the best. And, they choose to believe the best every time – until they just can’t believe the best anymore. In 2005 Marcus Buckingham published a book titled, The One Thing You Need to Know. In this Gary Moore book he cites a 20-year study of happy couples in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. The researchers were looking for a common denominator as to why these couples still enjoyed each other’s company. One of their primary assumptions was that over time happy couples had downgraded their expectations of each other – their motives, virtues, and character. What they found was just the opposite. These happy couples had, as it turned out, an unrealistically positive view of each other. At the end of their study, here was their recommendation: In a relationship, find the most generous explanation for each other’s behavior and believe it. Believes all things… Every single time there’s a gap – even when it’s the same gap over and over – what you place in that gap is what you decide to place there. You’ll either believe the best or you’ll assume the worst. Whichever way you go, it’s your choice. Let’s take a quick look at two obstacles in this process. One is what we experience – he did it again; she did it again. Two is who we are. We didn’t show up in the relationship with a blank slate. Some people have a harder time trusting than others. Because of your past experiences, certain behaviors trigger certain responses. Even with all your junk, it’s still your choice – every single time. Let’s return for a moment to 1 Corinthians 13. Verse 6 says that “love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth”. Love isn’t trying to catch the other person doing something wrong. Love isn’t building a case against the other person so they can finally step in and say, “you did this” – “you said this”. Love doesn’t keep score of the past. Verse 7 says “love always protects”. From what? Love always protects the relationship from suspicion and from a lack of trust. Love knows that whatever I choose to put in the gap between my expectation and my experience affects the relationship. Verse 7 says “always trusts” and, “believes all things”. Love chooses a generous explanation. Verse 7 says “always hopes”. Love always trends positive. And, “always perseveres” – this implies resistance against such things as doubt and negativity. So, here’s the question. Based on your personality, based on your experience, based on what you know about yourself, when what you expect doesn’t match what you experience, do you believe the best? Or, do you assume the worst? It’s your choice. n Gary Moore served as associate pastor at Cloverdale Church of God for 15 years. He does couples’ coaching and leads couples’ workshops and retreats called MUM’s the Word. He does a weekly radio program called Life Point Plus on KBXL 94.1FM at 8:45 a.m. on Fridays. Monday mornings at 10 a.m. he does live relationship teaching called MUM Live on his Facebook page Mutual Understanding Method. He may be contacted at glmoore113@gmail.com.