![\"Cindy](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cindydeboer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/IMG_2440.jpg?resize=1288%2C1936&ssl=1\")
<\/figure><\/div><\/div>Hi there, I’m Cindy.<\/h2>
And I am so happy you are here!<\/p>
Here’s my story…<\/p><\/div>
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I\u2019m way too young to die. But I was forced to contemplate my mortality when I was diagnosed with a terrible, chronic and degenerative lung disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the same time, I\u2019m too old \u2013 had too many life-changing experiences – to succinctly capture my wild and precious life in just a few short paragraphs here. However, for those who care about \u201cAbout\u201d \u2013 I\u2019ll still try:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I loved Jesus my whole life \u2013 I just couldn\u2019t fathom He loved me. But when, after 12 years of marriage, my husband, Paul, and I finally got real with each other, confessed past sins and offered forgiveness, I discovered Jesus\u2019 love for me and I learned how to truly love myself \u2013 which is a prerequisite to loving others. When Paul and I opened up our hearts to all the \u201cothers\u201d in our lives \u2013 things got crazy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We sold our custom dream home and lots of other stuff \u2013 including my husband\u2019s lucrative accounting firm. We took the kids to Guatemala a bunch of times and eventually adopted a child from there. We moved overseas twice and raised our amazing four children in foreign countries for a large part of their lives. And we messed those kids up royally in the most beautiful, Jesus-y way. We intentionally moved down<\/em> the proverbial corporate ladder and everyone thought we were crazy. Yet this extraordinary paradox unfolded: The more we walked away from \u201cstuff\u201d, money, power and prestige, the more alive we became. The more we walked into the lives of people very different from ourselves, the more alive we became. And the more we emptied ourselves of ourselves, the more alive we became.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We had to leave a crap-load of things behind \u2013 both literal and figurative \u2013 as we embarked on this journey of aliveness and surrender, but never did we anticipate God might ask us to leave it ALL behind. One day \u2013 out of seemingly nowhere \u2013 I was diagnosed with Lymphangeoleiomyomatosis (see blog post If I only had 10 more years to live<\/a>) and I had to come to terms with the fact that even if God were asking me to lay down my very life \u2013 I would still, just as He promised, become more alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although a difficult and challenging journey, the far, far better things we\u2019ve discovered by walking away<\/em> from the American dream still serve as a constant reminder to never return to the people we were before. We believe in that profound life-rearranging message so passionately that I\u2019ve written a book about it for which I\u2019m currently pursuing publication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?\u201d Words of Jesus, Matthew 16:25<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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<\/h2>\n\n\n\nThe phone finally rang \u2013 two days, three hours and fifty-seven minutes later than it should have. I was a shredded pile of emotions from the waiting. She took an infinitely long breath, cleared her throat, and dealt the blow…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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