I obviously am not very good yet at this whole blogging regularly thing yet, but like me it is a work in progress.
So lots of things have happened since I blogged last, one of these things being that I found out that I may or may not be able to go to Spain in January because of the complications of getting my visa. This news at first discouraged me a great deal; I went off and pouted like I often do before God knocks some sense into me. So it wasn’t too long that God reminded me that I am not going on this trip by my own idea, strength, wisdom, or power, it is all His, He is the one who has orchestrated it all. So what right do I have to be upset that things aren’t working out the way that I planned them, instead I need to trust Him, and let Him lead me on this journey. I realized that if God doesn’t want me to go in January then I don’t want to go in January, it is all just a matter of me letting go and walking with Christ in the way He already has planned.
Some of this realization occurred at the National Missionary Convention this weekend. While there I was encouraged, challenged, and strengthen in so many amazing ways. From listening to a workshop to just a having a lunch with some precious friends I learned and grew so much. I wrote some of these things I learned down so I wouldn’t forget like I am so good at doing, and thought I would share a few…
1. If God opens a door, don’t doubt, walk through it.
2. Know my hang-ups, my coping mechanisms, allow God to show me, myself and my baggage so that when I go to serve Him, I’m not carrying around needless weight and stress.
3. In order to do effective ministry in another culture I first must strip ministry of culture and use that raw form so I am not preaching and teaching my culture, but only Christ.
4. That God has made me the way I am for a reason, I need to celebrate it, not hide it or suppress it
5. Allow myself recognize the stresses that I am feeling and why I am feeling them, realize I am not in control, rejoice over that fact, and rest that ball of emotion and stress in Jesus letting Him fill me with His peace.
6. Standing in line for an hour waiting for your food can be amazing, if you are with old friends.
7. That this will be hard, but not as hard if I just realize that God is in control and that He uses me best when I just walk along with Him.
8. Wherever I go, whatever I do, I need to invest in people, see their importance in the Kingdom of God, and give them room to grow and mature in Christ.
9. My life will be studied more closely than my words.
10. That I need to allow others to pour into me, but in turn I need to pour myself out for others in order to build them up in Christ.
11. That I cannot bring God to anywhere, He is already there working, I just can go and help shine His light and speak His words to that place.
12 Finally, that getting up at 4am and driving all morning for over 5 hours through three cities, is never a good idea before a huge conference, unless I am going for the whole, me turning into a grumpy bear thing.
Well these are just a few lessons I learned, I am sure as I become less sleep deprived from this wonderfully crazy weekend that I will begin to unpack more. For now though I will continue to marvel at just how good God is, and how completely grateful I am for the work that He is doing in me.
(Zephaniah 3:17!)
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