just when you need it

Tuesday morning I was driving in to the office feeling a little bland and searching for a change up in the everyday routine.  I like mornings because you never know what a new day will bring.  So I was praying for a new encounter this day or a spark in my spirit to not be caught in a rut...

Well the day passes along. Boyd Buchanan school from Chattanooga, TN blessed us with their presence this week, and they were serving lunch to the babies and boys dorms when I walked in to refill my water bottle and was asked to share my story at the group's devo that night.

This really excited me because I love opportunities to share what I have learned in my faith journey especially since I was convicted on a mission trip here just as these students may be experiencing as well.

It was a great experience to be able to spend the evening with the group, and afterwards they gathered around me and had a prayer for me. It was amazing! I truly felt God's love in that moment and his reassurance for my work here.

It was such a blessing to receive that touch of the spirit just as I had been praying for, and I am so thankful that the Lord answered my prayer and gave me exactly what I needed!

What if I had never cried out to God that morning? I may have missed this opportunity to testify to his goodness and receive the blessing of his spirit once again through our brothers and sisters in Christ!

Thanks to this team reaching out to me and being a great encouragement just when I needed it this week.

Hallelujah!

real

Being real. Being yourself. Something that has slipped away from me the past couple weeks. Still taking on a new culture and new challenges, pride and a desire to "prove myself" so sneakily gets in the way of my reliance on God.

I was challenged by a great message this morning (here) that helped me refresh and restart in a way that I have been searching for the past few weeks. By being too consumed with trying to measure up and being questioned in my doubts of: is my spanish good enough, am I qualified to be in ministry, am I the right age for this, will people like/understand me, can I have sad times as a missionary? has caused me to take control into my own hands trying to prove what I can be instead of plainly answering: no!  I can't do all of this, and that is what is so awesome about having a God who longs to be in control of my life and allow me to do things I could never do own my own. It is ok to have emotion. God wants us to be open and exposed before Him to show us where we need to lean into Him most.

I have never taught a Sunday school class, and here I find myself teaching a class to the sweetest girls in a different language! It is humorous really. And that they even receive a message! But how easily I can be too concerned with trying to get the grammar right to resonate the deep love God has for them when all the while it is God that changes hearts anyways! Amen?

So it is cool. And being open and transparent on a blog is kind of intimidating to me- but I know that we all experience similar seasons. And in the days that you feel like your communication is really one-sided with God, and you aren't getting any words back from Him, maybe it is time to push the re-start and re-surrender to your inadequacies! Because then we see the miracles of God, who can use us for far greater things than we could do alone!

In celebrating His presence, we had an awesome week here at the City of Children with a fall break team from Goodpasture in Tennessee. What used to be the ole "high school rivals" are now my friends- yay Jesus! This was their first trip here, and they jumped in and handled it like pros.  Their group leader and Spanish teacher, Kate, is a dear friend of Baja and has been serving here for many years. They had the best attitudes and were such an encouragement to all of us here with their presence. The theme for the week in VBS was using your spiritual gifts which was cool because I also saw their group as really diverse with lots of different personalities and gifts.

They also served in the community by painting an elementary school that many of the kids here attend and delivered food packages to church members of Chapultapec (pictured above).

We are thankful for these students and adults that gave their time to bring a refreshment of His light and love!

I also had the opportunity to witness the goodness of God Wednesday night, when we got to take a huge food basket to brother Samuel, one of the church members at Colonia 89. His wife died about 2 weeks ago, and he has been really lonely. He has the sweetest spirit and cannot see very well. We have been worried about him living alone, and he often mentions of how much he misses his wife. A group from here got this basket together to send him and has been lifting him up in prayer. What a beautiful picture of the church!

I hope you are enjoying fall wherever you may be! Here in Baja we have also received cooler weather which has been a great relief!

lots of blessings!

belief

Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her! -Luke 1:45

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth's responds to Mary with these words as they share in the excitement of their pregnancies. Both chosen by God to fulfill big time callings. To be the mothers of John the Baptist and Jesus. Elizabeth in her old age, and Mary a virgin. Both seemingly impossible by human standards. Both filled with awe and wonder. And belief. 

Would you believe it if an angel appeared to you to proclaim your divine calling? How would you react?

In disbelief like Zechariah? Or like Joseph, wanting to flee from the relationship in fear of what people would think of your wife being pregnant before marriage?

Or do you chose to believe, and trust in the promises of God. 

We all have a big role to play in God's story. Each character is equally important. Zechariah was silenced for months because of his disbelief and could not speak until the baby was born- having to see to believe. Matthew tells us that an angel came to visit Joseph to talk him out of plans to divorce Mary- for this baby was going to save people of their sins! Wowza- right!

Are we allowing our disbelief to silence us?

Are we ready to walk fully in the plans that God has for us, or are we too worried about what other people might think?

It may be scary. We may not have all the answers upfront, but maybe God is waiting for us to fully believe to reveal all He has planned.

To believe that His thoughts are higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:9), and that He created good works in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10). To believe that He is the God of Heaven and Earth and able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). 

How cool is that! How much burden does that take off of us? Let's throw away the stress and worrying about making all the right moves to be where we want to be in 10 years etc. and start with saying- yes God, I believe in you and all that you have for me! And there, in the surrender, we find our voice.

For no word from God will ever fail.

Luke 1:37

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[update]: Just read some much more eloquent thoughts from Justin Fung on this same story and doing the impossible with God here. Good stuff!