Vacation: “eat, drink, and be merry”

              Last week, I got to go on a 8 day vacation to the beautiful beaches of Florida with my parents, brothers and sisters, and their babies. Every day was filled with awesome home cooked meals, walks to the beach, sunsets and hilarious board games. Basically my idea of heaven.

                A part of me, surrounded by all these blessings thought “why not stay here, in America where everything comfortable and familiar, where I am surrounded by people who love me and my family, where I can stop by my parents house any day or time for a warm meal and encouragement. Where I can watch my nieces and nephews grow up, and see the new ones being born. Why not eat, drink, and be merry and enjoy the blessings here.”

God reminded me of Corinthians 15 Here Paul is speaking to the Corinthians who are doubting the resurrection, and Paul is honest with them in saying…

32 And what value was there…if there will be no resurrection from the dead? And if there is no resurrection, “Let’s eat, drink,and be merry for tomorrow we die!”

If Christ is not raised, and if we are not regenerated in Him, why not move to Florida, forever!

I remember minutes after Jesse proposed to me, we were walking in the woods admiring the general beauty of nature and we began to talk about how we would love to have a cabin in the woods one day, that that would be our little piece of heaven. Then we paused and looked at each other and Jesse said, “I wonder if God will let us retire” and I said, “yeah, I guess we can save heaven for heaven, God has stuff for us to do”. We knew very little that day where God was leading us, that perspective now is so important. Paul continues…

 “But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead!” 57 But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.58 So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.

Why not indulge heaven on earth…because He was raised.

The convicting thing is that I often live as though Christ was not raised. I think it might be satan’s ploy in my life. Just don’t think about it. Sometimes I will get half way through my day or even week, I’ll be sitting in church or listening to a worship song and it will hit “AH! Christ really did live and die for me! He REALLY gives me power over sin; The Creator of the universe really wants to know me and all His children!”

So in a nutshell…That is why I can leave my adorable nieces and nephews. Because even my ability to enjoy them, my love for my family, my parents unconditional love for me is all a reflection of HIS LOVE. The God who desires me, and desires the world to know him.

Yard sale

It is hard to describe what it feels like to see all your things sprawled out on your drive way.

Now our house is empty. The home I have spent the last three years perfecting to my families taste and needs has been dismantled, from the crock pot in my kitchen to the squirrel bowl in the entry way. Gone.

When the ruler asked Jesus what he had to do to be saved, Christ replied he needed to sell all his possessions. Luke 12

Jesus constantly reminds us that we cannot love money or possessions and Him at the same time. Matthew 6:24

I have always glanced over these verses with a nod, because well, I don't consider myself a materialistic person, especially for an American. However, Jesus isn't grading on a curb here. There is no scale: If you love things, you can't love God.

Sometimes I think that we achieve 'Holiness' THEN God asks big things of us. I have come to realize that he calls us to things specifically TO make us more like Him. God asked me and Jesse to GO. Wrapped inside that obedience is God embracing us unto himself. Wooing us to be more entwined and secure in Him.

What I didn't anticipate is the joy this surrender would bring. 

I didn't realize that a crock pot owned a tiny place in my heart that God couldn't enter. Until God asked me to chuck it for His glory. And I obeyed. Now God owns that part of my heart, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom, hope and peace.

I'll take that over a ceramic squirrel bowl any day.

I cannot communicated this enough. God wants us. He is a jealous lover. He wants every possession surrendered,  

He wants any false sense of security uprooted. That He may heal and fill our hearts.  

Post note: However I caution you. God tells Saul directly through Samuel "the LORD delight in obedience, not sacrifice”. Sacrificing blindly is a fools religion. Obedience however requires listening first. It requires an intimate relationship with it's maker. God may not be calling you to sell everything you own, He is asking for what only You can give him, a relationship unto obedience.

“I desire steadfast love, not sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings” Hosea 6:6

A picture of False Security

exsperience the wonder.

At work, at the park, at the DMV, it keeps popping up into conversations...

“Me and my family are moving to Europe, to a country called Montenegro to be missionaries in August.”

They always have this look on their face like I'm joking.

 I know, I know it seems a little insane, especially when I think about the baby inside my tummy that I haven't met yet. But In most ways it doesn't seem insane at all. When I look at all God has done, it seems cowardly and foolish to consider any other path...

1000 miracles led us to this point, and that's only the one's i am aware of. It it all began with one simple act of obedience. "Here i am, send me" Those acts obedience takes us into radical situation, where only He can prevail.

So for the last 3 months we have been raising financial support.

If I thought God had a plan before, His provision through the generosity of our friends and loved ones, has been nothing short of overwhelming. Each person that commits to give, is a new miracle, it's God moving in His church, to complete His purpose. Although me and Jesse put effort, intention, and prayer into it, we mostly feel like bystanders watching God work. We are 90% supported as of today, and again, to think of the families and sacrificial gifts makes me realize that we are never alone in our passions when we are apart of the Body of Christ.

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we may walk in them.”

Ephesians 2:10

Whatever God is calling you to, it's not crazy, He wants all of you, He wants to love through you, and do miracles in you. I dare you to put faith into what you say you believe. what he whispers to you when you worship. He has already prepare the steps, walk in them and experience the wonder.

"That we might recieve adoption as sons"

Sometimes, usually often, God speaks to me through movies...

I was watching “A Little Princess” yesterday, and a scene struck me hard. The basic story is, Sara is a wealthy generals daughter who is loved. Later, her father is thought dead and she is cast into destitution. Her father has suffered a memory loss and it living next door. When circumstances could not get any worse, Sara is being chased by the police and sees her father, she is being dragged way from him screaming his name, then suddenly her father remembers his life, and yells “Sarah!”. She is released and run bounding into his arms safe and protected.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWJxEal0ngc&feature=related

What struck me was her position and identiy was defined completly by her fathers perception of her. Under her fathers love and knowledge, she was cherished, adored and completely provided for, without she was wondering desperate on the street.

When we accept Christ, we loose our lives by finding it in Him. I am defined my sin and circumstance no longer, He is my father and I have been blesses by “every spiritual gift” I have been brought into a holy inheritance as a princess daughter.

He is our identity, our position, and only He can show us ourselves. Who we really are. This was further driven home by a movie called Blood Diamond. Solomons son Dia was captured by a child soldier group and he as been brainwashed into believing he is a forgotten fatherless killer. When Solomon finally finds him, this is what happens...

 

;

Sometimes I feel like the kid holding the gun, I am angry, insecure and grasping for control. "I turn back to the weak and worthless elemental things, which enslave me" (Gal 4) I have listen to the worlds lies. Then He says “i am your Father, who loves you, come home with me and be my daughter”.

"God sent forth his son, that we might receive adoption as sons, Because we are his sons, He has sent forth His  Son into our hearts crying "Abba Father", therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son."

Galatians 4

HeartBroken

Andrea

I don't really want to write this. It's about pain, who wants to write about that.

Just your normal American Sunday morning: As the music to my favorite hymn began I was already overwhelmed with grace for what my Saviour has done for me,

"That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure"

who he been for me, and how his radical love has changed me.

"His wounds have paid my ransom"

That is how the service began. With on out pour of joy.

How could this kind of loved not be shared?

The message that day was on the tribulation, a lot of death, a lot of misery, and a call to be ready. I was so stunned by a pain in my heart for the lost that I could hardly breath. I sat here looking down as the drops fell on the flimsy pages foretelling the devastation of millions around the world.

If we really believe this, how can we just sit here?

I was quietly sobbing by the end of the message. I could barely hear through my thoughts some reference to being on the right team, and a reference to Tebow as people laughed and bantered at one another followed by the closing prayer. At this point I was borderline gasping, so I slipped out to avoid awkward stares.

How can I feel so deeply for people I have never met?

Because He has shared his heart with me. Something happened when I was eleven years old, I gave my heart to God, and He gave me his in return.

Why am I heartbroken? Because He is heartbroken.

This Christianity is a crazy thing. We're ugly, he can transform us, but it takes a heart transplant. He gives you life, then he asks for it back, and only in the continual release of our hearts, are we fulfilled by His. This often hurts.

I feel sometimes that I want to give it back. The odds seem so...depressing. 1 Billion Muslims. 3 Billion unreached people groups http://www.joshuaproject.net/ . So many who do not have knowledge of grace or abundant life in Him.

What breaks your heart?

(I really want to know)

MY money.

Me and Jesse got back from Outbound, it was our 'candidate week' for Operation Mobilization. I knew I wanted to post about it, but the entire week was just so epic. After 5 weeks of digesting, it is still overwhelming HOW MUCH God taught me. Maybe I'll break it down into different post.

I think the hugest difference is my attitude towards 'support raising'. 'Support raising' a really sweet term for asking people to give us their hard earned money for no particularly good reason except that's how missions work in the new testament was funded. And THAT is truly how I thought of it. I was basically dreading it. Raising money was an uncomfortable step int his journey of God's calling in our lives, “lets get it over with”.

But before I understood asking and receiving financial support, God wanted me to understand GIVING.

The first thing that hit me was that the 'money culture' of America is in opposition to New Testament church. They gave "freely to any who were in need". FREELY? To ANYONE? Wow. I realized that I had a deep anchored belief in my own 'right' to my 'hard earned' money. Especial after 18 months of scratching up dimes to pay of our student loans, I became so aware of the value of the dollar, I don;t particularly want to share mine with others. “I mean, what if they don't budget responsibly like I do?”

OM had us study basically every verse in the bible dealing with giving. I was surprised, (a lot) with how much it mentions Jesus' ministry as being supported by others, so not only does giving make us more like Jesus for all the obvious reasons, but “getting' makes us infinitely more like Him too. Here he is the emperor of creation and his ministry was supported by rich widows. Why? For his sake. NO. Definitely for the sake and journey and heart of the giver.

The Heart of the Giver.

The other thing that stood out to me, is that a huge barrier to giving isn't as much selfishness, but lack of faith. God wants me to get UNCOMFORTABLE for him. He wants me to empty us of our financial comfort zone, so that he can bless us beyond what I ask or imagine.

A giver can experience the same joy from giving, that I receive from the actual ministry? How could I deprive a friend or family member from that opportunity? 

And it must be stated, the simplest truth, although i forget it daily. It ALL belongs to HIM anyways.

I serve an amazing God. Who can transform my hard heart to "how much can i save?" to "how much can i give away?"

 I went from a girl who would sheepishly ask for 'monthly support” to an impassioned servant joyfully asking YOU to get uncomfortable for God and WATCH as He blesses you beyond your wildest dreams.

He will make our path straight.

Life has moved along so quickly as we wait to go the the Outbound Conference at Operation Mobilization in September. I work for University of Georgia College of Environmental Science Extention office's Youth Development Program, better know as 4-H. It is the largest youth organization in the world and an answer to prayer while I was working as a day care center and wondering if God was going to give me a job that utilized my gifts and passions.
So three years ago I was hired on as a 4-H program assistant in Fayette County. It was a magical, or providential blend of my passion for youth, as well as my interest in environmental education. I have enjoyed the work so much and it had been the perfect part time job in aiding our family to pay off student loans as well as have time with my family. In may my boss resigned and the district coordinator asked me to interview for his position. Me and jesse have been mulling over it for weeks: the money could be good to save up, but would distract us from our true goals?
All the time, I was filling in for the full time position with a lot of extra hours and events. I went through so many phases of being excited for the great opportunity, to doubting what the time away would effect my family, always praying and asking God that He would direct our path. We finally decided 3 weeks ago that I would go for the position with the rational that it would be a team effort with Jesse to save so that he could get his masters whenever the situation presented itself. We then went on vacation at which I was distracted and preoccupied with work calls and scheduling. The night we got home we both felt it, and as we were talking before bed Jesse implored “don't take that job”. We both knew, and my heart was so filled with joy! A weight I hadn't even realized was there was off and I knew God had provided us with the right path. He gives and takes away, and he provides us as much of the path that we need, sometimes invisible, the perfect balance of faith and security.
So we are looking forward to the Outbound Conference! This will be a week of encouragement and training, afterward we will find out if we are officially accepted by OM, and what field we will be going on, so that we can begin the support raising process. So we are moving full steam ahead with our focus on ministry! As we come upon our three year anniversary week, and Soren's first birthday. we are so excited about the conference at the end of the month. Fall is my favorite season and this has always been a month of change, who know where we will be this time next year!