Since today is Monday, this feels like a good time to do a little blessing counting practice.
1) Even though Friday night my car completely died because the alternator belt ripped to shreds, I had a warm coat and a safe place to wait while my sweet, super-hero daddy came to get me and taught me about cars.
2) Two-yr-old niece Lucy spent the night with us. So did her 2 babies ("brown baby" & "new baby") plus a lamb and a bear.
3)Dad replaced my car's belt by Saturday afternoon.
4)My oldest brother stopped by to get Lucy, so I got to hold the 4-month-old niece Eleanor!
5)Uninterrupted afternoon to work on collage art at home.
6)Dinner out just me&Daddy @ Bombay Bistro-YUM! Peshawari naan, khyberi ghost, & navratan korma! (aka buttered bread stuffed w/ nuts&raisins, slow-cooked lamb in amazing gravy & 9 vegetables in a rich, cashew sauce)
7)That night I got to see my sister Becca & hold tiny, newborn Philip James! Plus I went over to my other sister's house to see the oldest niece & nephew! Being an aunt rocks!
8)Very relaxing Sunday. Time to think and listen.
9)Chatting with Aunt Connie on the phone about Thanksgiving.
10)Another great dinner w/ Brett at a favorite spot-24 on Lamar.
11)Blog help from my sweet friend Aleesha Nash.
The list goes on and on really. Thank God for my family and babies and friends. They cheer me up every time. I don't deserve you all :) What a mercy that God speaks and smiles and hugs through you. I can never thank Him enough.
Do I "get" God?
Listened to a really interesting few messages by John Piper. He said, "You exist to share in and to share God's passion for God's glory." Surely this is the motivation a missionary needs.
If you don't know anything about Piper's ministry, then this may be a very different way of thinking about God, but I believe his statements are biblical. In fact, his teaching has given me the greatest awakening in my life as Christian since the day I first had faith in Christ to forgive&save me. You could ask a bunch of ppl including my boyfriend, I went a little crazy for a few days when I couldn't believe how my world was changed-I started seeing everything differently. Somehow for years I had missed a crucial point: God wants me to enjoy Him in everything! That is worship. That's why I should be a foreign missionary-to enjoy God.
These 3 links are messages by John Piper based on the text of his book, "When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy" Personally, I like his style and he also does get practical in the 3rd session. I've been big-time confused about joy in God for awhile because I know the Bible says that faith is a gift and also something we battle for. How can both be true and what I am supposed to do with that? If Piper's writing books about it, then other people have probably had some of the same experiences. I hope you give him a shot!
http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/conference-messages/how-to-fight-for-joy-session-1
http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/conference-messages/how-to-fight-for-joy-session-2
http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/conference-messages/how-to-fight-for-joy-session-3
If you don't know anything about Piper's ministry, then this may be a very different way of thinking about God, but I believe his statements are biblical. In fact, his teaching has given me the greatest awakening in my life as Christian since the day I first had faith in Christ to forgive&save me. You could ask a bunch of ppl including my boyfriend, I went a little crazy for a few days when I couldn't believe how my world was changed-I started seeing everything differently. Somehow for years I had missed a crucial point: God wants me to enjoy Him in everything! That is worship. That's why I should be a foreign missionary-to enjoy God.
These 3 links are messages by John Piper based on the text of his book, "When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy" Personally, I like his style and he also does get practical in the 3rd session. I've been big-time confused about joy in God for awhile because I know the Bible says that faith is a gift and also something we battle for. How can both be true and what I am supposed to do with that? If Piper's writing books about it, then other people have probably had some of the same experiences. I hope you give him a shot!
http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/conference-messages/how-to-fight-for-joy-session-1
http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/conference-messages/how-to-fight-for-joy-session-2
http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/conference-messages/how-to-fight-for-joy-session-3
No real idea where I'm going with this.
Isn't it incredible that the day I return a bit discouraged from a visit to GIAL (grad institute of applied linguistics) which ended with some surprises/confusion, is the same day Oswald Chambers writes "What is a Missionary?" in My Utmost for His Highest ?
John 20:11 Jesus said to them again, "...As the Father has sent Me, I also send you."
Chambers writes:
A missionary is someone sent by Jesus Christ just as He was sent by God. The great controlling factor is not the needs of people, but the command of Jesus...."Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations" (Matt. 28:19)
Christ commanded and also called me personally. Do I not trust that God will bring me everything I need to do what He has planned?
It's been over a year since I posted anything here and over a year since I returned home from my internship at Wycliffe USA hq. Since then I've crawled through my senior year of college, but I did successfully graduate. I didn't deal with the load well, but felt a great sense of pride in finishing that degree. However in this year, I haven't prepared myself well to make steps to go out on the mission field. I'd love to say that I've been saving money, researching countries I might serve in, faithfully following the Lord, and moving forward or waiting on God to move the obstacles, but I don't believe that's the case. I think that I've dropped the ball, definitely been distracted.
I'm feeling a lot of things right now, and few of them positive. Worried, scared, confused, hypocritical, ashamed even. I know I've been in (and out of) this place before; I'm struggling to believe and hold onto the truths I know. I don't know what to do next and I'm afraid of making the wrong choices.
I want to be open about what's really going on. If it's REALLY true that His power is made perfect in our weakness and His grace is enough, then He will be honored and I'll see good come about because of this vulnerability. That's what I pray.
And here's the most interesting thing Oswald says on Oct 26's passage about missionaries:
When looking back on the lives of men and women of God, the tendency is to say, "What wonderfully keen and intelligent wisdom they had, and how perfectly they understood all that God wanted!" But the keen and intelligent mind behind them was the mind of God, not human wisdom at all. We give credit to human wisdom when we should give credit to the divine guidance of God being exhibited through childlike people who were "foolish" enough to trust God's wisdom and His supernatural equipment.
Please join me in praying that God will renew my heart & give me childlike faith. I want to trust fully in His wisdom and His ability to make me as ready as I need to be for what's next. Deeper waters, I need a deeper faith.
John 20:11 Jesus said to them again, "...As the Father has sent Me, I also send you."
Chambers writes:
A missionary is someone sent by Jesus Christ just as He was sent by God. The great controlling factor is not the needs of people, but the command of Jesus...."Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations" (Matt. 28:19)
Christ commanded and also called me personally. Do I not trust that God will bring me everything I need to do what He has planned?
It's been over a year since I posted anything here and over a year since I returned home from my internship at Wycliffe USA hq. Since then I've crawled through my senior year of college, but I did successfully graduate. I didn't deal with the load well, but felt a great sense of pride in finishing that degree. However in this year, I haven't prepared myself well to make steps to go out on the mission field. I'd love to say that I've been saving money, researching countries I might serve in, faithfully following the Lord, and moving forward or waiting on God to move the obstacles, but I don't believe that's the case. I think that I've dropped the ball, definitely been distracted.
I'm feeling a lot of things right now, and few of them positive. Worried, scared, confused, hypocritical, ashamed even. I know I've been in (and out of) this place before; I'm struggling to believe and hold onto the truths I know. I don't know what to do next and I'm afraid of making the wrong choices.
I want to be open about what's really going on. If it's REALLY true that His power is made perfect in our weakness and His grace is enough, then He will be honored and I'll see good come about because of this vulnerability. That's what I pray.
And here's the most interesting thing Oswald says on Oct 26's passage about missionaries:
When looking back on the lives of men and women of God, the tendency is to say, "What wonderfully keen and intelligent wisdom they had, and how perfectly they understood all that God wanted!" But the keen and intelligent mind behind them was the mind of God, not human wisdom at all. We give credit to human wisdom when we should give credit to the divine guidance of God being exhibited through childlike people who were "foolish" enough to trust God's wisdom and His supernatural equipment.
Please join me in praying that God will renew my heart & give me childlike faith. I want to trust fully in His wisdom and His ability to make me as ready as I need to be for what's next. Deeper waters, I need a deeper faith.
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