HEY GUYS!
I made it to ZIMBABWE in Africa!! My new team (Team Zeal) is here in one of the biggest cities called Bulawayo. We are working with an organization called the Sandra Jones Centre, which is a safe home for abused women and children focusing on family reunification, teaching life skills, providing a loving environment to help heal and give a safe place to grow, and so many other AMAZING things.
More on this awesome ministry in a blog to come… 😀
Here’s a bit of what I’m learning lately while I’m thinking about the future, endeavoring to stay present, and DIVING IN to my last 3 months of ministry on the Race:
Recently at our debrief in Bulgaria before our travels to Africa, one of the squad leaders felt like the Lord was speaking this phrase over our whole squad:
“nothing is only for you”
As she shared this with us, I was struck by these words.
They’re so true! We’ve being doing this thing for about 8 months now, and we’ve all grown in different areas and have begun walking confidently in gifts and talents the Lord has given us to serve the Body of Christ and to share the Gospel. The struggles we’ve walked in and the things we’ve overcome are to the glory of Jesus who has strengthened us but they are also to help build the faith of other people who are running this race too (not necessarily ON the Race ;)).
“you have heard, haven’t you, about the administration of God’s grace that He gave me for you?” -Ephesians 3:2
I’m learning lately how gracious God really is and how He wants to transform us to be just as gracious to others. Our personal testimonies, with details of God’s grace and His provision, or being freed from sin and murky pits in our lives are for God’s glory first, and then our good and the good of others!! He wants us to be gracious with the story that He has given us and has woven His glory into. He wants us to give our own story away in boldness and vulnerability to create safe space for others to be known and accepted as we have been by Christ.
There is such freedom in sharing parts of our stories that we would usually rather forget. It is these accounts of God’s extended grace and patience to us that strengthen others to endure and be drawn back to the Lord in a better understanding of His kindness.
Whatever the dark parts of your story and those that the Enemy tells you should bring you shame, the Lord wants to embrace and empower you to freely share His acceptance of you and what beauty He has made of the ashes in your life.
Wherever you’re walking in now, in whatever season, know the Lord is with you in valleys and on mountaintops. If there is a storm to be weathered right now, know the One who commands creation is by Your side. If you’re on spiritual heights you’ve never reached before with the Lord, rejoice in that sweetness and take another by the hand to invite them into knowing God in a deeper way that you’re experiencing. In all these seasons, recount how the Lord is breaking you and stretching you and strengthening you, and be ready to give an account of His goodness and the grace of Christ!
Even if we don’t see every detail of the big picture, if you can’t understand what God is doing, trust His goodness and kindness toward you. You are, after all, His son or daughter. And He loves you recklessly and furiously! Trust that He will work it all out for His own glory. He will be good to You, for He can’t NOT be good. It is His very nature. He can’t avoid being good any more than a cat can avoid being a cat and start being a dog.
He may even be walking you through some trial or suffering FOR SOMEONE ELSE!
“So then, I ask you not to be discouraged over my afflictions on your behalf, for they are your glory.” -Ephesians 3:13
I have seen this lived out so amazingly by one of my very best friends and sister in Christ, my spiritual big sis Marcheta. She has recently been diagnosed with myeloma, a cancer of plasma cells which originate in the bone marrow. This obviously has wrecked her world, and she was so honest in telling me that she has to FIGHT every day to proclaim the truth she knows about God’s goodness and love toward her. She continues to disciple women and share about the goodness and worthiness of Christ as she is on staff with Cru in Orlando, Florida. Marcheta told me about a friend of hers that was also diagnosed with cancer about a year ago, and she said, “Abby, it is a gift from the Lord to have her in my life, to call her and cry together and know we know exactly how each other is feeling. And I don’t know why this is happening, but even if it is to be an encouragement to my friend and walk with her in this, it is worth it.” Talk about faith!
How can we know why Marcheta or her friend are in this confusing and scary season of illness? We only know God is not a purposeless God and that He will reveal more of His goodness and love through it. And I know by the remarkable faith of Marcheta that the Lord is ALIVE and ACTIVE and gives us the grace and companionship and perspective we need to walk through ANYTHING hand in hand with Him!
I have been so encouraged in my faith by this. Thank you, Lord, for making us bold in sharing our stories for your glory. Thank you for teaching us to be generous with our stories so that others can be strengthened and encouraged. Thank you for teaching us to walk by faith and not by sight–to set our minds on things that are unseen, for those things we can’t see or discern yet are eternal! Thank you for teaching us to trust your good and PERFECT nature no matter what we perceive before us. We will trust you, Lord Jesus.
“Though He slays me, yet I will trust in Him.”
