I promised in my bio that I would be a blogging pro by the time I touched down in South Africa, but I’m quickly discovering the magnitude of such a promise! The fact of the matter is this: God has been speaking into my heart so loudly, so clearly, and so painfully that I literally sit at the computer and stare while my mind and heart race in joyful, tearful circles around huge lessons I’m learning.
And, so far, racing in joyful, tearful circles = no blog.
One day, maybe, I’ll master the art of the video blog and speak eloquently into cyberspace. Until then, you’re stuck with my awkward and incomplete thoughts thrown passionately and purposefully into semi-comprehensive sentences.
The weeks leading up to training camp, the weeks of training camp, and the weeks since training camp have been some of the most joyful, exciting, passionate weeks of my entire life. I’ve spent these past 7 weeks caught up in such overwhelming love- Love Himself- and it’s so wonderful that my heart aches!
God created us in the very beginning to be with him; we walked in the garden with him in the cool of the day and we talked with him freely. When we sinned, we were separated from him and we’ve horribly mistaken that separation as abandonment. We are not abandoned. We live this life in the aftermath– the aftermath of such a terrible, life changing separation– of our own doing.
And yet…
We are loved.
We are pursued.
We are redeemed.
Though we live as slaves to our sin, we are pursued by a creator– a savior– who loves so deeply. Our painful separation hurts not only ourselves, but our lover as well, and his heart is so moved by compassion that he is compelled to do all in his power to reconcile his beloved. It’s a wonderful thing: His love is big and his power is big.
So he [[Love Himself]] willingly entered the space in between us and made a way back to himself through Jesus– the atonement. And when he left (after defeating death by death!) to prepare an eternal place for us, he was not satisfied to leave us lonely. So, he gave us his own Spirit to convict and counsel, and to seal us for eternity with him.
He is love.
In the weeks before training camp, the weeks of training camp, and the weeks since training camp I have lived in this closeness– this shadow of heaven! This deep joy and deep love has given me such an incredible boldness in the presence of the lost and such an incredible speechlessness in front of the Savior.
God is showing me this love in so many ways, and my heart is so, so full.
His love is in the African sunrise. His love is in the hugs of sweet new friends from Kimberley. His love is in the understanding of my team mates. His love is in the midnight conversations with new believers. His love is in the heartfelt song of the Father’s House.
In view of all this– this love– there is only one response: worship.
Ephesians 3:14-21
A Prayer for the Ephesians
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every familya]”>[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
