In the Old Testament of the bible we read many different stories of God intervening in the lives of His people, the Israelites. It is interesting to note that in many of these stories, where God reveals Himself, that He would often tell His people to build a pile of stones or an altar, as a memorial to the children of Israel forever. For example, in the book of Joshua (ch. 4), when Joshua is leading the Israelites over the Jordan river into a new land, God “shows up� and does a major miracle: stopping the river so that His people can cross over on dry land. He tells them to take 12 stones from the river “that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying ‘What do these stones mean to you?� In other words, God did not want His people to forget what He had done for them!!
(Getting excited for Christmas in Cambodia!)
So often we tend to focus on what is not happening in our lives rather than what is happening. We remember what went wrong, rather than meditating on the lesson that could be learned from any situation. God has been speaking to me on this matter for a couple months now (YES, the Creator of the Universe speaks to me, crazy thought ha). God has been speaking to me about the importance of telling stories. He has showed me that God stories are more than just a plot with a suspenseful climax and a dramatic ending, but when you look beyond the surface , that the true character of God is revealed. These stories, weather from the bible or a personal story, help us to understand who God is more!
Thankfully God does not only speak to me, but has been speaking to my Co-Leader (Trisha) on the same topic, the importance of Testimony (fancy word for story). This is amazing in itself, that God would speak to both of us regarding the same thing and then allow us to both realize this. So what did God want us to do with this new revelation?
After chatting about this, we decided, since we are the new squad leaders, that we wanted our squad (Q Squad) to be a people who talks about what God is doing in each of our lives and actually write and document these “stories.� We were nervous about the idea and not really sure how to share this vision, but we were convinced that this was God’s idea and He would “take care of it!� During our transition from Thailand to Cambodia our squad came together as a group…this was when we were planning to share “our idea� with the group. To be honest, we really didn’t think that people were going to talk, when we proposed the question, “How has God been showing up in your lives?�
(We visited “Angkor Wat” in Cambodia, a famous temple built for the King in the 12th century)
We were wrong, God was right! After asking the question, our squad proceeded, for the next 2 hours, to share story after story of the ways God has “shown up� in Q Squad and how He has been working to restore our relationship with Him as well as lead His people (us) into more freedom! I literally just sat there, with my jaw dropped, in awe…it was truly a magical moment and God get’s all the glory!
This left Trisha and I, first of all wanting to hear the voice of God more (He is always speaking, we just need to stop and listen), but with a new passion to talk about and write down what God is doing. We have decided to implement this into our squad and have asked the leaders from each team, to email us, weekly, with any new God stories. We want to be a people who focus on what God is doing and give Him the credit for what He has already done. I believe this will stir our hearts to expect Him to show up more, creating an environment where this can happen, setting the bar higher and higher and, of course, giving Him all the credit!!!
“Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name. Make known His deeds among the peoples; make them remember His name is exalted. Praise the Lord in song, for He has done excellent things. Let this be know throughout the earth!� Isaiah 12:4-5
(During our time in Cambodia, we “randomly” met up with another missionary team from the States. Little did I know that one of the girls, Molly, goes to the same church in Austin, TX (The Austin Stone), that I’ve gone to for the past couple years…God is Fun!!!)
