Refined Through The Fire

In preparing for the world race I have developed several expectations.  Some small, some not so small!

For Example-

                   I expect …..

-to be put in situations that stretch me out of my comfort zone so far that
I will have to rely on and trust and expect God to show up.

– to get sick.

-to lose weight

-to see some of the worlds marvelous wonders, and some other really kewl things

-for God to provide

-to be in places that smell really bad

-that I will smell really bad at times

-to help the poor,

-to hold orphans,

-to have fun

-to laugh

-to get lost

-to play charades with foreigners and for TOTAL miscommunications

-to be put in and see some devastating situations that are going to break my heart and have me question God.

-to feel inadequate when I see all the needs of the world and have to trust that God has a plan for EVERYONE when I won’t be able to help everyone around me in need.  

– to be heartbroken and devastated

-to eat some really gross food.

-to experience squatty potties

-to lose some sleep

–to get extremely personal with the team

So personal I even expect to get in arguments with my team members. This is one of my greatest expectations of this trip. I believe that God is going to use my team to put me through the fire.

Let me explain what I mean. In living in such intimate living conditions I expect to be surrounded by people 24/7.  We are bound to get on each other’s nerves. I can only hide my ugly for so long before it will begin to surface. I expect that I will have a decision to make when my impurities show up. I will have to decide to run, fight it or I can thank God for revealing them to me and chose to die to myself and change, allowing God to remove my impurities. I don’t expect changing to be easy. To change something that I have been holding on to as part of my identity, who I am, will be hard. The strongholds and lies that I have been buying into from Satan for years, are NOT going to go down without a fight.  

Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. ¹⁴ For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. ¹⁵ I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ¹⁶ Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. ¹⁷ So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ¹⁸ For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.²¹ So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. ²² For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, ²³ but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. ²⁴ Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 
²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Romans 7:13

 
 I will be molded more into the image and likeness of God and begin to show more of his qualities in my life.

This quote summarizes this very well. 

“It is the path of humility and self-denial that leads to healing and spiritual maturity. It is the decision to make another’s well being more important than your own, even when that person has brought you great  sorrow.
                Pride cannot travel this path, but only those who desire peace at the risk of rejection.”