This morning I woke up to an ordinary cloudy sky with a cool
breeze. I should have known the
day would become absolutely amazing when I was handed two pieces of chocolate
within the hour of waking up.
Our ministry contact gave us an assignment and I was eager
to share about the true, extraordinary, and unconditional love of God with the
older kids at school today. As I
was studying the scripture I was planning on sharing I began to realize that I
was to teach on the very thing I have been struggling with, allowing God to be
my first love. Living with six
other women away from the comforts and familiarity of home has become a mirror
to my selfishness. I had become my
first love. The Lord revealed this
to me in a sweet, gentle way only moments before I was to teach of His
love! How could I tell the
children of God’s love when I had chosen to love myself over His love time and
time again? With the fear of the
proper words to say combined with the verse in James saying that teachers are
judged more strictly ringing in my ear, I was freaking out.
I am so glad that God works through our foolishness! When I did not know the words to say,
He gave them to me! He took my
carefully organized outline and blew it out of the
water. Somehow He had something
else for the kids today and the lesson that I prepared was in fact for me.
So today, a day of celebrating love and romance, was spent celebrating
the great love that God lavished on us when Jesus Christ died on the
cross. No. I will never forget the day that God
reminded me of His unconditional love.
I will never forget the day that I forgot the words I spoke because they
were not from me. I will never
forget the pure joy and adrenaline of knowing that the Creator of the universe
chose to use me today. In Ecuador.
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.
1 John 3:16
