And God said, REST!

“Come to
me all who are weary, and I will give you rest.”

-Matthew 11:28

For those who know me well, you
know I always have to be doing something, going somewhere, and getting
something done. However, with a 101°F
temperature, chills, sweating, stomach pains, and a weak body, God told me to stop and rest. Sometimes God uses
circumstances like these to make us slow down and rest our bodies. Knowing that everyone else on my team was
heading out to our first day of ministry in Dumaguete, and I had to stay back
and rest was very hard, but God taught me a lot in that day.

As I was laying there not
feeling well, I realized He had given me a whole day to just rest in His
presence; just me and Him! Who could ask
for something better than that? (Well, maybe
time to rest in His presence without being sick :P, but I know I wouldn’t have
taken the time then, and God knew it too).

“Be still
and know that I am God!”

-Psalm 46:10

Not even able to journal at
the time, God brought to mind the numerous
people around the world who suffer with this pain, or worse, everyday. Many poor people who are uneducated or do not
have the resources to go to a doctor suffer from stomach and other pains that
they live with every day. Clean water is scarce in the Philippines,
which causes many of these health problems. I have already seen so much just in
visiting three different countries. I
have seen the masses of the poor that make up most of the populations of Thailand, Cambodia,
and the Philippines. I have seen the struggle it is for the poor
to find jobs and provide food for their families. In small wood or aluminum huts, with no jobs
available, they work hard hours to make the little money required to survive just
that day.

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your
God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous
right hand.

Dwelling on the fact that it
was Thursday here and soon to be Thanksgiving
back in the States, I had the time to stop and think about how much God has truly
blessed me, how much I have to be thankful for!
He has provided for my needs beyond what I could ever ask for. If I started to list the reasons I have to be
thankful to God, the list would never end.
But to list one, God has used my readers and supporters of all kinds to
bless me in a huge way. You have been an
amazing encouragement to me, and for that, I am thankful to God. Thank you to all those of you many people who have been praying for me. Prayer is the best thing I could ask for because it is so powerful and God has blessed me with the most faithful prayer warriors I have ever seen!! God is good 🙂

I thank God for YOU!

God has been whispering to me, “Rest in Me!”