“Lord, what do you have for me this morning?”
I mentally asked the Holy Spirit, as I set against the wall of the house, looking out over the fields.
Immediately, a picture of a sunflower and the impulse to eat it, came to my mind. So, with some curiosity at what the Lord was giving me, I mentally “ate” the sunflower and saw it planted in my heart.
This interaction might seem a little strange, but I have learned that the Lord speaks to us in so many ways. When I obey what He is sharing with me, my trust and faith deepen a little more every time. When I start to ignore the mysterious, quiet, beautiful voice of the Holy Spirit, my relationship with Jesus suffers.
I didn’t think much of what had passed and an hour later, I hopped in the car to drive to the store with our host. On our way I noticed a single sunflower standing tall in a garden along the way. Throughout the day, I started taking notice of single sunflowers everywhere and treasured them in my heart. I knew God had a purpose for what He had given me, but I just couldn’t fathom what it was. The day wound on and eventually it was time to go smash some water balloons and play soccer with the kids in a nearby village.
Every time we drive out to this particular village, I am in awe of the rolling hills of grain, corn, lavender and an abundance of other plants.
As I was staring out the window at the beauty of God’s creation, I noticed several bundles of sunflowers growing straight and strong in another garden along the roadside. I smiled, still curious at what the Lord had for me in these flowers.
On the drive back home I was tired in the best of ways after playing for a couple hours so I rested my head against the window, gazing out into the fields. The sun had sunk lower, casting deep gold rays out over the hills in that rich, evening time of the day. As we rounded a bend in the road, passing the “leaving Babuk” sign I did a double take at what had only hours before been a field of green. Now, stretching as far as the eye could see was a haze of yellow, a massive field of sunflowers gazing up at the sun!
All I could do was stare at this abundance from Jesus!
Since this time, sunflowers have continued to come up in conversations, along roadsides, in the fields and I have learned so much about what the Lord was sharing with me from that first time He planted the sunflower in my heart.
Sunflowers never stop looking at the sun. They literally rotate throughout the day so that they are always facing the sun, getting the full strength of his rays. They grow straight and strong and once they are in your garden or yard, it is almost impossible to eradicate them. The reason that I could not see the field of sunflowers on my way into the village Babuk, was because they were all facing slightly away from the road, tirelessly following the sun with their heads, so that all I saw was the green back of the flower.
The Lord is calling me into a place of more surrender and with that more freedom. He is calling me to just contemplate His glory with an unveiled face, not phased or focused on the trials or business of the world around me. I don’t need the world to grow straight, strong, beautiful and useful, I just need Jesus. Often people will not see me or they will see me incorrectly because I am facing Jesus, but that is ok, because I will be basking in the warmth of His glory, friendship and love.
I pray that as you read this, you will feel the freedom to gaze at the glory of the Lord and surrender everything in the light of that glory. Please be praying the same for me:)
life updates:
We are going to…Thessoloniki Greece! God has shared some of His love for these people with me and I am really excited to see what He has for us.
I have loved…the quiet village life that I have gotten to experience for the past month.
I laughed when…my teammates valiantly attempted to kill a snake in the garden and ended up getting a retaliation attack from him. (First I was sympathetically containing the laughter:)
I cried after…I skyped with my older sister. Missing the family, but loving the calling God has given me now!
I splurged on…a new set of colored pens for my journaling and drawing:)
*All of these lovely pictures were taken by my teammate Simone*
