Please read My Month in China Part 1 before reading this one….
My thoughts continued….
November 13, 2008
“Life isn’t about me. The world doesn’t revolve around me. Slowly You are breaking me of my need to always be prayed for, always needing an encouraging word. You are breaking me of my “right” to be noticed after doing something. You are breaking me of the idea that I have to have long winded prayers to be heard. (to be heard by men-not YOU.)…..And YOU, Lord, are the ONLY one that matters. Again, my life is not about me at all. It’s about YOU, Jesus. It’s about Your Kingdom. It’s about your Sons and Daughters on this earth that You have called me to serve and love.”
same day…on compassion…
“Jesus, I look at Your life and You spent most of it stopping for the one. You sat with the homeless. You cleansed the lepers spots. You held dying children in Your arms. And you loved them….We keep saying we want more of you. We keep saying we want to ‘Be KINGDOM’. But if we continue to ignore the bum at the bus station asking for money or the beggar on the street with a bad leg then we are still missing it. We want to see great things happen but we ignore the one. We neglect to stop for the one you have placed in our path. What if it’s Jesus?…Lord, I pray You would put all of us into more uncomfortable situations. Give us the opportunity to sit with the beggar on the street. Give us the chance to hold a dying baby in our arms. Give us the chance to cleanse and feed the leper. God, these are bold prayers-prayers that require us to step out of our comfort zones into where YOU are.”
November 18, 2008
“How do I go deeper? How do I take my intimacy with you to the next level? God, I can’t really explain what is going on in my heart right now, except I feel like it’s breaking. You are breaking my heart for my teammates. God, I want more than anything to be more intimate with you, but Jesus my life isn’t about me. I want them to be intimate with you too….Lord, until I can weep before You for each of them, until I can come before You crying for all the hurting people I have never even met then how can you change them?”
November 20, 2008
“Lord, I have come to realize that I don’t need to ask others if I have changed this month. It doesnt matter what others think…What matters is that I come before You, with all my cards laid out on the table and ask, ‘Lord, how am I doing?’ Show me how you have changed me. Because You are the only one that matters. I lay my life before You. Take the broken pieces of my life as an offering. May it be pleasing in your sight.”
I hope that these last couple blogs have touched your hearts in some way. This month for me has been one of refinement. It’s been about blessed self forgetfulness. It’s been about intimacy. It’s been about being quiet and being OK with that. God is stripping away everything that is not of HIM and giving me what IS. Thanks for listening.
