Hey guys! Today as a Team we went and hiked up to Bellavista. Hiking with the team was so much fun. Again.. we focused on the journey and not the destination. This allowed us to stop and have breaks but also enjoy any cool or fun things we saw. It was a great reminder for us that God is interested in the journey of a relationship being built. We eventually made it to the top in about 50 minutes. It was a beautiful view. We then spent about 30 minutes on top of the mountain to spend time in silence. Our hope was to sit and be still before God and have Him speak to our hearts.
For me this hike was much needed. It gave me time to think about what’s going on within me and how to invite Jesus into it.
One of the biggest things God has been teaching me about is the concept of Home. I actually miss home a lot. Sure, it’s such a fun time traveling and growing in relationship with Jesus but it’s difficult. Home was good for me. I was with my girlfriend and enjoying our relationship, which is such a treasure. I also had a great solid friend group. I really miss my best friend Caleb. You don’t realize what you have sometimes until it changes. I was involved with a ministry that I loved. Being the Worship Leader and a Small Group Leader at the Student Ministry was such a blessing. I had great mentors and friends to do life with. I was enrolled in School and had a great job. Things were going super well for me and I loved it. Sure, I was ready to grow in newer ways but that didn’t change the fact that I enjoyed my life a lot. Traveling with 5 other people around the world to grow in our relationship with Jesus and tell the world about His love has been an adventure worthwhile but it still doesn’t change the fact that I miss Home a lot. I didn’t think I would miss it as much as I do and we are still only in month 2. Haha.. oh boy…
Through this reality of mine God has been able to speak. He has taught me a truth that will forever change my life. This is what He spoke to me on top of the mountain.
“I’m Forgiven and Accepted to come Home. Home isn’t a place of four walls. Home isn’t a place with my favorite people. Home isn’t a place with my favorite things. My Home is found in the embrace of the Father. No matter where I am, I am Home. I was a sojourner on journey to find fulfillment. What I really was searching for was intimacy. Our greatest desire is to be known but our greatest fear is to be known. I searched and searched. I was never satisfied. I searched for a destination of popularity. I searched for a destination of success. I searched for a destination of love and romance. I searched for a destination to be liked and loved. I searched for fun. I searched for adventure. I searched for community. I searched for pleasure. I searched for fulfillment in whatever way I could feel it. I searched and searched to only be unsatisfied, lonely, and broken. What I didn’t realize was that the place my heart was really searching for was Home. A place where I’m fully known and fully accepted. This place is only found in the arms of Abba Father. This is why My God is My Home. For Jesus left us to prepare a room for us to only come back and take us to Himself. Here now I’ve found what I have been looking for. A place where I don’t need to earn or strive to be known and accepted. But a place where by simply being present I find all that I need. Here in the stillness, here in the silence, here on the top of a mountain I hear a whisper..”
“Come Home Son. You are forgiven for what you’ve done. You are accepted because of who I am. You are mine and I am yours. I created you for MORE. What’s mine is yours.. Go! And taste and see that I’m good. Trust me where the adventure awaits and always remember. You are Home because I am with you.”
“”Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe.”
??John? ?14:1-6, 18, 27-29? ?ESV??
Go Team Zeal!!!
