When we were in Mendoza for our debrief at the beginning of this month, I went with 2 of my Fiercely Loved teammates to a laundromat to get our smelly clothes from the boat washed and dried!
Side note: I forgot how much of a blessing it is to have a washer and drier to have good smelling, soft and quick dried clothes is.
Well, back on track, we went to this place and asked the man to wash our clothes, we all gave him lots of smiles and went on our way. The next day we stopped by to pick up our fresh clothes and our new friend, Pascual, asked us before we left, ‘there’s something different about y’all…are you religious?’ I smiled, told my sisters what he had said and responded, ‘we have a relationship with Jesus and love Him, yes’. He looked a little perplexed at that statement but we went on to explain that we view our relationship with Jesus as first and foremost and the most important thing. Unfortunately, relationship can get so lost when the traditions of religion are stressed as being more important than deep, intimate relationship with the God of the universe. He continued to ask question after question and we continued to tell about our relationship with Jesus. This was a new and foreign topic to him. We found out his birthday was the next day so I went to a Christian book store and we got him the book ‘Savior and Friend’ by Max Lucado. I pray that this book brings clarity and understanding to relationship with Jesus in a new and fresh way.
As I continue to try to get our friend connected to a ministry in Mendoza to help guide him through learning what relationship looks like, the Lord continues to remind me to not make what I believe about religion. I’ve seen it before. I think we all see people caught up in religion sometimes but they don’t really have a relationship with the Father. I pray that I can, and will, live my life for Jesus because I have a relationship with Him and not because I have a list of ‘have to’s’ to do everyday. Salvation comes from the grace and mercy of our Father and belief in His son, not the things that we do.
This month in Argentina has been one of those months. Learning how important relationship with Him is. At our ministry it has been so sweet to be able to sit with the Lord everyday and have the opportunity to make time. While 2-4 of us spend time with the kids at the ministry, the others have the time to spend quality time with our Father! It’s been such a blessing to have that every single day and the flexibility to step out when we need a moment with Him.
I encourage you to step into relationship with the Father.
Seek Him.
Read about Him.
Talk to Him.
Spend quality time with Him.
He will not leave you empty. Although they aren’t necessarily bad, don’t get caught up in the traditions and rituals of religion. Seek that special, deep, intimate relationship with the Father…it’ll be the best thing you ever decide to do, I promise.
