Immeasurably more
Ephesians 3:20 TPT
“Never doubt God’s mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this.
He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request,
your most unbelievable dream, and
exceed your wildest imagination!
He will outdo them all, for his miraculous power constantly energizes you.”
This morning I asked the Lord, “God, what do you want to show me?” And as I was sitting there, the Lord just whispered to me…”Immeasurably more.” I instantly thought DANG GOD. That’s pretty exciting but…what are you talking about? So as a lot of you may or may not know, last month was a dream. The Lord did not just allow us to be surrounded by the most loving people who poured into us CONSTANTLY, but He also allowed us to see the fruit in everything we did. He is just so sweet. We were able to see the harvest. We saw chains break. We saw people humbly give their lives to Christ. We saw people experience the beautiful presence of the Father. We grew so close with the people in Cuenca and to sum it all up, God was unstoppable. He was moving left and right and y’all, WE COULD HARDLY KEEP UP!!! It was the most amazing month and as we stepped into Peru, I instantly felt discouraged. I thought to myself, “There is no way it can get better than last month.” Peru’s ministry is so different. We are not living with our host family like we did last month and are now living at the church. This month does not hold as much intimacy with the people around us. Our ministry looks a little like this…
Every Saturday, we go to the mountains and love on the children up there,
we are spending 1 week of organizing VBS at the park (which includes skits, games, coloring activity, and snacks), we are painting at a girls home, getting to know the girls who live up there, we are evangelizing, organizing youth nights, LOTS OF INTERCEDING, and prayer walking at the university.
Ministry is not just different in what we are doing, but it is different in how we are received. People here in Cusco are a lot more closed off. We were welcomed with arms wide opened in Ecuador and even Colombia, but here it’s just so different. This city is chained by the spirit of religion. From the conversations we have had with locals, the people here believe you have to follow a set of rules to be loved by God. Many people do not understand the beauty that is found in having a relationship with Jesus…that Jesus changed EVERYTHING and broke the chain of religion. So basically, not being received with arms wide opened made me feel unsure and just sad to be here. I was frustrated with myself and could not stand that I was in this state of mind.
But here is how sweet the Lord is.
Since we are living at the church, we have plenty of access to the room they hold service in. I felt kind of awkward stepping in there alone, but God loves to take me to awkward places 🙂 So I stepped in there and y’all, the spirit of peace is SO REAL in that place. I opened up my bible, put my headphones in, blasted “Raise a Hallelujah!”, and just began to pray. I prayed for everything the Holy Spirit laid on my heart and it was so beautiful to just be in the presence of the Father. The Lord is so good and showed me something I am SO excited for this month…
He showed me that I have a war room.
I have a place where I can sing, pray, cry, and just laugh with God. I almost feel like a bird in that room, free to fly. It’s a room where I feel like it is just me and God. Even when my sweet teammate was in there, spending time with the Father, I felt as if we were going to battle together (shoutout to you Laurie! Prayer warrior!) The Lord has spoke to me in different ways in just the few days we have been here. He is convicting me of things, searching my heart, and bringing me to a more humble place.
SO although this month is very different than the last two…God still remains the same. He is still full of unexplainable beauties. His heart is all around us…we just have to open our eyes to see it. God told me He wanted to show us, “Immeasurably more” and y’all…I believe Him. He is a God of the impossible. He is a God of the unimaginable. We have about two more weeks here and I am going to renew my mind every day to expect God to move. He hears our prayers. He loves to talk to us. He loves for us to get to know Him. He loves to get to know us (even though we are already fully known by Him), He wants us to trust Him with our entire self. Almost every morning I find myself POURING out my heart to my Father and y’all, He is changing me. In the best possible way.
Thank you to everyone who has been supporting me financially and through prayer! I have about $4,489 to raise by next month and I know I serve a FAITHFUL Father. He has brought me here and will not leave me. Will you consider partnering and and joining me in this journey? This money helps me stay on the field and share the Gospel ALL OVER THE WORLD! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Thank you everyone who has brought me this far!! Your support means everything to me and I could not do this without you. I know this is where I belong and I can’t thank you all enough for bringing me here. ALSO! Please be praying for mine and my team’s physical health. Altitude sickness along with our bodies still adjusting to the new environment is beginning to take a toll on me and some of my teammates. So please be praying for FULL health in Jesus name!!! Thank you all! I love you guys so much…thanks for keeping up with me 🙂
With SO MUCH LOVE,
Shelby
