But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. – 1 Peter 2:9
For the past week, the phrase “set apart” has been put on my heart. I scrambled looking for a perfect verse that really showed how beautiful it is that we are set apart because our Father has adopted us and made us different. I was a little confused when God put this verse on my heart because it didn’t even have the word set apart in it, but the more I looked into it, the more I realized that it perfectly shows how we are set apart through Christ BUT ALSO how that includes being invited into his marvelous light.
This past week my squad and I did service in De Quincy, Louisiana through Samaritan’s Purse. We helped with hurricane disaster relief and served through manual labor. The beautiful thing was that we were constantly reminded that though we are there to serve we are also there for the homeowner. We got to focus on the homeowner, even though we did lots of manual labor, we also got to serve through praying for the homeowners and sharing the great news of the gospel with them! Which just relates back to how we are set apart and not called to only move some trees off someone’s property, but to show we are different by sharing the love of God. I am so glad I got to grow through a service outside of my comfort zone and grow closer to my sensational team. We got to experience relying on God’s strength over our own and seeing that we were more capable than we knew!
When we first arrived to Louisiana, I was told that after disaster it’s really important to listen to people’s stories because as they have lost everything sometimes they just need to verbally process or feel like there is someone who cares not only enough to listen but also to come and serve them through manual labor and cleaning up destruction on their property that they probably can’t do on their own. It’s truly incredible how just listening and caring for people can change not only their day but their life and possibly their faith journey!
Though my team did so much good, when we first arrived my heart was heavy with the destruction I saw. I am so thankful that God taught me through this experience that though it’s important to go all over the world and share the gospel, sometimes destruction is right next door and you don’t have to go to Nepal to change the world. You can change the people around you right now wherever you are simply by being the hands and feet of Jesus.
thank you for reading,
emma
