If you had asked me what I was praying for before I left for the World Race, I would have answered something like this: more face to face moments with God. Extraordinary moments. Simple moments. Good and bad moments. I just wanted to seek and see Him in a new way.
The hustle and bustle of the Philippines are real. It’s loud, crowded, sometimes over stimulating with all the things to look at and listen to. It makes my easily distracted flesh get wrapped up in the things around me. It makes taking my eyes off of the Lord’s face a natural temptation. It makes my prayer and priority of seeing God quickly fade into paying attention to the things around me instead.
Last week I had some mid-day quiet time, and I was writing in my journal. Up to this point, I had expected to see God in a million different ways. But I hadn’t yet. I was writing the words “Lord, I am having a hard time seeing your face” and before I could even write another letter, my teammate, Krista came through the balcony door. She sat down next to me and started up a conversation. A few minutes later when I started thinking back to my journal, I realized that I have been looking for his face in all the wrong places. I was expecting great, big things to happen the minute we landed in the Philippines. But instead, he’s revealed himself in smaller ways that take a little more connection to see.
I see Him in my teammates as they play with kids, with a tender and compassionate heart. I see Him when they are vulnerable with their testimonies, sharing with braveness. I see Him in the pride of a new mom down at the pregnancy clinic. I hear Him in the authentic “Thank-you’s” we receive after leaving the construction site in the afternoon. I see Him in the beauty of His creation all around me here. I can even feel Him all the way from America when one of you reach out and encourage me. I’m starting to realize he is not only an extravagant God but a simple God too.
Just because God isn’t moving in the way you expect to see doesn’t mean he isn’t up to something good. We learned at World Race launch that when it comes to God’s character, He is totally predictable and cannot change (Hebrews 13:8) but when it comes to the way, He gets things done He is totally unpredictable. He always does what He says he will, even if it’s not the way we want. Sometimes it means we have to walk through suffering or walk through spiritual fire to get there too. But He’ll always be with us in the fire.
11 months is a long time. He’s already taught me so much in the past 19 days that I can’t imagine what’s to come, but I know it’ll be good because He’s a good father, with good plans.
Thank you for reading my first blog here in the Philippines! Your prayers, words of support & encouragement go along way to us, and we appreciate it so much! I’d love to hear how God has been revealing himself to you in the comments below!
Scriptures of the day:
“You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are – no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.” Matthew 5:5 MSG
“Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it’s your faith not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of His victory!” 1 Peter 1:7 MSG
Song of the day: Lean Back
