Last night the point people, treasurers and logistics coordinators for our squad gathered together at a hotel in Atlanta for the first night of Launch. We are meeting up with the rest of our squad tonight for a night of worship (with our parents AH YAY). We have our first flight in route to Cambodia on Monday morning.
When we met together last night we talked about all of the things we had experienced in the hectic six weeks between training camp and launch. We encouraged one another and prayed protection over the rest of our teammates as they traveled to meet us in Atlanta today. We ended the meeting by discussing scripture either to encourage one another or that we felt the Lord has been placing on our hearts lately.
I shared Psalms 46:10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
I cannot begin to describe the number of people that prayed this scripture over me as I prepared to leave, the number of people who wrote it in a letter for me to take on my trip, or the number of times I saw this passage of scripture in passing (on bumper stickers, building walls, Facebook posts, you name it).
Somehow this passage of scripture has become classified as a “christian cliche”, but its power far surpasses a canvas home decoration.
I have the tendency to live my life going 110 miles per hour. When things go wrong, I want to fix them. When I have free time I always fill it. I stretch myself too thin and I try to do more than any person should ever do. I also know I am not alone in this. So many people I know are the same way.
I am not saying involvement is a bad thing. I am not saying sacrificing your time for others is a problem. I AM saying UNLESS we set apart time to be ALONE with the Lord. To listen to Him. To read His word. To talk to Him. To simply rest in His presence and knowing that He loves us. We will burn out. All of the things we do, the ways we serve and the sacrifices we make should come out of an overflow of love from the Lord rather than a self imposed obligation. We are meant to have a heart that breaks for others and desires to serve and sacrifice, but it has to stem from our relationship with the Lord.
I am thankful that God (obviously metaphorically) knocks me on my butt to sit and just “be” for a while whenever I get swept up in the hustle of life.
I pray this is a habit my teammates and I can get into for the duration of the race. We desire to serve others. We desire to love. We desire to do. We have to remember we will burn out very quickly if we do not set apart time to spend with the Creator who prepared those works for us. We were made to love as He loves, but we were also made to rest and be still in knowing His undying love for us.
Isaiah 54:10 Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you.
