I wont waste any time, lets just jump right in.
Cannon ball!!!
Those of you who have been reading faithfully know a little about it already, but I think we all could benefit from a refresher on my heart, especially since I am always under construction, it seems, and especially over this past summer.
So let us begin:
When I felt called into ministry I was 18 years old. I was about to graduate High School and had all of life figured out. I knew what I was going to do, and I was on the fast track to success in that. In typical God fashion, he wrecked my plans. He used The HUB, the ministry with which I had been working, to open my eyes and heart to a suffering world. I remember a moment of clarity–a revelation, if you will. God broke my heart for His people. He showed me what we seem to forget all too frequently. This question kept nagging me:
How could I live my life of luxury when my Christian brothers and sisters cannot get enough food to eat?
How could I go on pretending that these beautiful people–these children of God–did not live on the streets, or even exist?
How could my life's purpose be to become a wealthy success when these people I considered to be my friends were sleeping on the streets?
Questions like these were breaking me down near the end of my senior year of high school. I saw the injustice and it killed me. I couldn't go on like I was. I had to do something. So I began really seeking the Lord in prayer and scripture. Specific scriptures that stood out to me were Acts 2:42-47, Matthew 25:40, and James 1:27. Almost immediately I realized that God had shaped me throughout my whole life to do something about these problems. I believe it is the duty of all Christians to heal these social wounds, but I can only answer for myself. God called me to full time missional ministry, but I had a long way to go.
Needless to say, College plans were made difficult, and jobs, especially in ministry, were beyond rare, but I continued to pursue Him and His plan for my life. I know and have known that nothing else will fulfill my heart. I have messed up a lot and made a lot of mistakes along the way, but by His grace (and his grace alone) I have made it here.
Here.
Standing in the doorway of the most amazing life I could ever live.
Peeking down at the insane roller-coaster that He is about to take me on.
Because here is the deal, I love hearing stories (and I have many of my own) about how God works. He is the most brilliant, creative, kind, loving, graceful and merciful boss in the universe. He is so beautiful. His love is amazing, and I know it changed my life. I want to set other people free, as I was set free, by the love of God. I want to clothe others as he has me; feed others as he does me; and love others as he has me. He is beyond words. Exquisitely beautiful and astoundingly amazing don't even begin to describe Him. When I hear His stories, the ones that only He could be responsible for, I cannot help but worship. THAT is my God. THAT is the God I serve.
I know I mess up…and I am sorry. I know I sin, and I regret it so much it hurts. But more than that, I know that I have been the recipient of absolutely incredible earth-shaking free gifts. He just gave them to me. Who am I to decide to whom I will give the same gifts? By what criteria could I judge to withhold the greatness of my God from another one of His children, whom He loves, and for whom He died? In the book of James, we are warned about the perils of making judgments based on a person's perceived value, and I believe that the reason is because we are not worthy of the gifts of the King. You are not. I am not. And he has not chosen to withhold them from us, but rather to give them to us and give them abundantly. I cannot even bare the thought of His people being without material possessions. How much more important is it that we meet people's biggest, most aching need: True, unrelenting, unconditional love. The love of the Savior.
Now I am not sure that this blog is even cohesive. It may not even flow. I don't even know. I just really wanted to tell you guys about what is on my heart: a burden for meeting needs.
I want to meet physical needs: clothes, food, water, etc, so that the door can be opened to meet an emotional need: a friend, encouragement, support, etc, so that I can point my new friends toward the only thing person that can meet their most pressing need. Their spiritual need.
Would you join me in carrying this burden? I need your help to answer this calling on my life.
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Thank you for reading this, beloved. Feel free to check out my previous blogs to learn more.
