FREELY YOU HAVE RECEIVED SO FREELY GIVE

Month 3 in Ireland has been amazing. It is hard to put into words what this month has meant to me so far. God has brought me through hitting rock bottom, to a season of joy and dancing, to 3 days of depression and rejection, to an overwhelming season of amazing lessons and completely wrecking my life in an awesome way to show me what it means to freely give, serve, live in community, and love. It can be overwhelming because I am learning and growing so much I could spend all day processing and journaling. I am learning SO much through living in community this month with our contacts, Cathy and Jim, 2 other teams, my own team, and foster children. Learning to share all things and serve one another in complete love have been some amazing lessons that have rocked my world. I have never experienced this before; it’s different then having roommates in college and different then living with my own family. I am so incredibly grateful for this opportunity because it is completely different then anything I have ever done in my life.

Last weekend Jim took us on a road trip for the weekend to the Cliffs of Mohor, which is probably the most beautiful thing I have ever seen before. That road trip was one I will never forget…sharing God’s word on the streets, beaches, in multiple cities, and also spending time in community (9 people in a RV) going on amazing adventures, and learning awesome lessons from the Lord. One that I want to share with you……..

There is Something More…………

          One night the boys slept in their tents on the beach and the girls slept in the RV on the side of the street. I woke up to an ocean view with a cliff, green grass, and beautiful horses playing in a field. I smiled, grabbed my sweater, bible, and journal, and headed out to sit on a stonewall facing the water. I sat there mesmerized by God’s beauty and His creation, praised him for his words and the way he is changing my life one day at a time… just told him how much I loved him. God spoke beautiful words over me that day and they went something like this…

…You are mine, you are my daughter, and I love you. Everything my hand touches is beautiful, as are you. With all that I have taught you and been growing in you these last few months there is still more. You may feel as though you have learned so much and you are afraid to go any farther because of the fear of the unknown. You may feel content in where you are right now, bwut my daughter there is still more. My thoughts are not your thoughts, my eyes are not your eyes, there is so much more, so much more then meets the eye. More treasures to find, more beauty to see, more love to be poured out, don’t stay where you are, continue to run after Me…

…Then he said get up and run Emily. Run after Me with all your heart and seek my face. I said, “God do you literally want me to run right now?” And he said, “Yes!”. So I jumped back into the RV and put on my running shoes, jumped over that stonewall (haha that was an interesting process), and ran. I ran out into the field of green grass straight to the cliff with the ocean below it that I had been staring at all morning in awe of God’s creation.

And you know what happened when I reached the end of the cliff, running hard after Jesus? I found a world of more…more beauty, more treasures, more wonderful things. See from where I was sitting on the wall I could not see what was beyond that cliff. From my perspective there was nothing but water… because it’s all I could see.

I sat there on the edge of that cliff in complete awe with what was before me. Beauty beyond description. In this time God taught me loud and clear so many things. He wants me to run hard after him, he has more for me then I could ever imagine, and a vivid picture of being unaware that there could even be more if I sit back in my own perspective and thoughts. The fear and pride of own human nature can keep us from that something more. I encourage you to run after the Lord with all your heart and believe that there is something more. Because there always is with God!!