**living in the bush of Africa has its limitations…sorry for not posting in a while! Here is a blog I wrote from two months ago**
Top 6 things I want to remember:
As month 6 comes to a close, I can’t help but reminisce on all the Lord has done thus far. Here are six things I want to remember from month six:
- The Holy Spirit lives IN me. It’s so easy for me to separate Christ and myself. If anything good comes from me, then I say it’s not me at all. I say it was solely from Christ. I trust in God but forget to trust and believe in the Holy Spirit that God placed IN me. I tell myself I want to give God all the glory, which is good, but what if giving God the glory means acknowledging the Holy Spirit in me and trusting myself? I needed to start believing the Lord works through ME and His Spirit lives in ME. Once I started believing it, the next step was walking boldly in that Truth with confidence and humility.
- Family fights for each other (not with each other). These past few months my teammates and I have become my family. I realized that we aren’t family just because we live together and do life together. We are family because we genuinely love each other and desire to see one another be all the Lord has called us to be. We laugh, cry, mourn, and rejoice together. We carry each other’s burdens. This is what family is. It’s easy to get into a mindset that because our family will always be our family, we don’t need to build and fight for the relationship. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. So, when I go home, I will fight for my family. I will fight for Rachel and Josh. They’re worth it.
- Cops and robbers. I’m gonna catch what God is doing in my life instead of stealing his moments as my own. And I’m going to do that with authority. It’s so easy to become numb to all the amazing things the Lord is doing and lack giving Him the glory. The Lord is at work every single day, in every single moment. I have been left in awe countless times this year, and I never wish to say it’s anything less than the Lord on the move.
- Intimacy is key. God has so many inheritances to lavish on us, and to receive them we need to abide in His presence. From being with Him, everything else flows. An encounter with Him is transforming. Intimacy strengthens us.
- Resting is succumbing to His promises while wallowing is succumbing to circumstances. To me, resting in the Lord sounds wonderful. I mean, it is wonderful. Peace and quiet, and a good excuse to get away from the constant community. But I realized that sometimes when I “rested”, I would leave that time more stressed, anxious, and/or sad. I thought I was spending time with the Lord but I realized I was just wallowing in my circumstances and focusing on the world. Once I changed my perspective and truly rested in His promises for me, my soul felt restored. I shifted the focus from my feelings and worldly circumstances to my feelings and His promises.
- God fully knows me and wants me. For so long I wanted people to fully, 100% know and understand me and my words so I can disciple them well and give them what they need. BUT what the Lord has revealed to me is that He already fully knows and understands me. He wants to give me what I need and give other people what they need. And He gives in abundance. He doesn’t need me, He wants me!
It’s easy to forget about all the Lord has done in my life. It’s easy to focus on the current struggles and forget how truly faithful the Lord is and rely on that. But the Lord has done SO much. Sometimes we just need to still our mind and ask the Lord to reveal his goodness and faithfulness. Once we ask Him and invite Him into our struggle, I can promise you He won’t be shy. The Lord has so much to show you! So, I encourage you, today, to sit down and ask the Lord to open your eyes to see what He has done, what He is doing, and what He will do. Write your own list and don’t be afraid to go back to it when you need a reminder. Because let’s be real, we all need the reminder of how faithful God is sometimes.
