Hello! On Thursday morning I flew from L.A. to Taipei,
Taiwan and then to Bangkok, Thailand. In
Bangkok we went to a bus station and took a fourteen hour bus ride to Phuket,
Thailand. It was a looong few days of
travel, but we have finally settled in at our training location for the next
week! Thailand is gorgeous, the Pad Thai
is amazing, and I am really enjoying getting to know my squad. Over the next four days we will learn more
about Thailand, and be assigned to our partner ministries for the next month. I am eager to get started!
Views from outside our ministry.
As I
sat on the plane two days ago I prayed about what this year will look
like. The biggest prayer that God put on
my heart is that I would learn to listen to His voice. I know that God is always speaking, but so
often I am too distracted to listen. I
want to be one of those people who can truly hear from God in prayer, and
listen as He speaks into every area of my life.
Therefore,
I want everything that I do this year to come under God’s direction. When conflict arises, plans fall through, or
all is well, I want my eyes to be looking to Jesus and my ears to be open to
His voice.
“Let us
fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy
set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right
hand of the throne of God.”
– Hebrews 12:2
On a
related note, a few days ago my good friend Ben Henschel prayed for me before I
left. He prayed that I would have a hard
and difficult year. He prayed that these
trials would cause me to draw near to God.
Part of me just hates receiving prayers like that! And, thankfully, I know my grandma is praying
for safety and convenience (haha!). At
the same time though, I am so thankful because I know that Ben cares for me and
that many times this year things will be
hard. Already I have tasted just a tiny bit of affliction in spending over
forty hours straight in planes and busses – in being tired, cramped, and
smelly.
1 Peter
4:1 says,
“Therefore,
since Christ suffered in His body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude,
because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin.”
I believe
that this is saying that when I face suffering and affliction I should REJOICE,
just as Jesus endured the cross for the JOY set before Him. When I see how God carries me through the
valley I will fall more in love with Him and “be done with sin”.
I wrote
down a few resolutions in my journal that I hope will define this year:
- I resolve
that I will not complain to other people.
Instead, I will bring my pleas before God. - I
resolve that I will learn to rejoice
in suffering, because it is God’s chosen tool to refine my character. - I
resolve to pursue true humility. I am tired of thinking more about myself and neglecting others. - Above
all else, I resolve to seek Christ, and to keep my eyes fixed on His face!
That’s all for now! I will probably send out another update
before I leave training this week! I’m loving it!
