Pictures can not display the true beauty of Ecuador. Every day I see the distant mountains and I am amazed at how big they are. Houses dot the lower slopes of them and there are hundreds just like them on different slopes. The structural basis of each house is almost like each other. The roads point into the very lives of these people. The buses overflow with people doing every day things. The traffic pattern of this country is crazy. People run across busy roads, cars avoid each other surprisingly, and buses zigzag through all of the lanes of traffic-getting to their next destination. Among all of this chaos are people. People that work to make a living. Some of whom are fleeing Venezuela, their own country because the economy is falling apart. People who are made in the image of a loving God. A God who sacrificed His own Son, so that His creation could be with Him.
This God, My God, has done many awesome things for me. First off, He made me. Next, He saved me out of sin, the disease that would lead me to my ultimate eternal death. Next, He has given me a loving family and He also has adopted me into His family. He has shown me His presence through His Word and how He speaks to me. He has always been there for me and He always will be there for me. God has shown who He is through the creation all around me and the people that surround me.
Wow! God is worthy of all my worship and praise. He lets me live as His child, even though every day I fall to sin. He has forgiven me of the things that I have done and will do. He wants community between me and Him. A relationship where He can speak from His end of the conversation and I can ask for the desires of my heart if I truely want what He wants. He wants to show Himself to me. He is ready. The question is; “Am I”? Am I ready to submit to the King of all things? The One who wants to transform me into a person that strives to be like Him. Once I submit to this way of life, it isn’t submission at all. It is the welcoming arms of a father, that welcomes his child after running away from home. This year especially, I have seen God more than ever. I have seen the ways He shows Himself to His people. He wants to make Himself known to me. I have seen my God answer the prayers that I have. I have seen Him speak through another brother in Christ, who listened to the Lord’s voice and told me something that was for me. This was a vision that tied directly to something I had been dealing with for some time.
Why then had I not been seeing and hearing the Lord in my life before? I believe I was living with the attitude that I had seen all that God could do. I wasn’t praying “dangerous” prayers, I wasn’t searching for His still voice, and I was caught up in the busyness of life. When I say “dangerous” prayers I mean; I wasn’t praying that the Lord would change me into how He wants me, I wasn’t ready to step out of my comfort zone when praying, and I didn’t pray for things that would dramatically change my appearance in front of other people. I needed to search for His still voice. Without it, I had been living each day and not asking to hear His voice in the day that was before me. This set up my day with a regular routine, and not focused on an awesome God who would show me what He wanted. Finally I was living in a busy life. Once I got up, the day would start. Everything would fall into order, except the one thing that should have been put first in my day, a quiet time with my Father. By opening up my day with a quiet time and reading His Word, I have been able to hear my Father’s still voice and learn more about Him when I am awake and ready to hear Him.
Once I heard my Father speak to me, I have been yearning to see more of Him. It’s almost like an addiction. I want more and more of Him each day. It’s cool to see how He will speak to me, and what He will show me. My prayer for myself is somewhat like what John the Baptist said; I want the Lord to increase in His glory and at the same time for me to decrease.
