Sacrifice: an act of giving up something valued for the sake of something else regarded as more important or worthy
We are spending the month at a beautiful place in the Philippine Islands called Mount Moriah. This was named after the story in the bible where Abraham, by faith, took his son to be sacrificed to the land of Moriah, which was the place where the Lord provided another offering even better instead of His son. After the Lord showed up in a beautiful way Abraham named this place “on the mount of the Lord it shall be provided” or “the Lord will provide”.
The first night we were here, Auntie Grace, sat down with us and told us all about the testimonies of this place. She told us how the Lord had provided this plot of land for her, that it started with the children’s home, and now is so much more. She told us how she originally had this land as an orchard and it had many fruit trees that brought in much of her income, but she kept hearing from the Lord that she needed to get rid of the fruit trees and make sports fields to bring more children to this place for camps. She called it ‘being stupid for the Lord’. With every tree that got bulldozed tears came down her eyes as she thought about the work she had put into each one and how many crops they had given her, but by faith she knew the Lord had something better in mind.
The next day we looked out onto the field where hundreds of kids had gathered, we played soccer and basketball with gangsters and kids from all over the island, we shared the gospel and loved in Jesus’ name, and as we worshipped on that field that night, God gave me His eyes to see the spiritual fruit that He had made instead. That He had saved thousands of kids lives, that He had fed thousands of families on this land which was far richer than any fruit cultivated by human hands.
The director of Kids International Ministries asked Grace this past weekend, “so has God made all your dreams come true?” and Grace said, “Oh no, I never could have even dreamed of something like this”. Because Grace sacrificed her life, because she gave up what she thought she wanted by faith for something better, God gave her more, God gave her something beyond her wildest dreams, because like Abraham she said ‘Here am I my God’, like Noah who didn’t even know what rain was and built an arc to survive the flood she said yes to things unseen. Like Moses she considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of the world. And now through her faith, even though she dies she will still speak. (Hebrews 11)
God is teaching me through these people, He is speaking to me, ‘lose your life, lose your life, lose your life, and you will FIND IT! Can’t you see? Are you starting to get it now?’. Everytime I get down on my face in front of the Lord humbled, realizing that my life is in God’s hands that I have nothing without Him, I lift my face from that humble state and God is even more beautiful than before. Yes the lower I go, the less I live for myself the higher God is exalted in my life, the more beautiful he becomes to me and the people around me!
One of my prayers this last month is that the Lord will convict me more and discipline me more to truly live by faith and deeper intimacy with Him! I want to abandon (leave empty or uninhabited, without intending to return) the life I live for myself, and learn with each act of faith to really start to find my life! This has been my desire starting the race and this last month the Lord is giving me deeper revelations of what that really means. Once again I am humbled.
Please pray for me and my team this last month, that the Lord with create in us a pure heart and renew His steadfast spirit within us. You guys have been so amazing this year, I couldn't of done it with out all of your prayers, love and support:)
“If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for the a city”
-Hebrews 11: 15-16
