Adventures WorldRace SethBarnes Sponsorship Giving

| by archiveworldraceblogs

Day 1:

I started out with some goals for my time with God.  Each day I accomplished some goals, and gained some new ones.  On the first day I was able to use the goals as a starting point on where to go with God.  He then directed the rest of the day, without me thinking about the goals, and by the end of the day I saw how He had taken me though many of the different areas that I had wanted to.  It was really interesting the way that happened.  The way the day went was a little jumbled, with somethings occuring out of sequence from the order that I can make sense of.  After talking about it later on with some people though, I saw how it all fits together.  This is what I learned on this first day of processing (which was 2 days later than planned because I was really sick in bed- having recovered from that stomach stuff I now have a really bad cough). 

The first really awesome thing God showed me was His protection.  I had asked Him where He was, and what His perspective on the whole event was.  He showed me a couple of really funny pictures to demonstrate His protection of us through out.   I saw us all huddled on the floor of our dorm room and God was over us, protecting us like either Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak or the force field orb shield that the little girl on The Incredibles has.  He also showed me that when I stood up to go get my money for the guy out of my purse (which funny enough he had already stolen my wallet, which later on was found with my money still in it), God was still all around me, like He had split into 2 force fields. 

At another point I was asking God why I had reacted the way that I had.  I asked God why I had allowed my heart to get as hard as I had.  He told me it was because although I still had my faith, I hadn’t quite given Him my WHOLE HEART yet.  My foundational trust had been built this year, but I hadn’t given Him complete control, I was still basing our relationship on my feelings.  Later on though (I mentioned nothing happened in sequence) I was about to read my Bible, and I am reading through it from start to finish.  I have been reading Jeremiah, and so far it hadn’t been too exciting.  In my mind it was almost like a challenge to God to see if He could keep speaking to me through Jeremiah like He had been speaking to me all day.  I don’t know why I had been thinking that way, but it was just a fleeting thought.  Then something amazing happened.  God spoke through Jerermiah!  Using the same words He had said to me earlier!  (He is speaking of those who had been captured and taken to Babylon AKA something bad had happened to them).
                                                                              Jeremiah 24:7 
               I will make them want to know me, that I am the Lord.  They will be my people and I will be 
                                 their God, because they will return to me with their WHOLE HEARTS.
God is promising me here that I will be able to give Him my whole heart.  He had also really been impressing on me the verse Romans 8:28 We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love Him.  He is showing me that through this event He will be able to use it for good, to help me realize I still had more to give Him.  When I give my heart wholly to God I will be such a better person.

Being better includes my choice to be in India.  I have chosen to be here, I have not been forced here.  My mom told me I could go home, Michael had been wondering if I needed to go home, and God told me that even though it wasn’t the best choice if I really wanted to that I could go home (I had only ever been questioning going home for a month, not for the rest of the year).  Since I have chosen to be here through the heat, the bouts of no electricity and water, and my constant illness (although I hadn’t gotten sick yet when I decided to stay) I can be more effective (when I get healthy) since I don’t feel like I have been forced here.  God told me all that too.

The last thing that He showed me on that first day with Him was about my fear.  I was reading 2 Corinthians as well.  As I was reading I came across this verse (it’s funny how although I read in order the verses I need are always in that days reading).
2 Corinthians 7:5-6 When we came into Macedonia we had no rest..  We found trouble all around us.  We had fighting on the outside and fear on the inside.  But God, who comforts those who are troubled, comforted us when Titus came. 

 

The first thing I found striking was that by changing 3 simple words those verses apply exactly to me.  Here is the verse again with only 3 word changes.

When we came into the Brown Sugar we had no rest.  We found trouble all around us.  We had thieves on the outside and fear on the inside.  But God, who comforts those who are trouble, comforted us when the Hindes’s came.

The fact that Paul talks about having fear made me feel a lot better about having had fear inside me.  Although we aren’t supposed to worry and be afraid, sometimes it happens.  Even Paul got scared!  If Paul had fear, then certainly it is ok that I was afraid.  The point is to not get stuck in the fear and live in fear forever.  He then comforted me with Psalm 23:4 Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil because you are with me.  Your rod and your staff they comfort me.  The “staff” is the stick that shepherds use to guide their sheep.  What they verse is saying is that God’s guidance comforts me, and I don’t need to be afraid when I am following His lead.  (Within the next couple of days I received an email from my aunt who sent me this same verse to comfort me.  It’s amazing how God works).

Even now as I am writing this, I am seeing how more of what God said to me that day fits in (that is why journalling is important, so that you have everything written down, whether you think it is important or not).   I don’t need to be afraid when I am following God’s guidance.  This is proved by more of what spoke to me through Jeremiah.  The safest place to be is in God’s will.  3 prophets in Jeremiah 26 were going to be killed because of the messages God had been giving through them.  Two of those prophets were ready to die for God, and His words.  Because of their submission to God and authority God caused the leaders to believe them and therefore save them from death.  However, the third, after hearing of his impending death ran away to Egypt.  There he was found, dragged back home and killed.  It is best to stick it out with God’s plans, because like Caroline said “unless God says it’s ok no gun will ever shoot us”.

As you can see, Day 1 was full of revelations and comforting from God.  He spoke to me through pictures, thoughts and the Bible.  He revealed the source of my reaction, helped me to understand my fear, showed me where He was during it, and gave me His perspective.  The second day was another day of revelations, but it was not so warm-fuzzy, and a lot harder to hear.  Read my next blog to see how it went.