I have spent the past few days in a valley of the High Atlas Mountains and now on the western edge of the Saharan desert, marveling at the beauty of God’s creation. What a way to celebrate His resurrection after church on Easter, driving through what I would have to consider one of the most beautiful countries in this world (Okay, I may be a bit biased).
Some squadmates and I have decided to participate in the Daniel fast for the 21 days following Easter, and this has been the perfect time to start! I am attempting to be much more intentional about praying and really meditating on Gods word, and it has been awesome to just spend time with Him these past few days, really reflecting on what He is calling me to do.
Three Things He has Taught me About Living the Resurrection Life
1. I can’t do anything on my own. This truth really hit me a few weeks ago, as I listened to a sermon from my pastor here. I realized that in school (and on through college) things always came fairly easy to me; I got good grades without having to work too hard. I was pretty athletic, and even though I did have to work hard to be good at sports, it was always about me practicing and getting better. It was all about what I could do. I could be great if I just practiced enough… well, until I tore my ACL, and tore it again, and then again! Proverbs 3:5-7 says, “Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; He’s the one who will keep you on track.” As I was hiking up a mountain this weekend, I was getting nervous about blacking out (an issue I’ve had with altitude in the past), and God just spoke “Trust me.” We didn’t climb very high, but I did realize that even something so simple as hiking up a mountain, I can’t do on my own- it is only through Him.
2. Don’t hold back in worship. I was reading Matthew 2, where the wisemen went to see baby Jesus and when they saw Him “overcome, they kneeled and worshipped Him.” I want to worship my God like that, overcome by His glory and all that he has done. I joked with some of my squadmates, that if you walk into our church in Casablanca you see the sub-Saharan Africans dancing and jumping around to worship the Lord, and you see most of the Americans standing still, maybe tapping the pews in front of them or possibly swaying to the beat a bit. in reality, shouldn’t we all be so moved and overcome with joy that we can’t help but dance in praising all that the Lord has done?!
3. Pray for those who don’t know the good news of Jesus Christ dying on the cross for our sins. This has been heavily placed on my heart this week. I think about the joy and hope we celebrate on Easter with the resurrection of Christ and all that means to us. And it saddens me that there are so many people who don’t know this hope and joy! In John 14:6 Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one gets to the Father apart from me.” How many people in this world have yet to hear and believe this good news! This week, as Em and I were hiking to a Berber village in the mountains, we sat down to read. We came across about 20 Berber women who stopped near us, enthralled by my reading on an I-pad, and wanting some of our Daniel fast dried fruit and water 🙂 We talked with them for a while, as best we could, and even got invited for tea at their village (which we had to turn down as it was still quite a trek up the mountains), but the whole experience just confirmed in me this desire to get to know unreached people, people who do not know the Good News of Jesus, and to just be able to share all that He has done with them. Psalm 40:1-3 speaks, “I waited and waited and waited for God. At last he looked; finally He listened. He lifted me out of the ditch, pulled me from deep mud. He stood me up on a solid rock to make sure I wouldn’t slip. He taught me how to sing the latest God-song, a praise song to our God. More and more people are seeing this: they enter the mystery, abandoning themselves to God.” I pray that this Psam would be the story of my life.
