Over the past week the Lord has been showing me many things about myself through my team and through His Word. One reoccurring theme that I have been hearing is that my identity is not found in my comfort zone.
For as long as I can remember I have relied upon my ability to make people laugh to avoid being examined and avoid examining myself. Whether it was feeling inadequate in school and accepting the roll as class clown or just steering away from deep conversation by trying to keep the mood light, I have been scared of getting below the surface for fear of exposing exactly who I am to the world. But who am I really? Why does God love me? Obviously God knows precisely who I am down to the number of hairs on my head, and yet He still died for me. This is amazing!
There is so much freedom knowing that I have done nothing to earn God’s love. No amount of jokes I tell or people I make feel good will cause God to love me more. God loves me because He is love, I am His creation and was created to love and be loved by Him.
Ephesians 2 talks about how it is not by works but by grace I have been saved, so I cannot brag about what a great person I am. I have been thinking a lot about this recently and have come to the realization that I should not do things because I want to earn His love, but rather do things because I want to show my love for Him. This is an amazing concept I have been wrapping my mind around over the past few days. I am grateful to God for His Word and the fact that it's alive and active. What a gift! Speaking of gifts… I celebrated my 25th birthday last Thursday and was blessed by my teammates through their words and actions. You know people truly love you when the cake they make for you has a crushed up snickers bar on top! Thanks guys! I love ya!
Below are some random photos taken over the past week. I have been so blessed by Mission Possible and am loving our ministry this month. I wish I had more photos of our work, but they would all be of me digging holes and dumping dirt. As I am writing this I am having ideas for another post, it may be awhile so I'll share it now.
It could be real easy for me to consider what my team and I are doing this month to be of less worth than if we were preaching or witnessing everyday. However 1st Corinthians 12 comes to mind. It talks about the body of Christ and how each part of the body serves a specific purpose. Some parts seem to be of more importance than others, however; the body would not be whole if it lacked any given piece. To me this means that the guy cleaning the bathrooms at church is equally as important as the Deacons or the person on stage preaching the sermon. It is all about being obedient and serving where you are called. I also think about the Parable of Talents in Matthew 25 and how I desire to here God say "well done good and faithful servant. You were faithful over the small things and because of that I will put you in charge over big things." God is good! It is such a joy learning new things and rediscovering things I once knew. God bless!
An amazing birthday cake!
Hiking and Hanging out with the team
