Today, I got this huge revelation on how to live life with Jesus.
It starts with The Prayer of Saint Francis:
“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.”
This prayer became an anthem for me in the summer of 2015 when I served at a Young Life camp for a month on an island in British Columbia (practically heaven on earth). I began to discover that we will actually receive what we need in giving others what they need oftentimes. While we need time alone with Jesus, there are also facets of his face that are hidden in others, in community, in the moments we spend serving. It is kind of a wild, upside-down concept for the way the world thinks. The world would probably recommend going and finding something if you need it, but I think the way of God is often to give what you need to someone else, and then you will get what you need.
//Today I experienced the “learning” that is hidden in teaching and the encouragement that is hidden in the encouraging.
I have felt a bit stuck in my relationship with Jesus the past month, just less excited, less on fire than I normally am. I attributed the “stickiness” to not having as much time in worship with others or not having some of my dear friends close-by anymore. Today I think my quandary was solved.
I met up with a friend I am discipling who I met when I was leading WyldLife (Young Life for middle schoolers) when she was in 7th grade and now she’s in 10th grade. It has been the MOST life-giving time reconnecting with her while I’m back in town, and staying connected over the past few years. Seeing Jesus draw her to Himself and show her how He sees her is priceless.
Today, I gave her a devotional book called The Blue Book by Jim Branch (I highly recommend this for a Jesus follower of almost any age). I got this book when I became a leader as a junior in high school, and it was my constant companion for time with Jesus, and guided me through learning His nature through the Bible and spending time in prayer. I have specific memories of moments where I read this devotional and Jesus showed Himself so near and intimate to me.
We went through a page of this devotional together today and as we read the scriptures, I helped guide her by giving her tips for reading the Bible and asking her questions about what she read. (Discipleship is so simple, y’all. I’m blown away! Holy Spirit does so much in the simple obedience.) While I was just pouring out what Jesus has taught me, and hearing how she was understanding and relating to scripture, something clicked inside of me, like the release and freedom of finally finding a lost key to a door you need opened. As we were sitting together, the Lord was speaking to me so gently and so profoundly, and I finally felt the release and fire of knowing Him deeper that I’ve been longing for and praying for, for weeks!
As I was teaching her, I was learning, and the Holy Spirit was enlightening my heart to the growth and wisdom He had been tending inside of me that I didn’t even realize I had! The Gardener has been working and in the process of me sowing into the good soil of my friend’s life, my eyes were opened to see trees that have been growing inside of me. All of the sudden I am filled with gratitude and joy and hunger for more of Jesus.
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Another facet to what I learned today was that as my friend and I were opening the Word of God together, seeking Him, the atmosphere around us shifted. I could feel light coming from heaven and landing on where we were sitting. We did not share the gospel with anyone else, or do any crazy deed for anyone, but I believe we did something in the atmosphere that will affect every person who was around us.
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We read Mark 8:34-38 today,
“And [Jesus] calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Update: I committed to a new World Race Route that leaves in August 2021!!
As I was deciding which route I would choose to go on in August 2021, I heard the Lord say, “choose” and I felt the most excitement and joy on this Expedition Route: https://www.worldrace.org/route/world-race-august-2021-expedition/. This route has an emphasis on sharing the gospel with unreached groups of people. I have been feeling really stirred recently for people who have never even heard of the gospel or Jesus, and specifically Muslims and the Middle Eastern part of the world. I am overjoyed that I get to teach, share the gospel, love on, and pray for many of God’s children while I am overseas on the World Race next year. I am so expectant to find more of who Jesus is in others, in places, where he has hidden himself from Spain to Romania to Kyrgyzstan to India to Thailand and many other countries where I will go August 2021-June 2022 and also in my teammates! I feel so honored that I get to minister to people that God puts in my path this year, and I am also honored that many of you are coming alongside of me, and that by supporting me, you get to minister to these people, and most importantly minister to Jesus Himself. He is so blessed by you, yes you!!! Please reach out if you already feel a tug to partner with me in prayer or financially for me to go on this trip, or if you just want to know more!
Happy almost Thanksgiving, may you be filled with gratitude and revelation of Jesus’ cross and resurrection and Holy Spirit’s constant presence with us. And may you find Jesus in your family, friends, and those you disciple, just like I did today.
I love this version of the Prayer of St. Francis in song-form: https://youtu.be/UTrBRTDlwvo
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Maranatha (“come Lord Jesus”)
Your friend, Lucy Smoot
