!!Quick Update!!
Current Location: Sofia, Bulgaria
Ministry: ATL (Ask The Lord)
Percent Funded: 76.5% Praise God!!!
Final Deadline: Nov. 30th
Greetings!!! It has been a minute, or two….or about 57,600 since my last blog.
There is so much to catch you up on, so I’ll try to summarize 😉
To start things off, I learned to do THIS!
I learned how to put GIFs into my blogs!
These will only pop up on occasion, just wanted to have some fun to start things off. Not sure why I heard a mad scientist laugh in my head, but that’s what I went with, … Mwa ha ha haaaa!
So, what was this last month like?
These last few weeks in Bulgaria, my team has been doing what Adventures In Missions calls “ATL” ministry.
ATL Ministry – (Ask The Lord) this is an entire month of unstructured, unplanned ministry; no ministry host, no local contact, no specific idea of what we will be doing or where in the country we’ll do it.
That is, until we ask God.
Is your expression close to that of these two? (And yes, that is Eleven from Stranger Things with longer hair.) If so, the answer to your question is YES! A resounding, life changing, world shaping YES! God still talks to His people in the here and now. For a little more insight into this amazing gift of grace, check out this amazing blog written by my teammates Megan Small! She does a great job of explaining what it means to hear from God, and what that is like for her. If it asks for a password, jump down to the bottom of this blog for that password and a little more about why that is and why my blog will soon be the same way.
https://megansmall.theworldrace.org/post/hearing-god
My own experience with God’s voice
For me personally, I have never heard the audible voice of God, although I have heard of such things before. When God speaks to me, it’s like thoughts running across the forefront of my mind that I can tell are not my own. If all my thoughts are a nice, lively shade of orange, its like these thoughts are a deep, calm shade of blue.
Sometimes it’s super clear, a simple phrase, or even just a single word and that’s all it takes to wreck my world. Sometimes it’s more like a feeling, a gentle nudge, and yet also a captivating call to action, such as to talk to a certain person who looks like they need a little hope, to ask that person on the other side of the counter at starbucks if there is any way I can pray for them, or to simply start up a conversation with the person who grabs the seat next to me on the bus and ask how their day is going.
On some occasions, it’ll even be a picture, an illustration that will hold meaning to a certain person, even if it doesn’t mean anything to me. Like my friend Megan, and like the rest of my team, this is something I am still learning and growing in. I certainly don’t have it all figured out. It is only in the last few months that I have gotten better at recognizing my His voice over my own, especially in this last month. When what you do every day depends entirely on hearing from God, you tend to spend more time talking to Him. Like any other relationship, the more you talk to someone, the more likely you are to recognize their voice in a crowd.
Our everyday lives are pretty noisy. With work, school, church, and that to-do list I’ve been trying to get to for a week, it adds up. Did that game on my phone finish loading yet? Oh look, I have 15 notifications on Facebook! I still need to post that picture of me on a mountain on Instagram. Did I do my 5 minute spanish lesson yet today? I wonder if I have enough clean underwear to last until I get to Asia, or should I find out where to do laundry tomorrow?……
God has a lot of competition when it comes to our attention. He won’t force himself upon us. He gave both you and I free will so that we would have the opportunity to CHOOSE Him, and thus LOVE Him. Love can’t exist without a choice, that is what makes it valuable, that’s what makes it the only thing that holds any value not only here, but in eternity.
What does it look like to “Choose God”?
Just talk to Him. Show Him with your actions that you value Him above all the noise. I don’t mean while are you waiting for someone to Snap you back or reply to a text and not when you are waiting for the light to turn green or during commercials. I’ve done all those things, and it certainly didn’t work for me. Set aside some time to speak to God, to worship Him, to simply get to know Him! You can’t get to know someone, you can’t deepen a relationship with them, if you never talk to them and also give them a chance to talk back.
At first, you might not hear anything. You will probably feel like it’s a waste of time after about 20 seconds and decide to fill that time with something else. Maybe I’m just projecting, because that’s what I’ve done for years. But if you sit still for more than a few seconds, pray a simple prayer, let God know that this is a time for just the two of you, that you are seeking Him, pursuing Him. If you are persistent in showing God that you value the time that you can spend with Him, you will be surprised by what comes next. Our God is a good Father, and He loves spending time with His children.
This was my ATL
Over the course of this month, I had my highs, and I had my lows. Going into ATL, I was looking forward to how God would speak to me, and the lost people I would get to reach out to as a result. But without any structure, without any schedule, I tend to grow a bit lax in my daily stuff, such as reading, praying, and simply spending time with God.
About 10 days into this past month, I began to judge myself pretty heavily. I felt like I wasn’t being productive enough with my time, that I wasn’t doing enough ministry, and that I was subsequently wasting all the time, prayers, and support that people have poured into me over the past year to get me where I am. I wasn’t hearing from God, I felt cut off from Him and I began to isolate myself from the rest of my team a little bit as well. I then realized that I had fallen once again into one of the oldest and simplest traps of the enemy. All the while the solution was oh so simple…..I just needed to spend time with my Creator.
“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.”
John 15:4
At this time, the team was trying to decide where we would go next. Several member of the team felt lead to a city called Plovdiv at the beginning of the month, and we all felt that our time there had come to an end.
And then He spoke
While praying about where to head next, God gave me a picture. I saw the ocean crashing against tall cliffs, and God told me “Go east.” When our group convened and discussed travel plans, only myself and my team mate Andy Lewis felt lead to go east to the Bulgarian coast, he had gotten almost exactly the same thing I had from his prayer time. The rest of the team felt lead back west to the city of Sofia where we had started the month. We all discussed it, and after getting the go ahead from our squad mentor back in the states, Andy and I went east knowing that the rest of the group would be praying for us just as we prayed for them. The next day we arrived in the city of Varna on the coast of the Black Sea. My first few days on the coast I did a lot of reading, praying, etc., all I could think of to connect with Him. After four days on the coast, God finally told me, “I didn’t bring you here to struggle, I brought you here to learn. Stop stressing out, you are supposed to enjoy yourself.”
So, I simply enjoyed my time with the Lord in Varna. Andy and I walked around just about the entire city. We had great conversations with the locals, who were mostly super kind. I splurged a bit and used my personal money to buy a skateboard for cruising around the coast. Varna was full of parks and bike paths, nearly all with a view of the sea. God is good.
I had learned my lesson, or rather I was reminded of one that God has had to hammer into my thick head many times before. “Stay connected to the vine.” Just spend some time each day hanging out with God and getting to know Him better. I can try to force ministry all I want, but it won’t bear any true fruit unless it comes from a place of spiritual overflow, not the dregs remaining from my last encounter with God.
God wants to lead you on an amazing journey, but he doesn’t want to just hand you a road map and a list of directions, He wants to be more involved than that. God don’t just drop the Israelites in the desert and give them a heading, He was with them every step of the way, refining them, maturing them, preparing them for the promised land that He set aside for them. Don’t just get to the next fork in the road and ask Him which way to turn. If you are so busy talking with Him and simply knowing Him, enjoying Him, you’ll suddenly look up and realized that you have arrived at your destination, and oh what a magnificent place it will be.
Thank you so much for reading! This month has been yet another crazy ride, and I love the opportunity to bring you into my journey through these blogs. God bless you, have an amazing day, and I hope you carve out a spirit filling, life changing chunk of it for just you and your Creator, you loving Father, the Author of your amazing story, and the lifelong pursuer of your heart.
Closed Countries and Passwords
Vietnam is a closed country, meaning it is illegal for us to openly preach the gospel. In order to protect ourselves and the ministries we will be working with, our blogs will be locked with a password for the duration of the month. The password for my blog and everyone else in my squad will be
ISQUAD2018
all caps, no spaces.
My blog will be locked starting tomorrow, because then I’ll be setting foot in Vietnam!
Once again, I would like to invite you to make my journey, your journey! Here are three simple ways:
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The most important, PRAY.
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Donate. (If you would like to donate, click the orange “Donate!”button in the top right-hand corner or reach out to me for more information!)
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