Abiding.
Read John 14, 15, 16.
Go on. Just read it.
Jesus says that he will give us love and joy. He will send His Helper when we obey His commandments, and we choose to love.
He says that He will give us whatever we ask when we choose Him. When we choose to abide in Him. Because he loves us so stinkin much.
We arrived in Ireland last Wednesday. And it’s been non-stop greatness ever since. In Romania God was saying…you just wait. I know this is really hard now. But I have so much coming for you. So much good. You can’t even imagine. Joy has come in the morning. We are at last able to be joyful. We are last able to not just reach for a light at the end of a tunnel. But we are able to go sunbasking in the goodness of God.
Our contacts are fabulous this month. We are working with two ministries. First, with Lighthouse ministries. Working with the homeless, heroin and alcohol addicts, refugees. The outcast. The forgotten. We serve them food. We give them clothing. We listen to their drunken and desperate stories and pray with them. We speak life and tell them of a hope they’ve never dared dream imagine.
This week we are also working with Dublin Christian Mission to prepare for a camp we will be putting on next week. It’s a family camp near the Southern coast of Ireland. The theme will be stories that Jesus told. So pray for us. Pray as we prepare to show them truth. To tell them of a real Jesus. Our contact convictingly told of us her heart for these people. These people who have been for so long caught up in legalistic Catholicism and tradition. Trapped in do’s and don’ts. In seeing Jesus as a list of things to do and not do.As guilt and shame. But that what they need is a real Jesus that they can connect to. That understands that they aren’t perfect. Christians with real stories of when and how they messed up, but how God loved them anyways and had bigger things for them.
They’re ready for something so much more than sacraments and rituals. They’re ready to meet to meet their maker face to face.
So pray for us. As we prepare for this camp next
week. When we get to tell them our stories. When we get to tell them THE story.
Meanstwhile. We are staying at a hostel in the middle of Dublin. Trying to seek God’s face. Trying to see the sights. Today we walked 30 minutes to Phoenix park to see cricket matches and polo games. To have summersault contests on beautiful green lawns below massive statues.
We love it here. We are joyful and recovering soundly from last month. But more than that, I am learning to Abide in Him. In the good. In the bad. In the joy and the sorrrow. When ministry is easy and when its hard. I am learning to say “it is well with my soul” no matter where I am. No matter what He is doing.
