I have been in Pitesti, Romania about 2 weeks now. It is beautiful. The people are beautiful. We have been spending most of our time at a church called Living Hope. Cristi Golas, a wonderful wise man of the Lord has been pastoring here for the past 5 years. It has been an abundant blessing to serve under and with Cristi. He loves his country and all the people in it. He has a beautiful wife and 3 adorable children. Aside from being a husband, father and pastor, he also does ministry in Razboieni, a gypsy community, near the church. He has given us the honor this month to work alongside of him with the children in Razboieni.
It has brought me so much joy to be with these children. Teaching them English, music, dance and dramas have only been the surface level of what I am really doing here. Actually, I am not doing anything…what I mean is, I am not doing anything…without God.
God has opened up a door here in Romania to deeply love is children, to embrace and interact with them intentionally because of the overflow of love God has filled me with. It’s truly an amazing thing to see the face of God in children you have known for only 2 weeks. But when God gets a hold of your heart, His supernatural love starts to flow out of your every word, out of your every smile, and out of your every action in a natural way.
Alex- Day 1 in Razboieni was a little tentative having the strange English speaking lady (me) hold his hand to help him form letters on his notebook page.
Day 2, he insisted that I sit next to him during the English lesson and when it was time to leave gave me a big hug.
Day 3, I finished talking to the children about what it means to be a son or daughter of God and then sat down in a seat next to Alex. He took my hand and drew a heart on it in green marker. He then wrote His name in the heart.
(One of my most treasured moments on the Race)
I can love because He first loved me.
He first chose me and loved me, so now I can love others.
I can supernaturally shine Christ’s light onto darkened hearts
and bring restoration to broken lives.
And that overflow of unconditional love can become a natural thing.
Not normal, or ordinary, but natural.
It can become instinct; it can become life.
Because this God that I worship is crazy big.
And He is crazy in love with His kids.
He is crazy in love with you!
"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." -Romans 8:37-39
