Sometimes in life you get caught up in the swing of things, life becomes mundane and boring. You feel stuck doing the same motions every single day, day in and day out. The real question is, why? We start becoming comfortable. This also happens in our relationship with the lord, we get just caught up with our daily routine of “get up, read my bible, go to church, be a nice person” and then repeat that every single day. What I have learned with my relationship with in Lord on the race is, if you try hard enough, that relationship will never cease to amaze. When I had first started the race I was like “woohoo this is great, me and my Jesus are going to connect sooo well”, but sometimes that isn’t the case. Alright, time to be real with my readers. Lets start with India, me and Jesus struggled a little bit, I could not see his heart in the things happening around me. It was not his fault that our relationship was rocky though, it was mine. I felt like he had stopped talking to me, but in all reality, I stopped listening. So Nepal comes around and I was like okay its my time to get right with my Jesus, and it happened. I put my own pride down and started digging deeper in His word, but we were still pretty busy so it was not exactly what I wanted yet. Zimbabwe was next, and wow, the Lord took a pull at my heart. That was such a good month of ministry, church, and personal quiet time. We had enough time during the day that I could set aside as much time as I wanted with the Lord. Zimbabwe was more of a out spoken crazy vibe with my Jesus. I got to preach a lot and just worship in crazy ways. Following that month I went to Zambia. I had prayed before then to see how I should walk into that month. The Lord told me basically to do the opposite of my personality. I took a more quiet stand back month. He told me to be still in His presence and listen. Wow, it was sure an intimate month with my father. We did many listening prayers and just prayers all around. Me and the lord grew closer in ways I would not have known if I had just stuck with my crazy loud side of the relationship. He taught me that being still in his presence and listening is actually okay to do. It opened my heart and eyes to the soft side of the lord, the side of comfort and beauty. He taught me to step out of the boat and take his hand on this new journey with him. I’m now in my second to last country, Malawi. It is time to grow so much with Jesus through his word. The lord put on my heart to start going through the Old Testament, so I am doing just that. It is now the time to see the just side of the Lord, the ultimate power the father really holds. Now I hope you do not get me wrong, it was a good first half of the race, there are always going to be bumps, but the Lord does not leave during that time. As the second half of the race has begun, I’m ready to take it head on with my Jesus. I’m ready to take whatever he throws my way, hard or easy. Your relationship with the lord can become bumpy, but it is not the lord who needs to change that, it is you. Do not let your relationship with him get boring, you can always find a new exciting adventure to go on with the Lord. He is not just a guy in heaven who we feel like we need to have quiet time with and pray too. He is a friend, a father, and brother, someone ready for a true relationship with his child. If you find yourself getting weary, remember that he is ready to break that weariness and take you on the race he has set before you, running a little ahead so that he can push you to do better. Jesus is a cool dude, we just need to realize that he is. That He is not just some scary guy, but that he is actually our friend. Are you willing to get out of that mundane swing of life and take his outstretched hand to go on a crazy ride with the Lord? I know I sure am.
Love from Malawi, Mara
