This is an excerpt from my journal the morning of our first travel day starting in Bogota, Colombia on April 2nd. I had not seen Greece. I had met no refugees. I had no idea what my future held. I knew God was good, but I had no idea how to prepare for Greece. “Show me something Lord,” I asked Him. He directed me to Psalm 127:1. It says:
“Unless the Lord build’s the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.”
Focusing on the Lord is the only way I can successfully love people in the refugee camps in Greece. My next prayer was, “Lord, show me something else for today. Unite us now for Your purposes so we can glorify You. You are beautiful, worthy and deserving of my praise. Lord, allow me to focus on Your wonder for a while, the vastness of who You are.”
I closed my eyes and this is what I saw:
A face set with glowing anointing oil and brilliant sunflowers. He paints millions of sunrises and sunsets all over the world each day pursuing His love. He fashions millions of mountains, waterfalls, beaches, and landforms in an ever changing mold to speak to individuals all over the globe in their exact location. He is so vast that if every human on the planet were to cry out to Him, He could lovingly respond to each one with no delay if it is His will, because nothing overwhelms Him. He overwhelms what overwhelms us.
Matchless Beauty. The King of Kings. The designer of Beauty. The Very Source and Definition of Love. He is a God so big that no box, thought, place, person, planet, or galaxy can contain Him. Combine the beauty of a sunset, the grace of a ballerina, the strength of an ox, and the sound of the ocean in a seashell. These things combined make up only a small fraction of the glory of our God.
His capacity for love is so vast that He loves the unlovable, forgives the unforgivable. He is a righteous God, Holy and Righteous in all His ways. He is a God who left His Kingdom, His throne and His Father to lower Himself in the sight of man. He came as a baby in this world, not just any baby, a baby that to the world, was born out of illegitimacy AND in a horses feeding trough. He, deserving of worship, glory and praise, left it all.
Because of what? Because of me? It can’t be.
Thirty-three years He toiled on earth, conquering temptation, beating sin, overcoming pain with love and THEN… in the end, when some thought all was lost, He OBLITERATED the grave so that NO ONE has to go there. He INVADED darkness with light, stealing MY punishment from ME, the punishment of every person who ever lived everywhere on this earth at every single moment in time. He CONQUERED it! It is FINISHED! Like a clever, perfect thief in the night, He found ME in MY pain and MY despair, in the darkest hopeless room with NO way out. He snuck in the room and stole the darkness, stole MY sin, My shame, MY despair, and instead…
He gave me LIFE! He gave me light, blessing, abundance, beauty, love, grace, mercy and joy, BUT the one that I can’t comprehend is that He GAVE me Himself! A FREE gift I didn’t deserve! He took away the darkness so that I could then have Him in its place. I had NO idea of this plan. I had NO hope! Before I knew it, I had life and light. The things I never deserved and never had hope for were set before me, as a gift. BUT, it is only if I desire. I get to CHOOSE Him, living life experiencing the DEEPEST love imaginable.
All this IS a choice. He is SO patient and SO loving. He has done ALL the work. Now, there are millions in their dark rooms sitting in hopeless despair and shame. We go with Him. This is HIS question. This is HIS call. “Arise my beautiful one and come with Me. GO and TELL the nations. You ARE an heir with Me. Now all of this beauty, power and love is YOURS to wield with My help, to bring MY light to the darkness and to bring MY Kingdom to the world. Have NO fear. I am WITH you. Conquer the darkness with MY love. GO.
