Being Foolish

"But God chose the foolish things of this world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things- and the things that are not- to nullify the things that are, so that NO ONE may boast before HIM." 1 Corinthians 1:27-29

I thoroughly enjoy this passage of scripture because first of all it takes away all pressure to become something or someone that I am not while allowing God to fulfill His purposes in me. What wisdom I do have comes completely from the Lord and if any strength is found in me certainly does not come from myself either. I freely choose to boast in the Lord alone for these things and stand before Him weak and foolish to be used for His glory and power. There are times that I feel utterly inadequate for the purpose He has set out before me, and those times increasingly grow as I learn that I can do nothing on my own. And when I feel overwhelmed with an increase in wanting Him, I come before Him hopeless in myself to attain any task set before me and cry out for His help and provision of strength. He graciously grants my prayer requests by giving me eyes to see my circumstance the way He sees them and the wisdom that comes through His Spirit alone to understand or be sustained through them. The time for my husband and I to leave for overseas is drawing close, and I am running out of time to prepare myself for such a great task. There is always thoughts in my mind of different things I need to do or checklists to get done, but too quickly I find that just like many who do their last minute Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve, I feel that anxiousness of scrambling for those best buys the night before Christmas as well! The one thing I dread the most in the coming days though is having to say goodbye to my family. My weakness is greatly revealed in my goodbyes...simply because I do not know how to put in words my deeply mixed emotions. I have been asking the Lord to grace my family and myself for that time. My emotions go up and down, I get extremely excited for our departure towards our new home and at the same time I am very sad to leave behind my loving and supporting family. If I could have it my way I would take all of them with me, along with my beautiful cat Bell. Sometimes I ask myself why walking in fulfillment to a call, being completely obedient to His leading, demands our sacrifice... and as soon as I think that thought I am quickly reminded of how Christ made sacrifices for us to have a relationship with our Father in Heaven and then I too am willing to follow in His steps. "..because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sins of many and made intercession for the transgressors." For Him to bring us to salvation required that He give His life...how could I expect the lost to be saved if I also did not give my life to God and to them. I guess what I am saying is that everything in me compels me to go save a lost people and everything in me desires to be with my family at the same time, but I choose to obey a call as my first obligation and an obligation that I can not ignore. If I were to stay in the States I would be miserable knowing that someone needs to know about the Gospel and highly possible a hearing for the very first time. Some will think that my life choice in living overseas to reach a lost people is foolish and rightly so, but it's my choice to be foolish so that He will be glorified most in my life. "We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honoured, we are dishonoured!" 1 Corinthians 4:10 There will be those that will deny us the right to share our faith, humiliate us for trying, and persecute those that will choose to listen... all for His Glory...all for His Glory.. Amen.

A Narrow Path

I have so much to share with you all!! I've been poured into like an empty water pail overflowing with spring water, but sadly some of that water is overflowing out of my pail, meaning I'm not able to process this information as quickly as I'm receiving it, so some runs off into the grass (or wherever I happen to be standing...ummm nevermind). One thing I have learned that has not left my heart is the issue of the persecuted church. First of all, if you live in the States, take note that we probably have no clue what true persecution looks or even feels like. Not saying that we need to experience it, but just claiming that we have no grounds to say that we can relate to those who have been persecuted on levels in which discussing them is disturbing and extremely sad. The idea of ever experiencing some of the stories that have been shared with me grieves me deeply and is difficult for me to understand. The idea that anyone else ever experiences those stories grieves me even more. I do however know confidently that our Lord uses those events to glorify His name and purposes. That somehow strangely comforts me as I prepare my mind for such future events, if the Lord will's it for His purposes in my life. I remember being taught that the enemy uses persecution either overtly or covertly; either way having his aim to ultimately "shut us up, denying people access to Christ". Of course whether he tries to shut us up by imprisoning are denying us access into a country again, or by simply and sadly getting us focused more on trivial matters that keep us from sharing our faith, I surely do not want to be the one that shuts my mouth when it comes to spreading good news. I shared with my husband that I desire, once arriving in our new home, to hang a huge sign above our doorway that reads "DO NOT SHUT UP!" Isn't that awesome? I'm reminded how Paul got into trouble so many times in the NT because he just wouldn't shut up, or how the persistant widow got her answers in prayer, she wouldn't keep quiet either. Once persecution does take place, will we be the ones to allow the enemy to quiet us or will we walk the "narrow path" of keeping to our committent, to our promise, that we will only obey our Lord? And how do we remain victorious in the midst of persecution? That answer is easy, whatever habits of spending time with the Lord we have now, will be the same habits when we are persecuted. This is the response to many who have been through persecution and survived. So, if you remain faithful to Him during times of peace by growing in intimacy with Him, meditating on His word, daily worshipping Him, then your faithfulness will be strong and hopefully grow stronger in the midst of the storm. Recognizing this drives in the importance of spiritual disciplines and intimacy with the Lord for myself. Pray for the persecuted church around the world. Pray this word "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." Hebrews 12:1-3