Yesterday, was a day of serving the community. The team, as well as the mentor and some of his family, went into a neighborhood here, and cleared a portion of unkept and forgotten land that was filled with brambles, bushes, weeds and trash. While we were doing this, people would walk by with a fairly stunned look on their face and or would stop and chat with one of us about what we were doing. We were seen, our presence is known.
Already, we are serving in a small and practical manner, and people are being noticing. As we were working my heart was humbled more and more. Many of you know, I am not someone who enjoys work in the outdoors. There are certain things I'll enjoy outside, but for the most part, I'm not a fan; and that's okay. But I did our work anyway. I sung out to God in the midst of it, and then would pray, and then cry out in song again. It was like a time of worship. It's was beautiful to commune with my Savior in the midst of our work. No one complained, until the "Miggies" came along (I'll tell you all about them some other time), and even then it was short. Honestly, I was really surprised. I expected to hear grumbling and complaining, but instead heard whispers of humility and signs of the servants amongst us. God was present. He's made an incredible mark on the hearts of these people, and I'm glimpsing that already.
I'm humbled. I'm seeing God's love and hope manifested in the people I'm serving with already. I'm so excited to see everything that transpires as the time flies by.
In the same way, I'm humbled by the congregation we are serving. The people of the church are incredibly hospitable and generous people. I'm overwhelmed by their love for us. On Saturday evening, my team (the 5 interns: Jim, Kathryn, Danielle, Rebekah, and myself) arrived by bus, being picked up and walked to our living spaces by our mentor family and the Pastor's wife. First of all, the flat the four of us girls are in, is beyond nice. It's beautiful, comfortable, and close to pretty much everything. We are so richly blessed. On top of that, the Pastor's wife made us a meal for when we arrived (believe me, we were all exhausted and so hungry for actual food), it was marvelous. Members in the church also had gotten together and have brought food over to us so that we would have meals for the next few days so we could rest and get comfortable. These people are generous, and I am thankful for them already.
As the last few days have gone by, other people have brought over more food for us. Not because they have to, but because they want too. I am humbled. Here we are, ready to serve in whatever way needed, and these beautiful, wonderful people are serving us. God really does things like this to break us down a little bit, and to make us new people with different perspectives. Not only am I being challenged to be a servant and to be humble, it goes the other way. The people of this community are also being challenged to be humble and accept what we are doing, as well as to serve us (which honestly, they're do extraordinarily well at).
All of this being said, I'm being brought to questioning whether or not back home we're humble. How much do we actually struggle with being humble? From what I've seen here so far, we struggle with living humbly all the time. We as a people are not humble, and it is breaking my heart to realize that. I'm realizing I am not humble.
My prayer for myself has been asking God to make me humble. To bring me low. I know others on my team are crying to God asking that as well.
Are you humble? Are you really living a life of humility? Is your natural tendency to be humble? Let me boldly venture a guess and say no. Considering the pride of humanity and the sin nature we all grapple with, we are not normally humble. Make your prayer be for that of humility.
Prayer Requests:
- Prayer for our unity to grow
- Pray that we grow in humility constantly
- Pray that we might reflect Jesus in all that we do and say
- Pray for us as we go to a primary school on Thursday to share a Biblical story with the children there.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Sunday, June 3, 2012
I'm Here
I'm here. I'm laying here in my bed in the flat the four of us girls are staying in, in Lochalsh, Scotland. How incredible it is to be reveling in the beauty of this place. Just being here is a blessing in and of itself, but then on top of that to have been already so blessed by the people just adds to everything immensely.
We're here...the five of us are finally here. We've made it through the Visa issue, the Pre-Field Training, traveling, the setbacks in the midst of us traveling here, and the long bus rides of getting here. God is faithful. I'm reminded and then in turn encouraged by my God through all of this. I'm humbled by His control over all of this and my lack of control, given incredible peace by the Spirit in the midst of our adventure, and reminded of how much I need my Savior.
We landed in Glasgow, Scotland, and then promptly began our travels to get to Lochalsh. Traveling through the country, I was amazed by the beauty of the place and drawn to all that it will hold. I'm falling in love with this country even now.
We're here...the five of us are finally here. We've made it through the Visa issue, the Pre-Field Training, traveling, the setbacks in the midst of us traveling here, and the long bus rides of getting here. God is faithful. I'm reminded and then in turn encouraged by my God through all of this. I'm humbled by His control over all of this and my lack of control, given incredible peace by the Spirit in the midst of our adventure, and reminded of how much I need my Savior.
We landed in Glasgow, Scotland, and then promptly began our travels to get to Lochalsh. Traveling through the country, I was amazed by the beauty of the place and drawn to all that it will hold. I'm falling in love with this country even now.
Monday, May 28, 2012
Tomorrow
Tomorrow, I'm flying to Atlanta. Then to Scotland.
Really, I'm going. Wow. God is so good as all of these plans have come together. I'm in awe to have seen everything fit together so masterfully. My God is so perfect in how he so puts everything together. He has planned everything from the beginning. He has seen it all from the beginning of time and ordered everything that is too follow. His plan is perfect. I can not even begin to think that I could have done it any better...because I wouldn't have been able to do it.
As much unknown as there is in the two months ahead of me, I know that I'll be okay. I know there is protection and I know there is a plan.
I know there are difficult times ahead; not everything that will happen will be easy and there will be struggles. As I'm looking ahead though, I know that there is no place for fear. I do not walk alone in this journey. I stand guarded by Christ. I am protected. What peace there is in that!
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My week is looking just like this:
Tomorrow morning, early, I fly from Little Rock to Atlanta.
In Atlanta, MTW interns will be traveling to a site for pre-field training until June 1. Pre-field training looks like a time of preparing interns for cross-cultural ministering. We'll be worshipping together, getting to know one another, and participating in some team building exercises.
I'll be in Atlanta until June 1, at which point we will fly from Atlanta to Glasgow, Scotland. Once there my team will be traveling by either bus or train to Lochalsh, Scotland to begin my internship.
*This will more than likely be my last blog post state-side.
Prayer Requests:
-Safety in our travels.
-That our luggage gets where it's supposed to go and not elsewhere.
-Continue to pray for money to come in for some of the interns.
-Pray that we wouldn't be exhausted as we travel. I am already tired as I'm packing and getting excited.
-Finally, that our hearts would be preparing for our serving these people. Pray for us to be ready and for God to use us.
Really, I'm going. Wow. God is so good as all of these plans have come together. I'm in awe to have seen everything fit together so masterfully. My God is so perfect in how he so puts everything together. He has planned everything from the beginning. He has seen it all from the beginning of time and ordered everything that is too follow. His plan is perfect. I can not even begin to think that I could have done it any better...because I wouldn't have been able to do it.
As much unknown as there is in the two months ahead of me, I know that I'll be okay. I know there is protection and I know there is a plan.
I know there are difficult times ahead; not everything that will happen will be easy and there will be struggles. As I'm looking ahead though, I know that there is no place for fear. I do not walk alone in this journey. I stand guarded by Christ. I am protected. What peace there is in that!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
My week is looking just like this:
Tomorrow morning, early, I fly from Little Rock to Atlanta.
In Atlanta, MTW interns will be traveling to a site for pre-field training until June 1. Pre-field training looks like a time of preparing interns for cross-cultural ministering. We'll be worshipping together, getting to know one another, and participating in some team building exercises.
I'll be in Atlanta until June 1, at which point we will fly from Atlanta to Glasgow, Scotland. Once there my team will be traveling by either bus or train to Lochalsh, Scotland to begin my internship.
*This will more than likely be my last blog post state-side.
Prayer Requests:
-Safety in our travels.
-That our luggage gets where it's supposed to go and not elsewhere.
-Continue to pray for money to come in for some of the interns.
-Pray that we wouldn't be exhausted as we travel. I am already tired as I'm packing and getting excited.
-Finally, that our hearts would be preparing for our serving these people. Pray for us to be ready and for God to use us.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Going!
God is faithful. He is good.
Today I received an email saying that my visa has been issued!
I'm officially leaving. I'm actually going to Scotland.
4 days
Today I received an email saying that my visa has been issued!
I'm officially leaving. I'm actually going to Scotland.
4 days
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Life Goes On
The world continues to rotate.
The sun is shining.
Everything's as it should be.
Visa's for all of the interns are going as planned. Every single one of us has appropriate dates for our biometric appointments. All of us have been able to scramble and gather the money needed for these, and all of us are wanting to go for this.
God has been so good.
I've been amazed sitting back and watching all of this happen in what feels like slow motion. I've been praying continuously for this situation. God is answering those prayers. I'm standing amazed...seeing God move and work is incredible.
In the midst of all of this I've experienced so many people praying for me. Not just hearing about someone praying for me, but being with people and having them pray for me and for the people I will be with, and this entire situation. I have been so blessed by this. It is a blessed thing to hear the petitions of His people...to hear them cry out to God on your behalf. How beautiful a thing!
I am so blessed and encouraged throughout this process. I am so thankful for all that has happened, both the easy and the difficult. I have learned so much and grown in my faith so much even now.
Praise God for all He does!
The sun is shining.
Everything's as it should be.
Visa's for all of the interns are going as planned. Every single one of us has appropriate dates for our biometric appointments. All of us have been able to scramble and gather the money needed for these, and all of us are wanting to go for this.
God has been so good.
I've been amazed sitting back and watching all of this happen in what feels like slow motion. I've been praying continuously for this situation. God is answering those prayers. I'm standing amazed...seeing God move and work is incredible.
In the midst of all of this I've experienced so many people praying for me. Not just hearing about someone praying for me, but being with people and having them pray for me and for the people I will be with, and this entire situation. I have been so blessed by this. It is a blessed thing to hear the petitions of His people...to hear them cry out to God on your behalf. How beautiful a thing!
I am so blessed and encouraged throughout this process. I am so thankful for all that has happened, both the easy and the difficult. I have learned so much and grown in my faith so much even now.
Praise God for all He does!
Saturday, May 19, 2012
The Seemingly Impossible
Ten days from now I'll be on a plane, Lord willing. I'll be flying from Little Rock to Atlanta for a couple days of pre-field training. Then I'll be flying from Atlanta to Glasgow, Scotland.
Lord willing.
sigh
A bump was thrown into this process. Yesterday, eleven days before all of us Scotland interns are supposed to be at pre-field, we had a sporadic conference call in which we all had to participate. Honestly, I had been feeling like all of this was going all to easily; not that I wasn't thankful for the smoothness of it, but usually something happens that throws off everything. That's exactly what happened.
All of us are listening in on this conference call, and hearing the same thing. "Everyone traveling to Scotland this summer needs to have a Visa." The teams working at MTW found out that suddenly that the interns needed Visa's in the last couple days and have tirelessly been checking to see if all of this would even be possible at this point.
We interns sat and listened to all that was explained to us, the risks, the money that would have to be spent, and all the time that would have to go into getting this going now...right before leaving. We have less than a week to complete the Visa application, come up with close to $500, and make an appointment to be fingerprinted, which apparently is really difficult to do and quite a few of us have a ways to travel to do it.
We're told all of this on Friday in the afternoon. We need to have our application filled out basically, yesterday. All of us have to have our fingerprinting appointment schedule before May 24, and we can only book the appointment after filling out the application. All of us interns are college-aged, and have been away this week traveling and all of a sudden we're having to get to computers ASAP to do all of this. Literally scrambling to make this happen. I, personally, was in a 15 passenger van full of 17 and 18 year olds driving home from being at the beach on this phone call hearing this news.
I felt like I had been punched in the face. Hard.
I think almost everything that has escaped my mouth in regards to the Visa and Scotland has been some form of a prayer. Already, I've seen some prayers answered. I've been able to fill out my application, make my appointment for before the 24th, and have had the money to pay for it.
It's still so crazy to wrap my mind around this. I don't understand why this has happened, and I know the teams working at MTW are as confused as we are; but I also am seeing God move and work in this, and I am at peace. Peace.
God is good.
Please be praying for all of us interns as we work through this. Pray that God would move mountains, and that we would be filled with peace. Pray we trust entirely in Him and watch as He works. Please, pray for all the people at MTW who are woking around the clock to make things happen.
Monday, May 7, 2012
The Fire
I've felt quite weary as of late. Not just emotionally, but very much in a physical sense. My heart has been aching at the thought of leaving so many people who I care so deeply for, and who care for me. I have never been good at saying "good-bye's" and have been dreading them so much. My body has been giving me such problems. So much pain has been wrecking me...pain that's coming with no warning and with no reason. I've been kept up late at night crying out asking for relief, asking God to do something.
Much of me has been wanting to just have the calm, to not walk through life with so much pain and so much hurt. Really what I'm desiring when I ask for the calm, is to not be stretched; I'm not wanting God to allow things to happen in my life that are painful. I'm not wanting Him to work and to move and to change me. That's really what I'm asking when I desire the calm.
I sat with a woman this week, and fellowshipped with her in her home. It's was a wonderful time of fellowship and encouragement. We both talked about the things we have walked through in our lives recently. Not the easy, but the painful. We shared with one another the hardships, the difficulties, the strains that have occurred. We then shared the ways God has worked through all those situations. The way He has moved and changed things, the way He reveals Himself to us in a very different way, and how much deeper we grow in our relationship with Him, our Father. We became thankful. Thankful for the pain and hurt, thankful that we were just a little bit closer to our Abba. We've come to know Him in a way that we wouldn't have if we had not just walked through that fire.
The fire refines us. God reveals Himself to us in a very different way when we are walking through that fire. We see some new part of Him or understand something we didn't before.
As difficult as it is, I'm growing and learning to be thankful for that fire. I am learning to be thankful for trials. My heart desires to know God more and more; I want my heart to look like His heart. At times, we have to walk through the fire to have that happen.
My prayer, for myself and for you is that we might grow to love God so much more, that we would desire to have His heart, and that we might come to a place where we are thankful in whatever situation we are going through.
Much of me has been wanting to just have the calm, to not walk through life with so much pain and so much hurt. Really what I'm desiring when I ask for the calm, is to not be stretched; I'm not wanting God to allow things to happen in my life that are painful. I'm not wanting Him to work and to move and to change me. That's really what I'm asking when I desire the calm.
I sat with a woman this week, and fellowshipped with her in her home. It's was a wonderful time of fellowship and encouragement. We both talked about the things we have walked through in our lives recently. Not the easy, but the painful. We shared with one another the hardships, the difficulties, the strains that have occurred. We then shared the ways God has worked through all those situations. The way He has moved and changed things, the way He reveals Himself to us in a very different way, and how much deeper we grow in our relationship with Him, our Father. We became thankful. Thankful for the pain and hurt, thankful that we were just a little bit closer to our Abba. We've come to know Him in a way that we wouldn't have if we had not just walked through that fire.
The fire refines us. God reveals Himself to us in a very different way when we are walking through that fire. We see some new part of Him or understand something we didn't before.
As difficult as it is, I'm growing and learning to be thankful for that fire. I am learning to be thankful for trials. My heart desires to know God more and more; I want my heart to look like His heart. At times, we have to walk through the fire to have that happen.
My prayer, for myself and for you is that we might grow to love God so much more, that we would desire to have His heart, and that we might come to a place where we are thankful in whatever situation we are going through.
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