Can you believe that we are drawing close to an end here at ILC? Our training will be over in 3 days. It is hard to fathom how much we have sat (flat butt syndrome has definitely kicked in), how much we have eaten (yeh, you'll notice when you see me) and how much we have learned about all things missions and God related (we still feel inadequate and under prepared).
It would be quite difficult to recap 8 weeks of information overload, but I can highlight a few points and share with you my heart as we head to the next stage of language school in Costa Rica.
Here is a verse that I read today that sums up how we will be going into the mission field:
1 Corinthians 2:1 "When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power."
At times I am paralyzed to share Christ (yes, even missionaries have this problem at times) because I don't have the right words or the right amount of knowledge. God has been teaching me to share His message of Jesus Christ and Him crucified and let the Holy Spirit do the rest.:) I share this scripture because it comforts me to think that even the Apostle Paul, yes, the man who wrote a bunch of the New Testament and helped build the Christian Church, struggled with these same things. But notice he then says he decides to know nothing else except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I leave here with a lot of knowledge, but at the end of the day, this is SOLELY what we will be building the church on.
God has show me so many things about Himself, and also many things about myself - most of which are not pretty. It is so humbling to sit before God almighty and see His perfection and grace and love and then to take a good hard look at myself and see the sewage that often rots in my heart and mind. At times I still do not understand why God is asking me to join Him in His work. He doesn't need me! He's already at work without me! What good am I to Him? Awwwwww........He has plans that are greater than what I can imagine. Plans for me, plans for John and the children and most importantly plans for the people in Lima. I am just asked to obey Him. I say "yes, Lord, but why me? I am so messed up." And then he reminds me of the verse in 2 Cor. 12:9 "My grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in weakness." I know that whatever the Lord plans to accomplish through us, it will be through His power. It takes a lot of pressure off of me to know that this is not about what "we" are going to do, but yet what God is already doing.
We leave here tired and excited and exhausted and a little bit plumper then when we came. This is only the beginning of this life of following Christ to the ends of the earth, but yet it feels like an ending of sorts......an ending of American ways and comfort, an ending of all things familiar, an ending of family and friends on a daily basis and an ending of our life here in this country. But yet, it is the beginning of an intimate journey with our Lord. A journey we are most certain will have its ups and downs, sicknesses (lots of them we hear), days of extreme joy and days of extreme sorrow.
If you are reading this, then that means you are going on mission WITH us. It means that YOU are a part of this great commission. It means that you care and are linked arm and arm, heart to heart with us as we go to tell the Nations about the great gift that God offers through His son. As we go, we leave you in our thoughts and prayers everyday. It is your friendship, your prayers, your constant encouragement, and your personal Faith, that their is no other way to God except through Jesus Christ, that enables us to press on day after day.
We commit to you that we will do, in God's power, whatever it takes to get the Gospel to the people in the South Cone of Lima, Peru. WHATEVER IT TAKES!! Thank you for coming with us! The journey is just beginning!
Jess
It would be quite difficult to recap 8 weeks of information overload, but I can highlight a few points and share with you my heart as we head to the next stage of language school in Costa Rica.
Here is a verse that I read today that sums up how we will be going into the mission field:
1 Corinthians 2:1 "When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power."
At times I am paralyzed to share Christ (yes, even missionaries have this problem at times) because I don't have the right words or the right amount of knowledge. God has been teaching me to share His message of Jesus Christ and Him crucified and let the Holy Spirit do the rest.:) I share this scripture because it comforts me to think that even the Apostle Paul, yes, the man who wrote a bunch of the New Testament and helped build the Christian Church, struggled with these same things. But notice he then says he decides to know nothing else except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I leave here with a lot of knowledge, but at the end of the day, this is SOLELY what we will be building the church on.
God has show me so many things about Himself, and also many things about myself - most of which are not pretty. It is so humbling to sit before God almighty and see His perfection and grace and love and then to take a good hard look at myself and see the sewage that often rots in my heart and mind. At times I still do not understand why God is asking me to join Him in His work. He doesn't need me! He's already at work without me! What good am I to Him? Awwwwww........He has plans that are greater than what I can imagine. Plans for me, plans for John and the children and most importantly plans for the people in Lima. I am just asked to obey Him. I say "yes, Lord, but why me? I am so messed up." And then he reminds me of the verse in 2 Cor. 12:9 "My grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in weakness." I know that whatever the Lord plans to accomplish through us, it will be through His power. It takes a lot of pressure off of me to know that this is not about what "we" are going to do, but yet what God is already doing.
We leave here tired and excited and exhausted and a little bit plumper then when we came. This is only the beginning of this life of following Christ to the ends of the earth, but yet it feels like an ending of sorts......an ending of American ways and comfort, an ending of all things familiar, an ending of family and friends on a daily basis and an ending of our life here in this country. But yet, it is the beginning of an intimate journey with our Lord. A journey we are most certain will have its ups and downs, sicknesses (lots of them we hear), days of extreme joy and days of extreme sorrow.
If you are reading this, then that means you are going on mission WITH us. It means that YOU are a part of this great commission. It means that you care and are linked arm and arm, heart to heart with us as we go to tell the Nations about the great gift that God offers through His son. As we go, we leave you in our thoughts and prayers everyday. It is your friendship, your prayers, your constant encouragement, and your personal Faith, that their is no other way to God except through Jesus Christ, that enables us to press on day after day.
We commit to you that we will do, in God's power, whatever it takes to get the Gospel to the people in the South Cone of Lima, Peru. WHATEVER IT TAKES!! Thank you for coming with us! The journey is just beginning!
Jess
1 comment:
I know you are leaving the COMFORTS of America, but take COMFORT in the fact that God provides so much COMFORT when we become UNCOMFORTABLE for Him! I know He will and He has done that for you!
Post a Comment