Living Life for Christ Alone

"'My Lord, why did you bring me here?' 'I wanted you to see this view,' he answered very gently indeed. 'I am looking at it,' she said, just a little breathlessly. 'Tell me, my Lord, what do you see?' He answered slowly and clearly: 'I see the dark places of the earth full of the habitations of cruelty. I see multitudes of human souls fainting and scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd, and I am moved with compassion on them, Grace and Glory.' After a long time, she spoke again, but in a voice so low it was scarcely audible. 'I think I understand, my Lord.'"                    (From Mountains of Spices, by Hannah Hurnard) // "I wanted you to see this view."  I read this after a day of being educated on sexual abuse and trafficking, after a week of catching new glimpses of God's heart towards me as His child, after weeks of studying and learning about trauma and pondering what it will be like to be surrounded ...

"By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us...." (1 John 3:16) We do not know love any other way.  Until Jesus laid down His life for us, heavenly love wasn't tangible.  Most could only guess what God meant when He told His people He loved them.  But now, He proved His love, like a Lover pursuing a bride, setting aside His glory, giving up His very life, for the world. His love was on full display the whole time He lived here.  It wasn't just that ultimate act on the cross that revealed it.  It was seen in His every response to the world around Him.  It was made visible in His mission -the will of His Father- that defined every action He did.  Laying down His life was laying down not only the physical life He had on this earth, it was also laying down His time, His resources, His comfort, His sleep, His ease, His thoughts, desires and emotions....  And the disciples watched as He did so, floored every time God lowered Himself to se...

I think it's time I gave you a bigger peak into the many things God did while on my mission trip last month... I'll just write a little bit at a time as time permits. Fear I got ready for this mission trip wrestling fear unlike ever before. Little did I know that this was preparation for the very kind of enemy we would be facing in El Salvador. "Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world." -1 John 4:4 If you ever have a huge battle with an enemy you rarely face right before ministry, realize God is preparing you to help others stand against the very same kind of enemy in your ministry! By the time I got to El Salvador, it seemed as though God had strengthened me in His battle against the spirit of fear, and now I was ready to reach out to those lost in fear with a hope I was hanging onto tighter than ever before.

Only a couple of weeks ago, I was asked to consider going to Australia and New Zealand to help with some girls retreats over there. These retreats are called Journey to the Heart. They are ten days long and girls come to get away from everything so they can get alone with God and find out more of His heart. It is incredible the things that God does on the retreats! I've been doing them for several years, and have watched as God changed life after life.