God's Guidance in Our Lives

So I just wanted to share how God’s been guiding and directing us over the past year because even in the craziness, He’s proven Himself faithful. They say that you don’t grow without being challenged, and we have certainly been challenged! Also I know that a lot of you are seeking God’s will for your life and maybe our story will be an encouragement.

Your Birthright for What?

Make sure that no one is immoral or godless like Esau, who traded his birthright as the firstborn son for a single meal. – Hebrews 12:16

This verse really hit me. I used to look at it like “duh, I’d never trade anything for just a meal. Stupid Esau.” but how often do we do exactly that? How often do we give up what God has made us for and created us to do for tiny, inconsequential things?

“I feel called to Africa but I don’t like spiders.”

“I know I should help that man, but I’m late.”

“I’m afraid of what people think of me.”

“I’m too busy.”

Wow… If God made us, then He knows exactly what brings us true life. He’s created each of us for a specific purpose and given each of us a spectacular destiny, yet we don’t follow Him for the silliest reasons.

I don’t want to know the number of times where God has laid someone on my heart to pray for, put someone in my path to help, or given me an opportunity to speak life to someone and I traded it. I traded a chance to make an impact – to fulfill in greater measure my calling – for things even more trivial than a bowl of soup. “I don’t have time”, “Maybe someone else will help”, and “I don’t want to” – those small fleeting comforts and excuses aren’t worth giving up what God has created me for.

Hosea

I haven’t been able to get enough of Hosea recently. God’s saying “I love you so much that you were a prostitute but I married you anyway. You kept sleeping with other people, but I’m going to take you back and heal you.” Could it be? Could God actually love us like that?

“God who doesn’t interact with you” vs “there is no God” – I can understand that debate and why there’s confusion between them. However, “God is chasing after you”? That’s either real or it’s not.

1 am

Well, after starting out strong with posting on this blog, I've really slacked off. That seems to be a consistent problem for me - I have this great idea or step out on something I hear from God, but I'm rather lacking when it comes to follow through. Like Peter. When Jesus walked on water toward the disciples, Peter was the only one to jump out of the boat and walk toward Jesus. It was a natural response for a disciple - disciples were supposed to do everything their masters were doing and they had often participated with Jesus in the supernatural before, but Peter was the only one to actually do it. This story is interesting to me because it challenges some key things I think about God.

Tales from Mozambique Part 1

Prologue - if you just want the story, skip this paragraph: For those of you who knew me in college, you must have thought I grew unusually silent over my time in Mozambique. It’s true – I just didn’t know how to process some of the things we were going through, and they are so far out of everyday life for most Americans that I didn’t know what I could/should say. I still don’t know on some things, but that’s not always the point. I hope you find these stories thought-provoking and learn from my mistakes! Everything I’m writing is as true as I can make it – cross-referenced with the other people there at the time, but my memory can be a bit hazy at times. I’ll specifically point out the details I don’t remember well.

Invictus

I just watched Invictus on the plane back to Africa. Good movie. Like so many people of my generation, God speaks to me in movies. Not every movie, but quite a few of them. Invictus is the story of Nelson Mandela and Rugby in South Africa, which was mostly a white sport. Anyway, what got me the most wasn’t the story, but it was Mandela himself. He was locked up in jail for 30 years, beaten many times, and forced to do hard labor, but he walked out of that prison ready to forgive every one of his captors. Woah. The injustices I’ve faced recently seem so petty in comparison. Jesus did so much for me, and I want to walk out on what He’s asked of me because of paperwork problems. Wow, that really put it in perspective for me.

Confidence

Many people think I’m a confident person who always know what to do. That’s unfortunate. Nothing could be further from the truth, actually. I’ve always been nervous and only confident in my ability to mess things up. I do have times where I think I can handle everything and that I’m awesome, but those are worse – that’s an equally great lie and pride is a huge sin. Actually, on closer examination, I think both attitudes are prideful.