Even A Smile Will Help

It's been awhile since I've taken the time to sit down and write. Mostly because I haven't felt quite motivated to share everything rolling around in this crazy little head of mine. I guess I'll start off with something simple- I wouldn't want to blow you away with anything too deep and profound since you all haven't been exposed to my thoughts in a good while! :) 

I was driving home from spending Thanksgiving day with my family. Lost in thought and probably singing along to the radio while sitting at a red light, I looked over at the homeless man standing on the corner hoping for something, probably anything, and tears filled my eyes. I was suddenly overtaken with the realization that I don't pay attention to how good I have it. I grumble and complain about the smallest things. I get bummed because my family doesn't do big, exciting things for the holidays, or because I don't even have a BIG family to celebrate with here in Texas. I whine because it's too cold or too hot. I don't have 'anything' to wear. My hair is too frizzy today. My car is too old. I want....I need.....nothing in life is ever quite right. But then I saw him limping along the side of the road holding his sign that said something....I don't even remember what now. The point is, I realized in that moment that it's quite possible that I have everything in comparison to that man. Perhaps everything except the appreciation for all that I have. It was a cold evening and he was standing there quite chilly, I'm sure. I was sitting in the heat of my car....a luxury I'm sure he hasn't owned in quite some time. I just spent the day with my family....something he probably didn't get to do. Does he even have family to talk to? I ate a wonderful meal with more leftovers than could possibly be eaten before going bad....when was his last hot meal? I have a closet full of clothes plus boxes of more in my storage unit....does he own more than the clothes on his back and the contents of his backpack? My heart was broken for that man. And then just yesterday I saw a man on another corner with a sign that said, "Even a smile will help". Even a smile? Really? Wow....he's so desperate for something, anything, even just a smile. Everyone deserves at least a smile yet he must not get even that if he felt it was necessary to write it on a sign.

We live in a society that is focused on self. We forget that there are other people in the world that we could help by doing the simplest things. I often forget that the world doesn't revolve around me. I'm tired of focusing on me and what pleases me and what I want. Life is so much more than that. I know everyone has their opinion of the homeless and why they are where they are, but that's a whole other thing I won't even go into right now. What I'm getting to by saying all of this is that I want to help. I want to make a difference and let them know that they are valued and cared for- these people who spend their days and nights on the streets of Austin. I want to set my selfishness aside and go love on some people that may have not felt loved in a very long time. Even if I just go and give them a smile. It doesn't have to cost anything except some time and willingness to hang out with people who almost always have a really incredible story that they are just dying to share with a listening ear. Anyone want to join me? Seriously. I want to do something for these men and women. They deserve it. Why? Because I am no better than they are and if God loves me and cherishes me- broken, sinful, messed up ME- then He must love and cherish them too. They deserve to know and feel at least a little piece of that love. If you have any ideas how to love and serve these broken people- or if you want to reach out with me- please drop a note, a call, a text, a comment, etc and we'll go give away at least a smile or two.

My Everything

This week was so incredible! Our teaching focus was on Biblical Counseling…better described as ministering to an individual on a more personal level. I learned so much and it was so much fun! Everything that we learned, as far as how to effectively minister, I was truly able to testify to after having gone through a similar process in my own life in years past. It excites me as I gain greater understanding of how the Holy Spirit truly is the one that ministers through us, so long as we are willing vessels and we ask God to speak through us. It’s such a beautiful thing, the way God allows us to be involved in His healing of individuals! I love that Satan has NO power where God is present, especially in a person’s life.

Lately God has been challenging me to lay down more of my personal rights and teaching me how to live in a more selfless way. This is something that constantly gets tested, especially living in a house of 25 girls. But it feels good as I look at the little ways God has given me the grace I need to set myself aside and do more for the benefit of others. It feels good, even though sometimes it stretches me.

Another thing I’m learning, well, it’s something I already knew but it’s going deeper into my heart: God’s incredible, amazing love. I wish there were words to explain how true His love is. The way He never loves me more or less depending on what I do or don’t do. He is beautifully amazing. My Wonderful Supporter and Friend. My Encourager. My Biggest Fan. My Everything. If I lost everything else in this world: possessions, people, etc, I would still have more than I could ever need because God is all-sufficient in all ways. He just keeps showing me more and more of His heart, not just for me but for others as well. As I grow closer to God and find a deeper understanding of Him, I feel as though I am able to see others as He sees them and it’s almost as if I can feel just a little piece of His heart toward people. If He can cause me to feel a deep love and compassion for a nation on the other side of the world where I have never been, I can’t even imagine how much He, the Creator of those people, loves them even more.

Effective Personal Ministry

Did you know that ministry is not a place or just in the clergy, but in every individual? Christianity is not something to be believed, but something to be LIVED. Not one of us, as a Christian, is meant to be a pew-sitter while only some of us have ministry gifts. God has given each and every one of us ministry gifts and it’s up to us to put them to use.

(1 Corinthians 12:12-13, 18, 20, 27)

“The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body- whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free- and we were all given one Spirit to drink…But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be…As it is, there are many parts, but one body…Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”

Do you see that?? God said we are ALL part of the body and we ALL have a function. As the body of Christ, we must all function as we were designed to function in order for the body to be complete. God has given each of us ministry capabilities. It doesn’t say that only some people were baptized by one Spirit into one body, it says ALL.

So what exactly is ministry then? There’s nothing in scripture that says you have to reach a certain height in your development as a Christian before you can begin ministering- ministry is part of God’s plan for your growth! Ministry is NOT primarily a position, primarily a profession, or primarily a performance. Ministry IS a choice to serve from a motivation of love for God and others. It IS a flow of the Holy Spirit through you, released by faith and obedience to meet the needs of people. When we obey and have faith, the Holy Spirit functions and that’s when we are able to truly minister. (Without the Holy Spirit we are simply serving, and even non-Christians can do that.) We can minister through prayer and warfare, meeting a felt need, skillfully serving, developing friendships, declaring truth, and discipling. Do you think you can do any of these things?  I KNOW you can because it says so in the Bible…it is not by wisdom or knowledge that we’re able to minister, but by the Holy Spirit: 2 Corinthians 3:6 (Amplified) says, “[It is He] Who has qualified us [making us to be fit and worthy and sufficient] as ministers and dispensers of a new covenant [of salvation through Christ]...”

So stay plugged into God and start pouring out...the Holy Spirit in you won’t ever run out!

Week Three

This week has absolutely flown by! It was another wonderful week full of revelation. God definitely proved Himself as my Most Trustworthy Faithful Provider!!! I was behind on finances and God blessed me with almost all the money I need to pay my bills for May AND June! Cool, huh? His grace truly is sufficient for me!

We learned about personality types this week and how to embrace our own and other people's God-given personalities. We received a lot of explanation of the different types of people and it is so beneficial to learn all of that while I am living in community. It also helped me to understand more about myself. We took the Laurie Beth Jones Path Elements Profile test and it is based on the four elements: Earth, Water, Wind, and Fire. My primary is Earth (organized, analytical, etc) and my secondary is Fire (determined, visionary, etc). Water (compassionate, go-with-the-flow, etc) wasn't too far behind Fire but Wind was very, very low compared to the others. Wind is the type that is very cheerful, friendly, enthusiastic, relational, talkative, etc. It revealed so much to me as to why I function the way I do. I think, because of this, I am better able to accept myself for who I am. The challenging part for me is to fully embrace and accept my opposite (Wind). I don't fully understand why they are the way they are, except to know that it's how God created them. But still, these are the types of people that are often hardest for me to understand so this is a time of great growth for me as I learn to cherish them and see what I can learn from them.

Criticism

Week two is finished and it was another good one! I think one of my favorite things that I learned about God is really something I've heard over and over again nearly all my life. We read an online article about criticism and it opened my eyes so much. It was talking about how defensive we, as humans, tend to get when we're criticized but that's not Christlike at all. Isaiah 53:7 says, "He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth." That amazes me! To think of all of the things that were said to Jesus, how he was wrongly accused so many times and never once do we see scripture evidence showing that he fought, yelled, argued, or defended himself. The truth is, he knew who he was in God and that was enough for him. He didn't find it necessary to prove it to anyone who thought otherwise. I learned a little something about myself in the process of this and it's a challenge I'm determined to face. I get defensive. This isn't really news to me, I guess. What's news to me is how wrong it is for me to become defensive. Christ justified me when he died on the cross and by my feeling the need to defend myself I'm saying that the death of Jesus was not good enough for me. Man can criticize me or judge me to the death but the truth is that mankind can only see a fraction of my guilt; God sees it all. If God sees all of my junk and still accepts me then that's what really counts because it's God's view of me that really matters. Here's an excerpt from the article:

"We defend that which we deem of great value. We think it is our life we are saving. We believe something much larger will be lost if we do not use every means to rescue it. Our name, our reputation, our honor, our glory. 'If I don't point out that I've been misunderstood, misquoted, or falsely accused, then others won't know I'm right. And if I don't point out my rightness, nobody will. I will be scorned and condemned in the eyes of others.' Do you see the idol of self here? The desire for self-justification?" (Click here for the full article.)

That's true of me, as much as I hate to admit it. But luckily God's grace is never-ending and He showed me this in a gentle way, rather than allowing it to blow up in my face. Needless to say, I'll be thinking about all of this the next time I'm criticized, judged, or blamed...whether presented in a right or wrong way, truthful or not. (And may God's grace abound even more when that happens!)

School of Ministry Development Begins

My first week of School of Ministry Development has been amazing! We have a journal assignment for the next few months and my blog will serve as my journal to be ‘turned in’ each week. I’ll be answering the following four questions every week:

What has God revealed to you about himself this week?

What has God shown you about yourself?

What challenges have you faced this week?

How have you experienced God’s grace?

God has already revealed so much to me about himself and it’s only week one! We learned about passions this week and I would say the greatest revelation I had about God is that his biggest passion is worship. Missions exists because worship does not. Basically, God desires that every nation and every tongue and every individual worship him. Because that is not happening it is necessary for people to evangelize the world. That’s missions. That’s why. God is passionate about worship so that’s why I do what I do. Cool!

This week God has shown me quite a bit about myself already. I’m not sure where to begin or even what to share. I think the biggest thing is that I have been convicted about how I function relationally. God has shown me that I need to be more intentional in building relationships with people. My personality type, among other things, makes it very easy for me to not pursue a lot of friendships but Jesus did not model that type of behavior. He was so approachable. That’s how I need to be. Not only that but I need to approach others as well. I need to pursue others and let them know that I am interested in them as a person. It’s not something I’m doing out of duty but truly out of desire and I am so excited to see how God helps me grow in this area!

My biggest challenge so far has been the fact that I’m the ‘new kid’. All of the students in my class did their DTS here in Louisville and already knew people here so it’s been quite an adjustment for me. I’d say the hardest part was that they already were comfortable and had friends here and…well…I didn’t. But it has been great and everyone is wonderful and I’m already building friendships!

God’s grace….does it ever run out? I’ve experienced it in so many ways lately. I guess I’ll say His provision for me getting to this school was one of the best things in the past week-ish. I needed over $1500 for my tuition and I received the final dollars the day before I left to come to Kentucky. I was a little nervous about the money coming in and completely depending on God to make it happen. It’s just like Him to make things happen right on time!

I'm a Teacher!!

I'm officially certified as a Teacher of English to Speakers of Other Languages. Some of the things I learned through the course were: how to create lesson plans, teach grammar, facilitate a safe learning environment, incorporate the Bible into the teaching, and so much more. It was an incredible month and I learned so much! I’m excited to say that I completed the course with a score of 90% and made some wonderful friends along the way andI look forward to being able to use this training in the future. I have spent the last few days in Ohio relaxing and catching up on some much-needed sleep. I leave Saturday morning for Kentucky and the School of Ministry Development begins on Monday. The outreach for the SOMD was supposed to be in Mexico but that was canceled and the school leaders are praying to determine our new destination. I look forward to hearing their decision and can't wait to be in another country again! God has been faithful and I know He will continue to provide but at the present time I'm short on finances for the SOMD. The tuition is due on Monday and I am still short $1000. Please pray with me; I'm believing that God will come through yet again. If you feel led to give, you can donate through the PayPal buttons on the right. I will update again soon to tell more about my new 'home' for the next several months!