I haven't written in a while, not because I haven't had anything to say but because I've had too much to say! I have no idea what to focus on.
When I was sixteen (or thereabouts) I was sitting in youth group in the youth room of Temple Baptist Church on those horrible yet lovely couches that are the essence of that room listening to Pastor Dave talk about Abraham. He was talking about how Abraham had to wait more than twenty years for what God had promised him. Dave talked on and on about God's faithfulness and how He would never go back on a promise. Towards the end of Dave's talk I put up my hand and asked the question that had been on my mind all night.
"So what do we do while we wait?"
That night I made a lifelong friend. Her name is Jen Dawson. (Jen I sincerely hope you're reading this) She's the one who answered my question. She said that while we wait we get ready. We don't know what God will call us to when He eventually gives us the "get up and go" call so while we wait we do everything in our power to prepare ourselves for whatever He might call us to. We exercise, we eat right, we study our Bibles like our lives depend on it (because they do), we pray, and we remain faithful.
Lately I've been doing a lot of frustrated waiting. When my passport got stolen originally we thought I would be able to rejoin the team within a week. That was five weeks ago. I currently have a passport but am waiting for a visa to be processed so that I can leave Cambodia and come back in on a long-term visa so that I can legally stay here. I thought this process would be done two weeks ago and today they told us, "Check back on Tuesday." So I'm still waiting. Because it's no use me heading out into the province (where I'm supposed to be working) until all the paperwork is sorted out. So I'm doing language learning, making friends, going swimming, hanging out with the Empowering Cambodia staff, planning lessons for when I do get to go to the province, reading my Bible, praying (a lot), and I'm waiting.
God's faithfulness is one of the things I have witnessed firsthand more than any other of God's attributes. I know that God is faithful, He's proved it to me time and time again. The question is can I be faithful? Will I pursue Him while I'm bored just as intensely as when I'm on the front lines? How do I spend my time? Will I waste it or spend those precious moments with Him, learning about who He is? I found a fantastic verse today. It's in Romans 5 and basically says, "Rejoice in trials (I'm paraphrasing) because trials produce endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope. And that hope will not lead you to shame."
Did God have me go through this so that I can have a new sense of who He is and the hope He offers the world? I don't know. Whatever His reasons, please pray that I can be faithful to Him.
Love you all.
:)
If you want to catch up with the other GlobeTREKers and here about how their internships are going their blogs are: 2corinthians317.com, movingmoving.weebly.com, melissa-faith-hope-love.blogspot.ca, karastrek.weebly.com, and ericstrek.weebly.com
If you want to donate and be apart of this crazy adventure you can do so here http://www.prairie.edu/giving
When I was sixteen (or thereabouts) I was sitting in youth group in the youth room of Temple Baptist Church on those horrible yet lovely couches that are the essence of that room listening to Pastor Dave talk about Abraham. He was talking about how Abraham had to wait more than twenty years for what God had promised him. Dave talked on and on about God's faithfulness and how He would never go back on a promise. Towards the end of Dave's talk I put up my hand and asked the question that had been on my mind all night.
"So what do we do while we wait?"
That night I made a lifelong friend. Her name is Jen Dawson. (Jen I sincerely hope you're reading this) She's the one who answered my question. She said that while we wait we get ready. We don't know what God will call us to when He eventually gives us the "get up and go" call so while we wait we do everything in our power to prepare ourselves for whatever He might call us to. We exercise, we eat right, we study our Bibles like our lives depend on it (because they do), we pray, and we remain faithful.
Lately I've been doing a lot of frustrated waiting. When my passport got stolen originally we thought I would be able to rejoin the team within a week. That was five weeks ago. I currently have a passport but am waiting for a visa to be processed so that I can leave Cambodia and come back in on a long-term visa so that I can legally stay here. I thought this process would be done two weeks ago and today they told us, "Check back on Tuesday." So I'm still waiting. Because it's no use me heading out into the province (where I'm supposed to be working) until all the paperwork is sorted out. So I'm doing language learning, making friends, going swimming, hanging out with the Empowering Cambodia staff, planning lessons for when I do get to go to the province, reading my Bible, praying (a lot), and I'm waiting.
God's faithfulness is one of the things I have witnessed firsthand more than any other of God's attributes. I know that God is faithful, He's proved it to me time and time again. The question is can I be faithful? Will I pursue Him while I'm bored just as intensely as when I'm on the front lines? How do I spend my time? Will I waste it or spend those precious moments with Him, learning about who He is? I found a fantastic verse today. It's in Romans 5 and basically says, "Rejoice in trials (I'm paraphrasing) because trials produce endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope. And that hope will not lead you to shame."
Did God have me go through this so that I can have a new sense of who He is and the hope He offers the world? I don't know. Whatever His reasons, please pray that I can be faithful to Him.
Love you all.
:)
If you want to catch up with the other GlobeTREKers and here about how their internships are going their blogs are: 2corinthians317.com, movingmoving.weebly.com, melissa-faith-hope-love.blogspot.ca, karastrek.weebly.com, and ericstrek.weebly.com
If you want to donate and be apart of this crazy adventure you can do so here http://www.prairie.edu/giving