Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Thankful.



Thankful. I’m learning to be thankful.

“You never know what you got till it’s gone” is one of the truest sayings. I am sitting in the dark because there is no power.  I am thankful for power.  I just went through a funky episode with my left eye.  I am thankful for normal eyes and vision.  I meet people who struggle and often fail to get an education. I am thankful for the opportunity of an education. I’m thankful for running water, food, and paved roads. The list could go on.

With every setback I encounter, it makes me all the more thankful for the little things.  I don’t think you can truly be thankful for what you have until it is taken away, even if for a short time. 

Isn’t it true? When you are sick, you remember the good days when you were healthy.  It makes you so thankful for your health. When your health is taken from you, you become more aware and grateful for it.

The same is true for the luxuries we have in the States.  When you see the way other people live, and furthermore, start living as they do, your whole perspective changes.  I have become more thankful, but also more aware that so many of my possessions are not needed, as we so often think they are.

The thing that I have become most thankful for is here is Jesus.  I am thankful for His sacrifice.  He came from heaven (which I’m sure is hoppin’ with great things) to earth.  He came from the highest place to the lowest.  From the greatest to the least. And he didn’t look at the least, he LIVED with them.  He was born in the humblest of places, a manger. He was the son of a carpenter.

Being here, living this way, with these people makes me all the more thankful for Christ’s sacrifice.  I am just tasting a bit of what He went through. I merely peeking into the kind of sacrifice He made. And it is humbling beyond compare.

Thankful, oh I am so thankful.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Shallow Love vs. Deep Love



I often get asked, “What is God teaching you?”

He has taught me so, so much. But something He has been developing within me, which I am discovering now, is to love DEEPLY.

I’m really good at shallow love. I’m good at loving people just enough but not too much. If I love everyone too much, then my heart will hurt more. I don’t want that. If I love people too much I will care too much and it will become inconvenient for me.

But God tells us to love DEEPLY.

1 Peter 1:22
“… Love one another deeply, from the heart.”

And to be honest, I don’t think we are able to do this without the Lord. I don’t think it’s possible for our sinful and selfish hearts to love the way Christ loved us. Not even close. I think we are capable of shallow love. But with Christ I think we are able to love deeply. It’s something He has been giving me the capability to do more, to more people.

It’s not me, it’s Him. Again, I say…I am good at shallow love.

About a month or so ago the Lord burdened my heart to start a bible study with some preteen/early teen girls.  So I ignored it for a while (I’m really good at that haha). But forreals when you are burdened and it’s from the Lord, it doesn’t go away so easily. Ya feel me?

So I gave up and did it.  The second week I was with them, I had the opportunity to share the gospel with them on a personal level and the vast majority of them gave their life to Christ.  Their attitudes, actions, and smiles have changed.  I am beginning to really and truly invest in them. To love them deeply.  To hug them, pray for them, teach them, laugh with them.  I have done this with students since I have been here. But this is different because God is opening up a much deeper love for me to pour out.

I am sinful and capable of shallow love. But I am being transformed, from the inside out. I learn to love from the One who loved me first.