Friday, June 24, 2011

Half Way & Amazing Grace

This week we hit the half way mark of our summer. I seriously cannot believe how fast time is FLYING by!! Which explains my lack of blog posts- I’m so sorry! I want to make sharing with you a priority because the Lord is doing so many great things! As excited as I am to return home to be with my family & friends, I am not ready to leave this place. Life here is so simple and I am loving every minute of it. Not to mention the people; we are surrounded by an incredibly strong group of believers. They have sacrificed so much to be here serving the Lord and making His name known in Khon Kaen. They are all an amazing encouragement and have really challenged my faith and trust in the Lord. Yes there are hard moments and my cravings for Panera grow stronger each day, but I keep reminding myself that I will be able to have all of those comforts again and I may never be back in Thailand ever again. So I’m embracing each new day and trying to make the most of each moment. Our schedule can be pretty busy at times but there have also been lots of opportunities for rest. I have so enjoyed the intimate times in prayer and studying the Word. At home, and especially at school, there are thousands of things distracting me from pursuing my Father and living each day completely surrendered to His will. I am so thankful for the accountability of our team here and the great resources we’ve been given to learn more about God and deepen that relationship.

Every Wednesday morning we have “Reflection Time” as a team at the church. This is a time of reflection, confession, and repentance. We spread out and take about 40 minutes to evaluate our weeks individually and journal and pray. Here are some of the questions we reflect on:

-       What was your pursuit of the Father like this week? What, if anything, held you back from truly treasuring Christ this week?

-       How was your time in prayer? Describe your prayers for yourself, for others, praise, confession, gratitude.

-       What sins have you been repenting of this most this week and what were the root idols? What problem has consumed your thoughts? (what went wrong?) What are some positive ways our Father has been refining your character?

-       How have you trusted God in prayer for ministry this week? What can you commit to Him next week?

-       Have you budgeted your time wisely between work and rest this summer? How can you steward it more wisely next week?

I love this time and it’s so encouraging to look back and see everything God is teaching me. But it’s easy to get down on yourself and just see all the ways you are falling short.

This week was different: Matt said he knows we are all seeing a lot of our sin and that he knows its hard to deal with and can weigh you down instead of focusing on God's grace. So instead of reflection time we meditated on Romans 8:32 "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" And then he told us to write down at least 15 reasons why we know this is true and how we have seen God prove this in our lives since our time here. I'll share with you some of the things I wrote down:

- God gave me this incredible opportunity to be involved with Campus Outreach & get to be here in Thailand this summer. 
- He raised all $6,000 of my support! and everyone else's ($200,000)
- He has given me new and deeper friendships.
- God has abundantly blessed our ministry and given me multiple Thai girls to bond with and build trusting relationships.
- God brought Luke here too!! I feel so blessed that we get to share this special experience together and see each other serving. 
- God gave me precious time of worship and singing praises to Him. (We usually end each Wednesday with worship) 
- God opened my eyes to see more of my sin and my deep struggles even though I felt rebellious and prideful. 
- God is piercing my heart with prayer and overwhelming me with His faithfulness. 
- He has blessed me with this group of Thai sophomores that are so kind and welcoming!! They always have a seat for me at lunch J
- God has opened my eyes to more of who He is through "Care Team" (Thai bible study at Betsy's) 

Then we meditated on Phil. 1:6 "being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it out to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." I know that God is using brokenness over my sin to draw me closer to Him. This week I'm focusing on the phrase 
"glance at your sin but GAZE at the cross."
I encourage you to do the same this week and hope you have to chance to see the magnitude of His Grace. Thanks for reading!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow! 

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