Encouraging Conversations

God continues to pull me back into Him, reminding me of His power, His provision, His blessing, and His calling on my life.  His Spirit is opening my eyes again and awakening my heart to His leading more and more.  It has been such a sweet reminder that He is in the details of my life and has never left me, even when I turned from His leading.

A few weeks ago, I went to Charleston with a friend in preparation for my move in May.  The weekend as a whole was very encouraging and increased my excitement for moving and starting school, and helped solidify confidence in my decision. 

I found myself in the middle of a very interesting conversation the first night.  The family we stayed with is involved in medical missions, so it didn’t take long for that topic to come up.  As we started talking about missions, the conversation moved to my past and future involvement in missions.  As we were talking, I heard myself speaking so naturally about my hopes for future mission involvement, and remembered very clearly God’s call for me to use whatever opportunities He gives me (medical or otherwise) for His purposes.

As I heard words of excitement and joy for God’s work coming out of my mouth, though, I also had the thought, “Do I even deserve to be in this conversation?  Am I worthy of saying the things that I am saying?  After the struggles, drifting, sin, and general shortcomings that have become so clear over the past year, who am I to share in the joy of missions?”

The answer to those questions is that I am even less worthy than I know.  My sin is worse than I can see or believe.  I don’t deserve to experience God’s work in the lives of others any more than I deserve to experience His grace in my life.

…but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. – Romans 5.8

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” – 2 Corinthians 12.9

I have known and quoted these verses for years, believing I understood them.  And I did understand them to an extent.  But until I truly understand the depths of my sin and brokenness, I cannot fully understand His grace.  So I still do not fully grasp the power and thoroughness of His grace. 

The more God reveals Himself to me, though, the more I see my sin, and the more opportunity there is to see His grace.  That is not automatic, though.  I must continually be reminded of His love and acceptance of me based on nothing but the blood of Christ in order to experience His grace.  Otherwise, the revelation of my sin only leads straight to the pit.  As one who daily receives grace, then, I am called to daily show grace and lead others to the Giver of grace.

My prayer, like that of Paul, then, is

If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. – 2 Corinthians 11.30

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.  For when I am weak, then I am strong. – 2 Corinthians 12.9-10

My desire, though I am far from it, is to struggle well in grace and invite others to struggle well with me.

Sights of Africa (5)

Same Need

                                                                                                   

In reflecting on my experience in rural Africa, I have been impacted by how similar many of the rural cultures I have experienced are.  The villages look similar – from the roads and the houses to the farmland and the structure of homes.  

The people have similar priorities and lifestyles, as well.  They are very family and community oriented, much more so than in urban cities. When you meet young people in rural areas, though they may seek further education and development, family and community seem to be a priority.  In urban cities, however, it seems much more likely to compromise community for progress.  Those with rural backgrounds value customs and family traditions highly.  Change, including forward progress, is often resisted, particularly by older generations.  It may be a stretch, but I think some rural cultures in different countries have more in common than a rural and an urban culture in the same country.

In thinking about the commonalities among rural cultures, God reminded me that these physical and relational similarities of people from different countries are a reminder of the overarching spiritual need of everyone on this planet, regardless of their country or culture – to know Christ. 

It’s easy to compare my life to the life of a twenty-something in rural Africa or Asia and see differences.  Because of the obvious differences in culture, we see less and less commonality among our lives.  Our day-to-day lives and needs may be different depending on our country and culture, but our one core need is the same as every other human. We are broken, sinful individuals.  Our relationship with God is broken and our only hope, the only restoration comes in salvation through Christ’s blood on the cross.

“The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.  For there is no distinction:  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith.” – Romans 3.22-25

Sights of Africa (4)