Well... It's the end of week 7 which is CRAZY for me. I can't believe I've been here 7 weeks. Currently, I'm back in Herrnhut (which I'm not too happy about). We came here from Bautzen, Germany which is about 20 minutes by train from Herrnhut. We are here for the weekend, praying for our visas and just relaxing until our bus leaves to Zurich, Switzerland on Monday morning. We will be there for 4 weeks, then I'll be leaving mid-December for Africa!! Yay.
So this past week was pretty rough for me. There have been so many changes happening back home in California and it's hard to be here and not there. So this past week, I have been questioning why I'm here. I'm cold, I miss home, I'm 18 years old, my heart isn't in Europe, and did I mention I'm freezing? Then God gently reminded me in His gentle Godly ways that I'm here because He called me here. My whole purpose in life is to glorify God and do what He has called me to do, and in Mark 16:15 Jesus tells us straight forward what we're supposed to do: "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation." Why am I complaining about wanting to go home, when this isn't my life to live anyways? God reminded me of some verses to help me with what I'm dealing with at the moment... "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." -Galatians 2:20, "I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will always have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." -Philippians 1:20-21.
So my question of why I'm here has a simple answer: I'm here because I have decided to follow Jesus. I'm here because I have dedicated my life to serving the One who made the universe. I'm here because God called me to this freezing continent for a reason. And I'm excited to find out that reason. My heart may still be in Guatemala, and maybe God had me come to Europe to realize how much I love Guatemala... but I'm here now. And I need to take advantage of this opportunity that I have to tell this lost continent about God and His unfailing love.
I love it how all our questions get answered. I enjoy seeing you discover your subtitle: Selflessness. God wants us to be like Christ, to love like Christ. Which means to give our whole selves to another. To empty one's self so that Christ's love may overflow and pour out unto others. To self-give. It's so easy to think "what am I getting out of this?" "why have you given me these crosses to bear?" "I would like such and such cross instead" "I would like to be here rather than there" and I must add the question God put in my heart to ask often "Why can't I have a different family". I've been studying Job and I realized that all his questions were never directly answered. But they were answered by God's questions. For He Himself is the end answer, HE is I AM. And we must love God not for His reasons for doing things, but because HE IS. And we must see Christ in everyone and love them because Christ is Lord and even if we do not get to see the fruit and difference we have made, we have faith that God has worked through us and made differences. As long as you pursue selflessness [Christ's agape, self-sacrificial love], mi amor, have no doubt that Christ is using you as a beautiful instrument (keeping you in tip-top shape) penetrating other souls. Sacrifice is beautiful!
ReplyDeleteCon amor, tu "hermana", "M".