God's faithfulness

As I look out the window and watch the clouds roll over the mountains like a waterfall coming into the valley, I sit in my office reflecting on how faithful the Lord has been to my family and I.  Sunday was our 4 year anniversary of moving to Peru.  A wide range of emotions hit me.  I never thought I would serve the Lord in the capacity that he is allowing me to.  I never thought I would see His hand so visible in my life and ministry.  The road the Lord brought us down to get us here is overwhelming.  From heartbreak to times of elation and back again.  When we first began to heed the Lord's call, we thought without a doubt we were going to a small Eastern Eurpoean country.  We spent a minute over in Latvia and made life long friends and pray for the Lord's hand to touch that country, but the Lord had other plans for our lives.  We were devastated but the Lord was in control.  Not ever even thinking of Peru, we moved here to just get accustomed to living in South America.  We had plans of maybe going from here into Brazil.  The Lord had other plans.  Our hearts began to break for some of the practices we started to see.  We developed a deep love for the people we were getting to know.  Step by step the Lord was opening doors for us.  3 years ago we planted the church.  We have our ups and downs.  We have our struggles.  Sometimes I want to throw myself this huge pity party.  I want to invite all of pity's friends.  Doubt, despair, failure, fatigue and all the rest.  I read my Bible every day.  I use a Bible reading plan.  But sometimes I am just reading and not listening.  Sometimes I am not paying attention to God's Word.  It is almost just like I am going through the motions.  I tell myself, "you have to read the Bible because you tell everyone from the pulpit to do that!"  So I do, but sometimes I am doing it but more concerned about getting to the passage that I will be preaching from Sunday.  So today in the chilly Andean air, I thought "I need to just slow down my reading plan.  I need to pick up God's Word and hear His voice and then do what He is telling me.  I need Him to encourage me and maybe even shake me up a little."  By God's providence I decided to go to 2 Corinthians and just do some personal study.  Study for my soul.  Am I selfish, no.  How can I help others if I first haven't been ministered to by the Lord?  Well I couldn't get past chapter one and I didn't need to.  Tomorrow I will press on, but I needed to hear what the Lord has spoken through the Apostle Paul in chapter one.  I had to cancel my party for pity.  Paul had been through the washing machine!  Paul was in the trenches and you know what, He was praising God and loving what he was called to do.  But I was overwhelmed by Paul's joy in what the Corinthians had become.  He tells them that one day they will boast of him and that he will boast of them.  There are people here in Peru, who have touched my life.  There are people in Peru who have made me a better pastor, a better Christian, and a better person.  And I know that there are people who can say the same of me.  I do not say that to brag in a prideful way.  I say that broken and humble because it is not me but the Lord who gives the grace and power.  I am just a vessel.  I am just a tool in the Master's hand.  When we get over ourselves and look at what an unbelievable God we serve and the mission that we each are called to do and that all of us can have an impact on others through the grace that the Lord has bestowed upon us and through His power, I have to say, any struggle or hardship that we face is worth it.  As Paul says, we go through things sometimes just so we can help others when they go through it.  We are all usable by the Lord.  The real question is are we willing to allow the Lord to work through us?  It is not easy, but His grace is sufficient.  There are people in your life, right now, who need to know about how good Jesus is.  They don't know where to go.  That's ok, cause Jesus told us He is sending us.  Go to them.  He might not be sending you to the Andes or to the plains of the Sahara.  But he might be sending you into your kids room.  Into your office. Into your grocery store.  In 4 years living in a foreign land I have learned more about the grace of God than I ever had.  And it isn't because I live in a foreign land but it is because I realized how desperately I need it.  Let me encourage you, desire to know the grace of God and the power of Jesus's resurrection.  I would not trade a moment of what I have been through and I am so excited to see what the Lord continues to do.  There is no greater joy than walking the path the Lord sets before our feet.  Don't try to step off because it is too hard.  Don't try to run to fast because it is going good.  Enjoy every step and praise His name for the lot He has given.  May the Lord bless you today and may you be bold in His grace.

Soli deo Gloria