No Place I'd Rather Be...

No place I'd rather be,
No place I'd rather be, 

No place I'd rather be, 

Than here in your love, here in your love.

So set a fire down in my soul that I can't contain

That I can't control...

I want more of you God, I want more of you God.

--United Pursuit 

I pray that God will continue to set that fire down in my soul.
I want more of God in all that I do. I want more of his passion, more of his love, more of his mercy, more of his presence...


Coming back from a place like Argentina is taking some adjusting in my mind.
Honestly, I can't tell you how many times I've almost walked up to someone and kissed them on the check to say "hello". I find myself thinking really hard about the next thing that I'm going to say, only to realize that I can speak in English and I don't need to plan it out in advance so I don't sound like a babbling idiot.
I miss the church a lot there already, and I am being very prayerful and watchful about any opportunity to return as soon as possible.


I am thankful, however, that my return to the US results in community-living.
There's something really beautiful about the body of Christ coming together to live how I understand Jesus to have modeled the Church.
The idea of home church plants, worship in the living room, community prayers before breakfast, and absolutely no alone time is what I pray for! Community is my passion!


Lord Jesus, give me encouragement. Give me correction. Give me simplicity. But most of all, give me your love and let that be enough in my life.


Every time I type up a blog entry, it looks (and reads) so differently than I had it planned out in my mind before I started typing. I always want to share my every thought, my musings, my questions, my prayers, my life lessons learned on the drive to a mobile home community...ect.
But what ends up getting shared with you all is a hob-job mess of a few paragraphs that probably doesn't make sense and has little to no organization or coherency. Oops. Sorry about that. Maybe if I spent more than 20 minutes typing these out, they'd sound a lot better.
Or maybe I'll get better with time.


And I leave with this:




In the church I grew up in, we always had readings and responses and things to that effect. 
Upon a confirmation or a baptism, the pastor would ask the church:
"Will you nurture one another in the Christian faith and life and include these persons now before you in your care?"
And the people would respond with:
"With God’s help we will proclaim the good news and live according to the example of Christ. We will surround these persons with a community of love and forgiveness that they may grow in their trust of God and be found faithful n their service to others. We will pray for them that they may be true disciples who walk in the way that leads to life."


I pray that this response is true of how I live my life with all the fellow believers that God has placed in my path. It is also my prayer for the wonderful people I am spending life with this summer. It is my prayer for my best friends that are away from me right now, it is my prayer for my church family in Argentina, it is my prayer for all of the Lord's children.


I pray that God will help us proclaim the good news and live according to the example of Christ. I pray that you will be found in a community of love and forgiveness. I pray that you will grow in your trust of God and be found faithful in your service to others. I pray that I will remember you always in my prayers, that you may be true disciples who walk in the way that leads to life. 
I pray all this in Christ Jesus' name.
Amen.

Respiratory Machines and Divine Appointments

The other girls and I on the trip have been making time to do a devotional/Bible Study/prayer time every evening.  Last night, we read from the devotional book Jesus Calling and discussed the events of the day in light of what the Lord has been teaching us all.

If community living looks a lot like this, sign me up. It would be hard for me to come up with something that I love more than spending time in prayer and discussion with fellow beleivers. I think there is something so incredibly beautiful about the way that God works through small groups of His followers. What He says in His word about when two or more gather in His name is so true. It is completely evident in my life that the He speaks through other people in order to reach my heart.
Our small group of women prayed for a few things in particular last night-- (you can also be praying for us in this way)

1) for the Lord to give us eyes that see the world as He does, specifically, His children. We want to have eyes that see the beauty of God in all that He has created. We are asking him to show us His image in every single person on this Earth. Afterall, He has breathed life into each one that has breath.
2) to keep our minds, hearts, and eyes focused on searching for "divine appointments". We want to be ready, prepared, and willing to serve the Lord in every situation. We want to serve Him in all that we do. We want to be fully present in each situation that he puts us in.
3) to always make time for the things that God is asking us to do each day. Our desire and hunger needs to be for the nearness of Christ. When we constantly desire and hunger for His closeness, we begin to live our lives in a way that welcomes, invites, and treasures that closeness. We want our lives to look that way.

About 5 hours after our prayers ended for the night, Tricia and I woke up to start our first appointment that the Lord had provided for the day. We got to help some young professionals practice speaking English. It was a huge blessing for all of us that went! The people we worked with this morning were so eager to learn about our lives. They kept asking questions about what we are doing here and why we wanted to come. It was so exciting to be able to share that with them!

I am so thankful that God gives us what we ask for when we ask according to His will. It reminds me of Luke 11 when Jesus is telling His followers that God delights in giving good gifts to His children. His word also says that every good and perfect gift froms the Lord. I am so thankful that He gives graciously without finding fault to those who ask for truly good gifts. There is no gift greater than something that brings us closer to God.
I truly feel like our expereince with the employees from the factory that makes respiratory machines brought us closer to the Lord.
I am so thankful for the divine appointments that He has provided so far today and am praying that He will continue to provide me with the sight to see Him through all that I do.

Thank you all for your support. I really could not have gotten here with out the providence of the Lord through many different people. I am truly blessed. May all my thanks and praise go to the only one who is worthy to receive it.

I Have a Blog!

Hi friends!
I started this blog and I'm honestly not really sure how it works yet. Join me on the journey of figuring out how to correctly use this thing.
Oh, you'll also get some updates about my life :)