I am preparing for another school year and adventure in Honduras for which I leave in 5 days! Summer has been extremely short with only 6 weeks to fit in everything and then mentally and spiritually prepare to return for a whole new year!
Thank you so much for those of you who sat down and had conversations with me this summer about all the struggles and some highlights of the past year, they wer so helpful in processing through what the Lord has and will do through this whole experience.
Thank you for your love and prayers for me as I journey, I have just felt so filled and loved by each and every one of you. I don't understand why I am so blessed with the friends and family I have, but man, God is good in demonstrating His love for me specifically through all of you, and especially in this short summer time.
The Lord spoke some specific things to me through His word in helping to restore my heart and mind and prepare me for my return. I want to share this with you if I have not already, though it may have come out in bits and pieces.
When I came home this summer part of me felt like a complete failure as a teacher. Some things that happened at the end of the year led me to be very down and depressed about the whole past year. Sometimes a bad ending and closure tints everything. The Lord kindly and directly led me to this passage in Matthew 26:6-13 --
The Precious Ointment
6 Now when Jesus was in Bethany, at the home of Simon the leper, 7 a woman came to Him with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume, and she poured it on His head as He reclined at the table. 8 But the disciples were indignant when they saw this, and said, “Why this waste? 9 For this perfume might have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor.” 10 But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you bother the woman? For she has done a good deed to Me. 11 For you always have the poor with you; but you do not always have Me. 12 For when she poured this perfume on My body, she did it to prepare Me for burial. 13 Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her.”
Through this passage the Lord showed me that I had been leaning on the indignation of the disciples in regards to the service and work I had just poured out to the Lord in the past year. I felt like it was wasted in some sense, that nothing was accomplished, and that it would have been better to serve the poor with my gifts and talents, not the rich kids the Lord has called me to love and serve humbly. I was believing the lies and it took the Lord looking me straight in the eyes and saying, "You have done a good deed UNTO ME." I was so broken over my sin and failure to see that it didn't matter if I saw results, if I made a difference, if I was a good teacher, if others approved of what I do......I was simply pleasing and serving and pouring out my life unto the Lord, who is beyond worthy of every sacrifice and painful offering He asks me to give. As I turned to worship, instead of complaining I saw my Father do amazing things in my heart and mind as He renewed me in Him to return, to continue giving and serving, no matter the cost....no matter the fruit. I leave that all up to Him and I just anoint my Lord with what He has asked me to give.
Thus, I have new vision and passion in returning to Honduras in this upcoming week. BUT, I need your prayers and continued support to run the race marked out for me in this next season.
Here are some prayer requests:
- 2 new roommates I get the opportunity to live with and impact
- 21 new students (who appear to be quite a roudy bunch :)
- 2 new partner teachers to lead and train
- a small group to lead and to challenge as we live in community together
- a church to grow with and serve with and learn from (Capillo Calvario)
- making new friends with the 25 new teachers coming and opening myself up again to new relationships
- confidence and faith as the Lord directs me now as a "leader" though I don't feel ready or prepared enough
Here is the next passage the Lord spoke over me in giving me vision for this next year:
Isaiah 49: 1-6
1 Listen to Me, O islands,
And pay attention, you peoples from afar.
The LORD called Me from the womb;
From the body of My mother He named Me.
2 He has made My mouth like a sharp sword,
In the shadow of His hand He has concealed Me;
And He has also made Me a select arrow,
He has hidden Me in His quiver.
3 He said to Me, “You are My Servant, Israel,
In Whom I will show My glory.”
4 But I said, “I have toiled in vain,
I have spent My strength for nothing and vanity;
Yet surely the justice due to Me is with the LORD,
And My reward with My God.”
5 And now says the LORD, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant,
To bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel might be gathered to Him
(For I am honored in the sight of the LORD,
And My God is My strength),
6 He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel;
I will also make You a light of the nations
So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth."
Thank you again dear friends. Please let me know how I can be interceding for you and what the Lord is teaching you, nothing delights me more. I love you all and thank you for your partnership for the gospel of Christ.
And a link to a song that has ministered in the same way by Chris McClarney called "Waste it all"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umkbx6DQiSs
Thank you so much for those of you who sat down and had conversations with me this summer about all the struggles and some highlights of the past year, they wer so helpful in processing through what the Lord has and will do through this whole experience.
Thank you for your love and prayers for me as I journey, I have just felt so filled and loved by each and every one of you. I don't understand why I am so blessed with the friends and family I have, but man, God is good in demonstrating His love for me specifically through all of you, and especially in this short summer time.
The Lord spoke some specific things to me through His word in helping to restore my heart and mind and prepare me for my return. I want to share this with you if I have not already, though it may have come out in bits and pieces.
When I came home this summer part of me felt like a complete failure as a teacher. Some things that happened at the end of the year led me to be very down and depressed about the whole past year. Sometimes a bad ending and closure tints everything. The Lord kindly and directly led me to this passage in Matthew 26:6-13 --
The Precious Ointment
6 Now when Jesus was in Bethany, at the home of Simon the leper, 7 a woman came to Him with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume, and she poured it on His head as He reclined at the table. 8 But the disciples were indignant when they saw this, and said, “Why this waste? 9 For this perfume might have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor.” 10 But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you bother the woman? For she has done a good deed to Me. 11 For you always have the poor with you; but you do not always have Me. 12 For when she poured this perfume on My body, she did it to prepare Me for burial. 13 Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her.”
Through this passage the Lord showed me that I had been leaning on the indignation of the disciples in regards to the service and work I had just poured out to the Lord in the past year. I felt like it was wasted in some sense, that nothing was accomplished, and that it would have been better to serve the poor with my gifts and talents, not the rich kids the Lord has called me to love and serve humbly. I was believing the lies and it took the Lord looking me straight in the eyes and saying, "You have done a good deed UNTO ME." I was so broken over my sin and failure to see that it didn't matter if I saw results, if I made a difference, if I was a good teacher, if others approved of what I do......I was simply pleasing and serving and pouring out my life unto the Lord, who is beyond worthy of every sacrifice and painful offering He asks me to give. As I turned to worship, instead of complaining I saw my Father do amazing things in my heart and mind as He renewed me in Him to return, to continue giving and serving, no matter the cost....no matter the fruit. I leave that all up to Him and I just anoint my Lord with what He has asked me to give.
Thus, I have new vision and passion in returning to Honduras in this upcoming week. BUT, I need your prayers and continued support to run the race marked out for me in this next season.
Here are some prayer requests:
- 2 new roommates I get the opportunity to live with and impact
- 21 new students (who appear to be quite a roudy bunch :)
- 2 new partner teachers to lead and train
- a small group to lead and to challenge as we live in community together
- a church to grow with and serve with and learn from (Capillo Calvario)
- making new friends with the 25 new teachers coming and opening myself up again to new relationships
- confidence and faith as the Lord directs me now as a "leader" though I don't feel ready or prepared enough
Here is the next passage the Lord spoke over me in giving me vision for this next year:
Isaiah 49: 1-6
1 Listen to Me, O islands,
And pay attention, you peoples from afar.
The LORD called Me from the womb;
From the body of My mother He named Me.
2 He has made My mouth like a sharp sword,
In the shadow of His hand He has concealed Me;
And He has also made Me a select arrow,
He has hidden Me in His quiver.
3 He said to Me, “You are My Servant, Israel,
In Whom I will show My glory.”
4 But I said, “I have toiled in vain,
I have spent My strength for nothing and vanity;
Yet surely the justice due to Me is with the LORD,
And My reward with My God.”
5 And now says the LORD, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant,
To bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel might be gathered to Him
(For I am honored in the sight of the LORD,
And My God is My strength),
6 He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel;
I will also make You a light of the nations
So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth."
Thank you again dear friends. Please let me know how I can be interceding for you and what the Lord is teaching you, nothing delights me more. I love you all and thank you for your partnership for the gospel of Christ.
And a link to a song that has ministered in the same way by Chris McClarney called "Waste it all"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umkbx6DQiSs
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