Role Reversal

So today in church I witnessed something that brought tears to my eyes. I saw the Body of Christ- for a brief moment- function the way it should. I don't mean this to sound harsh, or to sound as if I think there is no hope in the church.I mean this in a way that acknowledges that all churches have their fair share of problems.

Anyways, here's what happened.During the last one or two worship songs, the altar is always opened up for people who want prayer or time to reflect.After the last person from the congregation sat back down in their pew, the pastor got down on his knees at the altar.I watched from up front as I sang as people stood up from the congregation and surrounded him with their presence and prayers.It was a beautiful thing.Here were broken sheep recognizing that even the shepherd needs to be fed and taken care of.I stood there singing with tears stinging to push their way down my cheek.In a perfect world, this is what the Body of Christ would always look like.

It's awesome to see God work in unexpected ways....

Jeremiah

So yesterday in my Jeremiah class,we got on the topic of God's will.Stone said that really our need to know what "God's will" is comes from our middle class choice.Up until even the past couple of centuries, people didn't really have a lot of options.Women were wives and mothers and men did whatever their fathers did.The reason why so many calls were so dramatic to do something more in biblical times was because they had no choice.People didn't ask "who am I supposed to marry?" or "what job should I take?" Stone's point was that a lot of times we impose our questions onto the text, when really those questions were never asked in the first place.

God's will is something that baffles me.I certainly think that we do have freedom of choice- although I once got into a conversation with a guy in undergrad who believed that God made every single choice for us-going so far as to say that God tells him to eat such-and-such for dinner.I think that unless a choice clearly contradicts God's Word, then we really have more than one option for things. I think that God does call people to certain professions, but that in that call there is a freedom to say, "Hey, I think working here would be a better fit for me than working there." There may not be a "bad" option, but there very well may be a better one.I think the most important thing is that we are honoring God and staying true to His Word.

I'm not discounting people who say that God told them that this particular person is who they are going to marry, I just don't think that that can be a general rule.I don't think that there is "one person" out there for each of us.That seems a bit hopeless if you ask me.As long as Jesus is the center of our lives, I think there are many roads that He would bless!

In His Mercy...

Hungry

Have you ever felt so hungry for God that you almost don't know what to do?That's kind of where I am right now.As a new believer,I faced each day with such joy in my heart, feeling like I was going to burst.As time went on, those feelings subsided and I could no longer rely on my emotions to draw me closer to the Lord.Being the emotional person that I am, that has always been a challenge.I can't always feel God, and I don't think God wants me to be able to feel him all the time.It has to be a choice each day when I wake up to follow the Lord and breathe every breath for Him.Lately, everyday gives me yet another reason of why I can't rely on anything less than Jesus Christ himself.As I face challenges and struggles and "bear my cross," I can't help but turn to my faithful God, my rock.It's amazing to think that even when we've known the Lord for years on end,even though he's so deeply embedded in our lives, we can still hunger and thirst for Him with a depth that can't even be understood.

I'm grateful that I can be honest with the Lord.He knows my heart anyway, so why try to act like I can keep things from Him?When life comes at me fast and knocks me off my feet,I fall into God's hands and cry out to him with my whole heart.I'm just hungry right now.I want more of Jesus in my life.The paradox is that I'll never get enough.For all eternity,I'll never get enough...

Today is my parents' 30th wedding anniversary,by the way! Isn't that amazing?It seems rare in today's world and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't praise God for that blessing. I love you mom and dad...

Conversion

So I'm taking a class on John Wesley's theology this semester.Today I was reading about his thoughts on conversion.Wesley believed that conversion is very rarely an individualistic thing.I've never really thought about this, but it's so true.There are a handful of people that have impacted my life and pushed me towards becoming a Christian.One person is my mom.She raised me in the church and held me responsible to biblical standards, even before I was saved.Her godly life has truly been a blessing and an inspiration to me. Another person is my pastor, who has been at my church almost 9 years.He brought a new life into the church and for the first time,I actually heard the gospel being preached in my church.Then there's Alec Sprinkle.He's one of those poeple that comes into your life for only a brief time,but has a deep impact.We met on a mission trip the summer before my junior year of high school.He was the first person my own age who actually lived the Christian life and truly believed in the message of the cross.This alone was amazing to me.

It was at a Good Friday servie with a guest preacher at my church that brought me to my knees.I was 17 and I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior that night.I honestly believe that that would not have happened had it not been for the Christian community that had poured into me before I made that decision. So no, conversion cannot be an individualistic thing. Evangelism and discipleship go hand-in-hand.It is of vital importance to be connected to the Body of Christ.This life cannot be lived by ourselves! Yes,we can be independent, but there also needs to be a level of Christian interdependence in order to be truly fed and to grow in Christian maturity!

In His Mercy....

Speaking Truth

I don't have too much to say.Just a quick insight.I was thinking last night how the most beautiful thing that you could speak into another person's life is the gospel of Jesus Christ.What a beautiful thing it is! It seems that we always want to encourage people with external things.I think there is a time and a place for that, but ultimately we need to be directing people towards the cross.Because truly, we are nothing without Jesus Christ.We have nothing.We are worth nothing.We can do nothing apart from His strength in our lives.

So yeah,for today all I have to say is Jesus Christ is the most beautiful truth, in fact the ONLY truth, that there is=)

Blessed are the Poor

Church was amazing today. Lots of things to mull over.I guess when I got up to sing with the praise team, it was one of those days where I just didn't "feel like" singing.But something that Aaron said in the sermon reminded me that I was looking at in the completely wrong way. Today we talked about the poor and the need to minister with the poor, and not to the poor.What jumped out at me was this statement: "don't assume that you have anything else to offer but Jesus Christ." Wow.Think about that.If we aren't primarily offering Jesus to the people we minister with, then anything we are trying to offer to them means nothing.We are nothing without Jesus; we have nothing to give that hasn't been given to us straight from Jesus' hand.

It's so easy in ministry to think along these lines: "I'm good with kids and I can sing.This is what I can offer the church ministry-wise." Note that these have been my thoughts.But I have it all wrong.It's not the singing or the delivered children's message that I'm offering.If it is,then I've missed out on something.It's Jesus that I have to offer.Singing and children's messages are merely the vehicles. It was a very convicting sermon.It seems like such an obvious thing; its simplicity is exactly what makes it so profound.

We sang this hymn to close the service. I sat in prayer, drinking in these words and the hope of Jesus Christ:

Guide me, O thou great Jehovah,pilgrim though this barren land;
I am weak, but thou art mighty;hold me with thy powerful hand;
Bread of heaven, Bread of heaven,feed me till I want no more,feed me till I want no more.

Open now the crystal fountain,whence the healing stream doth flow;
let the fire and cloudy pillar lead me all my journey through;
strong Deliverer, strong Deliverer.be thou still my Strength and Shield,be thou still my Strength and Shield.

When I tread the verge of Jordan,bid my anxious fears subside;
bear me through the swelling current,land me safe on Canaan's side;
songs of praises, songs of praises,I will ever give to thee,I will ever give to thee.

I Have Overcome this World

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."- John 16:33

"For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." - 2 Corinthians 4:17

These verses came to mind yesterday when I was sitting in my pastoral crisis intervention class.The prof showed us some pictures of people in crisis and then a painting of Jesus on the cross, all the while playing a song about Jesus having been where we are.He asked us how we felt.I realized I felt a mixture of sadness,hurt, and hope.One of the amazing things about being a Christian is that if you truly believe in the "foolishness of the cross," then there is always hope.No matter how dark the situation is, there is hope and that is an amazing truth to grasp onto.

I've always loved the above verse from JOhn. In a sense, it is a promise that life is going to be hard (which some people don't want to believe is true when you're a Christian), but it is also a promise that Jesus has already conquered all of our hard times.We will not be crushed or defeated, but we have the hope of Jesus on our side.

I also love love love the verse from 2 Corinthians.In the midst of difficult sitautions, we can rest assured that all these things are just temporary and pale in comparison to the glory that awaits us.Does that not fill you with hope and excitement? Does that not provide you with a comfort that is almost unimaginable?

So here I am.I am facing a semester that I can only describe as overcommitted.It's my own fault.I just want to do what I love and practicality flew out the window a while back.The Lord is giving me a chance to either choose to trust Him that I can do this, or to stress and make this even harder for myself.I'm going to trust.It's going to be hard.I'm going to mess up.I'm going to cry and vent a lot.But,I have hope.It lies in the cross.It was brought by Jesus' blood and broken body.It was sealed when Jesus rose from the dead.He is ALIVE!!!! So live life like that's true....

Blessed be your Name

This past Sunday was the one year anniversary of Jane Dube's death, a devoted wife and mother of two. November 23rd was the two year anniversary of Shannon's death, devoted wife and mother of four kids, all under 12. Both died from cancer and both were amazing women of God.I remember in vivid detail finding out about Shannon.She was the wife of one of Gordon's professors, a professor who was a favorite among students.He and his wife, less than one year before Shannon's death, were members of my mission team for Spring Break.We were in our doctrine class when the dean of chapel/prof of the class anounced Shannon's passing that morning.We sat in silence, absolutely stunned.Tears were shed and the dean read through some Psalms and dismissed us from class.It was a friday morning, and I cried my way through the weekend.I cried through her memorial service.And I cried as her precious 2-yr-old daughter, Lindsay, ran up and down the aisles of the chapel, not understanding what was happening. Is that kind of innocence a blessing or a curse?

Death is not something that always makes sense. In a perfect world, everyone would die peacefully from old age.But unfortunately that's not how it is.It seems that amazing people get taken from us too soon.It is in these situations that we are faced with a choice.We can either use it as an excuse to turn away from God or a reason to praise Him. I see it as an opportunity to continue praising God and an opportunity for deeper trust.Job praised God because He gives and takes away.At some point in our walk with God we find ourselves for the first time in a sitaution that we can't make sense of, and that's ok.It is at those points that we have to trust that God's ways and thoughts are indeed higher than ours.It's ok to not understand everything that goes on.If we did, how could faith ever fit into things???

In His mercy,
Sarah