Anyways, after a long weekend of writing a 10 page research paper on purity in the Bible (which I wrote 100% in Spanish, I must proudly add!), we have begun a new week studying spiritual gifts and ministries. I love learning about these because you really get to know yourself better, your strengths and weaknesses, how God can use you, what to avoid in using your gifts, and you can also explore and understand other people much better when you study their gifts and how they are different from yours. I am finding I have gifts in the areas of teaching, encouragement, mercy, leadership and creativity... my weaknesses would be in areas of service, perseverance, follow-through and plain old hard work. I always thought I was a hard worker when I apply myself, but seeing how some of the people here have worked so hard and dedicated so many years of their lives to difficult and time-consuming projects and ministries puts me to shame. I've loved working with the kids here and doing Sunday School, which has been interesting teaching it in Spanish with few resources, but God meets us where we're at and its been a great time. I love learning all the old Sunday School songs from my childhood in Spanish, even some old Barney songs thrown in there... good to know! Gotta love it.
Last week studying what the Bible says about money was also very eye-opening! The Bible mentions money over 2,800 times (salvation: 300; prayer: 500), so it's obviously something that matters to God. It's a necessity in our world, so we can't ignore it and treat it like something "secular." How can we truly glorify God with our finances, not only by tithing and giving to missions and the church, but also by trusting His provision for EVERYTHING?? Our American culture of individualism, self-made-man, I-earned-it-so-it's-mine mentality really does undermine our ability to recognize that EVERYTHING, even just the ability and health to work, and the opportunity of a job, comes from the hand of God. He provides everything. We do nothing on our own and we achieve nothing on our own. Tithing is one way of demonstrating this in obedience to God, but also being wise stewards and seeing our money as God's money is a way to glorify Him with every penny. It's a touchy subject; money is viewed as something very personal in our culture, and its especially a touchy subject here because sometimes it feels like you can divide the rich from the poor on the base by the color of their hair and eyes. But its something very applicable and practical we can learn in glorifying God, and He sees the heart, not the color of our hair or the amount in our bank account, and thats what really matters. Learning that there is healing God wants to do in the financial area of our lives is freeing - our imprudence and selfishness, cultural view of money, sin, ties to debts, love of money, greed, poverty and needs have left us wounded in this area, but the truths of His word bring healing when we put them into practice: by tithing, trusting in God for everything, being generous, recognizing His sovereignty, and being obedient in every little detail. It's definitely something I am still learning but it's been a good couple of weeks studying this subject!
The difference between living in grace and in the law is also something that God has been bringing to my heart lately - the extremes between living legalistically and following every rule but not knowing God Himself or His grace, and the extreme of living in grace and using your liberty as a cover for sin ("I can sin now, God will forgive me anyways"). Truly understanding this grace and walking in it, with wise limits set by His truth and Word, is life-changing.
Hmm what else is going on here... I am having issues with my neighbor's puppy, whose name is Dominico, because one of my leaders is named Dionicio... imagine the mayhem when Dominico tries to follow me to church and gets his head stuck in the fence and starts freaking out right when I go to say hi to Dionicio... am I to blame if I sometimes say "Dionicio, stop being so stupid and get your head out of the fence you idiot!"... or "Thanks for the great sermon Dominico" ?? I really dont think I should be held responsible, but the confusion has been considerable. Really this puppy follows me everywhere, he's like my little shadow. It is kind of funny cause I will talk to him in Spanish and he will listen to me and obey me, but when I speak English he pretends like he doesn't hear me... I swear! He knows where he's from. Or maybe he's an egocentric racist English-hating puppy. Still not quite sure.
Alright off to do some more work, there's always something...
Prayer requests/praise:
-Guidance for the future - I am praying if I am going to come back to do the outreach from January - March with the school. I feel led to do it (Isaiah 42:6-7) - keep praying for guidance and clarity for me!
-For the counseling of the high schoolers here, it's been a challenge to get it up and running...
-For finances of the school - many students cant pay for the outreach, for God to send the finances they need to go bless the nations we will be sent to...
-The base might start building an elementary school soon for the kids and neighbors of the base, which is really necessary since the schools here are pretty shabby. We prayed over the land as a school and now the owner might donate it to us instead of selling it to us! Right on.
"Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." Prov. 4:23
No comments:
Post a Comment