If life was a cake, this past week would be the most delicious of them all.
This past week basically brought to close the most amazing summer I have ever been alive. I don't even know what to say honestly. How can I summarize everything that I have seen God do this summer? Truth is, I can't. At all. Not even a little. But I'm going to try.
This summer started with a trip to North Africa. I am still processing it, to be honest. The things that I saw, the people I met, and the things I did. It was probably the hardest six weeks of my Christian walk hands down. It seemed so hopeless at parts, and the pace was slow at parts of it. But the secret was that there was still a pace. There was still movement; a forward motion in the direction of hope and salvation. It was like seeing a wave before it turns. There was a building of something, and while it may not come to a front in many years, it is still there, and there is still hope. Learning that there is hope in the darkest of places is a hard lesson, and it is terribly hard to stay strong throughout it all. But God not only helped me survive it, He helped me make a differences, albeit a small one. But every piece of the puzzle is equally important.
Coming back was hard. I hit the ground marching to a different beat. I couldn't quite come to terms with the hopeless feeling of the smallness of me. An abstract view of me and the few that went with me who were trying desperately to bring hope to the hopeless. We were so few, trying to do so much. But this was important, and an important part of my summer.
Shortly after, my Mom started her job as a pastor at Waters Memorial Church, and all that entails. Taking a church by the reins, and moving forward in the most incredible ways. One of the cool parts of this is seeing all that goes into the process, and all of the awesome people who are behind her, also driven by God, helping her lead this church in the direction God is calling it. It's not the largest congregation, but there is still a love for Christ, and a hope to expand a spread the gospel.
This may all seem like ramblings of different events, but it all makes sense. Hang in there for a bit.
Right after that, God pulled some of his crazy God strings, and opened the door for me to get a job that for all intents and purposes, I should not have. One of the hardships of last year was pulling money out of nowhere to help fund the ministries I'm called to. Not an issue for that. god made a way for this to happen through this job. So now there is a clear path to the places I'm called this upcoming year, which is the most amazing of prayers answered, because last year was cutting things extremely close as far as finances go. It was hard, but God has made a way to help this burden.
Through the mist of all of this, there was this girl. As there tends to be in stories with happy endings. She encourages me, and builds me up in the most incredible. I feel extremely blessed to have her, more than words can say. It's almost as if my walk with God is built up that much more, because there is someone there who encourages me in ways no one else does. It's amazing. Kaitlyn, if you are reading this, you bless me daily. This weekend was a perfect example. Out of nowhere, you are there, and made things so much brighter.
But everything made sense after this past week. I was on the Appalachian Service Project (ASP), where we go and build houses for a week. And one of the things that happens on this week is we have evening gatherings, and we sing a song or two, and then have some sort of awesome event planned. One of the songs perfectly tied my summer in a huge bow, and brought forth a new understanding. Friday night, everyone on ASP sat around and was talking about their biggest God moment of the week. and as I looked around the room it hit me.
The song is called Swimming to the other side. and there is a lyric in the song that says "We are swimming in the stream together, we are swimming to the other side". And it hit me. I saw the scope of things. A tiny fragment of where God is moving, and how great the movement is. Together we are moving forward for Christ. Or better yet, it's like this:
God is doing GREAT things in North Africa. I have seen it. It is incredible.
God is doing GREAT things in the Appalachian Mountains. There is a love poured out to the people, and a living gospel showed.
God is doing GREAT things in Waters Memorial Church. It is a small and mighty soldier fighting for God, and ever expanding.
God is doing GREAT things in the ministries at Towson University. He is opening doors for the most incredible movements.
God is doing GREAT things in me. Plain and simple. I see God in a light I never have.
Big. Small. It doesn't matter. The truth of the matter is that all of the believers are moving for Christ.
Or, in other words, we are all swimming to the other side.
This past week basically brought to close the most amazing summer I have ever been alive. I don't even know what to say honestly. How can I summarize everything that I have seen God do this summer? Truth is, I can't. At all. Not even a little. But I'm going to try.
This summer started with a trip to North Africa. I am still processing it, to be honest. The things that I saw, the people I met, and the things I did. It was probably the hardest six weeks of my Christian walk hands down. It seemed so hopeless at parts, and the pace was slow at parts of it. But the secret was that there was still a pace. There was still movement; a forward motion in the direction of hope and salvation. It was like seeing a wave before it turns. There was a building of something, and while it may not come to a front in many years, it is still there, and there is still hope. Learning that there is hope in the darkest of places is a hard lesson, and it is terribly hard to stay strong throughout it all. But God not only helped me survive it, He helped me make a differences, albeit a small one. But every piece of the puzzle is equally important.
Coming back was hard. I hit the ground marching to a different beat. I couldn't quite come to terms with the hopeless feeling of the smallness of me. An abstract view of me and the few that went with me who were trying desperately to bring hope to the hopeless. We were so few, trying to do so much. But this was important, and an important part of my summer.
Shortly after, my Mom started her job as a pastor at Waters Memorial Church, and all that entails. Taking a church by the reins, and moving forward in the most incredible ways. One of the cool parts of this is seeing all that goes into the process, and all of the awesome people who are behind her, also driven by God, helping her lead this church in the direction God is calling it. It's not the largest congregation, but there is still a love for Christ, and a hope to expand a spread the gospel.
This may all seem like ramblings of different events, but it all makes sense. Hang in there for a bit.
Right after that, God pulled some of his crazy God strings, and opened the door for me to get a job that for all intents and purposes, I should not have. One of the hardships of last year was pulling money out of nowhere to help fund the ministries I'm called to. Not an issue for that. god made a way for this to happen through this job. So now there is a clear path to the places I'm called this upcoming year, which is the most amazing of prayers answered, because last year was cutting things extremely close as far as finances go. It was hard, but God has made a way to help this burden.
Through the mist of all of this, there was this girl. As there tends to be in stories with happy endings. She encourages me, and builds me up in the most incredible. I feel extremely blessed to have her, more than words can say. It's almost as if my walk with God is built up that much more, because there is someone there who encourages me in ways no one else does. It's amazing. Kaitlyn, if you are reading this, you bless me daily. This weekend was a perfect example. Out of nowhere, you are there, and made things so much brighter.
But everything made sense after this past week. I was on the Appalachian Service Project (ASP), where we go and build houses for a week. And one of the things that happens on this week is we have evening gatherings, and we sing a song or two, and then have some sort of awesome event planned. One of the songs perfectly tied my summer in a huge bow, and brought forth a new understanding. Friday night, everyone on ASP sat around and was talking about their biggest God moment of the week. and as I looked around the room it hit me.
The song is called Swimming to the other side. and there is a lyric in the song that says "We are swimming in the stream together, we are swimming to the other side". And it hit me. I saw the scope of things. A tiny fragment of where God is moving, and how great the movement is. Together we are moving forward for Christ. Or better yet, it's like this:
God is doing GREAT things in North Africa. I have seen it. It is incredible.
God is doing GREAT things in the Appalachian Mountains. There is a love poured out to the people, and a living gospel showed.
God is doing GREAT things in Waters Memorial Church. It is a small and mighty soldier fighting for God, and ever expanding.
God is doing GREAT things in the ministries at Towson University. He is opening doors for the most incredible movements.
God is doing GREAT things in me. Plain and simple. I see God in a light I never have.
Big. Small. It doesn't matter. The truth of the matter is that all of the believers are moving for Christ.
Or, in other words, we are all swimming to the other side.
=)
ReplyDeleteAmen, Ryan. Amen.
P.S. I've been singing that song in my head since we left on Saturday morning.