First of all, many apologies to you all on my radio silence for the past two months. For most of it, I had the excuse of living in a tent in the middle of nowhere, with no internet cafes or free wi-fi in sight. I was actually relieved at my inability to communicate, as I didn’t have to try to formulate words for what God was doing in my life and in the life of those around me. Now, I am more than two weeks done with my Real Life summer, back in the U.S.-all debriefed, with good-byes said, and ready to start the next season of my life. Each time I log into my AIM account, my blog sits there before me and I think “I need to write a blog. I NEED to write a blog.” And each time I have found some excuse to put it of until “tomorrow”, but honestly I just didn’t have the emotional energy or know where to begin sharing from my heart. But, I am biting the bullet and this is my feeble attempt.
I was chatting with a good friend on gmail while I was still in Johannesburg debriefing and she said “Tell me one thing about your summer. Anything.” And all I could reply was “The Holy Spirit is real.” And if one thing was revealed to me on this 2 month adventure, it was that statement. For the first time in my life, I walked confidently in my ability to hear the Holy Spirit and respond to His promptings. I saw many on my team do the same. And let me tell you, when you allow the Holy Spirit to take hold of you and what you are doing, POWER is displayed. Our God is powerful. And when we finally submit our will to Him, He allows us to be apart of some pretty cool things in His Kingdom.
oat tastes alot like pot roast, by the way). I saw people healed from aches, pains, and illnesses. I saw people set free from demonic influence. One of the reasons I love Mozambique so much is because they are READY. They walk miles to come to a church service or bible study. They understand the power of prayer. They are desperate for a move of God. They have no where else to turn, nothing else to fall back on. This hit home for me on a very small scale when I got very ill during our time in Zimula. At one point I was in so much pain, I kept thinking-“I NEED to go to the hospital. This is too much. I need a doctor.” Do you know where the nearest remotely decent hospital is? Johannesburg. Yeah, that is in South Africa. 18 hour drive away. Of course, it never came down to that for me, but it was a piece of reality. God, you have to come and heal. You have to show up. There is no where else for us to turn.
well. We have our doctors, our depression meds, our 401 k’s and our life insurance. Our first inclination is not to cry out to the Lord, but to fixing it ourselves. Please understand me, I believe in doctors, and medication and all of these things. I just think we are missing out on something more powerful and significant than we realize. Our God is alive, active, and moving in the world today. He is powerful, and we as His children can share in that power. Jesus told his disciples that all authority was given to Him by the Father, and we are co-heirs with Him in that promise. He wants to be our Jehovha-Jireh, our provision. But, we have to let Him. We have to invite Him in. He is standing at the door of our hearts, the door of His church, asking to come in. We sing songs about Him being more than enough for us, but then we don’t come to Him. We sit in our pews on Sundays, mostly bored, and spend the rest of the week trying to make it in this world, and most of us are just trying to keep our heads above the water.
The God I saw move powerfully this summer in Mozambique is the same God I serve back home in the United States. I don’t want my experiences there to just be pictures in my scrapbook or fond memories to reminisce, but a reality that I can walk in every day. God doesn’t have to use me to further His Kingdom on this earth, but He wants to. His greatest delight is when His children say yes to Him. But all of this is up to me. My level of hunger determines my ability to be used in His Kingdom. And I want to be used in the greatest ways possible.
