Answers.

Have you ever had a moment in which you gain a whole new understanding of something, you thought you already perfectly understood? You have? Good. Welcome to a typical day in my life here in East Asia. 

It has been a month and a half since I set out on this incredible journey and every day presents new challenges, new lessons and new insight to who our Father is. I have been following JC for more than 7 years and in that time He has taught me so much about him, one of those things being, we never stop learning about Him or His Word. However, there are some things that I feel like, as a follower, I have gained a solid understanding of, lifting things up to the Father for example. Over the years I have talked with Father and asked him to do things and provide things, and He has been faithful to show up in those areas of my life. Well the Father does something when He asks you to travel to the other side of the world, trusting that He will provide. He not only shows up in ways you have experienced before, but also in ways that are beyond comprehension. 

With most of the students gone for the summer break, things have been kind of slow around here. However, in the midst of that our team has been committed to lifting up these students and campuses, knowing it is just as important as sitting down and sharing with a student. We have walked these campuses and asked that the Father be working in the hearts of students who will also walk these campuses. We ask that the HS would be present and always moving. We ask that the Father would do far more than we could ever imagine over this next semester. Over this last week, as some of the students have started to return to their campuses(YAY!), I realized that what I thought I knew about PR was nothing compared to what Dad taught me about it. 

A few days ago we were able to head over to our campus and meet up with a friend to play some basketball, which the students here LOVE to play. As we headed over to the courts we were able to connect with a bunch of students we were playing with. The Father didn’t just provide one contact or one friend, He provided a whole group of students for us to befriend. It was fun to play with them, but the part that was the most fun was after, when we were able to stand around and talk with them. We were able to really start to get to know who they were. They were so eager to be our friends, to tell us about themselves and to learn about us. 

So fast forward a few days, I was able to go back to campus and have lunch with 4 of these guys. Having already started a conversation about the Father with one of them via message, I was so excited to talk with them. During our lunch I was able to lay out the Good News to 3 of them who had never heard of it before, and one who had. Immediately, they had so many questions and so much interest in who the Father was and what he had done for them. They even wanted to continue to meet together and study the Book! 

I knew that the Father would provide opportunities on this campus, because we had asked it of Him, but I never could have expected the excitement He would give the hearts of these guys. I have seen the Father answer PR’s before, but never in such a powerful way. The first day students come back and the Father provided us with this group of guys, who not only were willing to listen, but excited to learn more. 

This journey has been one where the Father has continued to humble and teach me. He never ceases to amaze! I ask that you be lifting up this group of guys as we begin to meet and read through the Book, ask that the Father would continue to work in their hearts and they would realize their need for JC. Continue to lift up all of the campuses in our city, as they will very soon all be filled with students again. Ask that the Father would continue to provide opportunities to share and relationships with students. 

P.S.- Good luck to everyone back at KSU as you head back to school! Cheer really loud for me at those football games! #EMAW #Istillbleedpurple #Cats

From reeling to reliance.

I can look back over the past few weeks and think of several things. The first thing that comes to mind is, “Wow, how have I already been in East Asia for a month?!” While another is, “What did I get myself into?” Still another has been, “Father, you are faithful even to meet me on a bus ride across town.”

There have been so many fun times since this journey began. Over the last few weeks we have hiked up an exhaustingly huge mountain, explored this city of 10 million people, gone shopping at an Asian Walmart, eaten strange things, shared with people and met new friends. The adventurer in me loves every second of it. I learn new things about these people and this place every day and it is through this, that the Father is giving me a love for this place.

It would be nice to say that everything has been fun and exciting, but the truth is, sometimes I seriously do wonder how I can get through the next 5 months of living here. The heat is exhausting, the people are numerous and the culture is radically different than ours. Then there is the whole, they speak another language, thing and this week, that has been challenging. I love people. I love meeting people, I love talking to people and I love learning about people. Just a few days ago I was hoping to go out and meet some new friends and maybe even go to lunch with them, however, that didn’t happen. The fact that I am very limited in who I can talk to here was made very clear to me. It was a discouraging thought to think, that there is only certain people here I can talk with, share with and get to know, especially for an extrovert like me. I felt limited in the impact I could have for the Father.

Confidence is not normally something I fall short of(not always a good thing), however, what the enemy was using to tear me down, the Father used to build me up. You see, the enemy was telling me that I can’t talk with everyone here, I can’t share with every university student I see, and that means my  being here is worthless. In the midst of those thoughts, I took some time to come before the Father. The first thing He did was bring me to the foot of the cross and say, “Here is where you belong, here is where you stop trying to do this your way and through your strength.” Dad encouraged me and loved me, He showed me his heart for his children. He brought me from a place of confusion to a place of total reliance on him. It isn’t through the things I can do here that people will come to know him and there also isn’t anything that will stand in the way of His will, even a language barrier. He continues to be faithful in teaching and using a tool like me, even as confused as I can be sometimes.

This week Philippians 3:8-11 has been on my heart. Even in the midst of trials, there is nothing more sweet or satisfying as knowing JC. This passage expresses perfectly the desire of my heart. I want to know Him more and I want to understand his death and resurrection in a way that drives me. I want my life to be centered around Him. I want to consider everything rubbish compared to being in fellowship with Him. This has been an encouragement and challenge to me over this past week. Lift me up in this way, pr that this would be the desire of my heart.

Be lifting up this place and these students to the Father. PR that Dad would humble in a way that nothing I do or say is by my efforts, but that I am surrendering so that He may work through me. Lift up our team and the brothers and sisters here. PR that the HS would be here and working all the time, but most of all, take some time to experience the Father’s incredible love this week!

Thank you for all your PR’s!