A heart bursting with gratefulness

This morning as I sang in the shower, the song that came out of was one in which I just kept thanking God for what he has done for me. As I named one thing, two more would pop to mind. How great is our God! I was talking with my sister this morning on skype and we kept naming things we have seen God do in our lives lately. The past season in both our lives has been very challenging and God has been bringing us both to a place of rest and delight in him. We couldn't hang up, because we kept thinking of ways God has blessed us recently. So, in light of all this, I want to name some of those things so that you can join me in praising Him. Here goes:

- This semester I have just been constantly given the opportunity to fellowship with families. I find that being around families is so refreshing.

- I have had the opportunity to start going through the Truth project- a video series intended to be watched with a group of people and then discussed. This has been really encouraging to me.

-I have been more structured and prepared in my classroom, which has given me more time and enthusiasm to fellowship with others, and to spend dwelling in the presence of the Lord.

-This time in which I can be refreshed through my fellowship with others and the Lord has in turn allowed me to be more productive with my work. 

-I have had the awesome opportunity to build friendships that I know are going to strengthen me,  stretch me, and build me up in the next season of my life.

-I have been blessed financially and since coming to Singapore have been able to start paying off my loans, being a part of the expanding of God's kingdom by giving generously to friends serving the Lord in ministry, and putting some money in savings.

-Since May, when I broke my foot, I have been in quite a bit of pain and thought that it would remain that way the rest of my life. However, over Christmas break, my foot had the opportunity to rest and in the two weeks since I have been back it has not been hurting. 

-More and more, I am learning how great a foundation my parents set for me through their teaching and counsel in the word of God.

-I have been blessed by so many friends that were placed in my life at the exact right time, and each for a unique and special purpose.

These and so many more are the praises that cause my heart to be filled with praises to my heavenly Father.

Testimony

I am being asked to share my testimony tomorrow, so I wrote it out and thought I would share it...

Both of my parents grew up in economically poor, but spiritually rich families. My mother’s father was discriminated against for holding on to the belief that we should live in peace and deciding not to fight during World War 2. My father’s family was persecuted for their protestant faith in Colombia where it was the norm to be catholic. These stories of faith are part of my heritage that I aspire to. 

When my parents were married, the Lord provided just what they needed. My dad studied at the university while teaching at a local high school. This job provided just enough money to pay the rent. My mother baked 600 brownies a day and sold them to two women who sold them on the street. This provided money for the families of the two women as well as just enough money for groceries for our family. Around the same time that my mother was thinking of expanding her business, someone stole her brownie recipe, but couldn’t make the brownies correctly, so people stopped buying the brownies altogether. God had a plan in this and provided my father with an opportunity to work with the government in foreign ministries. These stories of God’s faithfulness are what I cling to in times of need.

My brother was seven years old and my mother had had two miscarriages since his birth, so God again blessed my family through another child. I was born just three months before our family moved to Australia for my father’s first overseas posting as a diplomat. We lived there three years before moving back to Colombia and just before leaving Australia, my younger sister was born. 

Throughout the years, our lives kept shifting from one country to another. We lost friends, we gained others. We left homes, we found new ones. Through all this transition, my family became very close. My sister and I were the closest of friends, my brother- our hero. 

I came to know the Lord at a very young age and yearned to see others come to Christ. As a person moving from country to country and seeing so much pain in the world, I yearned to help the world become a better place- for the poor, for the oppressed, for the marginalized. I decided that I was going to do both these things by teaching children about the Lord. In High school this turned into a dream of starting an orphanage in either Sudan or Uganda. However, God had different plans for me. 

During my final year of university, I told the Lord that I was willing to go anywhere in the world, which really meant I wanted to go to a developing country and help those who really needed me. In that year, the Lord challenged me until I actually became ready to go anywhere that he would lead. That is when, through a series of different events, he led me to Singapore to work at the International Community School. He brought me to a place where there is not much economic need, but great spiritual need. While I am not at all in a place I expected to be, the Lord has given me the great opportunity to work with other children who move from one country to another, to teach other TCK’s about the Lord’s love, and about the home that he offers in heaven.

Call for prayer

One of my biggest frustrations in my Christian faith is my lack of courage in sharing the gospel. Yesterday, I was listening to Francis Chan and David Platt as they talked about being a disciple and the importance of being a fisher of men and making disciples. I was reminded of the importance of asking others for prayer. How easy it is to think that others have so many more worthy things to pray for, but how can we do any work for the Lord without the body of Christ lifting us up to Him? If we are to search scriptures, we see Paul consistently seek prayer from the church. Paul, the one who had courage to stand up against ruling authorities, to speak to thousands upon thousands of people, could only do so because He consistently asked the church to pray for Him to have the courage. Even Christ, who was fully God, asked His disciples to pray for Him. So here I am seeking your prayers for my life. 

This school year has been rough, but I know that while I wish my students' behavior, the amount of paperwork I have, and other people around me would change, the biggest change that needs to happen is in me. I've known all year that my heart attitude needs to be adjusted, but not known how to go about that.

Yesterday morning I was thinking about my schedule for the day when God asked why he wasn't first on my list. My response was that while He is a great priority in my life, he is not as urgent as other things, since He is always there. God was quick to confront me by reminding me that that attitude is exactly how marriages and relationships fall apart. If you don't put something above your work and other desires, that love will quickly drift away. Wow! How did I get to a place where God was not the focus, the epicenter of my entire life?
 

It is only by dwelling in Christ's presence that my attitude can change, by abiding in His peace that I can have peace through every stress-filled day, by resting in His love that I can pour out my love on my students, coworkers, flatmates, and others, by clinging to His word and His power that I can have the courage to share His gospel message that so many are desperately searching for. Please pray that I would be filled with the Lord's presence, peace, love, word, and power each day. Please pray that I would have the discipline to make God the most urgent priority of my every day. Please pray for opportunities that I can have to touch the hearts of my students, and to share the gospel of Christ with those who do not know Jesus. Finally, while this may seem trivial, please pray that my body would be healed of the cold I am fighting before I start teaching the new semester on Monday.

Please let me know if there are ways that I can be lifting you up in prayer as well.