Rest Part II

Praise our good God for showing me truth and teaching me. Through prayer I came to see that by not resting in the Lord I am routinely rejecting a good gift from my Father, ignoring my need for restoration and pridefully carrying on on my own.

No wonder Sabbath is such an important concept in Scripture! God knows that we need it and it is a reminder of our need for God!

I have a confession to make, I am not a good rester.

I desire to become a person who knows how to rest well. Not just for my own health and sanity (though God surely had these in mind when he set up the Sabbath mandate) but in order to practice humility. I desire to practice rest (giving my worries to God and accepting renewal, strength, peace and rest from Him) in order to more fully trust God and in order to live a life that communicates "I really need you God" rather than "I don't need rest, I can do this!" In order to communicate to God "I desire to give my struggles to you recognizing that you can give me wisdom and grace to face the, not ignore them."

I want to trust God and show Him with my life that my hope and stability are found in my knowledge of who he is and what he has done not in who I am and what I can do.

God teach me to rest well. Help me to humbly express my need for you in the way I rest. Help me recieve the renewal you desire to offer to those who come to you. Forgive me for my pride, I need you and can't make an impact in this world without your strength and direction. Help me resolve to work on this and give me the humility to remember this lesson often especially in a world that gives value to self sufficent people who pride themselves on how much they can do without stopping.

Praise God for His work in our lives. I pray that I will continually ask God to transform the weaknesses in my life into opportunities to show His grace and strength.

Rest Part I

It's been a month exactly since I wrote about rest and how I desparately need to learn how to build it into my life. I was in the middle of the craiest week of the semester as far as assignments go and as I sat in our chapel (which was open for prayer and set aside for students to stop and rest before God)

I prayed "God if there is anything that is keeping me from knowing you more or living my life as you want me to please show me and change me."

It is amazing to me how faithful God is when I honestly and humbly pray for him to show me my weaknesses. I am amazed at how specific he is and how loved and not condemned I feel when he puts his finger on something I need to change. When God speaks to me this way and when I experience his love and holiness in the light of my own weaknesses and failures how else can I respond except by humbly wrestling before God with my problem and seeking restoration through him. I have a deep desire to change that I might serve and know him better.

The area that God specifically put on my heart that day was that I often try to live my life in my own strength and then I come to my end (which doesn't take long) and am exhausted (which happened often last semester). I love my work and my life as a student but don't love feeling tired all the time (emotionally and spiritually as well as physically).

God brought to mind a few conversations in the last few months in which I basically told people "I don't rest." I was just resigned to the fact that I have a crazy busy life and that I don't need to slow down.

CONVICTION!! What did I just say that I don't need rest?

I certainly live my life that way sometimes. It is obvious that I need a whole lot of things in my life. It is obvious that I do not have everything under control. But somehow in my pride I was able to convice myself that I'd ask God for strength when I ran out of my own. Ugh! I hate that that was part of my thinking for so long with out me acknowledging it. How arrogant and how dead wrong. I gladly repent of that and chose to accept my utter inability to serve God and live a godly life outside of His strength.

Anticipation...

I just spent over an hour browsing houses online with 4 other girls who I hope to live with next year. We found some really exciting prospects current favorite is a house in the country 15 minutes from campus 1400 sq feet 3 bedrooms 2 bath for $925 a month (divided by 5) bonuses= owner will take care of the yard, includes washer and dryer.



We talked about how I would decorate the house and Heather would cook for us. We talked about doing a Bible study together and getting to know our neighbors...

Are we dreaming? Possibly, but it is fun to dream. :)

New York Pictures

So I know some of you have been waiting for a while. I hope these pictures help you get a feel for the ministry I saw and a bit of the big city. I'll do my best to explain.


The Classic New York City Street


Near Fifth Avenue


Central Park


The New York City Skyline from the Rockefeller Building


Sidewalk Sunday School




Michelle with some of her girls


The Truck


Some Cute Girls on the Bus

Metro Ministries International

Question: "What are you doing in New York?"

Answer: I have a good friend from College Michelle who has been in Brooklyn New York doing a Side Walk Sunday School ministry with Metro Ministries for 3 months now. I decided to add a few days on to the end of my Thanksgiving break and go and visit her.

It has been an eye opener to understand the conditions so many kids live in, in the projects of New York. It's heart breaking.

It has also been very exciting to be a part of a vibrant ministry that reaches 20,000 kids a week by pulling up trucks with a fold down side in their projects (apt buildings) and bringing Sunday school to them. The hope this ministry is able to communicate to these children is so important, it is life transformational. The gospel of Christ's love always transforms lives.

I guess what I mean is that some how the light shines brightest when the darkness is deep.

And is the darkness deep. Many of these kids have experienced verbal, physical or sexual abuse. An untold number grew up with young, young mothers in their teens. Most of them don't have fathers. Many have siblings who have been involved in or killed by neighborhood gangs. They have many fears and hurts that a child shouldn't be plagued with. They live fearful and bear the weight of feeling unsafe. Not all have experienced these horrors first hand, but each has grown up in a culture where they are aware of it. Yet that is the reality in a broken and fallen world. The good news is that there are people that care for them.

And greater still the truth that there is a God who knows each of their stories, each of their wounds and worries and grieves with them.

Isn't that an amazing thought!!

As hard as it has been to see the pain and fear in some of these kids eyes and walk the often dirty and dark halls of their buildings it has been amazing to see this ministry live out the vision they have for these kids so effectively. It is a joy to see the passion in the interns hearts as I watch them serve these children day after day taking little time to rest or even sit down for a meal (it is a very busy schedule).

I love hearing them talk about the children as "my kids." I love that God has used their words to heal hearts and speak the truth with authority in an environment where many other influences are speaking much louder. I love that each intern (there are 52 from 10 or more different countries) have caught a vision for these children, have taken ownership of the neighborhoods assign to them and are pushing into the darkness with light and hope.

It is not safe here and yet these people are willing to even lay aside their "need" or "right" for safety and in courage walk the path Christ has called them to.

It's hard not get caught up in a ministry when so many around you are living out a vision.

And the vision is powerful. I will never think of New York the same, I know. And I think that I will forever remember the faces of the kids in the ghetto.

What a blessing it has been for me to come and develop a heart to pray for this ministry and these kids. What a blessing to see what my dear friend has been describing these months. It is such a blessing to see another piece of what our God is doing in the world.

Praise the Lord for His power to change lives and pray that he continues to rescue children from the dominion of darkness to bring them into the kingdom of the son he loves. (Col 1:13)

Mary


Here's a Picture of Michelle and I last year:




I hope to put up pictures soon.
For more info on this ministry visit http://www.metroministries.org

Brooklyn, New York

I am in New York. I am learning a lot and enjoying my time with my good friend Michelle. I have loved being involved in this ministry so far and am excited to have a day off in Manhattan today. Hopefully I'll have time to post more later and there will definetly be pictures to share soon. Until then.

Mary

Are we wasting our lives?

I just finished a monolith of a book (550 pgs) on the disease of Pluralism and how it is clandestantly corroding our society. Ok, enough with the honors English vocab, let me get to the point. The book is called The Gagging of God and challenges us to look at how we have "gagged God" by our accepting the misconstrued philosophies of Pluralism that our socity is replete with. There is much as stake with this, something must be done.

We cannot live the default life and "go with the flow" as believers, because no matter how Christian we like to view our nation as, the "flow", popular culture, is not seeking God.

And worse yet, many are masking Christian metaphors with anti-Biblical agendas (because we are after all a 'Christian nation') and many "casual Christians" are being pulled along.

I think that for a long time Christians in America have thought that it was enough to just "go to church" and live a quiet life, not causing a stir.

"Live and Let live" I heard a Christian woman I respect say a few years ago.

WHAT! What kind of life is that? Will we really be coaxed into a life of no impact so quickly? Are we so easily swindled into believing the world's logic? Sometimes we don't even notice.

I guess I have realized lately how "non- default" an authentic Christian life is. While the cultural patterns of our society and especially the way we glorify personal comfort and happiness as the highest goal, and thus re-enforce an isolationist morality lifestyle, I would venture to say that no committed, fully submitted follower of Christ has ever been satisfied with this kind of life. And far be it from me to be either.

In our culture, which is becoming so permissive of sin, and so hesitant to call it what it is, a culture that seeks to serve itself and rationalize away what little guilt our numbed consciences are still able to percieve; living an authentic, life altering Christian life is every bit counter cultural. Those who pattern their morality after the absolute values of Scripture, those who choose to serve others even at their own expense, those who choose to stand up for the truth stand in such utter contrast to our society's values. These values are incomprehensible to our culture.

Why would you sacrifice your comfort for another person? Why deny yourself something you desire? Why would you serve someone without expecting something in return?

These values when lived out and not just spoken of, are shocking to the world. It is radical. It flies in the face of all that makes sense to the human/carnal mind and will. It has always been this way. This is the example we are given in Scripture.Paul preached to a pluralistic society too (see discourse on Marshill Acts 17). He eventually died for refusing to assimilate in this culture. He could have just said that our God was one of the many gods, but rather he held that Christ was the only true God. He was counter cultural.

If we are not serving the Lord in a radical way now, I'll tell you we won't all of the sudden become faithful when trials come. Do we want to follow in the footsteps of the so many faithful before us, those who lived a life of radical faith and dependence on the Lord? Or live safe lives that amount to little of eternal value?

My heart is sad to see how easy it is for us, myself included, to settle into this default Christian lifestyle. It's burdensome to think how many Christians have been seduced into living lives of little eternal significance and little danger to the forces of darkness who are warring for souls. The consequences of not living out our Christian faith are devastating.

Have we forgotted that we have light! THE Light! and Hope that won't fail! We have what every heart yearns for, the answer.

We must live our lives on purpose and with purpose. We must carry our light into the world. And I remind you this does not happen on its own. It takes work, it takes sacrifice and intentionality. Are we up for the challenge? What will the future of our nation look like? Will we be conquered by Pluralism? Christ's gospel can never be overcome, but will we as His messangers give in? Will we be silent as the truth is so craftily destorted?

I PRAY that we, followers of God in our nation, would take the risk to make a difference.

I PRAY that my generation will walk in their call as followers of Christ and choose to live countercultural lives. That we would be a generation that seeks the Lord (Ps. 24:6)

I PRAY that we see and accept the great responsibility we have to faithfully and relevantly communicate the gospel of truth in our culture.

I PRAY that Christ's love would compel us to live not for ourselves but for the one who gave his life for us. (1 Cor 5:14-15).

I PRAY that I would accept this challenge in my own life.