In about an hour, I am going to Dallas again. This time I am serving as one of two assistant directors for the Advanced Excel program. There are eight girls in the class and three of us leaders.
Please pray for me and the other two leaders, Paige Advanced Excel director and Grace assistant director, as this is our first time to be in this role and we are still learning the ropes. Paige and Grace have been in Dallas the past week getting things in motion.
Pray for the girls who are coming to be discipled and will be going home to disciple. Pray that the subjects they will be learning will not be a distraction from God but a new place to meet God.
We will be keeping up a blog from Dallas if any of your are interested you can find it here.
I love you guys.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Monday, January 7, 2008
Another Chance to Trust
Lately I've been thinking a lot about church, not in the theological sense of the word but the church as America knows it. Particularly, I've been thinking about my church. I have gone to it for about eleven years now, and like the people you live with, its consistent failings were beginning to rankle however minor they might be.
A bad attitude, liberally sprinkled with pride, was right beneath my smiling exterior. I knew that my emotions were wrong. I knew that any other church, being full of people like myself, would have failings too. I knew that this was the place I had grown up in and loved. I didn't know how to accept its failings without either growing bitter about them or pretending they didn't exist.
After telling God how I felt and what I thought a couple of times, talking to my Mom repeatedly, and eventually talking to some well trusted friends, I still didn't have a fully satisfying answer. The question itself was less than half understood in my mind. I didn't know exactly what I was struggling with. I think that I trusted God to explain it to me; I know I was worried about how long He was going to take.
Yesterday, in adding up the ideas He had put in my mind through my talks with Him and the people I trust, He put the cherry on top and everything fell into place.
There are always going to be events and people that I disagree with or think are downright wrong. Many of them will affect me, all of them will affect someone, and most of them will be out of my control. There is only one right way for me to react to any of them: leave them to God and be alert to see His presence however it may arrive.
The faults of my church are not that bad, honestly. The lesson I learned because of them will hold me in good stead in situations that are much worse. If I can trust that any choice that any person makes is the will of God for me then I have nothing to be bitter or worry about. God only gives good gifts.
A bad attitude, liberally sprinkled with pride, was right beneath my smiling exterior. I knew that my emotions were wrong. I knew that any other church, being full of people like myself, would have failings too. I knew that this was the place I had grown up in and loved. I didn't know how to accept its failings without either growing bitter about them or pretending they didn't exist.
After telling God how I felt and what I thought a couple of times, talking to my Mom repeatedly, and eventually talking to some well trusted friends, I still didn't have a fully satisfying answer. The question itself was less than half understood in my mind. I didn't know exactly what I was struggling with. I think that I trusted God to explain it to me; I know I was worried about how long He was going to take.
Yesterday, in adding up the ideas He had put in my mind through my talks with Him and the people I trust, He put the cherry on top and everything fell into place.
There are always going to be events and people that I disagree with or think are downright wrong. Many of them will affect me, all of them will affect someone, and most of them will be out of my control. There is only one right way for me to react to any of them: leave them to God and be alert to see His presence however it may arrive.
The faults of my church are not that bad, honestly. The lesson I learned because of them will hold me in good stead in situations that are much worse. If I can trust that any choice that any person makes is the will of God for me then I have nothing to be bitter or worry about. God only gives good gifts.
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