Summertime

     This past Friday was the last day of PFO (pre-field orientation, or post-field orientation for those of us who had already been teaching in our schools).  Around 130 new teachers and 200 total people came together to learn about our students and how to be the best teachers we can be for them.  The days were full of meetings and food.  The weekday schedule looked something like this: Breakfast, meeting, snack, meeting, lunch, meeting, snack, meeting, dinner.  I think we each ate enough food to send a bear into hibernation!  Evenings were full of basketball, soccer, running, or card games.  For me personally it was a very encouraging two weeks, it helped me to be even more excited about this upcoming year and the opportunity I have to allow God to work through me!  It was great to meet the new teachers at AIS for this upcoming year, and also to meet with so many other people that have a heart for students and missions!  The people teaching with NICS have come from all over the world, and their experiences are so different than mine because of it.   

      One lesson God has been teaching me this summer is that He is good and sovereign.  Who knows how many times I have heard the phrase "God is good"?!  I'm sure it is way too many to count.  I always seem to think of God is good referring to what I think of as good.  Most of the time I think goodness refers to life being easy and comfortable.  Is that what God means when He says that He is good?  I think I have a very skewed view of what God's goodness is!  God has been teaching me that His goodness is way different than my view of goodness.  God in his goodness knows what is best for me much better than I do.  He brings me through struggles and stresses in order to make me more like him, because on my own I will depend upon myself.  God is constantly trying to bring me to the point of completely depending on Him!  I want to trust in the fact that I have money saved up "just in case,"  or that I always have a back up plan encase something goes wrong, but God wants me to say, "This world is not my home, why should I live to be comfortable here, I will trust in You!"

"My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,' says the Lord.
'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.
Do not be wise in your own  eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil." Proverbs 3:5-7

"'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:9

How many stories do you hear of people who God did miraculous things through and for because they had their back up plan in place?  I don’t remember reading any.  On the other hand, how many amazing stories do you hear about people who were completely dependent on God to supply their needs?!  It doesn’t seem right to me though!  I want to be self-sufficient and able to provide for my needs.  God wants us to come to a point where we completely depend on Him, and we can’t do it while we live in the comfort we seek so diligently.  How can we depend on God and His all sufficiency when we are sufficient without Him?!  Why are we not willing to live by faith?!  Why not take that money you have saved and support a missionary, support a few kids in Africa, or give it to that family in need in your community?  I don’t know about you, but I am learning more and more that it is better to give than to receive!  I think it all comes down to whether or not we really believe that God is sovereign!  Do we really believe that God knows all of our needs and will supply them if we would only trust Him?  Now, I am by no means saying that I trust God completely for my needs!  I am far from trusting God completely!  I am challenging you and me to seek God’s help in understanding what it means to say to God, “I depend on You, because the Creator of the universe has me in His hands and will never (ever, ever, ever, ever) let me go!”

       

       Another thing God has been teaching me this summer is the power and importance of prayer.  The church in the New Testament seemed to have such a focus on prayer.  Almost every conversion in Acts seems to come through or with prayer.  We can have all the right words to say and all the right activities, but if the Holy Spirit isn’t working through us than it is completely worthless!  Our goal is to love people and share the love of Christ with them right?!  Well, I don’t know about you, but it seems as if praying for people is a good way to love them!  I don’t believe I did a very good job of praying for others this past year, and am praying that God will give me and others a passion to pray!  Pray without ceasing!

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding 

gong or a clanging cymbal…..If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body 

to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. (I Corinthians 13:1,3)

      

      Please join me in praying for the students at school, that their hearts will be open to the changing work of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.  Please pray for me and the other teachers, that we would be strong in Christ and depend on Him to work through us!  Also, pray for me as I am making my decision regarding the future.  I have to tell the school in November whether or not I am coming back for another year.  There are many opportunities all over the world that I am looking into and I am excited to see where God leads me!!  I fly back to Ghana on the 25^th of July and am very excited to return “home”!