This week has been all about getting ready. We have laughed, we have sighed, I have messed up...Loren has laughed..ha! I have learned a bunch.
I have changed the oil in 2 vehicles, changed an oil filter, cleaned an air filter, bought a new part for a speedometor, fixed an air conditioner, used an air compressor, bought tons of food for the next three teams (of which you can not buy all in one place so this is at least a two day job), baked and frozen 6 lasangas (spinach and hamburger), 6 dozen brownies (plain and walnut), made several dozen hamburger paties, oh yes and I have packed...packed...and packed....packed food, packed utensils, packed supplies, and packed a gazillon medicines that were all labeled in Spanish. It has been great! Okay, so Loren sorta helped with all the vehicle stuff..he he!
This is what the Lord has been teaching me this week:
My entire focus this week has been about getting ready. We have thought about all the things that the teams for the next few weeks are going to need. We have made sure that we have done what needed to get done... regardless of all the other things going on. Some things we wanted to do have had to wait to ensure that what these people needed to have...they have. We have waited in lines, spent $200 on a part for a vehicle that is smaller than my pinki finger, separated pills for like ever, been to the bank several times, to every store in a 50 mile radius, I have sat in the car for hours waiting....AND it has all been just fine. I am not for one minute complaining. I am so blessed to be here. To be getting ready for teams to come in and to tell people the good news! I have just been thinking over what I have been doing this week and the Lord has been teaching me alot through it. So, I thought I would share it with you.
People get ready....JESUS is coming!!! Do we really fully wrap our heads around that? I always start humming the song when I think about it. Yes, it is a wonderful, amazing, imaginable thing.......but wait!!!!!....what about my cousin? What about my favorite professor? What about my friend and my neighboor? What about all the nations who have yet to hear? Do we understand that Hell is real?
¨He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of His power...¨ (2 Thessolonians 1:8-9)
I have heard it said, ¨That is just a fear thing, people are just trying to scare me into believing¨ I always think to myself...darn right you should be scared...Hell is a real place...its eternal damnation. But in truth, why should they believe in Hell if they are lost? They are lost, they don´t believe in God, Heaven or Hell. WE as the believers are the ones who have to believe it, to live it, to know it....it is real, all of it, and we have to get ready. We have to do what God is calling us to do to make sure the people have what they need to get ready! We HAVE to share the gospel with PEOPLE. How else are they going to get ready for when Jesus returns? If I have to wait in line to talk to them or If I have to bake brownies for them or If I have to invite them over for Lasanga so I can tell them then okay, let´s get them ready. Oh, God forgive me for not telling more people that You ARE real...that You are the living God and Your word is truth.
One of the days this week Loren was needing to run some errands and he asked me and Carolina (a young girl staying here to help me with Spanish) if we would like to go to the movie instead of waiting in the car for several more hours while he finished a few more things. Well, of course, we jumped on that. It was going to be just watch whatever happened to be about to start at the movie at that time. Well it was Percy Jackson...and something else that goes along with that title that I can´t remember.
We watched the movie which is about the greek gods and their demi-god children and it was an entertaining youthful type of show. Then it came to the scene where Percy and his friends travel to Hell to find Hades. As it showed the flamming scences of Hell with souls crying out in agony I thought Oh God, please help. This isn´t even a glimpse of true Hell and the agony of that place. Give us more time, God Please,You alone are mighty to save! The movie went on but my mind stopped there. I couldn´t get over the fact that to so many people this was just a movie. Hell, Heaven, God it was just a movie.
I wanted to scream and say no, this is real. God is alive. You will be judged. We all will be judged. You don´t get another chance...you have to decide before you die. God is waiting for you with open arms. It doesn´t matter what you have done or how bad you have been. Jesus died for you and He is waiting with open arms. Yes, you may be unsure. Yes, you may have doubts and you may not understand everything and that is okay. Pray to Him and ask Him about your doubts. Ask Him to show you truth and He will. He says seek and you will find me.
But wait, How can people seek when no one has ever asked them about where they will spend eternity...or maybe they have...surely someone has. Oh God help!
People Get Ready...Jesus IS Coming!
So, so good, Rachel. You're exactly right. As believers, we have to know it and LIVE it. If the lost see no difference in us OR if the difference they see is a bad one, why would they even DESIRE to hear more? God is the only one who can draw them, but He can mightily use US, as believers, to help in that. If we aren't LIVING it, I would say that we don't KNOW it. If we really understand who God is and that heaven and hell are real, we can't help but live differently than the world around us.
ReplyDeleteI love what you said about not complaining for a minute. Oh, if we all could just get that. I would even encourage YOU to remember that statement you made whenever you return to teach in the fall - assuming that's what God has you do. I could see how the busy-ness of the day-to-day American life could be very discouraging after having spent so many months in another country, focusing on telling others about the Lord. I could see how people in that situation might be tempted to say, "This stuff doesn't matter!!! I don't want to be in this office or this work place all day. I want to be out telling others about God!" We all need to look around us right where we are and ask, "What do you want me to do today, Lord? Who can I talk to about you?"
I know I'm "preaching to the choir." I'm just really thinking through what you said about not complaining. That really stuck with me.
I love you and pray I get to talk to you tomorrow!!!
Mel