Today, I wake up, go to the bathroom and splash water on my face. I look in the mirror. Ahhhggg. Didn´t know my hair could look THAT bad. Oh well.
Splash some water on it and go downstairs to start the coffee up.
Do a mental checklist of the day. I know I´m not a planner, but I´m learning to plan, and stick to those plans, even if it means I have to plan in spontaneous time.
Cup of coffee in hand, I grab a pen and notebook, my Bible and head out to a quiet place. Yeah, you got it. I´m spending a bit with my Daddy.
Today, I ask Him three questions.
I ask Him what He has to say about my life, my ministry, and the people I minister to.
He tells me that he wants to tell me what he thinks of me first.
He tells me that he loves me and that I am precious. That I am beautiful and incredible without even doing anything.
Then I ask Him about my ministry. I feel behind. I feel that I should be ¨doing more.¨
I ask him about it. He tells me that he is teaching me how to love people.
He tells me that my ministry is like a flower that is just opening.
He tells me that there is so much potential but that I must have patience.
I ask him about the people I am ministering to.
He tells me that they are empty, need someone to love them. There is so much need.
I can not always be opperating out of necesity, but out of an overflow of what He gives me.
Help me to see the difference and have the wisdom to know when to act.
Thank you Jesus for these moments of realization.
The rest of my day goes on, and while I am thankful for these revelations that God has given me, what will I do with them?
Will I truly let them impact my life? Will I live by them?
¨Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.¨ Matt. 4.4
The day continues as I go for a run, practice my Spanish, or go to a team meeting.
Today, I practice Spanish, and hang out with Paulo and Justin, who are here for a week, spending time seeing what God is doing in Chorrillos.
I eat lunch with the team and then go to the grocery store with Mark and the boys, my Daddy´s words still ringing in my ears.
How can I live by these words?
Ever had a realization of something in your life or in the world around you that just ¨hit you¨?
So, here it is.
I must be honest before God. What revelation has He shown me?
For me, it was when God told me he was teaching me how to love people. When he told me that my ministry is like a flower that is just opening. When He told me that there is so much potential but that I must have patience.
Reflect.
Taking what I have observed and thinking about what implications that has for my life and those around me. Maybe it´s seeing a pattern in my life, and realizing there is a deeper issue.
For me, ¨just doing¨ has indeed been a pattern in my life, because I want to see results, and I feel the best way to do that is just to ¨start working.¨ I don´t like patience because that means waiting, and not necessarily doing things in my own way or own timing. Major threat to my independent spirit.
Discuss.
This is where community comes in. If I am telling someone else what I am observing and reflecting on, they can not only give me their perspective, but also pray for me and hold me accountable for my decisions regarding this issue.
Mark asked me what it meant that God was teaching me how to love people. I said I wasn´t sure. I knew though that it involved me letting God reveal His love to me, and then being able to funnel that to others. We also talked about how it takes time to get to know people to be able to minister to them. Yeah, that takes patience too, huh?!
Plan.
This is where the action comes in. Taking responsibility for my actions, and formulating a plan that gets me to my goal.
My plan is to ask God what He thinks about something before I just jump into doing it. If He is teaching me how to love people, I want to learn. I want to model his love to others by first experiencing how he loves me. Instead of trying to figure out things on my own, I will ask Him first, and then wait for his voice.
Account.
Again, where community is a MUST. Being honest with someone about the process up to this point, and what your plan of action is.
Meeting with my accountability group tomorrow, so this plan of action will be discussed =)
Act.
Go for it. When you get another ¨Kairos¨ moment, work through the process again.
!!!
I invite you to use it (as it´s not the answer-all to anything, however, it does help lay out the process in a way that is helpful and makes sense) and I challenge you to ask God what you ¨Kairos¨ moments are, and then start the process from there.
I hope this blesses your heart as much as it did mine today. God is such a wonderful Daddy, and I am so thankful for His love.
Oh, and just in case you´re wondering, the rest of my day was great too...I came home, worked on some computer stuff (including this blog) fixed some fried chicken for dinner, and I´m about to go hang out with the neighborhood kids!
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