Why My Heart is in Africa

Showing posts with label spiritual growth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spiritual growth. Show all posts

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Wait for it... Wait for it... Wait for it...

I'm RE-settling my heart on the truth that God's timing is perfect, being He does see the end from the beginning :) , and in HIS timeline- not mine- He will provide over and above what I need to step into my promised land- Swaziland :)

The hardest thing right now is feeling in limbo with the timeline... I can trust Him if he says tomorrow, or if He says to wait another year... but not knowing which is what is hard for me.

Since I'm a teacher a new school year is starting in a month and now little people and others are uniquely tied to any decision to 'up and leave.'

God is reinforcing in me the importance of being content in my current season and finishing it with excellence and remembering that everything in this season is necessary in preparation for the next.

Isaiah 26:7-9
The Leveler evens the road for the right-living.We're in no hurry, God. We're content to linger in the path sign-posted with your decisions.Who you are and what you've done are all we'll ever want.

I see how every day that I'm here longer, God is steeling me up more and more (and the devil is trying me more and more). He is challenging me over and over through songs, verses, messages, people, and visions that I am a mighty warrior created with destiny to mount up on wings of eagles, because I can do all things through His power and might that dwells in fullness within me.

I know this steeling is for a purpose that is greater than I can contemplate right now, and I trust this training period. I consider the alternative- going too soon on my own accord without all His "fine-tuning" to be extremely irrattional and most likely detremental to me and His purposes. Whew... being patient makes a LOT of sense, huh?

Please pray as we wait for God's final "green light" for me to join everyone officially in Swaziland- even though my heart is already there!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

All In- A Testing Time

I went walking today and listened to a podcast by Dino Rizzo of Healing Place Church in La. I was blown away by how poinant the message was for the current situation I find myself in, so here are some notes to share.

It was called All In:


John 6:5-6

5When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" 6He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.


Jesus asked Phillip WHERE, not HOW, they should buy bread...

Pastor D. called this a "Phillip Spot" a spot in your life when God is asking YOU a question (couldn't God do it on His own- of course!!, but He is asking us, including us!)

This is a moment of testing for Phillip: 6He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.

What did Jesus want to see in Phillip? What was He REALLY asking?

"I wonder... where Phillip's heart is; if Phillips will trust Me; can Phillip depend on Me; does Phillip believe I'm his all in all?"

Jesus was checking for doubt and unbelief in Phillip!


Life is about testing and being in a proving ground. We need to see tests in our life as opportunities, not obstacles. God is looking to see who we will look to, where we will place our reliance, how we are gonna solve it- are we going to trust Him?


This is the way God finds out if we are "all in," through a testing/proving time.

A TEST ALWAYS PRECEDES TRUE PROMOTION!

A test is always a matter of the heart- not what is in your hand.


Pastor D. closed with a great illustrations about David. Before David was ready to face Goliath, he trained in the fields with his father's herd and it was there he was tested and found to be "giant-proof." Because in the field, it says he had to fight off a lion and then a bear from the flock. It was because of those experiences, where he had been successful, did he find boldness to tell the king that he was more than ready to face Goliath on his own. And as he RAN toward Goliath he did so with full confidence that he was God's son and with God on his side, he could do all things.




This period of my African adventure is my testing/proving ground. (A woman at prayer night spoke over me, comparing this time like being a pregnant woman waiting with expectation for an amazing gift... but a waiting time!) Not only is Jesus' asking of Phillip where the provisions will come from, knowing full well the answer, similar to me awaiting for God' provision for this move; But I also know I'm going to face a number of giants as I continue on this journey... now is my time to fight the lions and bears, so that I too will be "giant proof" when God needs me to be...

Pray with me as God is strengthening me into the woman He needs me to be for this next stage of my life... for my promised land...