Tomorrow I venture back to the States. Saying it is bittersweet would be the understatement of the century. The bitterness is painful, but the sweetness is pure bliss. There aren't words to describe the impact this country has had on my life and more importantly my relationship with Christ. There also aren't words to describe the difficulty of being away from my family, my friends, and my home has been. I felt pain when i left home, and I praised God in through it because it meant I had something great that i was leaving behind. I feel pain now going back to the States, and I praise God in it because it means I formed relationships and grew to love this country and its people.
Thank you God that I can praise you through this pain.
Thank you God for joy that comes after the pain.
Thank you God for the peace you give us when we go through times like this.
I could go on and on thanking God for all he has given me but I don't know if this blog has enough space.
God has shown me many things this year but there's one that sticks out the most. Love. The greatest of these is love. His love, our love, the love we give, the love we accept, the love that surrounds the children of God, the love that nailed Jesus to the cross, and the love that brought him back to life 3 days later. There is truly not a more powerful force in this world. People fall in love all the time, people do crazy things for the people they love. But wait till you can fully experience God's love. God sent me to another country so that I could experience it in full force and let me tell you, it;s not something to treat lightly. It's big, it's great, it's unwavering and nonstop. It has no limits, no boundaries, and no exceptions. It was created for the least of us. The lowest of the low. The Neilly's of the world who seriously don't know how a God so great can love a a person so sinful. It blows me away that I can continually go against his will but his view of me does not change.
It's impossible to express this feeling, one simply has to experience it. I pray that all the kids I got know this year, some point in their life experience it. I pray that all the adults who believe it is too late for them to get their life together, can experience it. I pray that all of my family, my friends, everyone I care about can experience it. God's love was made to be experienced. Sometimes he takes you to another country to experience it, sometimes you experience it through your Younglife group, sometimes you experience through your church or school. The cool thing is, we all experience the same love from the same person! I can sit in this tiny house, in this rough barrio, with the power out, the sound of dogs fighting outside, the smell of rice and beans on the stove, and experience the same exact love that my friends can experience at college, in their youglife groups and small groups and church groups. We can be as close or as far to home as we want and it's the same love. The same overflowing, abundant love.
I'll leave you with this. This is the prayer I read over almost every day. I pray it over my family, my friends, specific people, and sometimes myself. When I read it, it has a sense of power and greatness in it that I love. Be rooted and established in LOVE.
Ephesians 3
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your heartsthrough faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Amen.
