Moments take up my time. Moments in the day where my mind begins to wander and wonder about my life's purpose and joy.
What is my joy? What is my joy grounded in? What keeps me from resting in pure joy?
My heart, mind, and soul came to this conclusion: my joy is found in the presence of greatness... in the presence of the one truth that surpasses all things and wraps my heart in peace... my joy is found in the presence of the Lord and the Truth that He loves me simply because He does. I did and do nothing to earn His constant comfort. I wish I had enough time and words to share my heart to it's fullest. When those moments capture my thoughts in the day (usually when I'm driving or daydreaming when I'm supposed to be working) a rush, an overflow of the realization of my life's joys and blessings become a delightful reality to me. What if that happiness was taken away... what if those things that this earth provides... that give me comfort... what if they were taken away? What happened when they were taken away?
What keeps me from joy?
Fear and doubt.
Where does fear and doubt come from?
Lies.
If I know love and God is love... then what have I to fear? Why have I reason to doubt? My JOY is grounded in TRUTH. So much more than the truth that God loves me but that God simply LOVES... Blessed be the name of the Lord. When the sun is shining down on me and when the world is all as it should be... and most especially when the road is marked with suffering and when there is pain in the offering, Blessed be the Name of The Lord. THAT is where my joy comes from. My joy cannot be taken.
Music comforts my heart when I have no words. These belong to Jeremy Camp
---------- You want to be real, you want to be empty inside. You want to be someone laying down your pride. You want to be someone someday then lay it all down before the king. You want to be whole, you want to have purpose inside. You want to have virtue and purify your mind. You want to be set free today. Then lay it all down before the king
This is my desire, this is my return. This is my desire to be used by You
I know my heart is to feel you near and I know my life it's to do your will.
All my life I have seen where you've taken me beyond all I have hoped and there's more left unseen. There's not much I can do to repay all you've done So I give my hands to use--------
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
I'm Home but I Left My Heart in Zambia
Their joy is my passion... and why I do what I do...
Written the day I returned from my home in Zambia my second summer:
June 25, 2007
It's true. I left most of my heart in Zambia BUT I brought plenty of it back home with me... and I fully intend to share.
I've been traveling non stop for over 50 hours and I'm finally in my 'lavish' American apartment, wondering and praying and constantly thinking about my precious little angels back in Zambia. Honestly, I'm more than exhausted from the last three weeks and sleepless hours on planes but can still say that if someone handed me a ticket to go back to Africa right now I'd go!
I have fully realized the truth of Nehemiah 8:10 "The JOY of the Lord is my strength". Truthfully, I am emotionally, physically, and spiritually spent for the Lord... and He continues to renew and refill me so that I am spilling over. The love and joy you see is merely an overflow... and that truth makes me smile a million times.
I almost feel like I came alive last year when I first went to Africa. I entered a battlefield of spiritual warfare and faced challenges, tears, joy, anger, love, pain, death...inspiration... and joyfully returned to do it all over again. In Africa I feel free I feel like me... I can be me here too.
So many words swarm my mind and still I have neglected to paint a picture for you. Forgive me. I wish you could have been there with me. My prayer now, I pray with expectancy, is for you to fully realize the power and majesty of a Mighty God... the same God who was with me in Zambia... the same God who is with you now. The more I see God work, the easier it is to recognize Him. I confess I still cannot pin down a picture to describe for you... perhaps it will come easier in a later message.
Our theme for camp this year is FREEDOM IN CHRIST. So many people and situations fan the flame of lies that convince us we are insignificant, insecure, worthless, hated... why, even for those of us who are guarded and protected by the Holy Spirit, is it so easy to hear and actually believe such nonsense!??!? NO. In Christ I am Victorious... in Christ I am FREE. All those feelings of worthlessness, all those thoughts that I'm not enough, that I'm incapable... they cannot and will not bind me.
"You did not choose me but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you." John 15:16
To lay out the complete truth... I think God sent me to Africa to release me from my own chains. When I returned home last year the enemy began to work against me. I faced more challenges...love, anger, joy, a friendship gained, a friendship lost, pain, tears, worthlessness, insignificance, prayer, hope ... victory...
As a child of God (John 1:12) the enemy CANNOT hold me. The only weapon Satan has against me is bluff... lies. And he's good..oh heee's good at convincing me of so many untruths.
So what is the truth I speak of?
IN CHRIST:
I AM LOVED John 3:16- for God so LOVED [me] that He sent his only Son, so that [if I]believe in Him [I] will have eternal life.
I AM ACCEPTED John 1:12- But as [I]as received Him, He gave [me] the right to become a child of God, to [me] who believes in His name.
I AM SECURE (Romans 8:38-39- I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present or things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (did you hear that friends?...as a child of God...who believes in His name...NOTHING can separate you from the Love of God
I AM SIGNIFICANT John 15:16- You did not choose me but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that would remain so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name you shall receive
I AM VICTORIOUS (1 Corinthians 15:57- Thanks be to God who gives [me] the VICTORY through Jesus Christ [my] Lord)
I AM FREE!
As a child of God, I am protected....from anything... and most certainly from the lies of the enemy. I will not be derailed. I have a purpose and every day that purpose becomes clearer. Yours will too. You, my beloved, exist for a purpose...God's purpose. He plans to use you... Are you willing? You're always ready; I'm convinced of that... for in our weakness, the glory of God is made strong. My purpose is to praise His name rain or shine. Blessed be the name of the Lord. When the sun is shining down on me and the world is all as it should be...AND when the road is marked with suffering... Blessed be the Name of the Lord!
With purest joy,
jen
Momma Africa
Lusaka, Zambia is where I call home for a couple weeks in the summer. Children have my heart. Zambia is where I am called "Auntie Jen Joy" and hugged and stared at and loved... and I love right back. I spend my days loving on, feeding, and praying over orphan and vulnerable children in Lusaka. I love them with my whole heart.
Jesus said "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them. - Mark 10:14-16
To embrace a child and wrap her safely and securely in the love of Christ... is... oh, indescribable. I have been there and I have brought back a piece of Africa with me. My heart aches to return. Their situation seems hopeless and still they smile…so purely.
"Yesu Akukonda"...(God loves you). Lord move through me!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)