So, I'm packing to leave for East Asia in a few hours and wanted to post some prayer requests. And as I thought about the trip, the first thing that came to mind was, wow, I hope the missionary we are going over there to support isn't disappointed in me/us. What if she thinks I'm not spiritually mature enough to be there? What if she thinks, this chick should have just stayed home for all the good she's doing? From there my thoughts wandered to...maybe God won't even use me because I didn't prepare enough. Because I didn't have enough quiet times. What if He's disappointed in me, too? I'm familiar with that emotion, so I thought, I need a good dose of grace right now...a good reminder that I don't have to earn my way into God's favor. I checked for the latest Tullian Tchividjian blog, and he didn't disappoint. Here's an excerpt:
Having talked to many, many Christians over the years, I know for a fact that a lot of them (like Genna) think that God is perpetually disappointed with them. Maybe it’s time the church spends more energy reminding Christians that God’s love for them is not dependent on what they do or don’t do, but rather on what Christ has done for them. For, as Luther said so well, “God does not love sinners because they are attractive; sinners are attractive to God because he loves them.
Very timely, eh? Not that I shouldn't have spent time alone with God or prepared to go on this trip. But God is not looking at me with a smirk, saying, call me when you've got your crap together. God uses all sorts of screwed up people in the Bible to do great things...so that HE gets the glory, they don't. So that His power is made perfect in my weakness.
Anyway, here are the prayer requests that started this tangent:
* Please pray that our team will have conversational opportunities to share the gospel. Ideally, "Hi, Stranger from the US; can you tell me what you believe?" If it's not that easy, please pray that we are bold!
* Pray that God will open the minds and hearts of everyone we come in contact with so that they see His truth!
* Pray that we will be an encouragement to the missionary we going over to support.
* Pray that my family and fiance (will blog about that soon!) will not miss me too much over Christmas.
* And finally, practically, please pray that we make all of our flights, are rested, don't get sick, are able to use the strange toilets, and that I don't keep my roommate up every night snoring. I'm serious about that. I'm worried.
Thank you all for your support - whether it was monetary, encouragement, or prayers. All mean so much to me. And Merry Christmas! I'll end with an excerpt from a blog post my pastor wrote in the wake of the recent school shooting:
Behold the cross, and see the goodness of God: He is present amidst evil. Oh, the wonder of what we celebrate at Christmas. God Himself enters an evil, sin-sick world and lives among a sin-sick rebellious people. A people who reject Him—who reject Christ, God in the flesh—and nail Him to a cross. And God Himself, in His Son, takes all the payment and punishment due sin and evil in your life and my life upon Himself.
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