Seeing Eternity

This past week in Bible School, God impressed on my again what I had shared in the last post. One night we were talking about John the Baptist. The question was, "Why would John wear weird clothes, eat bugs, and live in the desert?" One kid replied, "Cause he knew that he was going to heaven!"

Sure, John did those things, because he was obeying God. He was fulfilling prophesies from hundreds of years before, and with God's strength John was able to live an uncomfortable life. However, just as the boy said, John knew he was going to heaven. He knew this world was not his home, and things here are only temporary. His eyes were set with an eternal focus.

So often we focus on our problems here on earth, when we need to remember that this world is not our home. We have the promise that these troubles will soon pass away. Because of Christ, we will get to put our troubles behind us and spend forever praising Him!

"It will be worth it all, when we see Jesus. Life's trials will seem so small, when we see His face!"

Since we have such a hope...

One morning in Sunday School I was looking up a verse, and I came across 2 Corinthians 3:12. "Since we have such a hope, we are very bold..." I had that verse underlined, because it talks about being bold. However, that day God brought the first part of that verse to my attention.

See, last fall when my Granny died, and then my 13 year old cousin was diagnosed with cancer, again, there was a lot of talk in my family about hope. It wasn't always a hope of my cousin being healed, or my granny getting better. It was a bigger hope than that. It was the hope that God is still God, and one day He is coming to take us away. One of the most powerful moments for me during the beginning of Jake's illness was on a Sunday morning. My family and my grandma went to church, while everyone else stayed at the hospital. We are sitting in church, and I was just so overwhelmed at the thought of everything. Then they started singing this song, and I just sang and cried.

It will be worth it all,When we see Jesus.Life's trials will seem so small.When we see the Lord.

Today I was reminded of that hope. Then I wondered, how does having that hope cause me to live my life differently? I should not live in fear (Phil 1:28), I should be living differently, as should all Christians. This sets us, and the way we should live apart from others, "Since we have such a hope."

I am not

If I were to sit down and write the things that God has been doing in my life since I went to El Salvador, I would be sitting here for days. So, instead of doing that, I will say that my God cannot be described with words. He is great, almighty, my stronghold, my strength, my courage, my hope, and so much more.

Romania, El Salvador, where will God send me next? Well, He sent me to Missouri. Exciting, I know, but people here need God just as much as anywhere else in the world. This summer I am doing the work assigned to me by the Lord Jesus, by doing Bible Schools and camps. God is continuing to grow me.

In the meantime, I would like to share the many things that God is teaching me. I hope that you will be encouraged, and somehow God can use me to minister to you.

It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. Phil. 1:20