Taiwan Journal 8.26.2011

I was reading some of my journals that I wrote when I was in Taiwan over the summer, and I just wanted to share some of the stuff I said. It just makes my heart happy to read what I thought about Taiwan while I was there :) So here's what I wrote on August 26, 2011:

Jeremiah 10:6-7 "No one is like you, oh Lord. You are great, and your name is mighty in power. Who should not revere you, oh King of the nations? This is your due. Among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is no one like you."

We only have tomorrow left in Taiwan. I honestly feel like we just got here. I have seriously loved almost every minute of my time here. I think God has really confirmed for me how much I love the Taiwanese people, and how desperately they need Him. My heart is so heavy at having to leave these people. I have serious intentions of coming back as soon as I can. I just have a feeling I can't go back to how I was before I came here. I really feel like a different person now in some ways. Experiencing other cultures has opened my eyes. Having personal relationships with people here has really opened my heart to them. These people are so loving and kind and hospitable, and I can feel God's love for them.

I can't say that I'm 100% sure about my decision to pursue moving to Taiwan, but reading this journal entry and others like it has just made me realize the love God has placed in my heart for the friends I have in Taiwan. I was only there for a month but even now, almost a year later, I still miss those friends so much every time I think about them or look at pictures from my time with them. It's definitely not a love I could conjure up on my own. It's awesome how the love God puts in my heart is so wonderfully illogical <3

So here's to taking a step of faith and trusting that God will be ahead of me and behind me and beside me every step of the way!

Every Good Thing

In Philemon, Paul says: "I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ."

Every year for the past four years, I have spent spring break in Panama City Beach, Florida talking to people on the beaches about spiritual things. Every year, God shows up in powerful ways in my life and in the lives of people out on the beaches. This year was no exception. 

To be completely honest, though, I was feeling more than a little discouraged when I got there last Sunday. My frustration was definitely for ridiculous reasons...I'm a pretty emotional person, which is something I have to struggle with, and Satan definitely knows what to tell me to make me feel as insecure as possible. And in the spirit of complete honesty, I would have to say even now that all is said and done that this year was not, socially speaking, the most fun week I've had there. I had certain expectations of how things should be, and God totally disregarded them. (How dare he disregard my plans, right?)

In the moments where I felt the most frustrated and the most insecure, however, I could feel God reminding me that the important thing was Him and reaching people with His love and His gospel. I realized that I needed to refocus on the real mission I was on. And you know what? I still had an amazing time, because it is so good to be doing God's will, regardless of other circumstances that aren't exactly what I want them to be. I still struggled with some emotional ups and downs throughout the week, but I realized how true it is that by sharing my faith I have a fuller understanding of every good thing I have in Christ. Unless I come face to face with what life is like without God, it's hard to really understand how much better life is with God. It's easy for me to get stuck in a little Christian bubble where we sit around and discuss how God is working in our lives, forgetting to remember and failing to care about those who don't yet have what we have. Only when I step back and look at what's happening outside of the little pseudo-Eden that I've created by surrounding myself with only Christian friends do I realize the power of God for transforming lives and the incredible gift that I am hording by not being active in sharing my faith.

So God has put the same prayer on my heart as he put on Paul's heart so long ago...I, too, pray that you (and I) would be active in sharing our faith, because it brings a new level of understanding of all the incredible things we have in Christ and because there is no greater joy than to bring those same gifts to  other people who, like us, are in desperate need of our Savior.