REST IN ME, MY CHILD. Give your mind a break from planning
and trying to anticipate what will happen. Pray
continually, asking my Spirit to take charge of the details of this day.
Remember that you are on a journey with Me. When you try to peer into the
future and plan for every possibility, you ignore your constant Companion who
sustains you moment by moment. As you gaze anxiously into the distance, you
don’t even feel the strong grip of my hand holding yours. How foolish you are, My child.
Remembrance of Me is a daily discipline. Never lose sight of
My Presence with you. This will keep you resting in Me all day, every day.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-19
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all
circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Jesus Christ. Do not quench
the Spirit.
Psalm 62:5; 8
Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from Him....Trust in him at all times, you people; pour
out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.
I woke up this morning with an urgency to pray for our team.
To pray for our trip. With a burning
need for God to show up. To reveal his plan. His purpose. His will. My spirit
is anxious and restless. Confusion and peace flow in and out of my heart and my
mind. I feel like a ship out at sea caught in a storm that came by surprise.
Being tossed from side to side. Being tossed from Faith, Peace, Joy,
Empowerment to Helplessness, Frustration, Confusion, Question, Doubt, Fear and
Worry. All things the Lord tells us to not dwell on for they are not His Spirit
He is the Spirit of Peace. He calms the storm.
Let me back up…
Yesterday June 9th, myself, and our team of 16
headed out to embark on a journey to spread the Love of Christ to the precious
people of Ethiopia. We arrived at the
Midland airport full of joy and excitement about this trip. God has given so
many people words, confirmations and has provided in supernatural ways for this
trip. Personally this trip means a lot.
God has birthed a powerful and overwhelming Love in my heart for these people.
A Love that I couldn’t create on my own. A Love from the Father. Many people on
this trip share this Love. I long to minister to the sweet people. To be with
them. Of them and serve them. We boarded our plane only to de-board because of
maintenance issues with the plane. There was a “funny sound”. We sat in the floor in the Midland airport
for over 6 hours waiting on the mechanic (that they had to FLY in) to check it
out and give it a good to go clearance to transport us to Houston. (Where we
were connecting and hopping on a KLM flight to Amsterdam and ultimately to
Ethiopia.) Seeing that we sat and watched our plane sit at our gate in Midland
for 6 hours, we missed our connection to Amsterdam. However, we did finally
make it to Houston. Only to negotiate new tickets and another flight for over 2
hours. Hitting a wall with no luck. We stayed the night in Houston with no game
plan. We prayed, cried and pleaded with the Lord to make a way. With Hope
fleeting and Faith slipping away that we are supposed to go to Ethiopia, we went
to bed. My sister at dinner last night
shared her favorite part of the day and she proceeded to remind us all that we
DO NOT have the spirit of fear and depression within us. We have the Spirit of
God in us. A Spirit of Joy and Peace.
Right on sister!! Way to whip is into shape.
Today at breakfast we got word that there is a KLM flight
departing from the airport that we are at, departing at 4:05 with 16 seats
available. And that we had the seats! Not on standby, but that we had the seats
and they were Firm! What an amazing miracle! We arrived at the airport here in
Houston as soon as we could. While standing the check in line we quickly
learned that Delta was showing in their system that they reserved our seats on
that KLM flight but KLM shows that they have a full flight and we would be on
standby and they felt strongly that we would not get on that plane. Once
again, Disappointment and Confusion meet and flood our team. We pray. Seek God.
Ask for a way. His way whatever it may be. Get us to Ethiopia. So here we are, sitting on the cold concrete
floor in the airport. With no direction. No plan. Clinging to hope, clinging to
Jesus.
When I woke up this morning with the urgency to pray, I
prayed with a restless heart. Stumbling on what I should be praying. Struggling
to find what it is exactly that we should be praying for. Is Ethiopia our
team’s final destination or is there someplace else that the Lord wants us to
be? I couldn’t focus and my words bounced around like a bouncy ball in a rubber
room. No control, no aim, no focus. So I opened my beloved Jesus Calling
devotional, I am sure that many of you are familiar with this little gem
written by Sarah Young. Some days I struggle with it and it doesn’t sit or resonate
with me, but then there are days like today. Days where it is so dead on, it is
eerie.
I started this post with the devotional quoted straight out
of the book with a few added verse because this is what we are all standing on
today. How wonderful this sweet reminder is that God is our Companion. He has a
STRONG grip on our hand. How foolish we are. We are on a journey with God
today. An adventure really. He is our
refuge. My hope. Our Hope. Comes from him and him alone. We will Rejoice in Him
today. We will pray continually for his wisdom, guidance and direction today.
Will you pray with us? We WILL give him thanks in all circumstances for this is
God’s will in Jesus Christ. We will not quench the Spirit and let the enemy rob
us of our purpose. Our Joy. Our Hope. Our security in our Father. He is FOR us
NOT against us. He is so Faithful and Constant. Even when we can’t see what he
is doing with our physical eyes, I know that he is for us, he will not forsake
us in our weakness.
We don’t know what he is doing here with this situation. I
know that God is good and he is working on all of us. Strengthening us,
challenging our flesh, growing us closer to him and getting us to a place where
we are having to rely completely on him. He will get the glory in all of this.
Him alone.
I keep rolling this quote over and over in my head and
believing it!!
When we are shattered by disappointment, we are pieced back
together by Grace. – Bob Goff.
Will you believe this with me? We are shattered with disappointment
but we KNOW God’s grace is sufficient and that we, each of us, and this trip
will be pieced back together by HIS Grace!
God you can have me. You can have us. You can have this trip. We want to be where you are. Here are
our hearts, our plans. Consume us and move us. Show us your way. Piece us back together. Stronger and more empowered then ever before with faith that can move mountains.

Jenna - I'm praying and will continue to pray for you and team. I pray that God will be your point guard and your rear guard. That all flights, connections, customs, etc. be arranged and ordained by God. I pray that He would give each of you on the team, a supernatural understanding of what He wants and desires for you all to do, where He has you. I pray that God's will be done and that you be his hands and feet wherever you may be - in the airports, in restaurants, everywhere he leads on what may seem like mayhem but God knew before this trip was planned what he wanted you to do. I am so proud of you for accepting God's peace and hold tight, my friend - the enemy WILL TRY to steal it and squelch it - don't let it happen! Hold God's hand - trust and believe that he has already made the preparations and arrangements for your teams purpose.
ReplyDeleteI am praying with boldness and courage that You WILL be loving, serving and caring for those that need it!! - I love you so much. - I'm praying for you all. - Spread the Good news!!
Holly