The Greatest Miracle of All

It has already been over a month since my last blog...I have been learning so many amazing things about God this last month-the Holy Spirit, Worship, and Spiritual Warfare are a  few of the weekly topics that have given me more and more revelation of who God is and what I was originally designed for by my Creator.

I will be going on outreach to Mexico City the day after tomorrow. After spending four weeks there, our team will head out to Chiapas....I am not planning on bringing my laptop with me, which means this will be my last blog until I return to Mazatlan on June 12th.

God has faithfully provided finances for every single person in my school...some received amazing provision of thousands of dollars in just one day, while others got it bit by bit. God has been faithful in providing and also in stirring people within the school to give. I can testify that those who are faithful with little will be given even more. I know that some of the students had received an abundance of money because God trusted them to give to those in need-and they did! I organized a group of students to pray on Tuesday at 7: 30 a.m. During that time, God gave us a scripture to encourage those who still needed money: "Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give it according to what you have, not what you don't have. Of course, I don't mean your giving should make life easy for others and hard for yourselves. I only mean that there should be some equality. Right now, you have plenty and can help those who are in need. Later, they will have plenty and can share with you when you need it. In this way, things will be equal" (2 Corinthians 8: 12-14). I have gone from having just the right amount of money for the entire school...to giving a lot away...to fundraising and getting support from friends...and then back to having an overabundance...and finally, giving a lot more away so that I now have enough, but not too much. It is encouraging to see how God keeps giving me the ability to bless others financially while still providing every little thing I need as well. God is soooo Good!!!! (yes, that was a capital G!!!!)

Before I came to YWAM Mazatlan, God was speaking very clearly to me about abiding in Him and being a light to the world. Back then, I didn't really know what God was saying...was there something I was doing wrong? From my own perspective, I didn't understand why God seemed to be speaking so loudly about abiding in Him and bearing good fruit-after all, I couldn't see any obvious things in my life that would be reflecting bad fruit....
Through all of my experiences here during these first three months, the meaning of this has been getting clearer and clearer. The passage in John 15 is all about abiding in God so that my actions will speak loudly to the rest of the world about the love of God. Abiding in God means allowing myself to be pruned, to be broken, to be completely surrendered to Him. Why in the world would someone want to do this? After all, in order to love others, we have to first love ourselves....right? Why should we be broken? Why should we have to give things up that are important to us? Why should I have to surrender EVERYTHING?
If someone asked me these questions today, I would smile and shake my head at them.....because we are actually not supposed to be loving ourselves first. We need to get a correct perspective of ourselves, not moving in inferiority or superiority. But if anything, I have learned that I need to stop thinking about myself so much...because it REALLY isn't about me at all. My life is not about me-it is all about my Creator. He has given me the choice, but in the end, every breathe I take, every move I make, every single thing I do is only because of God. That's it.

The thing is, God is all about love. The last speaker this week, Troy Sherman, had a very different perspective about several things I have been taught my entire life. He brought so many things to the light-I can barely even take it all in, let alone try to write it in one simple blog.
If I were going to say one important thing he taught me, it would actually be a question...."What if love really is the greatest miracle?" I think that people get very fascinated by signs and wonders, like Heidi Baker in Mozambique, who heals the blind and the deaf after praying for them. The thing about all of those signs and wonders is that this is the power of God working through people because of their faith. Yet, it is never them doing it-it is 100 percent God all of the time.
I have realized something even more powerful than this, something that will cause God to look down from heaven, calling all of the angels together to witness this thing that is even greater than a blind man gaining his sight instantly...

It happens when someone decides to forgive a Nazi after killing his family in the holocaust....
Or when despite all of the hurt and suffering a woman has, she decides to praise God in her difficult circumstances....
Or when instead of repaying your enemies for slandering you, you find the gold in them and tell them...

Love is something God lavishes on us and wants us to walk in every single day of our lives. When I pursue God and really strive to know who He is, I get a clearer and clearer picture of what His real character is. I abide in Him and automatically, I end up loving other people. Because if I can't love other people, I need to re-examine my relationship with God. (By the way, love is not a feeling....it requires action and often will go against what we as human beings want to do-take that as food for thought...).

When I decide to love others as I would love myself, that is when God is witnessing His own personal miracle.  Why is this? Because God gave us free will. He actually won't make human being do anything. So when we decide to love someone, especially when it really hurts, that is us blessing God in every way, shape, and form.

I am still on this journey of what it means to abide in God and to bear good fruit as a result. I am not perfect, but because of my love for God, I want to strive for perfection. Nothing else in life or afterwards will ever be able to compare with the love of God...."Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance....Three things will last forever-faith, hope, and love-and the greatest of these is love". 1 Corinthians 13: 7, 13.
I know that everything I have learned in this school has completely wrecked my incorrect perspective about God, life, and relationships. I can say with complete confidence that up to this point in my life, YWAM is the best thing I have ever done-EVER. I wouldn't trade it for anything because I have found one of God's great treasures-truth. Not only that, but I have seen truth in action.

So as I go out to outreach, I will continue to put what I know about God to practice, to actually live it out, to act in love with every opportunity. Now that I have a greater understanding of God's love, my motivation to share it with the rest of the world is ignited. Please pray that I can win many souls for God's kingdom, that my group will have basic needs provided, and that we will be able to tear down the lies about who God is. Only until people get a better understanding about God's love will they have a real hunger for Him....and that is when the whole world will begin to change.

Talk to you all in June!!!