Come, Jesus, Come!

Merry Christmas!

For Nothing Is Impossible with God

Luke 1:37-38: "[And the angel answered her] 'For nothing is impossible with God.' And Mary said, "Behold, I am a servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.'"

Nothing is impossible with God. There is nothing that is too tricky or too complicated for Him to do. A virgin bore a child. 33 years later, that child died on a cross and 3 days later, God raised Him up from the grave. God shut the mouth of lions in the den. He kept 3 guys from being harmed when they were thrown into a flaming furnace. He enabled a young shepherd boy to kill a mighty Philistine giant. He made the sun stand still and gave victory to the Israelites over the Amorites. There is absolutely nothing God cannot do.

Oh, may I live a life that shows I have faith in the Most High God who can do anything. One thing we know about each of these people is they walked with God. They had faith in Him. They walked with God in their normal daily lives and that enabled them to walk with Him through some seemingly impossible situations. I want to walk just as closely with God when things are routine and good as when they seem impossible, because that's how I know I'll cling to God in the impossible. It won't be impossible because I'll be walking with the God who calms the winds and seas with a single command, the God who brings life to the dead, the God who saves, rescues, and redeems, the God who makes all things work together for good. That's the God I serve.

My prayer is that I'll remember this as I meet people in Zambia, well really that I'll remember it always. May I remember that there is no one I will meet in the next two years (or ever) that God cannot save from their sins. There is no one too far gone. Be it a witch doctor, a tourist, a middle-class American, or a beggar on the street. None of them are beyond His reach.

I don't know all the things my eyes will see over the next two years. I have no clue of the beauty and the tragedy I will encounter (we never do). But God knows every bit of it--every person I'll cross paths with, every child I'll share a hug with, every sunset my eyes will witness, every death my heart will mourn over, every tear I'll cry over orphaned children, every HIV positive woman, man, and child I can tell of the true and only Hope, every frustrating day I'll have, every joyous day I'll have, every woman and girl who will sit in my house to study God's Word. God knows all of it.

And that's why I can trust Him. Because even when it will seem impossible or hopeless, I can remember Luke 1:37: "For nothing is impossible with God," and pray my heart responds like Mary's: "I am a servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word."

11 days until departure!

Goodbyes and Hellos

Well, I’m still here in Richmond. But not for much longer. Our commissioning service is two weeks from today. As excited as I am to see my family and friends in South Carolina and then begin my new life in Zambia, I also know I’m moving into another season of transition and goodbyes. It’s hard to explain the bond I have with the people here at training, but I really do consider them my family now. I’ve grown so used to doing every part of my life with them—eating meals, studying the Bible, grocery shopping, sitting in sessions, watching movies, and everything in between. We’re together all the time. And I love it. (Well, most of the time). And I’m about to return back to doing life without them. Well, at least not with them physically with me all the time. But I do know the bond I have with people here is one that is not broken by being in different places. And I know they’ll be walking by my side in prayer every day.

And then after I say goodbye to this family, I’ll spend two weeks in constant goodbyes. Goodbye to friends. Goodbyes to family. And to say I’m not dreading that would be a lie. I’d appreciate your prayers for me as I prepare my heart for those weeks and walk through them.

Goodbyes are hard. There’s no way around it. But the thing that brings me great joy as I head into this season of goodbyes and transition are the hellos that I know are coming. Hellos to the Langstons, a family that my heart has grown to love and can’t wait to join in Zambia. Hellos to Zambian women who will be my close friends over the next two years. Hellos to Zambian children who I know will flood my heart with joy. Hellos to new experiences that will grow and stretch me in ways I can’t even imagine now. Hello experiencing God in ways that are different than any I’ve known before. Hello to mosquito nets and all kinds of critters. Hello to a new “family” in a new country. The joy of all these coming hellos floods my heart with hope and excitement and far outweighs the sadness of saying goodbyes. Each day I think I could not possibly be more excited about moving to Zambia and begin building relationships with the Tonga people. And each day I’m more excited than the day before.

I’m just 30 days out from taking a step onto a plane in Atlanta and beginning a new adventure with the Lord. And though I know those 30 days will be full of emotional highs and lows, I know He will be faithful through each moment of it. He will sustain me. With each goodbye, He can remind me of a hello that is coming. He’ll provide me with all I need.

Here’s how you can be praying specifically in the coming weeks:

·      Pray for God to continue to prepare my heart for the season of transition I’m heading into. Pray my time with family and friends would be full of joy and not sadness.

·      Pray I would really soak up everything in these last two weeks of training. We’re spending all of next week in our affinity group (mine is Sub-Saharan Africa) so I’ll be learning a lot more about African culture and how to share the gospel there. Pray I would be like a sponge to soak up all the information.

·      Pray for the relationships I’ll be building in Siavonga, Zambia. Pray God provide a national woman who can be my close friend and walk through life with me during these next two years. Pray the Lord would already be preparing hearts for the work He intends to do in Siavonga in the coming months and years.

Break Our Hearts

The very first day of my orientation here in Richmond, our main speaker said something along the lines of "If you feel deeply about the things of Christ, you will feel deeply about the things Christ feels deeply about." Something like that. He was talking about God's heart for ALL people. He talked about how if we loved anything less than all the peoples of the world, if there were people in the world we did not love, then we did not have the heart of our Father. Anyway, it reminded me of the song "Hosanna" and how we cry out in that song "Break my heart for what breaks Yours." What do we mean when we say that? When we ask God to break our hearts for the things that break His, what are we asking of Him?

One of the things I love about the IMB is the vision: Our vision is a multitude from every language, people, tribe, and nation knowing and worshipping our Lord Jesus Christ. It comes straight from the Bible:

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” (Revelation 7:9-12 ESV)

From every language: around 6,900 (Ethnologue)

From every people and tribe: 11,341 people groups; 6,422 unreached people groups (IMB)

From every nation: 196

It breaks shatters (that doesn't even seem strong enough) my heart to think there are so many places where the gospel has not yet been taken. Places where whole people groups have never had the opportunity to hear the name of Jesus. Not even once. They're real people, real lives. And you can no longer claim ignorance because you now know how many people have not heard. Did you catch it up there? 6,422 unreached people groups. Unreached means that less than 2% of that people group are believers. And over half of the world's people groups are unreached. Let that sink in for a minute. Think about how much God loves every single one of those people. He loves them all immensely. He loved them so much that He sent His Son to live a perfect life on earth, die a humiliating death, and then raise Him from the dead. He did that for them, just like He did it for me and you. And. they. haven't. heard. Let your heart break for these people like I believe the heart of our Father breaks for them. Commit to pray for them. Pray for God to raise up people to go and tell the gospel truth to them. Maybe you need to take it a step further and go. As God breaks your heart for these groups, maybe He'll call you to go to them. Be open to that.

Yesterday, we watched a video about the Taliabo people, a formerly unreached people group. It moved me to tears. It's a little over 30 minutes long, but I promise every second of it is worth it. I watched most of it through tears. I found it in 4 parts on youtube. You can watch it here. Realize their hunger for the gospel before they even knew what it was. And realize their joy when the truth of the gospel was revealed to them.

Lord, break our hearts for what breaks Yours.

The days are full

Whew, what a whirlwind the past week has been since arriving in Richmond. It's probably been the busiest week of my life, comparable only to those last weeks of student teaching trying to submit a unit plan. long range plans, and an action research project all at the same time. The days are full, of that there is no doubt. Full of workshops and assignments. Full of meetings. But full of SO much goodness.

Full of constant stories of God's faithfulness. Full of hearing how my brothers and sisters on the field are seeing the gospel take root in people's lives in people groups who have never been able to even hear the gospel before. Full of God's presence. Full of wisdom from people who have lived on the field. Full of new friendships I know will last the rest of my life. Full of accountability. Full of prayer. Full of the Spirit. Full of laughter. Full of opportunities to grow and be stretched.

My days are SO full. In so many ways. Oh, I forgot a very important one, they're very full of coffee too. Praise the Lord for free coffee 24/7!

Here's how you can be praying in the upcoming days:

• Pray for endurance to run the race set before me here during my training. There is a lot to get done and I know I just need to take it day by day, moment by moment, so I do not burn out.
• Pray for a heart that is bowed before the Father, soaking up everything He has to teach me over the next 8 weeks.
• Pray for me to form sweet and lasting friendships here that God will use to encourage and challenge me not only here, but on the field as well.
• Pray with me for God to provide partners to some sweet, new friends of mine that are heading to the field at the same time as me. There is a group coming in for an Expo this weekend. Pray that God would burden some hearts to join alongside my friends in the work He is doing in their people groups.
• Pray with me for the Langstons and the work God is doing through them as they begin their ministry in Siavonga. God has opened the door at the local high school and they saw 57 students in their meeting last week. Pray for the gospel to take root in those students lives and for God to bless all that the Langstons touch and for the gospel to go forth among the Tonga people in Zambia.

I'm so thankful for the network of prayer that God has blessed me with. It's amazing and extremely humbling to know that so many are going to the throne of God on my behalf. I cannot thank you enough for being partners in the work that God is doing in and through me during this season of preparation and then later in Zambia.

But God

I read from Ephesians 2 this morning. I don't know if I've ever been able to read those first 10 verses without crying. I honestly hope I never can read them without tears welling up in my eyes. I've read them, heard them preached on, and studied them countless times. And they wreck me every time.


"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 

But God, 

being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:1-10, ESV).

Friends, when I read these verses, it just shows me that God is THAT rich in love and I am THAT undeserving of it. They perfectly describe where I was: absolutely dead in my sin with no hope of saving myself, a child under the wrath of a holy God. But God, oh, but God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved me (and you)... When I was dead, God made me alive together with Christ. And not only that, but God raised me up and seated me in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus, all to show the IMMEASURABLE riches of His grace in kindness toward me (and you) in Jesus. In the pit of complete hopelessness, wrath, and death, God's grace compelled by His love pulled me out and made me alive. And now He calls me His workmanship-- created in Jesus for good works, which He prepared beforehand, while I was still dead in my sin, that I should walk in. What else could I do with my life now but walk in the good works God has prepared for me? What other response could I have to His grace and love but to live my life walking in the works He has prepared for me, declaring His glory and love to those around me so that He may raise them from death to life? How selfish would I have to be to keep this just to myself when He has saved me from death and wrath and made me alive and seated me with Christ?

We need to be wrecked by the gospel daily. For those of us who have grown up in church, we can have a tendency to somehow become... I don't know the right word... immune? to the gospel truth. But we can't ever get over what God did for us when He stepped in and saved us. Meditate on it. Really chew on it. You were dead. You were a child under the wrath of a holy God. BUT GOD, (those have to be the two most beautiful words in scripture) out of His great love for you, extended you mercy and made you alive with Christ and seated you with Him in the heavenly places. And He calls you His workmanship, and gives you the opportunity to walk in the good works He prepared for you to do, even when you were still dead in your sin. What other choice do you have but to walk in them?

Oh God, Your gospel is beautiful. May we all be compelled to share it.

Cherishing Moments

Moments. They come and go so quickly. Sometimes I think we can miss the wonder of a moment because we're so busy moving on to the next one. I know I'm really guilty of that at times. And I think it's when we realize the moments are running out that we're really careful to cherish each one. In my last week at my school, I wanted to make sure I cherished the moments with my family of children, teachers, and staff. And cherished I did. I don't think I'll ever forget last week there. Some special moments I got to have last week:

a hug with what felt like almost every student (including some pretty "cool" 5th graders)

getting to watch each class come and go as I labeled text sets in the gathering hall

hearing the ring of "Good morning, Dr. M" from 264 students on Monday morning

singing songs with Mr. O's class

sharing a read-aloud with my precious kindergarteners (who are actually precious 2nd graders now)

lending a shoulder to cry on for a student feeling left out

sitting in the rocking chairs after school helping a 5th grader with homework

having my hair twisted into knots that take forever to get out braided by the next generation of hair stylists

being greeted by the sweetest, most precious, 4th grader as I walk into the gathering hall and turn on the lights each morning

watching an epic game of 2nd grade dodge ball

sitting by the window reading with a 3rd grader I've seen grow so much

listening to and learning from a 1st grader as they share their non-fiction book about fish with me

watching a kindergartener's excitement when a frog eats a cricket

running back into the building for something Dr. M forgot one last time :)

watching a 1st and 5th grader showdown in the most epic battle of "Mrs. Nicole says" I've ever seen

sending Susanne's class into a wailing, moaning, gnashing of teeth cry as Susanne read them my letter (which led me into a fit of laughter and tears all at the same time)

seeing the love of children as Susanne's kids jumped up to care for each other, passing out tissues, rubbing each other's backs, and whispering, "It'll be okay," into each other's ears

hearing one more song at Friday Gathering from Chris' class

having a very large group of kindergarteners and 1st graders sing "You are My Sunshine" to me at the end of a long day

hitting the gong to end the week (and symbolically, this chapter of my life) at this school

To say the week wasn't emotionally draining would be a lie. To say I have never felt more loved by such a large group of people would also be a lie. I don't think I have ever received so many hugs in one week. And as hard as it was to go into last Friday and say goodbye, God was faithful to remind me of His plans for me and He walked with me closely through that day, providing hugs and notes at exactly the right times. 

And He also reminded me of the joy and love of new relationships He has in store for my future. Relationships with people I don't even know yet. New faces. New people. New moments. And I can't wait. I am so excited to meet the people in Siavonga and build relationships with them. I'm excited for a whole different set of moments to cherish with a whole different set of people in a whole different place. 

Side note for my Columbia people: I'll be sharing my testimony and some ways you can pray for me at Awaken Church on Sunday. I'd love for you to join us. Service begins at 10:30 at Polo Rd Elementary.