What God is about...from my perspectiveAnn - September 2008
I found a
journal entry from September 08 after an unusually busy week. All of our weeks are pretty full, but this
one had added elements but there was such a sense of the work of the Holy
Spirit that instead of being overwhelming and exhausting it was
invigorating. Maybe you might find it
insightful to read some of that entry from a Saturday morning after an
incredible week . . . ?I want/need
to stop and reflect on the goodness, grace, and majesty of God --- who He is,
what He has done, and what He is currently doing along with the joy, hope and
anticipation of what we have as a glimpse of His continued work in the future. He is God
and there is no other! What an awesome privilege to be in the midst of
all of this and I know, because I am so finite, that I only sense a tip of the
iceberg of ALL that God is about. But I do
know, more than ever - - - that God is about . . . God is about
my heart ? continuing to woo me to Himself to go deeper into His infinite love
and purpose for my life. He is about
showing me his glory and teaching me how to reflect that glory ? just by being
me ? who He created me to be. What a
healing, freeing gift. Lord, bring it! God is about
? deepening Robert ? getting his roots deeper, developing spiritual disciplines
in him not for the purpose of religiosity but for the deepening of a
relationship with a man and his Savior.
A relationship that is never-ending, that as Robert continues to pursue
the heart of his Lord Jesus, he will grow roots deeper than he ever imagined
possible. Roots that will provide
strength that can withstand hurricane proportion trials. God is about
? strengthening our partnership in life and love and ministry more than we ever
dreamed or could even hope for. The joy
we each take in seeing the other have those moments of sheer overwhelmingness
of the love of our Savior for us. Like last
night, at the end of a very long, exhausting and yet thrilling week of hosting
an American team and helping with their many logistical needs plus getting to
do some ministry alongside of them and being richly blessed by their fellowship
and individually blessed by witnessing these Americans love on our Russian guys
in deep, wonderful ways ? ways that are affirming to our guys that they are
loved and they are not alone. And then, in
addition to all the hullabaloo of having Americans here, we were consumed with
preparing for the kick off of the You Are Not Alone Club for the fall semester
last night ? in the midst of so many other things. But oh . . . what a kick off it was! The joy, the
love, the excitement and the presence of the Holy Spirit was so evident in that
room. The fellowship and fun and sharing
was so rich. Thank you Jesus! Thank You for pulling it all together and for
building a team. You are such an awesome
God! How grateful we are to get to be a
small part of what You are doing. What a
privilege. But after
enjoying and feasting on that evening and seeing the American team off at the
train station We drove our guys back to ?our? home ? theirs and ours. Robert and I settled into our little corner
of the world in our bedroom and crawled into bed exhausted and in pain (sore
muscles from the top of our heads to the bottoms of our feet ? especially my feet) and we watched home movies. Praise God
that the video player wouldn?t play the movie we had chosen to watch. Instead we watched the only discs that would
play ? we watched our precious sons when they were 4, 5, - 8, 9 play baseball
and attend their cousin Elizabeth?s birthday party and be with the Fuqua
cousins playing in the backyard. We sat there
and marveled at the life God has given us.
The incredible life experiences and joys as well as pain and sorrows He
has ordained for us to walk in. And we
KNOW we are blessed! And then we
watched the legacy video that Robert made of my childhood movies, seeing the
people of faith that God placed in my past to help form me for today. And even though we don?t have a video made of
Robert?s side we reminded ourselves of the faithful family God gave him. Perfect families? By no means!
But both sides pursuing who they are in Christ and growing in that. And then we
were struck with awe with what He has now brought us to ? a new family in
Russia ? filled with ragamuffin kids, just like us, to share our legacy with
and create a new one with them. We are truly
a blended family here on Pamolofskava Street in Voronezh, Russia! A blending of God at work in the lives of
people He loves and desires to do His work in ? to redeem us ? each one of
us: Robert, Ann, Sergei, Vova, Zhenya,
Kostia, Sasha, Krab, Aloysha, Max and on and on along with Aaron , Ben and Danielle,
to redeem us all and make us a peculiar people . . . a people who are part of
His family and who have the incredible privilege of sharing a part of life
together to grow, encourage, mentor, support one another and then to go out and
be small pebbles in a huge ocean of need ? to allow God to use the ripple
effect. When enough
ripples get in the current, then waves form ? and God is using tidal waves all
over the world to sweep over the world with His love and His message. What a
privilege. What a
blessing. What a
responsibility. What an honor to have a
godly heritage and to continue it and pass it on for generations to come until
our Jesus comes back for all of us. Oh Lord,
thank you for what You are about. May
all who come behind us find us faithful.
Just like You! |