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Sunday, July 8, 2007

The Lord's plans are not always mine...

Being sick is not the best way to start off Week 3.

I have finally caught a cold out here in Manila. But I am planning on pressing on despite of how crappy I feel right now. Today, I have been yet again amazed by the people God has surrounded me with. I had a prayer meeting with Ate Jean, Ate Luce, Laura and Abby(a staffer who is leaving her ministry position at University of the Philippines). All of these women are incredible. Watching their faith has encouraged me greatly. As I listened to them pray, I noticed that each one of them began to cry a little as they poured out their hearts to our amazing Heavenly Father. Just watching them become real with God challenged me in my prayer life. Why don't I pray with such emotion? It was incredibly evident that they believed God hears their words and answers their prayers. I love it. I am truly surrounded by prayer warriors.

This past weekend is just another testimony to how God's plans are not my own. Friday we did not expect many students to attend our high school meeting. Over 30 12-14 year olds came and hung out with us for hours. I shared my testimony in front of the large group, and then we had small group time to discuss important parts of my story... I was hoping they would see how I met the Lord and hopefully apply certain parts of that to their lives... but many of them (if they paid attention), focused on how I lost my mother at a young age...etc. Anyway, we had our discussion time, I was a bit discouraged when I realized that these students were all about living a life of rituals and did not care about having a true faith. I will continue to pray for them because God is infinitely bigger than rituals and has the power to impact lives...even when I think its impossible.

Saturday, we had planned on having three different groups of students over for fellowship times... and that definitely didn't happen. Just when we were giving up on the day, a girl named Sheril from PUP texts me and says she's bringing 8 of her friends with her from class. Our time together started out as games and fun and quickly turned into complete openness about our lives and the hard stuff we have to face. We then talked about how to deal with extremely hard circumstances. I was able to share about my life and how I've seen God's faithfulness throughout everything. It was an incredible time. I am amazed how these girls didn't know us and became very honest about their lives with us. We cried and prayed together. It was incredible. I hope and long for times like these among my friends in the States.

Pray for tonight. I am getting ready to go to PUP tonight and we will be meeting up with students all day. Also we have been asked to share our testimonies and the gospel in front of a 4th year nutrition science class. Pray for me as I am not feeling well but going to campus because this opportunity doesn't happen often.

Thanks for reading. Thanks for praying. Love and Miss you.

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