Love and Swords

On Pinterest, I was curious as to what others “love”. There are many pins which have the word “love” as the caption and I know there are many things I have pinned which have something about how much I “love” whatever I am posting. When I searched for “love” a variety of pins came up. Dresses, diamond rings, clothes, nail polish, cars, pictures of people showing affection, shoes, crafts, pillows, quotes and so many more things. Our view of “love” is so drastically different than the One’s love for us. I know that many Christians hear about God’s love for us and “everything He did for us” and we may have a tendency to tune out everything else because we’ve “heard it all,” right?! Or am I the only one?? Anyway, this weekend my roommate, Esther, and I went to Madisonville to visit my former youth pastor and go to Pathway of Light. POL is an outdoor walkthrough of the birth, life, death and resurrection of Christ with people acting out each scene. It is a tool FBC Madisonville (and other churches from the area) uses to reach their community to share Christ to those who have yet to repent, and strengthen and encourage those who have given their life to the Lord. There was a scene that spoke straight to my heart and it caught me off guard. It was the scene where the Roman soldiers are coming to arrest Jesus and one of the disciples cuts off the ear of one of the soldiers. Jesus’ response in Matthew 26:52 was, "Put away your sword," Jesus told him. "Those who use the sword will die by the sword." In Ephesians 6 when Paul is talking about the armor of God, he refers to the “word of God” as the sword. As I continued to walk through the different scenes, those words and thoughts stuck with me. “Those who use the sword will die by the sword.” What does that mean to those of us who are not physically fighting with swords? How can we fight the enemy? Are we using the Sword given to us? As I continue to meditate on what God is trying to teach me, I can’t help but think about how I should live my life on a daily basis. I should be dying to myself, taking up my cross and following Him every moment of every day (Matthew 16:24). On days that I do not start my day with spending time with the Lord, I usually fail to deny myself in the way God calls us to.  So, as I use the Sword more often, I shall die by that Sword as well. It is a different sword than Jesus was telling His disciple(s) of and it is a completely different way of thinking about those words than I have ever thought about them. However, as I die to my own fleshly desires, sacrifice for His sake, and follow Him, I will be dying by the Sword.

My prayer is that we would show our love by dying to ourselves because He loved us enough to physically die for our sins.

“I have given you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” John 13:15 

About the Parents

"But if I say I'll never mention the LORD or speak in his name, his word burns in my heart like a fire. It's like a fire in my bones! I am worn out trying to hold it in! I can't do it!" -Jeremiah 20:9 (NLT)

Well, Tuesday night was the night I discussed the Czech Republic with my parents... Interesting discussion to say the least! They brought up good points and I am thankful for them and their wisdom they have gained through the years. I have been praying since the beginning of this adventure for God to give me the words to say and He definitely did! As they brought up things I had no idea how to answer, I asked God to give me the words and He provided me with His words.
Their major concern is the risk of what could happen to me while I am there. The potential dangers that come with being in a foreign country are extreme and risks we would never expect here in the States.
There were words my parents said to me that probably weren't intended to be compliments but I definitely consider them to be! For example, I was told that it seemed like I was going everything  with Czech with "blind faith!" I could not have asked for kinder, more encouraging words! 2 Corinthians 5:7 says "For we walk by faith and not by sight." Therefore, I could not have asked for better words!
My parents love and support me, they just "don't agree with some decisions [ I ] make." They also would prefer me wait until I am older and have more life experience. However, I'd rather go now while I am not married and don't have children. Because of that, I will not be dating any time soon (at least until after I get back from Czech)! I want to be able to focus on the Lord and all He has asked of me! I want to honor God with my decisions and if I am dating a man before I leave, I am afraid I will be distracted while I am in the Czech Republic. Therefore, those of you reading this, I give you full permission to hold me accountable to this decision God is leading me to! I love each of you and appreciate your friendship! :)
I am following the Lord and my prayer is that my parents would see that, no matter where He leads, I will be following.

Proverb 16:9

“In his heart a man plans his course but the LORD determines his steps.” Proverb 16:9

This verse was sent in a text message by one of my very best friends Kayla when I was in high school. Only God knew this would become a verse I live my every day by!

Given my heart for Kenya, I had every intention in graduating college and spending some time in Kenya as soon as possible. However, God is doing some very interesting things in my life currently. I sent in a "Send me more information" type form to www.TeachOverseas.org  last week to get more information about teaching for a full school year. Teach Overseas places people in classrooms of foreign countries to teach conversational English or those with specific degrees can teach content-specific classes in certain places (one of those "certain places" being Africa). They have some summer positions they fill and some year-long positions as well. I filled out everything in hopes of getting more information about teaching in Africa for a full year! I had no idea what God had in mind...

I received a phone call the VERY next day! I missed the call because they called when I was in church but they left me a message. I excitedly returned their call and left them a message because their office was closed by the time I had the chance to call them back. Finally, we made contact on Thursday! I talked to Emily, an extremely sweet girl from Teach Overseas. After telling her where my heart was, she told me she maybe had some sad news... They only have summer positions and do not have year-long positions for teachers in Africa... She continued about the other opportunities they offered teaching in other countries but, honestly, I mentally closed the door. I remember Emily saying something about she would email me the information about the year-long positions in other countries but I had no intention of looking too closely at them.

Friday, Emily sent me the information and I remember seeing her email pop up on my phone but, again, dismissed the thought of looking at the information.

After sleeping in on Saturday, I ate some breakfast then spent some great time with the Lord! After spending time in prayer, I logged onto my computer and checked my email. The message from Emily was there of course. I went ahead and opened it and looked at the list. She was right- none were African countries... I started at the top of the list with one of the -stans. Any country that ends with "stan" scars me so that was NOT an option! I opened the next one- under the Ministry section it read "Very sensitive". I thought to myself, could I keep my mouth shut when I knew Jesus was the answer? Probably not! Thus, Vietnam was out of the running as well! The next one is a 99% Muslim nation- Turkey is not for me either! My thoughts at this point were, "Alright God, three down, four to go! Keep making it clear that I'm NOT supposed to be in any of these places!" Well, after a prayer like that God made something VERY clear... that I needed to seek Him because His plans are not my plans! I then looked at Russia, Hungary, Slovakia and Czech Republic. Each of them seemed to draw my attention in some way or another! In Russia, I'd be teaching at the university level! Hungary is one of the most depressed nations in the world- they are looking for teachers who can bring the joy and hope that comes with a relationship with Christ! I could do that! In Slovakia I would be teaching at a private Christian school and I would be teaching middle school students math (which is what I am getting my  degree for!). Czech Republic is a completely unrestricted nation to Christ! I would be able to proclaim the name of Jesus whenever He led me to do so! 

As of Monday, God crossed Russia off the list and Wednesday, He crossed off Hungary.

After a week spent in prayer, God is leading me to a country I never thought I would even go to visit, much less to live and serve Him! God is leading so I am following! I will pursue this opportunity until He closes the door! If He never closes the door then I will know this is exactly where He wants me to be serving Him!

I know God is always calling us to be on mission to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19) so I will be pursuing teaching in the Czech Republic! It will be uncomfortable at many times but God does not call us to be comfortable! I know this plan is from God because these are not MY plans by any means; however, God is opening my heart more and more to the people of Czech and their brokenness! I have such a peace about the Czech Republic and I am looking forward to seeing how God works all this out but I know that as I follow Him, I will be right where He wants me! 

Please be in prayer for me as I continue to seek Him and follow His lead! Also, please pray for my parents' hearts to be open and that they will respond well when I go home for Thanksgiving and discuss this with them!

Following Him,
Tia

The First of Many

I suppose I will start off my blogging adventure by telling a little about myself. I am a follower of the Most High God, He is my Savior and I cannot imagine a day of my life without Jesus! I am so very far from perfect but He has saved me and I know I will spend eternity worshiping Him! I am currently a college student (Education major) seeking to follow Him wherever He may lead. When I was 15, God gave me a heart for missions and opened my heart to Africa (Kenya specifically). As one could imagine, my parents were not too excited about their 15 year old daughter having a crazy obsession with Africa! I think they just thought it was "a phase I was going through" but 6 years later, they may have realized that Africa still holds a huge piece of my heart! Mom and Dad asked me to wait until after I earn my college degree to go to Africa so I am currently in the "preparing" stage (not the waiting stage!). God is in the process of preparing me and I strongly believe we should never be in the "waiting" stage because waiting has the connotation of sitting and not doing anything. However, we should constantly be seeking Him and growing closer in our relationship with Him! (ok, I'm off my soap box now!) Anyway, I will be graduating from SFA next December (a year and 4 weeks!! not that I am counting...) I am looking forward to seeing how God uses me to make Him famous as I finish my college degree in Nacogdoches!

My prayer is that you would join me in following Him in faith! I hope you enjoy my blog!

Following Him,
Tia