It's my long lost friend... the blog!! I've been waiting and waiting and waiting for the inspiration to come - and it showed up today! Woot!
Lately I've been experiencing what one might call a spiritual "slump". My mind has been in a funk and my heart was just riding the wake. This week I began committing this "slump" to prayer and really asking God for two things:
1. That he would reignite my desire to actively seek Him
2. That he would rekindle my passion for ministry and missions
I have always had a "thing" for missions. There is just something about seeing someones life be transformed by a sudden influx of realization that - oh my gosh - God loves me! When a person is given a leg up, and in the process experiences the full weight of God's love for them and the startling and beautiful reality of the free gift of salvation (how EASY it is to accept Christ's redemption) there is truly nothing sweeter. That is the purpose of life. The Bible calls us all to go and make disciples. But when we live day to day in OUR routines - our job, our money, our friends, our family - we tend to hit the cruise control on life's steering wheel and just sit back and let life roll on by.
I think this is where I found myself this past month or two. Not surprisingly, when I considered mission opportunities, the former flame wasn't burning as strongly as I had grown accustomed to throughout my life. Disconcerting!
In an effort to rectify this quite disarming realization, I signed up to serve on the Missions team at MetroLive on Thursday nights at my my church (Houston's First Baptist). Concurrently, I prayed that God would use this as a stepping stone to reignite that passion in my heart. So tonight was volunteer night #1. A few incredible things happened!
1. One of the ministries we are supporting is called Charasia. This ministry takes little girls out of the red light district in India and provides them with a safe home, an education, and a Christian upbringing that will help them break the cycle of prostitution in their families lives. I have long had a heart for India and the beautiful people of that country... I started feeling that fire start to burn. I also accidentally showed up early for volunteer training this week due to some email communications and ended up sitting through a leadership meeting. Just listening to the hearts of those leading these teams reminded me of God's will for me. I believe I did not show up early on accident. They kept apologizing for making me sit through the meeting, but it was just what I needed!
2. I was working one of the Charasia tables in the foyer (passing out fliers and promoting our Summer support programs) and one of my co-volunteers was a great guy from East Asia - the same country I had the privilege to serve in for 6 weeks the summer after I graduation from college. He couldn't manage to pronounce my name (the "ryl" is very difficult for most foreigners, apparently the shape your mouth makes is very unique to English) and it reminded me of the students I met that summer and the laughs we had trying to teach them to say "Cheryl". We got to talking about my summer in East Asia and he looked me dead in the eyes and said "THANK YOU for going to my country to share the gospel. I always tell people thank you when I hear they have gone there, because I was saved by an American missionary when I was in college". What a moment. I was reminded of just how important that work was, how much joy it brought me, and how it really did change lives. Here was a young man who was serving on a missions team in America and sharing the gospel in MY country because someone took the time to share Christ's love with Him. Beautiful! It made my heart swell - a familiar old feeling that I was so happy to experience tonight.
Anyways, there you have it. I felt a kindling in my soul tonight. A hug from my God reminding me of God's love for me, and reassuring me that even when we go through "slumps" (and we ALL do) God remains in control and all we need to do is ask and obey. Ask God for the fire. And then fan that flame by taking a small leap of faith. Join a team. Attend Sunday School this week. Just take it off of cruise control and see how God moves!
Amen :)
