Wednesday, November 12, 2008

A Bit of My Life...


Hello All!

I'll be sending a newsletter out in a week or so, but I would like for you to share in a couple of the most important places to me in Antigua so you can continue to share in this journey!

On the right is my table at the school where all of the Spanish learning goes down with my teacher Mirian

The next is the local market where we buy everything for much cheaper than we would be able to find in the "foreigners" market.


.

The photo below is a shot of the front of the gym many of us have a membership to. It is a great way to sweat off all of the Spanish we learned that morning.



These last two are of my favorite cafe. It is called "Y Tu Pina Tambien" (translation: "And Your Pineapple Too". It always has fresh flowers, great food, neat atmosphere, and they have the best coffee in Antigua!

I'll post again this weekend! The Lord is truly moving here!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Changing My Perspective



As a fairly stubborn person, I often have to check myself when I contemplate my relationship with Christ. My mindset is one that views the spiritually poor times as something I can fix or that I can personally improve on. The highs and lows of spiritual depth can be exhausting in their cadence, but the whole time, the Lord is whispering "Stop trying so hard to do something you were never intended to do."

In Andrew Murray's
Abide in Christ, he admits that while we do give some moments to the Lord regardless of our circumstances, "... how little is needed to mar this peace, to bring a cloud over the soul. How my faith is shaken! Could I but understand that it is my very efforts that are the cause of my failures- because it is God alone who can establish me in Jesus Christ- I would see that just as in justification I had to cease from my own working and to accept by faith the promise that God will give me eternal life in Christ, so now in the manner of my sanctification, my first need is to cease striving myself to establish the connection with Christ more firmly and allow God to do it. The God of all grace, who hath called us in Jesus Christ, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you."

To be able with spiritual eyes to see people as Christ sees them and to love them the way that Christ loved them and loves them. Not to make that abiding relationship a routine or habit, but to live in the most joyful knowledge that it is the Gardener who keeps my relationship with Him and that I only need the faith to clam that promise daily for those fruits to become a reality.