My Mission

This weekend we are (were) on a staff retreat. To tell you the truth I was not entirely looking forward to it, because I was basing my opinions solely on what was being said about the place itself and not about what we were going to be doing there, for some reason. Ummm, so I was wrong. I am going to try to tie all of this together so bear with me if it seems like I am going off in another direction than what I previously started with. I have been reading in a book that I want to reflect on and of course share a little about what this weekend was like for me as well.

The book that I am reading through right now is called “The Organic God” by Margaret Feinberg. I must confess that I have had this book sitting on a shelf at home for the past five years, and I brought it here thinking that I might have time to read some books maybe even this one. I cant help but think that it was not by accident. Even thought it has a really simple and “I have heard that before” theme it so far has been just what I needed to hear. Its all about falling in love with God again and strengthening your relationship with Him in an “organic“ way.

A couple chapters into the book I found myself really taking a look at myself, and realizing that this past month I have felt a little lost and unsure sometimes. And then this verse, Isaiah 43:1-3 “But now, this is what the Lord says, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” I underlined three words in this because they are the three words that speak out the loudest to me and mean so much. Through everything that I might be going through, He is still always there, He is still God, He is still Father, Abba, it’s a promise, “you are mine”. This is such a comfort for me to think about and to know that I am His. I cant leave out also that this reminded me of a song that B, a very good friend of mine, and I wrote this past summer. No kidding the song is called “You Are Mine”. The chores goes a little like this if I can remember it all correctly, “I’m here waiting, your done breaking, I’m shining out my light. And I will never, leave you to wonder, bended knee come to me, you are mine.” It has a whole new meaning to me. When we were sitting in the park writing this it was just cool and we were having fun with it, but now I can see the true meaning behind it and, wow. He whispers just three words and an overwhelming peace comes over me.

I would defiantly say that coming here to the Dominican Republic has changed me, in more ways than I probably know right now. Yes, I have been forced out of my box in a sense, and have had to give some things up that really in all reality we could all do without, and have been able to focus on God and me. My relationship with Him. And by doing that have been able to see, so much clearer than before, His teachings, and what He has for me. I am learning so much about who God is and with Him learning so much about myself. I know that without Him everything that I am doing here would not be. I know that I have a purpose here and I came here to follow Him in that.

Our speaker this weekend pastor Don had this to say Friday night. “Jesus didn’t die to keep you safe, Jesus died to make you dangerous!” This might seem strange, not going to lie, with his heavy southern accent, I thought, this guy, ummmm ok. But there is a point behind it, and might be one that you have heard before but not quite in this way. So that box that I have been forced out of…well that is just one box, I find that there are many we can put ourselves in. So I have also put myself in a “missionary box” and have classified myself, if even being short term, as such. That might be what I am doing right now, this is what God has called me to do right now, but I am still Christine… I am, in the words from above, “His” called to do one thing, follow Him. Matthew 19:16-30 tells of the story of the rich young man, and when he asked “What do I still lack?” Jesus gave the answer “Sell everything and follow me”. Sound easy enough, yes? I think that even more so now than then it is difficult to say the least. I can say that I defiantly try, but find myself falling at every corner, getting lost, unfocused. I lose some of my dangerousness that is, living for God in a way that makes us “dangerous“, exciting, different! Living a life focused on one thing, and that is to bring people to the kingdom.

I think for me this past month I was lacking motivation and forgetting the reason why I had come here. I mean not completely but I was just in one of these places where I don’t know where to go next and it was getting me down. This weekend I just felt God so much, His Spirit just filling me again in a way that I have not had in a while. The worship was fantastic, the messages right on, and the community great. None of these things by themselves had anything to do with it but together and what God did through them just lifted my soul up. I feel so motivated, refreshed, reconnected, refocused and ready to be a leader this summer. Its My Mission.

I want to ask this question, and I may be taking it out of the book that I am reading, but I really like it and her answer was really close to what mine was. So the question is “What do you love about Jesus?” Take a minute think about it.

For me its God’s beauty. And it goes much deeper than this world that He has created for us. I do love to look at beautiful sunset on the beach and it more often than not makes me thank God for all the beauty that He has given us, but its deeper. Its His Love for us, His healing for us, its all of Him. He is the beauty we find when we get to know Him better. By getting to know the creator we get to see the beauty of this world that He has created for us. Its awesome! Its like seeing things in a whole new way. I love this quote form the book, “He reveals what is ultimately beautiful in a way we could never imagine, and in the process we reflect a little more beauty ourselves, thus drawing others to him.” I don’t know about you but this is what I want to reflect! This mission that I am on, this is what its all about. This is what God had in store for me all along.