What a great birthday present and even better answer to prayer - finding out that everything is finally approved to go to Ireland. I am tremendously grateful for God's faithfulness and promise to strengthen those that wait upon Him.
So now the date is set. I will be heading back to Chicago this coming weekend to spend some time with my family before I leave. Then Thursday, October 16, I leave for Northern Ireland. I am totally excited and cannot wait to go!!
As I make final preparations to head over to reunite with my friends in Northern Ireland, there are some prayer requests that I would love to share with you......
1. Fundraising. Now that I have the green light to go, I am trusting that the Lord will use many of you to provide me with the funds that I need in order to live in Northern Ireland. Pray that I would trust in God's provision and that everything will be provided to make this happen.
2. Dependence. Pray that I would be dependent upon the Lord as I go. The first couple weeks will be great fun as I reunite with people. As time goes, however, I will need to continue to rely on God as I adapt to the culture and flow of Northern Ireland.
3. Friends. As I leave to go to Northern Ireland to reunite with friends that I made over the same, I will also be leaving behind many friends at Bethlehem Baptist Church...especially all the high schoolers that I have built relationships with over the past 4 years. Pray that God would continue to make His presence known in each of their lives. I love them so much, and pray that God will continue to great things within each of their lives.
I thank you in advance for your prayers and support. God is using each of you to help make this trip happen, and I am very thankful. May we continue to remember that "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it!!"
Yearning for Christ,
Jason
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
A Month!...wow
I can honestly say that the last month of my life has been one of the most interesting ones in my entire life. It has been quite unique waking up every morning wondering if that would be "the day" that I find out. As you could guess, that's still how things are.
Looking back over the past month, I can honestly say that I have learned a lot....even though I haven't really done anything. I always knew that God loves to teach us patience, but little did I know that its not just patience, but trust.
It wasn't until recently that I began to grasp the true weight of Proverbs 3:5-6 which says "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths." It is verse 5 that blows me away. We are called to trust in the Lord with all of our hearts. Not only that, but we are also told not to lean on our own understanding. I have recited this verse over and over at different points in my life where I knew I needed to trust in God, but it wasn't until now that I fully realized the part about not leaning on our own understanding.
I know in my life, there have been many times where I have said that I was trusting in the Lord with all my heart and not leaning on my own understanding...but come to think of it, I don't know if I was. We all have the tendency to come up with a plan B if something doesn't work out so that we can at least know something won't completely fail. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but when we make back up plans, are we trusting in God in those plans as well??
The reason I say this is because this is the first time I have never had a back up plan. As I share my desire to go back to Northern Ireland to minister to the youth there, many people ask me the question "So if this all doesn't work out, what are you going to do?" I honestly respond, I have no clue! And that's the truth. This is when I began to realize that I finally wasn't trying to rely on my own understanding (especially because I usually like to have everything figured out).
Right now I am completely dependent on God because God has His own way and own timing on how He likes to do things, and this past month I learned more about that. It would have been way easier to get all the details figured out and turn right around to go back to Ireland, but that's not how God wanted it to happen. He wanted me to wait......He didn't want me to trust in my own understanding......He simply wanted me to trust in Him!!
That is a small glimpse of what God has been teaching me over the past month. I thank all of you for your prayers and support. I eagerly look forward to the day that I will be able to tell you I will be going back (which will hopefully be within the next week). But until then, and even then, I will be trusting in God BECAUSE "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it."!!!!!!!
Looking back over the past month, I can honestly say that I have learned a lot....even though I haven't really done anything. I always knew that God loves to teach us patience, but little did I know that its not just patience, but trust.
It wasn't until recently that I began to grasp the true weight of Proverbs 3:5-6 which says "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths." It is verse 5 that blows me away. We are called to trust in the Lord with all of our hearts. Not only that, but we are also told not to lean on our own understanding. I have recited this verse over and over at different points in my life where I knew I needed to trust in God, but it wasn't until now that I fully realized the part about not leaning on our own understanding.
I know in my life, there have been many times where I have said that I was trusting in the Lord with all my heart and not leaning on my own understanding...but come to think of it, I don't know if I was. We all have the tendency to come up with a plan B if something doesn't work out so that we can at least know something won't completely fail. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but when we make back up plans, are we trusting in God in those plans as well??
The reason I say this is because this is the first time I have never had a back up plan. As I share my desire to go back to Northern Ireland to minister to the youth there, many people ask me the question "So if this all doesn't work out, what are you going to do?" I honestly respond, I have no clue! And that's the truth. This is when I began to realize that I finally wasn't trying to rely on my own understanding (especially because I usually like to have everything figured out).
Right now I am completely dependent on God because God has His own way and own timing on how He likes to do things, and this past month I learned more about that. It would have been way easier to get all the details figured out and turn right around to go back to Ireland, but that's not how God wanted it to happen. He wanted me to wait......He didn't want me to trust in my own understanding......He simply wanted me to trust in Him!!
That is a small glimpse of what God has been teaching me over the past month. I thank all of you for your prayers and support. I eagerly look forward to the day that I will be able to tell you I will be going back (which will hopefully be within the next week). But until then, and even then, I will be trusting in God BECAUSE "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it."!!!!!!!
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
A word of Encouragement....
As I sit at home many afternoons thinking and praying, seeking and waiting to see what the Lord would have me do in the next many months, there was a song that came to my mind. It goes like this....
Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord
Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord
Our God, You reign forever
Our hope, our Strong Deliverer
You are the everlasting God
The everlasting God
You do not faint
You won't grow weary
You're the defender of the weak
You comfort those in need
You lift us up on wings like eagles
There's a reason God teaches us patience....it's so that we are constantly reminded that we can do nothing apart from Him....we need to be completely dependent upon Him!!
Just like in Psalm 24, everything is the Lords in order to prepare the way for the King of Glory, the King of Kings! Even though I wake up every morning hoping that that day will be the day I find out if I go to Ireland, I now am reminded and encouraged to know that God is using this time that I am waiting to make sure that I am trusting and depending in Him! (especially since I have all my eggs in one basket trusting in His leading!)
Anywho, I wanted to share these bits of Grace that God has given me. I do thank you for your prayers... may we continue to remember that "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it"....so that He can prepare the way for the King of Glory to return.
(song is Everlasting God by Chris Tomlin)
Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord
Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord
Our God, You reign forever
Our hope, our Strong Deliverer
You are the everlasting God
The everlasting God
You do not faint
You won't grow weary
You're the defender of the weak
You comfort those in need
You lift us up on wings like eagles
There's a reason God teaches us patience....it's so that we are constantly reminded that we can do nothing apart from Him....we need to be completely dependent upon Him!!
Just like in Psalm 24, everything is the Lords in order to prepare the way for the King of Glory, the King of Kings! Even though I wake up every morning hoping that that day will be the day I find out if I go to Ireland, I now am reminded and encouraged to know that God is using this time that I am waiting to make sure that I am trusting and depending in Him! (especially since I have all my eggs in one basket trusting in His leading!)
Anywho, I wanted to share these bits of Grace that God has given me. I do thank you for your prayers... may we continue to remember that "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it"....so that He can prepare the way for the King of Glory to return.
(song is Everlasting God by Chris Tomlin)
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