Ardor. Fondness. Attraction. Desire. Affection. Fancy. Admiration. Passion.
LOVE
I’ve been thinking about love recently. Love not as the world depicts, but what is true (Rom. 12:9-21, I Cor. 13, I Peter 1:22, I John 3:16, 4:10-11, 19, 5:3 to start with!). Love that is not just a feeling, but a choice and a commitment. A self-sacrificing love that endures relentlessly through persecution. The descriptions of love found in the aforementioned passages are the ones I ask you to pray for me – not that I would merely love the people who love me back and when it’s easy, but the tough people and during all situations. So when…
…the furniture molds for the fourth time in a week.
…there’s a choice between flour with bugs or no flour.
…the 76th person in a day asks me for money because my face is white.
…I itch and have unsightly bug bites all over.
…there is no internet or “entertainment” in the rain forest.
…I miss people.
God would bless me with His supernatural love. Love that in every situation would allow me to deny myself and follow Him (Lk. 9:23). For His yoke is easy and His burden, light (Mt. 11:29-30)! In a world that proclaims “do whatever it takes to make yourself happy,” we should defy normality. God said they will know us by our LOVE and was, Himself, the ultimate example of love (John 15:13).
So if you would pray that God would saturate me with that kind of love, I would muchly appreciate it. That and please pray that Heather and I will finish language school strong. We have three weeks left before we head to Zambia for our month of wilderness survival training. :0)
We saw Safidisoa (the malnourished baby we took to the hospital a couple weeks ago) recently and she looks FANTASTIC! Much more alert and no signs of infection present. Praise God!
The trip to Kelilalina was so good. The rain forest was AMAZINGLY beautiful. We thought we could make the trip down there in a day, but actually had to spend the night in a town a couple hours away because a cyclone had flooded the road and our car couldn't make it through 5 feet of water! The people were very welcoming. There seems to be a spiritual darkness there that is not as visible here on the more evangelized plateau. We will have to adapt to their Malagasy dialect, but it is basically understandable, so that was a GREAT encouragement. We also got to be a part of the very first church service in Rivo’s hotel (Rivo is a believer and in one of my pictures– here’s the link to the rain forest album - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2001275&id=85900022&l=d1d09b83e3 if you want to check it out!).
I thank my God at every remembrance of you all!
Cara :)
Psalm 95:1
3 comments:
We are praying for you!! One day, all of those struggles wont seem so bad. I remember the first time I saw the bug infestation in the flour. We through out the whole batch and our guard thought we were insane! Now, we just think about all of the extra protein our picky eater is getting! :) (LOL...stick the flour in the freezer -it'll kill/protect)
Haha...spelled threw wrong :)
I am praying for you both. You are right, we must deny what we consider "normal" in order to live for Christ. Remember that to live is Christ and to die is gain (Phil. 1:21) and as long as we are alive we should be seeking to to glorify God through fruitful labor (v22).
Post a Comment