By Faith...

Yesterday, I moved a mountain.

Of books, that is. I didn't do it by myself, or anything like that. I was given the privilege to serve, along with several others throughout the day, by moving the church/college library across the parking lot into the brand new building which has just finished construction. It seems like a small job, until you realize that there are about 50,000 books to move... and some of them were in storage, which had to be mixed in with the ones that were not in storage... and the place we were moving them from was on the second floor...

The task indeed seems daunting. I was a bit late to arrive on Friday, which was the first day of the move, and my heart literally sunk when I saw only 5 people, and maybe two-thirds of the reference section had been moved thus far.

But my God is faithful! By the middle of the afternoon, there were closer to twenty people, young and old, all working together in different facets.  Whether it was moving the student mailboxes across the property to keeping all supplied with a good amount of cold iced tea, God provided exactly what was needed in manpower for as long as was needed.

I took a moment yesterday to just look at the library. My God IS faithful. The library is the final product in a chain of results from a decision made over  10 years ago to move the church. Moving a library is hard, but picking up and moving a church to a brand new facility that has to be built first is so much more scary.

I'm one of few young people who can actually say they saw the whole thing from start to finish. I remember having an orchard of trees behind the gym at the old property. I remember writing Bible verses on the unfinished floor and walls of the main building.

I remember the steel that we got for far less then we should have paid. I remember the first Sunday in the new building - we didn't have doors in half the rooms, and the doors we did have didn't have doorknobs or the glass window pains yet. I remember.

I remember and see the God who provides. Like Abraham, our church had to have faith, and by faith we have moved and built a great church building for the purpose of evangelizing those around us.

I might have moved a mountain of books over the weekend, but God alone gets the credit for moving this mountain of a ministry for His glory.

Because of Him,
Missa

Because, That's Why

The question "why?" is duly wedded with the answer "because". Why do we think, act, speak, respond the way we do? What is the "because" to this question. It is possible for one to do things because they want power... or friends... or a good time... or a peaceful life. These aren't necessarily bad things - in fact they can be good things! But they should be byproducts of the true "because".

Because of Him.

I realized something a few years ago. Life is only worth living because of Him. I am who I am because of Him. My God has worked in my life to draw me to Himself. I'm not perfect, nowhere close, but we are instructed to "...walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God." Colossians 1:10. This is my goal in life. I want to walk worthy of the Lord - and I often fail. I want to serve Him with goods works - and I am often lazy about it. I want to increase in my knowledge of Him - and I often forget to study.

My life was changed dramatically a year ago, and it's by God's grace alone that I did not go off the deep end as it were. I admit, I questioned Him, I doubted Him, and in my inner heart, I wanted to reject Him. He didn't give me what I wanted, rather He took literally everything away - friends, a job, the guy I thought I was going to marry, even an opportunity to serve Him for the summer.

Now I look back. I can't believe how carnal I was. The God Who died for me, Who knows my inner heart better then I do myself, The God Who has given me so much more then I deserve is suddenly not enough for me? I think of the song "Lord, You're All I Need" By James Tilson

By wanting more I’ve wanted less
Than all You’ve given me.
You gave your all by laying down
Your life at Calvary.
So I surrender all, Lord
My best to You I give.
And thank you now for giving me
A reason to live.

So, by this blog, I hope to spend a bit more time putting what I'm learning about Him in writing. I honestly don't care if this is a widely read blog, but I hope to those who find this that you will come to understand the "why" in your life is answered by the "because" of Him.

Because of Him,
Missa