Living Presently Sitting at His Feet

1 Corinthians 1:10 “I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.” Being on a team is not easy. Especially a team of just two when you’re with each other 24/7, it gets hard. Each of you do everything differently. You cook differently, you clean differently, you live life differently. It becomes easy to get mad at the other person for the little things they do. It becomes easy to become divided.  Something that God’s been showing me these past eight weeks is that becoming divided is exactly what the devil wants. He wants each team in these three different countries to become divided because once divided, God isn’t seen. If we’re constantly arguing or acting upon our aggravated emotions that’s all people will see. They won’t see God’s love in us and we won’t be doing what He’s called us to do, ...

Jeremiah 7:23 “But I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you.” Obeying is something that will always come up. It’s not one of those things you learn and it goes to the back of your mind, it’s something you learn and continue to learn and have to work on forever. I know plenty of adults/elderly people who are having to work on obeying still. It’s not easy, but it’s necessary. I always thought I was very obedient and submissive.  Even when I tried to be disobedient and rebellious it never worked out because obeying has always been my life. Recently, though, I’ve realized how false that is. Yes, I’ve obeyed but I haven’t always obeyed in my heart. That’s where it counts. Yes I obey my parents, but I haven’t always wanted too. My parents always told me to obey now and ask questions later. That has been engrained in my mind, and that’s how I grew up. So I always tho...

Luke 5:16 “But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” Being alone isn’t fun. People don’t plan time to be alone, they plan time to be with people. The way our nation has become is one of much commotion. There is so much going on that there isn’t any time to be alone. And people plan for it like that. Because, like I said, being alone isn’t fun. But how is it, that as Christians, we can plan our days so precisely to be going from one thing to the next, but we don’t add anytime to get away from the commotion. We don’t just ever withdraw to a lonely place to pray.  Growing up, I never wanted to go to be alone and pray. I’d get bored, always feeling like I was just talking to myself. I never truly believed that praying was a legitimate thing, I’d get impatient waiting for God to answer me. As I got older, I began to see how important it is to pray. It’s how I talk to my Creator. The fact that I can actually talk to Him should make me want to do it constantly. Luk...

IBS 59 Acts 28:31 “He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ — with all boldness and with out hinderance!” What a wonderful thing it would be if someone said this about me. “Anna proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about Christ with all boldness!” To have people say that about me though, I must actually do and have faith. I can’t do the ministry God has called me to do without faith and acting upon that faith. When people tell me they love me but don’t act as thought they love me, I don’t believe that they love me. Just as that, if I say I have faith but don’t act on my faith, do I really have faith? “In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” (James 2:17). It is a big challenge to act upon the faith. It’s scary to put trust in the unknown. But when I test that trust and let my faith lead me, I see how faithful God is and how much He truly comes through. I’ve been afraid for so long to fall completely o...

1 Corinthians 12:18-20 “But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.” I’m really good at looking to others and comparing myself to them. I can see their gifts and talents very easily and I can see what part they play in the kingdom of God. But then I look at myself and I can’t see any gifts and talents. I put myself down because I don’t have those same gifts and talents. I get upset and ask myself why I can’t be more like other people. I try to make myself to be more like others then being more like the unique woman God has designed me to be. I look at myself and I never feel like I’m enough, but everyone else is clearly enough. I see the amazing things God’s given them and I can never understand why I’m not more like everyone else.  I can just imagine how hurt God is whenever I think things like this. No one likes it ...