WARNING: Don't attempt this unless you are ready for the adventure of your life!
Trusting God will only lead to a more satisfying life with eternal rewards.
He began this journey of ours with an opportunity He had for Scott and I, it was to take in a teenage boy from our church that needed a home. His name is Jordan. He had attended our church for several years with some kids from his neighborhood. We taught him in our children's choirs when he was in 4th and 5th grade. The reason for him needing a home was his dad died and his mom had left his family seven years prior. Through a lot of prayer we said "Yes" to God and followed in obedience to take Jordan into our family. The first few months of our time with Jordan would make a great movie. It would be full of all the drama you have to go through to actually get custody of a child. God did amazing things during the process. He moved mountains that only He could have moved. However, we had no idea what would take place during the process of learning what "discipling" really looks like when lived out. I can tell you that no matter how large our trials were, God was all the more faithful to us! He loves us and is true to His Word that He would never leave us. And, He hasn't! Today, two years later, we love Christ more than we did then and we love Jordan too. Love doesn't always come easy. Learning to love, really love has not come easy. You might say it has been pretty terrible to see how sinful my heart can be and when I thought I was loving others....I wasn't.
I never go out to eat in a resturant by myself, however, on this particular day I did. I had just bought the book "A Hole In Our Gospel" by Richard Sterns ( CEO of World Vision), had some time before I needed to pick up my boys from school, decided to go to Moe's for some lunch...by myself! I sat down with my food, prayed, opened the book and began to read. I was so glad I had fixed my hair that day, cause when I would lean over to read it would fall down covering the side of my face.....I had got no further than the prologue of the book and began to cry....I said in my heart I have no compassion! God, I thought I loved others and I thought I was a compassionate person.... I came under such conviction and asked God to help me to love the way He meant for me to love....a year later where has all this praying for compassion and love for others brought me. It took almost of year of praying to God for me to finally get it and to make a real break through in my hard headed brain and heart to understand that loving others is lived out by discipling. Discipling requires time and energy. I ,as a Believer in Christ, must make time to talk to others, listen to them, to teach them about the Word of God, to live what I believe! My heart is for the mission field. However, God told me as plainly as if He had used an audiable voice...."you want to go to other countries to share the Gospel and do my work, but I put someone in your home to disciple and it starts there Paula." Our home is the first mission field we had been plowing, I just never realized that was really what we were doing. By dedicating our home to His use and to His purposes we have been able to see how to serve Him at home, in our community and in the world.
Matthew 28:19
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit"(NIV)
