When I come back from WA my perspective is so different.
I am overwhelmed as I attempt to shop at the Wal-Mart.
So much stuff.
Stuff that is simply cluttering our lives while people are starving to death.
I am overwhelmed with the church on every corner.
So many corners.
Churches that pass back and forth members while people around the globe wait for the word of God.
I am overwhelmed by being surrounded by the blessing of family.
Family gatherings full of memories to be made and love to be received.
And yet so many wait, with no one to call their own.
I am overwhelmed as I turn on my faucet, use my washing machine, and take my kids to the doctor.
So convenient. So easy.
Ease while so much of the world struggles without clean water and sufficient medical care.
Its been over a year since I've gotten on a plane, touched down in the red dirt, and had the heat hit my face like a wall. And I'm itching to get my feet back on West African soil.
To encourage missionaries. To hold orphans. To begin again to see the world through a different lens.
Because I need to remember.
I need to be overwhelmed.
And yet a part of me dreads the remembering.
What will I come back and see so differently this time?
In what new way will the Lord ask me to live simply so that others can simply live?
What will end up looking like nonsense because I remember that not everyone lives like I do?
This year God is teaching me the intricate link between obedience and sacrifice.
And I wonder what is ahead.
And the Lord keeps bringing these lyrics to my mind.
Chris Tomlin - I Lift My Hands (Official Music Video) from chris-tomlin on GodTube.
"I lift my hands to believe again. You are my refuge, you are my strength. As I pour out my heart, these things I remember. You are faithful God forever."
Because while its good to remember the realities of our fallen world its even better to remember them in light of who God is.
Let faith arise. Open my eyes. Let faith arise.
While people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go to the house of God under the protection of the Mighty One with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng. Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
Psalm 42:3-5
