From the Field

There are not enough words to describe to you all that God is doing and teaching me. These past months have been full of challenges and opportunities, in all areas of my life. Still, my constant prayer continues to be, “God, your will be done..”. That’s a pretty intense prayer. That’s a prayer that means I have to trust. Completely. No matter what, it’s always a choice to trust. I can’t see what’s before me, but I do know who goes before me… and I know my God is good, constant, full of love and amazing grace. These first half of the year has been very intense! Full of youth events, meetings, conferences and there was an interesting question that kept coming up. I was asked by many leaders, “what’s your vision for this new ministry you’re heading up? what’s your big dream?”  But who am I to dream without God? There is nothing that I desire to do without God leading the way. Yup, every single step and detail. There is nothing that I desire more that to God to be constantly present; in words, actions but especially my dreams.  My vision is that God’s Kingdom may come, just as it is in heaven! You know what that means? I’m requesting A LOT of Jesus presence. Everywhere and all the time. The kind of Jesus presence that shakes up things. The really good kind of shaking. The kind where you speak truth into people lives.. without even speaking. The kind of Jesus…
Source: Thy will be done. from Liliana Reza – South America

A patient came in today complaining of swelling of her abdomen.  I have seen 100s of patients with liver cancer here and expected it to be the same thing.  When I took her to ultrasound, I was greeted by something I had never seen before.   Not only did the swelling look much different than other liver masses I had seen, it also seemed to be smiling at me.  I don’t know why the mass was smiling, but it made me smile seeing it smile.  Hopefully the smile is a good thing, maybe it is telling us it isn’t cancer and this women has a good chance to make it, or maybe it is saying that even when things are bad, we can still smile. I see a lot of bad things each day; cancer, abortions, AIDS, TB, infections so bad people won’t walk again, car accidents injuries, head injuries from falls, depression, domestic violence and death, lots of death.  Hoping I can remember to smile through it all and help the patients smile too despite their pain and hurting.
Source: Smiling at us from Erin Meier – Asia Pacific

I wrote a devotional the other day on the concept of taking sacred downtime, and I wanted to share it with you.  If you’re like me, you are probably in serious need of some sacred downtime.  And if you’re not like me, but you live in the modern world, or better yet you are in full-time ministry in the modern world or serving in a cross-cultural context in this modern world, chances are you are in need of some sacred downtime, so I hope this connects with you… Lately I’ve been noticing that when I get so busy, I don’t drink enough water.  What reminds me of this is that I get thirsty.  You know, “they” say that when you’re thirsty, you are already dehydrated.  So, by the time I gulp down a big glass of water, I’m doing something good for my body, but it is sort of out of desperation, and my body is still thirsty shortly after.  I’m behind.  I should be drinking so that I don’t get thirsty.  Taking any kind of downtime, let alone sacred downtime, is sort of like this for me.  I feel by the time I finally take that time, I’m in a place where I have already desperately needed it, and my thirst is not quite quenched.  Some of you have gotten better at this the longer you’ve served or the longer you’ve been in ministry.  Or maybe you’ve gone in phases where you’ve had some seasons where you are regularly taking the…
Source: Sacred downtime from Scotts – Eurasia