Here is the last in our series about the lessons we learned in 2010. Thanks for taking the time to share in these!
With school starting and our moving houses, there’s going to be lots of activity in our world. Stay tuned once we are settled for more updates from A little elbow grease!!
Lesson #5: Ask already!
“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you”. Luke 11:9
The biggest lesson that I learned last year is to give it up to God! When we were so discouraged in October with culture shock, we prayed for a time of rest, and were invited to stay at a camp in the mountains. When I prayed to find a friend here, God brought several incredible women into my life. When it looked like immigration wasn’t going to let Taylah and I get on the plane to Guatemala, I prayed like crazy and Matt was able to bring the papers needed. When we realized that we desperately needed a break during December, God provided the funds, and an affordable house to stay at so we could enjoy a time of resting at the beach. He cares for us more than anyone on this earth does, and He wants to provide for our needs!
He has used some of these bigger situations as glaring reminders of His love and provision. Nowhere in the bible does it say, don’t ask because God is too busy to listen or answer. Nowhere does it say, it’s your life, and you just need to do it all yourself. Nowhere does it say Jesus only wants to be part of the crisis situations when we have no other options. Nowhere!
Take a look in the bible and you will find place after place where it shows God’s desire to care for us, to provide for us and to demonstrate His unfathomable love for us each and every day!
Truthfully, we got so exhausted in 2010, that we were trying to do it all ourselves. We felt like we didn’t have the energy to even take it to Jesus anymore. And, that was Bad News!
2011 is starting out a whole lot different for us…I want to be talking with God daily about the little things, about the things I am excited about, about the things I am scared about, about the little problems and about the big problems. I want to make sure I’ve let Him be part of everything going on so that I continue to remember that Jesus is there wanting to be part of my life, waiting to listen and ready to help.
As we begin a new year, we have a fresh slate. We all look at the year ahead, and we long for stronger friendships, solutions to problems and to make better choices. I invite you to join me in working to make Jesus the biggest part of our every day, to seek Him out as our best friend and to choose to live a life that shines for Christ and not for ourselves. I invite you to remember to ‘ask Jesus already’, as he is waiting to listen and to love.
And there they are, some of our biggest lessons from 2010:
1) Sometimes you’ve squeezed all you can!
2) It is easier to not get stuck in a rut when there isn’t a rut around!
3) It’s good to allow someone the blessing of blessing YOU!
4) It’s important to figure out what’s important!
and finally…
5) Ask Jesus already!
Like we said, learning is hard work! When you think about John 15:2 in relationship to the year we’ve just had, our family must look like we’re nothing more than a stick poking out of the ground, we feel like we’ve been pruned so much!
He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
We are hopeful though after all the pruning in 2010, that we might be more fruitful this coming year in loving those around us, in preparing for Guatemala and for serving Jesus daily and giving Him the glory for everything in the year to come!
Feliz Ano! And as always, thank you so much for joining us in this adventure God has called us all to!
Hello Messicks
I am enjoying receiving your updates. I believe that I am learning from you and your adventures and you are challenging me in my spiritual growth. Thank you for sharing your journey. It is apparent that you must be a good writer to be a missionary. You do a great job. We will pray for you and for your mission work. And will look forward to seeing you in Guatemala some time soon.
The Greshes (Dave, Stephanie and Matthew)
[…] For those who have been following this blog a while, you might remember I had written a blog about pruning some time ago (lessons from 2010). […]