“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13: 34-35
Even as I type out this verse, I am convicted of how I don’t love my brothers and sisters the way that I was commanded. It seems impossible to love people the way Christ loved me. He gave up everything in heaven, took on flesh, and was murdered for me, and I can’t even selflessly love others by washing the dishes for them. That kind of love takes a work of the Holy Spirit. I cannot get there on my own. I must surrender to Him. One of my prayers for this summer has been for people to look at our group and see that we truly do love one another and see Christ through us.
The Lord continues to work here at project, even though we are in the last stretch. It was such a blessing to go out sharing with my roommate, Courtney last week. We met a worker, Stephanie, at a kiosk in the mall and started talking with her about her moving here to Fort Walton Beach. She was pregnant and we chatted about her daughter who has special needs. After learning more about her life, Courtney asked her about church. Stephanie was open to talk about how she had been burned in the past by churches. We kept pointing her toward grace. It was such an encouraging conversation and the Lord was definitely the one to open up the door with that. We came back from sharing encouraged and excited to see what the Lord does next. I also got to speak with a Honduran man in Spanish the other day at our worship planning meeting. His family was at the pavilion we usually meet at and I was a blessing to find out that he had come to Christ 7 months ago. My Spanish was pretty rough, but it was a blessing to get to talk with him.
Another thing that the Lord's been doing is moving through the girls working at McDonalds. I was invited to join them the other night at the Asians' house for a traditional Chinese dinner. It was so much fun to be there with people from China, Vietnam, Russia, and Turkey. God has brought the nations to us! I enjoyed sharing about my love for Jesus with my new friend Yutong. She had never understood what the symbol of the cross meant and I had the privilege of explaining it to her. The Lord is so good to move and work here. We had a prayer vigil on the beach Tuesday night for the nations and my heart was so broken for the world. Many of the students were humbled by the persecution of believers in other nations. It was encouraging to see the Lord soften our hearts for them.
I have been learning so much about suffering and how the Lord uses it in our lives to draw us to himself. We love this world too much! I can't say that I have suffered in this lifetime, but I know since I am a follower of Christ, my time will come. I pray that right now in the mountaintop, I will be able to praise him and love him more so that when the valleys come, I will continue to praise Him.
