True Community

As of today, there are only two more weeks until I go for training in Indiana before leaving for Africa! I have been spending the past few days getting to know my team better and praying that God would knit our hearts together. He is also showing me more and more about the significance of community in my life and the body of Christ. 

This morning in my quiet time, I was reading about the Tower of Babel. It was as though God highlighted these words for me:

"If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them" Gen. 11:6

If these words were true in a negative sense then how much more in a positive one! When we are "speaking the same language," we can accomplish anything! Now I don't think that this means we all need to go out and learn French or Japanese, but it's about learning how to love one another and join together with a common purpose. 

A New Testament example of this is found in Acts during the Pentecost. When the believers came together waiting for the Holy Spirit, they began to speak in tongues which everyone was able to understand. After this instance, it says that the believers "were together and had everything in common" (Acts 2:44). Through the power of the Holy Spirit, they were then able to perform signs and wonders and God "added to their number daily those who were being saved" (Acts 2:44, 47). This all started with just a gathering of Christ's followers waiting on Him. 

When a community comes together and seeks God with one mind, they have the ability to change the world as the church in Acts did! I pray that the members of my team will be able to come together with one heart and mind in this way. 

So although at many points in my life, I have felt I can do things alone, I now realize that God prefers to work through community and through relationships. That's one of the aspects of Experience Mission that really drew me to the organization. Although service is valuable, it is through relationships that lives are changed and people really grow. 

So to those of you that have been praying for me, I truly do appreciate it and know that it is definitely making a difference! I feel so blessed by all of your encouragement and it is amazing to know that I am surrounded by a wonderful community of prayer warriors. I believe that God has been filling me up so that I will be able to pour Him out into my relationships with others in the next few months. Please continue to pray for both me and my team! Thank you so much!