Why

The other day I saw a little girl on the street, cold and shivering in a thin dress. She had little hope of a decent meal. I became angry and asked God, “Why did you permit this to happen? Why don’t you do something about it?”
For a little while, God was silent. That night, He finally said, “I did do something about it. I made you.”

Do It Anyway

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, People may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway. -Mother Teresa

Wow.....

The Lord knows my heart and knows that I need encouragement. Today I stopped by one of my friend’s rooms to visit her. She has been on my heart all semester but I rarely get to see her. Praise Jesus, she was in the common room cooking! I got to visit with her for a few minutes, listen to her vent to me, and pray with her. She gave me a hug and said, “When I see you, I get my strength back.” This brightened my day and my six weeks left in Africa. I was overjoyed that I can have this kind of impact on someone’s life, but disturbed at the same time---that someone would say this about me. It should not be me, or any other person that we get strength from but the Lord. Could it be that God is shining so strongly through me that people see and feel His strength in me? Wow, what a thought! I have been discouraged because I feel like I am not doing anything big for the Lord, but God showed me today to remember that sometimes we may not realize that we are making a difference, but that doesn’t mean that we aren’t. You have no idea what an impact you could have on someone’s life just by taking the time to visit them, listen to them, hug them, pray for them, or even give a warm smile or a hug. My friend made a difference in my life today.

Pressing On,
Amanda

Gratitude

This week has been full of sadness, but God has also blessed me abundantly. Here is a song that describes what I have been going through.

"Gratitude"
Send some rain, would you send some rain?
Cause the earth is dry and needs to drink again.
And the sun is high and we are sinking in the shade.
Would you send a cloud, thunder long and loud?
Let the sky grow black and send some mercy down.
Surely you can see that we are thirsty and afraid.
But maybe not, not today. Maybe you'll provide in other ways.
And if that's the case...
We'll give thanks to you with gratitude.
For lessons learned in how to thirst for You....

Lets remember to praise God even through hard times. He closes and opens doors. Lets always find something to be thankful for.

Amanda

Psalm 73:25

God gave me Psalm 73:25 the other day and is using it to pentrate my heart and change my life.

"Whom have I in Heaven but YOU? And Earth has nothing I desire besides you."

There are so many desires that I put before God. Some of them are from Him and some of them are not. Some of them may be good, but God knows what is best. For example, there are times when I want to live in the N. Georgia mountains and teach, yet I know that He has called me to Asia, and that is His best for me, not just for my sake, but for His glory and for those who are lost.

"I have but one passion - it is He, it is He alone. The world is the field and the field is the world; and henceforth that country shall be my home where I can be most used in winning souls for Christ." - Count Zinzindorf

Even when God has given us a desire for a place, we must remember that ultimately we are not to thirst for that place but for HIM.

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?
-Psalm 42:1-2

Remember that He is all that we need. Make God the first desire of your heart and seek first HIS kingdom and HIS righteousness.

Amanda

Take Out the Trash

Today when I was walking to campus from the mall, I saw a lot of trash on the ground. It was gross. Then I started thinking about how this relates to my faith. How often do we carry our trash around instead of taking it out and choosing to live as the new creation that Christ died for us to be? We are sons and daughters of the King, and we need to take off our prison clothes and put on our royal clothes. We need to be clothed in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Trash smells bad, especially when it has been piled up and there is a lot of it. Are we going to be clothed in our sin and give others a bad smell of what Christ is like? Or are we going to put on the sweet aroma of Jesus and let others taste and see that the Lord is GOOD??

I want to encourage you to ask God to search your heart and take out the trash. He has been searching my heart a lot lately and is finally lifting the burden of a sin that I've been struggling with for a long time.

Love,

Amanda

For Such a Time as This

TTHey everyone! I am sorry that I have not blogged in a while. I honestly haven’t had the energy. March has been an awesome month. For the past couple of weeks God has given me the courage to do something that I am not good at: meeting new people and making new friends. I have always been good at building relationships, but I am naturally an introvert and I have times of terrible shyness, so for me to step out and start conversations with people is a HUGE deal. Praise God! He uses the least likely to do work for His kingdom and when it comes to cold cut evangelism, I am the least likely. God gave me the opportunity to witness to a young lady on a taxi, in a grocery store, at a restaurant, at the gym and to two friends at the school store. One time I was sitting outside of the library and a young lady sat down next to me and God told me to witness to her, but I didn’t want to. Then He opened doors when she started the conversation. We had a deep conversation and she shared her frustrations with me. Since then I have hung out with her once and we were able to get to know each other more. Another time, I was getting ready for Tae Kwon Do and reading my Bible. God suddenly told me to go witness to someone so I obeyed and walked around outside of one of the dorms looking for someone sitting under a tree. Then, a young lady walked towards me and God said, “her”. I said, “No”, because she looked busy. I ignored God, but he opened a door when I tried to keep it shut, because the girl said hello to me. Then I walked with her to eat dinner. We gave our testimonies and she shared with me about some of her deep struggles with the Lord and with her family. I have been sick this week. On Thursday I watched TKD but I was too sick to join. Towards the end of it I walked out to get a banana and a girl approached me and asked me for water. I got to walk with her for a minute and talk to her about why I’m here. I am going to meet up with her soon and share Christ. Now I am seeing that God used me being sick to talk to her, because if I hadn’t been sick I would have been doing TKD and never would have met her.
Throughout this, God has been teaching me that He sets up divine appointments. God always has a plan. We just need to be sensitive to His spirit. When He clearly tells us to do something, we need to listen and not let fear keep us from serving HIM!!!!! Jesus was the ultimate servant and He let nothing stop Him from going to the cross. He knew what His mission was, and He obeyed God and took up His cross, which is what we are called to do also. Wherever God has you, you are there “for such a time as this”, so make the most of the season of your life that you are in right now, because God will use you if you are open, and I’ve learned that He may even use you when you are not. J
“Have I not commanded you, be strong and courageous , do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” –Joshua 1:9

Love,
Amanda

More from Nehemiah

Here are a few more things that I have learned from Nehemiah.

Nehemiah builds a stone wall and this reminded me of the importance of guarding our hearts. We should have a wall around our hearts. It shouldn’t be a wall that is unbreakable that won’t let anyone in, but a gate in which God has the key. In the temple of the Israelites, the Holy of Holies was the most inner place. Only the high priest could go in once a year, and this day was called the Day of Atonement. We should let God be the guardian of our hearts in such a way that He is the only one who should be able to enter the Holy of Holies of our hearts. We should open up to others as well, but that takes prayer and discernment from the Lord.

“Above all else guard your heart, for it is the well spring of life.” –Proverbs 4:23

When trouble came, Nehemiah had the builders using tools in one hand and weapons in the other hand. This reminds me that we need to be clothed in the armor of God as we are serving Him.

Belt of Truth: Just as the soldier had his loin belt to put on every day to keep his armor together, we must apply the Word of God to our lives on a daily basis or we will not be able to maintain our defenses. The belt was the first thing that the soldier put on.

Breastplate of Righteousness: When you walk in the righteousness of God, it is a weapon of defense against all those slanderous accusations, and outrageous strategies of the devil. The Bible declares that the heart of man is prone to be tempted according to Matthew 26:41. We are righteous in God's sight because of what Jesus has done for us. Right thinking and doing right are the part righteousness that we are to protect ourselves with.

Helmet of Salvation: The greatest battlefield is in our minds. This is the area that the enemy wants to attack the most. One key area he wants to damage is our assurance of salvation.

Sword of the Spirit: Our sword of the Spirit is the word of God. When Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, Jesus quoted His Father's words and spoke them with authority. Consequently, each Word was like a sword-blow to Satan's head! God has given us the authority to use His words because we are all ambassadors of Christ.

Shield of Faith: In this verse, the Roman shield stands for the faith of the believer in the promises of God. The value of faith lies not in the person exercising it, but in the person whom the faith is in.

Feet Fitted: Offensively this peace will help you to stand with your feet planted firmly on the Word of God and stay there, unmoved by the devil's threats and lies. It will protect us when we walk through the rough places and keep us steady in the heat of a battle.

Love,
Amanda

Nehemiah's Prayer

I have been reading through the book of Nehemiah and I have been learning a lot from it.
Nehemiah prayed and truly relied upon God to help the wall get built.

Nehemiah’s Prayer:
"O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father's house, have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.
"Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.'
"They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand. O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man." –Nehemiah 1:4-11

Notice that he started out the prayer by PRAISING God, even through tough circumstances. It is easy to praise God when we are prospering, but so often when I am going through trials, I either get angry at him and yell or think that He is not with me. This reminds me that God is to be praised to matter what, because even when we change and our circumstances change, God does not. He is holy, loving, and merciful. He deserves our praise at all times. We praise God when we win. We praise God when we lose. Then, Nehemiah confessed sins. This reminds me that it is so important that we bow our hearts in humility towards God and talk to Him about our sin struggles. He loves us and wants to hear from us. Then, after Nehemiah has praised and confessed, he asks for God to help the people. Does this give us a model for prayer? I think so. Even in the Lord’s prayer, forgiveness and for God’s will to be done is prayed BEFORE anything is asked for.

How many times to I worry about everything, and if I am worrying, do I really trust God with my entire heart? Nehemiah truly sought out God and reading about his struggles is teaching me that I need to be praying more and stop trying to rely on my own strength.

I will write more about what I am learning from Nehemiah in the weeks to come.

Love,
Amanda

Fireflies and Stars

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." -Matthew 5:14-16

When night comes, the stars shine. When the sky is the darkest, the stars shine the brightest. Even if there are only a few in the sky, I notice them more than I notice the darkness, and I never cease to be amazed by this part of God's creation.

I think that fireflies are very pretty. There are more than 2,000 species of them. They come out at night and glow. Even when they are caught and trapped in a jar, they do not stop shining.

In the same way, remember that you are a light for God in a very dark world. I am a light for Him in South Africa, just as you are light for Him wherever you are. You do not have to cross the seas to be a missionary, you just have to see the cross. Wherever you are, you are a missionary. You have a ministry, and that ministry is your new life in Christ. Never stop letting God use you to be a light to those who are hurting and also remember to let others be a light for you as well. Just as stars shine the brightest in the darkest night, when life seems to be the most troublesome, people will notice God's love the most. If you feel trapped like a firefly, remember that God uses people in their weakest moments to testify to how powerful, merciful, and loving HE is, so do not for a second believe the lie that you are not able to minister to others, because through God's strength you can. He doesn't call the eqipped, He eqips the called. Just as there are many different types of fireflies, we are all different but all Christians have the same light of Christ within us and we are to be unified under the same God with the same task: the task of testifying to the Gospel of God's grace.

Love,
Amanda

Mountains

I have been learning lately that God is fully capable of moving mountains in our lives, and at other times He leaves them there so that we can climb over them and realize how strong HE is. Sometimes He makes a path so that we can walk straight through them, while at other times He brings us around them. He makes the path, but we must take the path. How many times we are on the other side, yet still cling to it, when we should be living in the victory of Christ?
I just made it through a long night and day. The all night prayer service was interesting. It was definitely out of comfort zone, but Jesus crossed cultural, political, and gender boundaries to bring the Good News to a lost world. We had a blessed time baking cookies today for the Valentine’s Day outreach, and it really was a beautiful picture of the body of Christ working together as we decorated cookies, cut out Bible verses and put the bags together.

Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:8-10

Pressing On,
Amanda

Hello from South Africa!

I am currently homesick and not happy, but I am trying to remember that God calling me to South Africa is not about me, but about Him, doing work for His kingdom, and bringing Him glory. “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” -1 Corinthians 10:31 There are three stages of culture shock, the first one being the Honeymoon stage. The second one is called Loneliness in the Valley and I think immediately went to this one. Happiness is fleeting but there is an eternal joy that we have through Jesus Christ. Orientation was very challenging because we were not allowed to have contact with anyone in the States. I was very homesick, but God used that challenge to bring me closer to HIM! My entire life became a prayer walk and I spent time with Him several times a day, because I had to rely on Him. I am realizing how stubborn His children can be. Why does it take Him bringing us to our knees through trials for us to realize how much we need Him? I am now in Mafikeng and getting settled in with my missionaries. I am tired all of the time and EXTREMELY homesick, but God is blessing me with little moments of joy, such as feeding a Giraffe, watching FIVE people get saved at youth group, laughing about the strangest things with my partner, and hearing interesting stories from my supervisors. God uses these moments to remind me why I am here and to refresh my spirit. Trials are temporary, but God’s love is eternal, and God shows us His love through Jesus Christ, through drawing us near to Him when we are tempted, and in many other ways.
“Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough troubles of its own.” –Matthew 6:34
“Be wise in the way that you act towards outsiders. Make the most of every opportunity.” –Colossians 4:5
“Look at the nations and watch and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your day that you would not believe even if you were told.” –Habakkuk 1:5

Pressing On,
Amanda