Hello February!

Sorry it has been awhile since I have updated the blog. It's been a busy couple of weeks and at the end of the day, the last thing I really feel like doing is blogging. However, today is a day off and I am finding myself with some time to do an update.
We have now been in Portugal for 3 months. It's incredible how fast time has gone by and yet it feels like we have been here for a lot longer. After a few weeks of feeling tired and fatigued, I am happy to report that this past week I have felt more energized and excited for what God is doing here in our ministries and also what God has been doing in my heart.

Last week Monday, we had the opportunity to go to IBP (the bible college here in Portugal) for the afternoon to hear Tom Blackaby speak. I had no idea who this was, but apparently his father, Henry Blackaby is quite well known. Anyway, the workshop we attended was called Spiritual Leadership. I left the workshop excited, stretched and challenged in some of my thinking. Tom Blackaby posed the question, "when we pray, do we want God or do we want only what God can fix or do for us?"

Those words have been resonating in my heart over the past week. I want to enjoy God and know God with my whole heart rather than only going to him with my list of prayer requests. I want God, not just what he can do for me. So often I am guilty of going to God with my long lists of prayer requests rather than taking the time to spend it in the presence of my King - to truly bask in His presence and experience His glory. I am challenged to refocus my prayer life so that I am spending more time in awe and admiration. I want to echo the cry of Moses,
"Let me see your Glory"

I want to revere the Holy name of God and stand in awe in His presence. I want God to be in every step I take and along the ground I walk on.
This got me thinking back to Moses and his burning bush experience. When Moses encounters the presence of the living God, he is told to remove his shoes for he is standing on Holy Ground. I don't have many burning bush experiences in my life, but I want to be aware and have my eyes opened to moving of God in my life each and everyday. I want to stop often throughout my day to be conscious and to stand in Holy fear and wonder at the majesty and presence of God.

Blackaby continued on to talk about vision. Ours versus God's. Again, I tend to have an agenda and a plan for my life. I know where I want to go and what I want to accomplish (most of the time). Where is God in that though? Rather than asking God to join me in my plans, I instead need to submit myself to God's ways. This means waiting and allowing God to reveal the details and the overall vision to me.

"God doesn't need us to dream big for him, but rather we need God to reveal to us what God wants to accomplish." ~ Tom Blackaby

When we let God lead and he asks us to go, we need only to step out in faith and allow God to take care of the details. He only asks that we be obedient. When I choose to let God transform my life and take control; when I learn to submit my plans and dreams and trade them for His, the plans and dreams become God-sized.
Perhaps my future plans won't change or be too different from God's, but regardless, I am choosing to submit myself, to be quiet and still, so that He can reveal His plans and His dreams to me. My mind cannot fully comprehend how God will move and what He will choose to do in and through me. What I do know is that He will be able to infinately more than I could ever ask for or dream of. Talk about exciting!

I apologize for the large amount of writing. I'll end off by sharing a few pictures of life here in the churches.