Alice in Colombia

For those of you who don't know, I just got back from a week in Colombia. 

Why did I go to Colombia? 

I have no idea. 

God told me to go, so I went. With just a simple promise that "I have something to show you." 

And show me he did. 

Hiking in Guatapé, Colombia. Incredibly beautiful.

It's really amazing the way God shows up when you let him. 

While I was in Spain, God started teaching me a lot about dropping everything and just going, whenever and wherever he called me to go. So, Colombia only took me a few days to determine that it really was his voice I was hearing. And only a few hours after that certainty hit me, I had a plane ticket purchased.

The "pre-photo" before we took the real photo we were trying for: a picture of Love Does in Colombia!

God did something big. I'm still not even sure what it is that he is teaching me, but it is big. And awesome. I can feel it. Because he called me to Colombia, with no agenda, no plans, no expectations. Cy asked me a few times what my plan was, what I wanted to do. And my answer was always the same, "I have no idea." 

I didn't care. I wasn't there to see anything, I had nothing I wanted to check off my list. I didn't even know anything about Colombia other than that they use pesos. We could have sat in the apartment all day, and I would have been totally content. (Though I'm glad we didn't, because I met so many wonderful people and saw some really incredible places.) Because my purpose was not to see a place, to have an experience, or to do anything. My purpose was simply Jesus, and Jesus showed up in spades.

Chacos in a beautiful place. Always. 

That's the thing. I didn't realize God had been teaching me this, but for the last year or so he has been teaching me to quit having an agenda. Quit having a plan. And now not only am I not trying to have one, I just don't. It's not in my mindset to have one. It's quit being a habit, quit being a way of life. Because I have seen God come through in some incredible ways, and I have seen what happens when you pick up and go when he says, "Follow me."

Who wouldn't want to go to Colombia?

True faith changes everything about you. God is bigger and better than we realize. And he wants to use us in incredible ways. We just have to be willing to say "yes." I am only truly beginning to understand what God taught me this week, but I can tell that it was something truly amazing. A subtle shift that has moved the whole mountain. All because God has mercifully taught me over the last year (and all over the world) that faith doesn't bind you, it sets you free. 

Free to drop everything and leave the country for a week. To have no agenda, no plan, no expectations, and end up seeing more God than my agenda ever showed me before. Free to spend a week being more encouraged by a dear friend than I had any right to be, and to be blessed by complete strangers that I am now so proud to call friends. 

God is constantly speaking. What would it do to your life if you stopped looking for reasons to say, "no," and instead looked for reasons to say, "yes?"

If you're like me, you'll find yourself in Colombia. But whatever it looks like, it'll be amazing. And you'll encounter a bigger God than you've ever known. 

The question is, will you say yes?

Don't Read the Bible

Live the Bible.

I love my church. So much. I have been church shopping since I moved to Nashville almost 3 years ago. Every Sunday was a different church, different group of people. And every Sunday, God said, "Not here."   And then I came back from Spain, and the first Sunday I was in Nashville, I found it. Or rather, it found me. It felt like home, and finally, finally, finally, God uttered the words I had been desperate to hear for two and a half years.

"This is where I want you, Beloved."

For so many reasons. One being, the sermon today was on James chapter 1. About not being people who read the bible, but people who live the bible. Someone who steps through the words on the page and into the heart of the God who loves them.

This spoke so dearly to my heart, because it is something God has been teaching me for a while now. About how to heed the sound of his voice, how to throw up my hands and say "I believe this is what you're asking of me, so I'm going to go with it. And if it's not and I'm wrong, then I need you to come get me." Because I know the sound of my God's voice. But I get caught up in asking questions. I am guilty of doubt, fear, and timidity. I often look for reasons to say "No."

God is breaking this in me. He is teaching me to look for reasons to say "Yes." To heed the sound of his voice, to follow him where he leads me, and trust that when I do get it wrong and I mess it up (because I will, and I do,) he is still big and sovereign and he will come and rescue me. He will not let me wander off too far.

I love this. And it so wonderfully terrifies me.

There has been a deep ache in my heart for a while now. God deepened that ache today.

There has been a deep feeling of purpose. That I am being prepared for something. God deepened that feeling today.

There has been a constant calling in me, to be willing to drop everything and go. "But not yet," God always said.

There have been a handful of verses laid on my heart lately.

"Let us love not in words, but in action and in truth." 1 John 3:18

"Don't just listen to God's word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don't obey it, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don't forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it." James 1:22-25

"He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed. He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the Lord's favor has come, and with it, the day of God's anger against their enemies. To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair." Isaiah 61:1-3

"For I have come to set the world on fire." Luke 12:49

"Then I heard the Lord asking, 'Whom should I send as a messenger to these people? Who will go for us?' and I said, 'Here I am. Send me.'" Isaiah 6:8

What happens when we stop reading the bible, and we start living it? When they stop being words on a page, and you see beyond just ink on paper? When you see instead the wise, loving face of the God who has set you free?

I've no idea what God is doing in my life. And I love it. I have the vague sense that I will be called to drop everything and go to the far reaches of the world, at some point. I don't know when that will be, or what that even really means. What I do know is that he is very much teaching me to go when he says,"Go," and trust him to provide for me. All I know is that he has laid these verses heavily on my heart, and there is a deep stirring in my soul.

He is so unbelievably good. 

Beloved

Beloved

God calls you "Beloved."

You are loved. 

Remember to let yourself be loved. 

Be love to those around you. 

And never forget the love that gave you life. 

For the last few days, I haven't been able to put into words what is going on in my heart. Why? Because I am simply in awe. In awe of my God and his goodness and grace and faithfulness. He amazes me, and I have no words for it. 

He is just so, so, so good.