Walking the walk, not just talking the talk!!

My quads are incredibly sore...my shoulders are bright red...the tops of 3 of my fingers have blisters...what has Michelle been up to lately???? :)

Well, my quads are sore because I decided to begin and end my running career in Uganda :) Between the elevation, the dust, the heat, and the huge hills (which feel like mountains to run up)...yeah, I think I'll stick to walking, if I'm going to exercise at all here! My shoulders are red because on my day off last week, I went to a local pool and laid out for about 2 hours and got pretty burned...oops! But how cool that I actually laid out in Africa! I'm really making this place my home :) Then, my 3 fingers on my left hand literally are forming blisters because I'm learning how to play the guitar :) I'm sooooo excited!! I've got 3 chords down already, and now just need to learn how to switch between them a little faster! One of the guys on the international team is teaching me...not only is he a gifted musician...he's very patient and an excellent teacher! Andrew doesn't know this yet, but when I get back, I'm going to ask him to hook me up with someone who can give me lessons on my keyboard...that's your forwarning, Andrew...hope you follow these blogs ;) I'm very excited about all this!! :)

Had a rough week with outreach ministry...my group was supposed to do prison ministry but had difficulty with paperwork and signatures, and we couldn't go. Also, our usual hospital ministry got canceled this week, as well. However, despite this, we still had an AMAZING week!! The international team is bonding closer and closer...we've had some VERY powerful talks and "God times" (not sure how else to word it). I've also personally been growing in the Lord...it feels like I'm taking one step forward and ten steps back at times...but I'm not functioning based on "feelings"...I'm listening to HIS voice and guidance!!

"I want to take Your Word and shine it all around...first help me just to live it, Lord...". This is the bridge to a wonderful song, and became my prayer for several days. Be careful what you pray! I so desperately want to love and serve Him and tell others about Him, but I'm not even living some of the scripture that I share and teach others about. Do I read the Bible? Yes. Do I believe what's written in the Bible? Yes. Was I truly living all the scripture that I was reading? No!! I wasn't purposefully being disobedient. It's like Paul talks about in Romans, I want to do what is right and good, but I don't. However, it was as if I wasn't comprehending and grasping the full meaning of what I was reading...wasn't truly absorbing it enough to be obedient to it!! I can't do this on my own, obviously, and this is why I warn...be careful what you pray for!! :) Now, unbelievably, the scripture that I memorize and meditate on, is coming alive and I'm constantly being shown and corrected when I'm not living it out in my daily life AND how I can live it out!! There are many times I actually stop singing a song in the middle of worship...either to really listen to the words I'm singing or because I'm left so breathless when I actually understand the meaning of what I'm singing! It's hard to express in words the awesomeness of this paradigm shift, if you will...but maybe some examples would help!! :)

"The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences". Proverbs 18:21 Have you ever really,truly understood the power of your own words? I mean truly had an understanding? Had a nice, long time of repentance when I realized the depth of this verse and how much I have brought death with my own words!! Then, the next day, He showed me firsthand the meaning of this scripture and the deep affect/effect it can have on His precious people (boy did I learn and get it and will not make that mistake again!!!!). Not only am I now aware (watching) my own tongue...I'm now aware of my thoughts AND of the conversations I'm involved with. I find myself not adding anything to certain conversations that I know would be displeasing to the Lord, potentially harm His People, and be unfruitful. This also coincides with another scripture I'm intimately being transformed on, Philippians 2:14-15, "Do everything without complaining and arguing so that no one can criticize you". (Coincidentally, I'm typing this blog on one of the hottest nights we've had...I literally have sweat dripping everywhere and it's 10pm!!) Well, after intimately learning and slowly being transformed and held accountable to live this verse out...the Lord stepped it up one more level and asked me to share my intimate experience with the international team and they were to be my accountability partners for me living out this verse! This was a stretch for me and very humbling!!

One other verse is 2 Cor 10:3-5, "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we take captive every though to make it obedient to Christ". Do we have any understanding the power of the weapons that Christians have access to? They have divine power to demolish strongholds!! Who ever said that a gun is powerful than forgiveness?? Who ever said that addictions are more powerful than prayer and functioning in the gifts of the Holy Spirit?? Who ever said that pride is more powerful than loving the unlovable and forgotten?? Our weapons may look and feel different, but they have divine power to demolish strongholds!! I also love the end of this scripture, that we are to take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ...not easy, but worth the tough process to live out this scripture in your life :)

Also, I played the song, "My Glorious" by Newsong the other day on my iPOD. I've listened to that song many times before. However, I had a divine moment of understanding this time! Did I really ever understand what I was singing before? "...all You ever do is change the old for new....God is bigger than the air I breathe...God will save the day...". Unbelievable lyrics and now I sing with a whole new attitude in my heart and proclamation from my lips! I don't just sing anymore, I testify and proclaim and believe!

Not sure our agenda this week, except that we are going back to the Remand Home (like a juvenile detention center) and the Wells of Hope Academy (where I'm teaching the lesson for our group). Next blog (for those who haven't been to Africa), I want to share the meaning of TIA and some fun examples we've had so far...you won't want to miss it :)

Thanks for reading!!

Living my life to know Him more and more,
Michelle