Been thinking about a lot of stuff lately. But one of the main things I've been captivated with is continually "coming" to the Father. I was inspired this week! Revelation 22 talks about how we call out to God to "come" to us and he calls to us to "come" to him. Isn't that beautiful? Think, the bride and the groom are both calling one another to themselves. It even says that the deep parts of us call out to God. "Come Lord Jesus Come" and he responds and says "I am coming!" Until that time we can still commune with Him. I've been reminded to realign myself with God. That means that I pause to be still and inquire of the Father's heart to see where he would prompt me. What do you want me to do? What would you have me say? God, what is your heart in this situation? I want to keep my eyes focused on Jesus so as to stay in his will. I want to keep checking in with my Father, but I've been reminded that you have to learn how to maintain eye contact with someone else. To be honest, sometimes it's doesn't come naturally. I hope he doesn't mind if I share this with "the world" here on my blog, but I wanted to share an example of simply walking with Christ and taking the posture of looking to him in all situations.
On Saturday I had my work Christmas party and J joined me for it and the thing from the evening that stuck out the most was that he suggested that we pray for the people before we go to the party. I thought, "wow, we need to keep that kind of eye-contact with the Father throughout the day to be able to listen to his promptings and to be in prayer for those around us." It was actually a great privilege to be able to pray for the poeple who were hosting us and I tell you all this because I want this to become more and more of my way of thinking. I remember when I was in Cambodia and my friend D said that we need to always be in communion with the Father, in every conversation and every situation so we can hear what we need to do at that moment. This was the case when the children were coming up to us and begging for money and trying to sell us things. It took a lot of asking the Father how he wanted us to respond in each situation. I pray that we would more and more become people who seek God's face throughout the day. I think both of us were pausing throughout the evening to inquire of the Father's heart and what he wanted us to do and then follow his Spirit's leading. Although we were there to be served, our prayer was that we would serve those around us. We were in a situation with people who are very educated but do not have a relationship with God. Our prayer is for them to encounter God's love. Praise God that he is a God who is relentlessly pursuing people.
J has reminded me that we have a high calling in this world as those who love Christ. Our calling is to intentionally keep eye-contact with the father and to be willing to listen to the Spirit's leading. We really want to bring Christ into all avenues we go; however, we realize that God is so concerned about each person's heart that there is not a one-size fits all type of thing we can do to show poeple who Christ is. That's why we desire to seek the Father in every situation, asking if/how he wants us to respond in a given situation. Does someone need a word of encouragement? Does someone have a physical need I can meet? Can I pray for someone? I believe that the Kingdom of God is at hand, it says this in God's word, and we have the Holy Spirit with us always. In the last week, J has been so intentional about looking to God and discerning what the Lord would have him do. It's been an amazing thing to hear him describe how the Lord has called him to be bold in sharing his faith with others and really giving God glory by telling the testimony of God at work in his life. Sometimes we are called to speak, and sometimes we aren't. However, since God is most concerned with the heart, he cares most deeply about our desire to maintain eye-contact with him. All of this stems out of us receiving Christ's love and allowing it to affect how we live our lives. Without Christ's love at work in our lives, we are nothing. Grace reminded me of this:
"We all cannot do great things, but we can do small things with great love." Mother Teresa
I think that the small things we do with great love are the things that count as great things. Without them... we may have missed the point.
Thanks for reminding me of my calling to love God and love others. You guys inspire me!
Happy [almost] New Year! 
