I pray today that someone finds encouragement in what they read in this blog. Thank you for reading.
I can remember as young boy in church. We were told of Heaven and the streets of gold and how amazing it will be. We were also told of hell and being on fire all the time and feeling like there were worms crawling over you. I do not like worms so that was enough for me to go yes, I want to be saved, I do not want to go to that bad place. My early relationship with God was one based on fear. Step out of line and there would be a flood, or the earth will open up and eat you, or the best one, get struck by lightning. I can see any people with the thought of if you mess up and make God mad He will stick you with lightning. Well, I am still hear and God has not struck me with lightning so I guess that is wrong. When I reached my early twenties that is when my relationship with God changed to one out of love. Knowing that God loved me no matter what I did and when I mess up and make a mistake, God is right there to pick me up and dust me off and continue walking. This is the type of relationship God wants to have with each of us. When I joined the world race it was a crazy step of faith for me. An eleven month mission trip around the world with people I do not know. When I left in August 2011 with the 40 plus people that were on my squad it was an experience. We had people from all walks of life. There were those that you can tell they were walking with God daily, they had a deep relationship with God and had a understanding of who He is. I will admit I was jealous of there relationship, it was something I did not have and something that I wanted. I wanted a really deep relationship with God. I remember one day in Rwanda that, with permission, I went out on my own. I found this small trail that was hardly used and went down it. It was here that I took the time to pray and hand over the hurts of my life, from the people that I know, to God. I also prayed that day to have a deep relationship with God that was very strong. When I finished the walk I looked up to see down the entire valley and how beautiful it is. Now, my relationship with God has grown over the years but, is not where I want it to be, and thats a good thing. There is more that I want to learn about my God, there is more of His presence that I want to feel and be part of. After the race ended in June 2012, I was already neck deep into the plans of getting back to the Philippines. For over two years I have been praying now to get back to the country that I fell in love with. It has not been easy. It was hard to watch other missionaries that I know just pack a bag and go. I wondered when my breakthrough was going to happen. Then the end of August 2014 happened and it fell into place. I was apart of a missionary website and someone emailed me saying they wanted to make friends that love the Philippines. After talking to them a few times they invented me to come see the ministry they are apart of. It was like everything came together at once. My prayer team and I agreed it was like God opening up a door and not waiting for me to run through it, He threw me through it. The next thing I know I had purchased my plane ticket, had housing all set up, and was on my way to the Philippines. It was not that God forgot about me, I needed to wait to go to the Philippines until it was the right time. Things still needed to be set up. God needed to put other things into place before He could put me in it. For me it was a faith growing time. In the face of people telling me to give up, I pressed harder into God knowing that one day I would go to the Philippines. I want to end this post with this. God is a loving God, He is not waiting for us to mess up so He can strike us with lightning. He is a God that is there for you no matter what and will pick you up when you fall down, He will carry you through the hard times in life, and has promised to never let you go. When we pursue a deeper relationship with Him, He is smiling right back at us and ready for us to get to know Him more. He is not playing hide and seek, He is right there waiting for us to turn and say I want to know You more. Also, God does not forget about you. You maybe waiting for something in your life, it could be a new job, a spouse, or any other breakthrough. He has not forgotten. He is getting everything into place, every heart, every circumstance into place to put you into it at the right time. When that time comes it will be better than you have dreamt it to be. My encouragement to you is if your waiting for a breakthrough, even if it has been many years, to not give up, to keep praying for it. Many people stop praying for it when the breakthrough is just around the corner. Keep praying, keep pressing in. God loves you and He will take care of you.
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Joshua Robinson
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