"And like our Savior, who poured out His life and blood so we have reason to rejoice, we were made to lay down our lives until it hurts. We are most alive when we are loving and actively giving of ourselves because we are made to do these things. It is when we live like this that the Spirit of God moves and acts in and through us in ways that on our own we are not capable of. This is our purpose for living. This is our hope. 'And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.' (Romans 5:5)"
~Francis Chan, Forgotten God

stuff i learned =)

So in trying to gather my thoughts about what in the world just happened the last 2 months, I made a brief list of things I learned and God taught me. So here they are...

• When we share the gospel, it gives us excitement to spur us on to share more...We may not feel capable of sharing or know what to say, but God has given us the Spirit to give us wisdom in sharing the truth.
• In order to maintain joy, it's pertinent to go to God in prayer and realize He's the source of our life and salvation...Praise Him!
• God is sovereign! Even at the times when it seems there's no fruit or He's not doing anything, He is...God is faithful to bring glory to Himself--it may just be different timing than we expect.
• Sometimes it can be easy to grow complacent no matter where you are. Even though one may think a life of missions overseas would be constantly exciting or even easy, it's still just as easy to fall into a routine as it is at home and forget your purpose in life. I found myself easily falling into doing the ministry in Thailand with a sense of obligation or routine--especially once I felt I could do it on my own. It's important to constantly be reminded of our need to depend on the Lord and for Him to give us passion in doing His work as we read His Word and grow closer to Him.
• We are to praise God...because He is God. It doesn't matter the circumstances, how we feel, what it looks like He's doing/not doing, etc. We can rejoice because He is Lord over all and the God of salvation.
• God is still at work in Thailand...Continue to pray for the people there!

America here I come!

Well, today is my last day in Mahasarakham...tomorrow morning we head to Bangkok, then early Thursday morning we leave the country. It's so crazy 2 months have already gone by! English camp was awesome this past weekend...God is so good to have given us the energy to finish off this summer well.

I just wanted to post really quick letting you all know I'm coming back soon, and I'll write more when I get back about what I've learned through this whole experience :)

Sawadee Ka!