Missionary in your own town

As I wrote in my last blog, I've really been struggling with our future ministry plans. Scripture says "Go unto the world and make disciples of all the nations." Growing up in the church, you were made to believe the elitest Christians went overseas to be missionaries and still to this day in the back of mine I still feel this way. As our friends are talking about going overseas I feel like were not as "spiritual" as them because we haven't been called overseas.

But today JD helped to remind me that we are all uniquely made and as well we all have unique calls. The Lord has called each of us to have a mission focus and to use our God-given talents and skills to further His kingdom. Did you know that 80% of the the countries in the world are closed to missionaries but are open to businessman, educators, artists, etc? We are to use our talents to spread the Gospel where we are. God uses us as His tools to spread the Gospel within our vocations. We don't have to be working in a church or overseas to be doing the Lord's work. We are to be a demonstration of how the world should be and what the kingdom of God looks like.

As I think about his sermon today, I also think about what am I doing to further the kingdom here in US? Why do I think it's so much easier to cross the ocean and tell other countries of Christ's love but I can't tell those that I work with what He has done in my life and how He has changed me. I think I need to change my focus now; I need to realize that I have a mission field right here and the Lord has called me to be a teacher and He is using me to further His kingdom.

I praise the Lord for His patience with me. I realize that like a child, it takes many repetitions for me to finally learn it. He never gives up and He pursues me even when I put up a barrier between us. Friends who read this, I pray that you know the Lord. I pray that you know that He loves you and desires to know you and to be known by you. He sent His only son to die for you and your sin. We are all sinners and are all in need of a Savior. I pray that you have found him. If you haven't, let's talk please.

Have a great night friends!

Everybody has a plan..

but us I feel like. As our time here in seminary continue to dwindle now, people are looking towards the next step. Many are being lead to the mission field or towards a certain region of the US. So you may be asking, "So Shannon, what are you guys planning on doing?" and I would say, "Great question, got any ideas?"

I, being a planner, want to know and have it all planned out, but the Lord doesn't want me to have it all planned out. He is teaching me to be patient and realize that His plan for us is great and He is going to use us in a mighty way.

Still it's hard for me to see friends (especially one I have gotten really close to) planning to leave the country. JD has been preaching these last few weeks on our global vision and reaching the ends of the earth with the gospel. He really challenged us to say, "Lord, I'm going to go unless you stop me" instead of "Lord, I'll go if you call me." I been thinking if I can really say that. I know also that I am part of team and that I don't make decisions just for myself. Jeremy and I have been praying about where the Lord is leading us and he doesn't feel like we are called to go overseas but sometimes I do. I would love for the Lord to give us a giant neon sign. I have to learn to be patient!

Not again!!

There is an epidemic going around.....yet another friend is pregnant. I know that it's the stage of life we are in but seriously how many more people can have a baby? :)

Congrats to Lauren and Jeff! We are really excited for you!

Sorry that I haven't updated on here recently. Life is crazy right now with the first quarter coming to the end. Assessments and plannign have consumed my life so much that haven't done anything but do that!

Fun news though...our church may have finally found land to build our new church on. We vote as a congregation on Sunday and hopefully if the vote passes we will have a new church home. Sadly it will take years to build the sanctuary and therefore we may never see it. We've been thinking a lot about what lays ahead of us after seminary. I'm so very impatient and would like to know now but it is not the time to know. It's all in the Lord's timing and we are willing to follow the Lord where ever He take us.

I'll try and update later after all the papers are graded and the report cards are written. Until then...

Evidence of the Lord's hand

God is GOOD! Over the last week, I had the privilege to hang out with some of my oldest and dearest friends. Each of them is dealing with different issues but with all of them I could see evidence of how the Lord is using them and stretching them. Right now when my life feels sort mediocre, its awesome to see big ways that the Lord is working. Two of my friends are pregnant and it was really cool to see how the Lord is using their experience to bring them to a greater knowledge of His love, grace, and mercy. I was so encouraged by them and I hope if they are reading this that they know how much they have blessed my life with their stories. I'm praying for both of you.

Their visits have also helped me to examine what the Lord has done in my life. One of my dates was with a friend that I've had since middle school. Our time together showed me how much I have changed and how much my knowledge and love of the Lord as increased in the last 10 years. I am amazed by how much the two of us have grown and how we continue to be friends after all this time. I praise the Lord for lasting friendships built on Him!

Col. 2:2, "that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ"

Totally surprised

Ok so I love surprises but usually I am good at figuring them out before they happen but this time Jeremy pulled one over on me. For weeks I have been wanting to go see the play the Lion King while it was playing here in Raleigh. I thought I was going with my mom but then my dad rearranged his business trip so he could go. It seemed like everyone I talked to was going and the whole time Jeremy kept saying how expensive it was. Little did I know...

Last night I came home from work starting to work on dinner, thinking I had to lead my girls' Bible study in about an hour. As we sat down to dinner and were discussing the evening, one conversation lead to another and Jeremy told me my plans were different than anticipated and we were going downtown to the see the play. I was absolutely shocked and so excited!! So excited in fact that I couldn't finish my dinner.

The play was everything I anticipated and so much more! It brought me back to my childhood as I sang along with the songs and it rekindled my love for Africa. The costumes and setting were amazing! It by far was the best play I've ever seen and definitely worth the late arrival home on a school night.

Jeremy definitely racked up some brownie points on that one! :)

Isaiah 55:6

"Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near;"

I read this verse during my quiet time today and it just really struck me. What am I doing on a daily basis to seek the Lord? I feel like sometimes I get so stuck on my head knowledge of who God is that I forget that I still need that personal heart knowledge of Him. Do I seek Him on a daily basis? Do I look to know His character like I look to know others personally? The Lord has really convicted me lately that I seek joy and satisfaction in the things of this world rather than in Him... only later to find out that none of those can bring me true satisfaction (which I knew to begin with but still tried). That brings me to my other train of thought...

Does my life radiate the love the Lord? Do I radiate the joy He brings in my life? Am I experiencing the full joy that He brings for that matter? Sadly, I do not feel like. Joy is not based on circumstantial things and I know that I have an everlasting joy from the Lord that is not based on emotions. So many times I rely on my emotions to determine how much joy I have. Philippians 4:4 says to rejoice in the Lord always and that is something that I really need to work on. One thing that I desire most is that my life would lead others to Christ no matter the circumstance.

The best of intentions...

It seems like lately I have the best of intentions to do a lot of things and yet I always fall short. For the last two weeks, I have intended to spend more time in the Word and in prayer and then (like always) I find many other things to occupy my time. I also had all intentions to call some old friends, keep the house clean, stay on top of paper work, prepare for Bible study...the list really just goes on.

Where does my time go? Where are my priorities? Why is it that I can see what I need to do but yet choose to different? Always the best of intentions....