Hello everyone! Greetings from Kosovo!
I wanted to share an update with some thoughts and prayer requests. We arrived here to a town called Prizren in Kosovo towards the beginning of October. It’s been such a fruitful time full of hard realities that are much in need of reminding and full of important convictions
Here is an excerpt from a site call thegospelcoalition.org
I’d like to suggest that the Christian faith is inherently uncomfortable. To be a disciple of Jesus is to deny oneself (Matt. 16:24), to take up a cross (Luke 14:27), to be subject to persecution (John 15:20; 2 Tim. 3:12), to give up the creature comforts of home (Luke 9:58), to forsake the priority of family (Luke 9:59–62; 14:26), to be willing to give up all material possessions (Matt. 19:21; Luke 14:33), to be crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20). And this is just the beginning.
C. S. Lewis once said, “I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.”
But comfort-seeking is our default mode in a consumerist society, so we often find ourselves in “comfortable Christianity” without even knowing it. What are some indicators that our Christianity has become too cozy, more like a pleasant bottle of port than the uncomfortable, sharpening faith the New Testament envisions?
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The hard reality for me is that it’s so easy to notice how comfortable I was back home in the United States. I knew that I was, but it’s the extent you notice it the longer you’re away from it. It’s very mind-boggling. When I’m overseas it’s easy to feel the sense of uncomfortability. As crazy as it may sound to some, it’s a GOOD thing. I’d be lying if I said being uncomfortable is a blast! Being uncomfortable is not fun! However, there is so much fruit that comes from it! When I go through hard things I am reminded of how much I can not go through them under my own strength. My God is my strength. I get to see time and time again how God uses hard things for my good. It’s in the midst of those hard times it can be hard to see. I know that I can look back on hard things in my life and see his faithfulness. To see the good that comes from it. I get more and more of this profound sense of awe and wonder of who He is. God is worth giving everything to follow. The life he calls us to is not easy. Jesus never promised a life that was easy. He never promised we wouldn’t be persecuted. He never promised we wouldn’t be looked at differently.
“”If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’ “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.”
??John? ?15:18-27,? ?ESV??
Then one chapter later Jesus says:
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.””
??John? ?16:33? ?ESV??
HOWEVER, He did promise He would ALWAYS be with us. He would never leave us. There is nothing we go through that He is unable to sympathize with. When Jesus walked through this earth he wept with those who wept. He was moved by compassion for his children. Even through these hard truths there is an important truth to remember that I love to cling to through all the ups and downs (“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Hebrews 13:8, ESV)
I want to share a bit of a godly man named Nabeel Qureshi. He is no longer on this earth, but in the presence of the glory of God for all eternity. I heard some of his testimony on a podcast. He was a Muslim before he gave his life to follow Christ. Muslims often in eastern culture have to give literally everything to follow Jesus. Following Jesus as God, not a prophet, is an unforgivable sin. They see Jesus as a prophet and not God. They are disowned and sometimes even killed for giving their life to Jesus. That’s a reality people in America don’t really have to face. There is no going back afterwards. Nabeel spent several years looking into the God of the Bible. Nabeel mentioned that he was at the point where he gave his life to Jesus and he had to tell his family. He said it was so hard. He said he looked to the Quran (Islam’s holy book). He said he could not find comfort anywhere in it. His friend David had given him a bible. He said he flipped to the Gospel of Matthew. He goes to Chapter 5.
“”Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
??Matthew? ?5:4? ?ESV??
Nabeel says it was like the words jumped right out of the page for the first time. He asked: Why is this happening God? Why am I going through this? Nabeel mentioned he heard a voice he could not explain but it was in that moment that he knew came from God. “Because it’s not about you.” He said he went outside and he saw this person walking down the street. He said it wasn’t just a person walking down the street. For the first time he saw her as a person Jesus died for. Every single person on the face of the planet is not just a person. They are a person that Jesus died for. Wow? I heard that. It was like at that moment my heart broke. “It’s not about me!” The reality is people die all the time. The thought of eternal separation from my loving God breaks me. I want to see people the world hates in heaven. The people I could say even I have looked at “less than” in my life. I desire to see them in eternity with my heavenly father. Jesus calls us to love our enemies. I am not perfect at loving others, I fall short a lot. I desire to have more and more of a heart for people. A heart for God’s children. That they would know the love of God through my life. That others would know how broken and imperfect I am and how much I NEED Jesus. I hear and know those things but it’s Nabeel’s testimony that God used to take these blinders, these scales from my eyes. But that’s the reality. I have this free gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ. I have God, the Holy Spirit that lives within me. Why would I want to keep it to myself? I look back on my life and can see his faithfulness. He’s always been faithful. Through my stubbornness, my pride, my former bondage to addiction. I can never begin to describe in words how thankful I am of God’s deliverance and continual supernatural strength He gives me each day from the awful addiction that is pornography addiction. It is a topic of vulnerability. SO many people in this world struggle with it. I could NEVER do it under my strength. It’s viewed as this subject that isn’t talked about enough! It shouldn’t be this way. There is NOTHING the Lord can not do. NOTHING is impossible for him. The lens I see my life through today freed from it for so long is beautiful! I want God to be glorified throughout my life! I want people to know the unfathomable love He has for his children. He is worth giving everything to follow! I have had so many people mention that they see something different in me. Thank God! Praise Him! They get to see Jesus in me! They get to see the joy that comes in knowing Him each and every day!
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says…
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
??1 Thessalonians? ?5:16-18? ?ESV??
“REJOICE”
What it doesn’t say is ‘always be happy.’ In a video made by Rend Collective, they say ‘Happiness is not joy! Happiness is an emotion, a superficial response to pleasant circumstances. Joy is deeper, it’s a spiritual discipline’.
The truth is happiness is an emotional response, joy is a choice.
People get to see the joy that comes with knowing the One who gave everything to save my life. Through every mountain top and every low valley in my life, there is joy in knowing Him. I want God to have ALL the praise and glory. NEVER me.
We have gotten to meet so many people here. We even met some missionaries from back in the states. They got married in Greenville, SC which is where I live! One of the missionaries used to go to the same church my friend John goes to in Tennessee. One is from Australia. Wow! We’ve gotten to know them more! So amazing! Crazy story of how we met them to end this blog. Crazy how God works! Haha.
My friend Bailee and I went to KFC here (Yes, there is a Kentucky Fried Chicken in KOSOVO! Haha). It’s WAY better than back home. That’s a story for another time. There is a guy named Chris that works there. That’s his American name. I talked to him a couple times before. He speaks AMAZING English. He asked me: “Do you like NFL football?” I said: “Absolutely! Wait! American Football? You know a lot about the NFL!” He said he loves the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I was amazed. Although, I am an Atlanta Falcons fan from growing up in Georgia most of my life. I let it slide… I got his number and we planned to hang out. It turns out he knows the missionaries that we met here. He invited us to meet them! We watch the Chosen together on Tuesday evenings at their little church office/place of worship. It’s so amazing seeing how God puts people in front of us to have these mouth dropping small world moments and gives us these newfound relationships.
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“To you, O Lord, I call; my rock, be not deaf to me, lest, if you be silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit. Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy, when I cry to you for help, when I lift up my hands toward your most holy sanctuary. Do not drag me off with the wicked, with the workers of evil, who speak peace with their neighbors while evil is in their hearts. Give to them according to their work and according to the evil of their deeds; give to them according to the work of their hands; render them their due reward. Because they do not regard the works of the Lord or the work of his hands, he will tear them down and build them up no more. Blessed be the Lord! For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy. The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him. The Lord is the strength of his people; he is the saving refuge of his anointed. Oh, save your people and bless your heritage! Be their shepherd and carry them forever.”
??Psalm? ?28:1-9? ?ESV?
Prayer Requests:
1.) Prayers for the missionaries here in Prizren, Kosovo. Prayers for strength and energy to be able to pour into the people here.
2.) Pray for the continued softening of people’s hearts here. My hope and prayer is that others would see Jesus in us. That others would continue to see something different in us. That God would be glorified.
3.) Pray for my missions team/family. For peace, strength, energy. I desire to be a light to them as well. So godly wisdom to be able to share with them to point them closer to Jesus. And that they would not only see that I love them by what I say but by how I show it. (“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” 1 John 3:18, NIV)
