Hello All,
I have officially been here over a month but it feels as if I have been here much longer. This isn't because I am not enjoying my time and all of the potential but because so much has happened. My cohort touched down here in a split second and it seems like in another split second we have all been spread out and fully involved in living here. I finally had a moment the other day of "this is home". I was out on my own exploring the city and I finally felt the familiarity that you feel when you have been gone, return and start to see known places. It was cool! Now, it is still all very new and unfamiliar but it was very comforting.
When you think of comfort you don’t think of thorns. However, lately I feel as if God has been showing me how to be comfortable with thorns pressing into my side. In 2 Corinthians 12 Paul is seen pleading with God to remove the thorns in his side. There have been many things since my time here that could easily be painful like a thorn. My time has been nothing but enjoyable and exciting but there are always “thorns” that we tend to find. When I was growing up I would always find myself in thorn bushes. That was more in a literal sense but I find myself even to this day in figurative thorn bushes. Like Paul I always plead to get out of them but when I came across 2 Corinthians 12 I saw that Paul pleaded but God didn’t remove the thorns. Instead He allowed Paul to ask this question…” How could God use these thorns in your side to glorify Himself?” I had never looked at thorns as being a factor that can push towards growth and a way to honor the Lord. The thorns I find myself in, like when I was young, were because I tried many risky things. The thorns have never stopped me from risking anything but I have always hated the results. Now, I can honestly say I am thankful for these painful pressures in my side.
Like Paul, I see these as producing an upbeat spirit of delight and satisfaction. I love later in 2 Corinthians 12 how Paul says “for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses…for when I am weak then I am strong” I am very weak and I know that Berlin will bring out these weaknesses and I want delight in these. God’s grace is sufficient and His power is made clear in my weaknesses. What more could I ask for? I am here to connect with others in their weaknesses and to hopefully radiate the obvious strength of the Lord.
God has already been doing some great things that have tons of potential here. I am left saying don’t let the thorns determine your risk level. Risk leads to dependency and dependency leads to intimacy. Step out to risk and you will experience such intimacy with the Lord. God bless you and thank you for every bit of support!!!