Surrender

where to even begin?  it's pretty much impossible to wrap up in just a couple of words the awesome things God has done in the past two weeks.  ridiculous.

in the past few months God has been teaching me alot about the word surrender.

surrender your needs.  surrender your comforts.  surrender your will.  

surrender your flesh.

long story short, God has given me PLENTY of opportunities to practice this idea in the past two weeks.

our journey to africa was not an easy one.  after a full 170 hours of travel of which included 60 hours on a bus, spending two nights in an unairconditioned bus, and spending several hours each day praying for mercy at the border crossings... we finally made it to malawi. 

surrender your needs.

our ministry this month is village evagelism.  our living conditions are primative.  many times I tend to forget that I am acutally living in the year 2010.  there is no air conditioning.  there is no electricity.  there is no kitchen.  there are no beds.  we are living the african life; outhouse, bucket showers, and even dirt floors.

surrender your comforts.

day to day we walk all throughout the african country side, sitting down with small villages at a time and sharing the gospel of christ.  it's not always easy, it's not always comfortable, and for a person who is big on relational ministry, door to door evangelism is sometimes a struggle.

surrender your will.

this month has been a constant struggle between the spirit and the flesh.  there are days when I my own selfish desires start to surface again.  days I don't desire to sit in a 4 hour church service, days when I don't desire to walk hours in the blazing sun, days when I don't want to eat the same meal over and over again.

surrender your flesh.

what's amazing about the idea of surrender is that I have the opportunity to surrender to a power that is not only greater, but that desires surrender because He loves me so greatly.  and in that surrender, I have experienced God in a way I never imagined.

in this surrender, I have seen lives changed.  in this surrender, I have seen bodies healed.  in this surrender, I have seen demons cast out.  in this surrender, I have learned more about my heavenly Papa than I ever dreamed.  is it easy?  absolutely not.  is it worth it?  every second.