Growing in Greece

I have been in Greece for a few weeks now, and it has been such a good time of preparing for the next steps to come. I found community in a church here, and made some lovely friends, which have brought great encouragement.

As I have been moving forward in preparations, the enemy has not ceased to bring resistance. It seems each bit of forward progress brings another angle of attack. This could be tiring to get through, but I have come to see it is all an opportunity to learn how to fight better, which I appreciate before I come to more intense locations and workloads. I am so grateful for the Holy Spirit with me providing wisdom, strength, comfort, and more than I can articulate.

One thing that has been a recurring theme through these challenges is that I am human. I have tended to be overly critical of myself, giving ear to accusing and condemning thoughts any time I struggle. This has multiplied every challenge because not only do I face the challenge, but condemn myself if I don’t respond as well as I think I should.

Praise God I got clarity on this as I finished reading Acts this week. In Acts 28:3-5 Paul had been in a shipwreck and was stranded with passengers and crew on an island, soaking wet during the winter. The natives of the island helped them and started a fire for them, and Paul gathered firewood. As he added it to the fire, a venomous snake came out of the bundle and latched onto his hand. The natives saw it and said that Paul must have been a murderer who, even though he had survived the wreck, was receiving just punishment and would surely die quickly. Paul shook the snake of and kept going. His hand didn’t swell, and he did not die.

The natives weren’t really wrong in their statement. Paul had been a murderer, and in that context deserved to die. However, Paul knew the all-surpassing truth: that he was made new (2 Corinthians 5:17). He had faith in Jesus, in the work He did- dying for sin, and raising again for newness of life. He no longer knew himself as murderer, but as born again servant of God, minister of the Gospel. This is how he was able to shake off the accusation and judgment of the natives.

From this I can see that these accusing, condemning thoughts I have come from the accuser himself, the devil (Revelation 12:9-10), to convince me that the blood of Jesus is not enough. It is time for me to shake these off in faith, like Paul did the snake, whether or not they seem accurate or right.

I have a week to go till I move to my next location, the biggest step so far. I am unsure what I can and should put online about the location and what I will be doing, so please bear with me as I learn how to navigate that. What I will say is that I am so beyond excited for this season. It will be full of new things and even more challenges that will bring more growth.

My whole journey up to now has been so blessed by all the prayer that has been given for me, it has all been felt and has made an unspeakable difference. The next steps on forward will only increase the intensity I face, and with it the need for those prayers.

I am so grateful for all the people who have encouraged me along this path. From the beginning, even before I left, I have come to increasingly appreciate the Body of Christ, and how the Holy Spirit moves to bring us all together and accomplish the purposes of the Kingdom of God. It is precious to me that I have been privileged to participate in this thing that is being built, because it is not me doing the building. I am so joyed to see the faithfulness of the Father to create something so much bigger than me, so that I could never be the center nor the carrier of it, even if I wanted to be- Jesus must be glorified.