Loving in Deed and in Truth

I am always amazed at how much God can teach His children in such a short period of time. I have only been in CZ for a little over a month and it seems as if I have learned as much in that period of time as I learned all of last year. I think that comes from a lot of different reasons, but mostly the heightened awareness of God and His presence and especially of my need for Him. Satan attacks in so many ways and tries to take our focus off of Jesus. But, as always, I am realizing that in Christ I have every weapon I need to stand firm against the attacks of Satan. I remember an analogy one of my professors gave in class concerning spiritual warfare: we keep fighting with a water gun when we have an entire army behind us. I try fighting Satan on my own when in Christ I have DIVINE power to destroy strongholds.

One of the ways that Satan has been distracting me is through huge discouragement. There have been so many times where I have felt so discouraged and defeated at the end of the day and wonder if God even used me that day, wonder how I can be so sinful....I'm absolutely overwhelmed with how sinful and imperfect I am. Yet, God has been faithfully reminding me that He is God and the He is accomplishing His purposes in my life--and not only in my life but in all of creation. It gives me great hope to be reminded of the fact that I am so far from being perfect and that I am a sinner, but that Jesus is a great Savior and that He WILL complete the work He began in me.

With that being said, one of the ways that He is completing His work in me is through helping me to realize how quick I am to speak, how empty my phrases are, and how much more I need to stop thinking that loving people or walking in wisdom is found in what I say. The Czechs are some of the most sensitive people in what they say. They think long and deeply before they say anything and I know that when they say something, they truly mean it. The perfect example of that was my friend Viktor. I have been working with Viktor in the Cheb youth group for 3 years now and he has become one of my close friends. At the end of camp, he told me he loves me as his sister. Then, he showed me for 2 days straight.

I was supposed to be alone in Prague after the team left on Thursday and then find my way to the train on Friday. But, Viktor stayed in Prague on Wednesday night so that he could be there on Thursay so I wouldn't be alone. Then, he decided to stay until Friday so that he could take me to the train station. Not only that, but he carried my incredibly heavy backpack the entire time both days, and slept on our friend Marketa's floor on Thursday night so he could come with me on Friday. Viktor didn't have to do anything...he didn't have to stay, carry my bag, sleep on the floor...but he showed me how powerfully Christ's love is at work in him. Viktor could have never said anything to me and I would have known that he loved me because of how much he actively loved me.

So, the conclusion I have come to is this: I need to stop talking and start loving. I am reminded of the verse in 1 John 3:18 "Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth." My words mean nothing if they are not followed by action. As I walk into a new camp, my prayer is that I will be able to love with my life and not with my mouth. At times I feel overwhelmed because I feel like it's humanly impossible to love in this way. And praise God that it is! But, I know that my Savior died and rose again so that I might know His love and then be able to love others with that same love which is now powerfully at work within me.