I hope this post finds you all well! :) The theme of my post for this week is God's love. 1 John 4:7-21 has really been on my heart because it talks about God's love for us and how we should love others.
God showed His love for us by sending His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him! He sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. These verses really stand out to me because it is how God showed and proved His love for us!
Today we visited Straightway Vineyard. To my surprise, the topic we discussed was God's Love.
John 13:34-35 says,
Personally, I cannot say that I fully understand what the phrase"God is love" means. In all honesty, I don't think I've ever truly experienced God's love. I have experienced bits and pieces of it. The reality is that God's love is more deeper than our understanding. In order to experience His love, we have to go to places that we have never gone. We have to be willing to take risks to try to be like Him. Coming on Milwaukee Summer Project for me was a bold step in faith and obedience of what I felt God was calling me to do. We have to be open and willing to do what God has called us to do.
We need to be a particular person. We need to be like Christ. We need to be imitators of Him.
We need to love others! The Greek word agape comes to mind. It is a complete, unconditional, pure, sacrificial love. As Christians, we need to commit ourselves to God and loving other people. This should be our priority and everything else should come second.
Pastor George said, "We need to fix our eyes on sacrificially loving others." This means doing things that make us uncomfortable. It reminds me of the 3rd of July. As a Project social, we went to Bradford Beach to have a cookout and watch the fireworks to celebrate the 4th of July. We had decided that we would be handing out free water bottles and Bibles as an Outreach. When the moment came to go for the Outreach, I didn't want go. I was tired and just wanted to rest. My peers encouraged me to go sharing and so I did. I was so discouraged the whole entire time. At the end, one of my peers and I encountered a young Hispanic woman. She was a young believer and just really needed encouragement in her walk with the Lord. She felt alone in her walk with the Lord because her family was constantly criticizing her. She was the only one in her family to be a Christian. I was able to share my story with her and encourage her. We ended up praying for her and I hugged her at the end. She was definetely a divine appointment.
Pastor George posed a question towards the end of the sermon:
Are you willing to love people despite what it feels like or what is costs you?
At this point, I brokedown in my seat. I will admit that I struggle loving my parents because of everything that has happened. I continually have to forgive them for what they've done. I am only able to forgive them and love them because of what God is doing in my life. He continues to heal my heart as I allow Him to go into unknown places. The pastor at the end asked for those who were in need of prayer to go up. He prayed for us to be able to love others sacrificially and to be able to continue to serve the Lord out a heart of love for others.
I ended up talking to him after the service was over. I shared with him my story and he prayed over me. I am learning to be more vulnerable with people. I am planning on returning to Straightway Vineyard once Project is over as he is covering a series of God's love and continues to challenge his congregation. He told me his wife is leading a Women's Group and they are talking about God's love as well. I hope to attend the small group called "Crazy in Love" after Project is over. The church seems to be a good fit for where I am at now spiritually and plan to continuing praying about whether I should make it my home church. I definetely felt welcomed and loved today.
I am on a quest as I made a commitment to the Lord to be single for an extended period of time so that I can experience His AMAZING and ABSOLUTE PURE LOVE on a deeper level!
I LOVE THIS SONG! :D ENJOY!
Remember, God loves you! :)
As always, a few prayer requests:
1. That I would find JOY in serving the Lord! I feel like I'm running on empty now and need to continue serving the Lord well. This coming week is our last full week of Project.
2. For my quest with the Lord in being single for an extended period of time. That I would be able to draw closer to Him and experience His ABSOLUTE PURE LOVE on a deeper level.
3. That I would be able to love others SACRIFICIALLY and that I would put everything else second including my feelings and emotions.
4. For God to continue healing my heart and that I would allow Him to go continue to go into the unknown places and areas of most pain.
Thank you everyone for your continued support and prayers! It means a lot to me! You are all such an encouragement and blessing to me! :)
With joy,
Rosa Castillo
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