It has been some time since my last post - not because I have nothing to share or because God hasn't been at work, but rather because I have too much to share! These last few weeks have been very busy (in a good way!) and God has continued to provide the energy and motivation to persevere in loving and serving. Rather than give another ministry update, I would love to share some of the things the Lord has been teaching me recently.
I often find in my own life that God teaches me in themes. What I mean by this is that I will often have the same or similar messages coming at me from multiple sources - in sermons, in my time in the Word, through conversations with friends, in other books I'm reading, etc. In recent days, the Lord has been teaching me about faith - what it means to really have faith and to trust Him. This message, this theme, has been coming to me in a variety of ways.
One example comes from our recent weekend trip to Lyon (myself, some of my teammates, and our dear non-Christian friend Adam went to Lyon to visit the childhood home of my teammate and dear friend Joëlle). Friday we hung out with her twin brother Ben and visited the beautiful city of Lyon.
On Saturday we visited the town where Joëlle grew up, Brignais, and got to have lunch with her dad, Marc. We were also able to check out a visiting exposition at her church that shared the story of the Bible through a series of paintings by different artists. We even had audioguides to go with the paintings! It was a very beautiful expo, and just one of the many times over this weekend that Adam got a chance to hear the message of the Gospel!
On Sunday, we attended church with Joëlle, and got to hear her share an update of the ministry with her church family there that helps to support her financially. Her dad, one of the elders at the church, shared a message with us about faith. He preached on John 3:36 - "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him." In light of this verse, he asked us what it means to have faith, to believe in Jesus. He challenged us to think about the difference between someone who believes - someone who believes God exists, that Jesus is real, and that He died for them, and someone who has faith and trust. You can believe in God without entrusting Him with yourself and your life - it's the difference between an intellectual agreement of belief and a life-changing faith of surrender. As he said, and it's clear in John 3:36 as well, an intellectual agreement kind of belief will not save you - only entrusting all of yourself to Jesus through faith brings life everlasting.
Another way God reminded me of this message and caused me to reflect more deeply was through our Parcours Alpha (the Alpha Course) that we have each Tuesday. For anyone who doesn't know, the Alpha Course is a type of seeker Bible Study pioneered in the U.K. that's designed to help educate people about the basics of Christian faith and to draw them into dialogue about spiritual topics. The topic this past Tuesday was Assurance of Salvation - How do I know that I have faith? Once again, we were talking about the difference between an intellectual agreement and a faith that bears fruit in our lives. During the presentation part, we watched a short animated film that really challenged me to think about the nature of faith and trust. The cartoon introduced us to "The Great Blondin" - fearless daredevil and tightrope walker who traversed the Niagara Falls each day in front of an awestruck crowd. Each day he added a new challenge, a new dimension to his show. One day, he crossed the falls on his tightrope while pushing a wheelbarrow with a sack of potatoes in it. When he got back to shore, he asked a man in the crowd, "Excuse me sir? Do you believe that I can walk back and forth across the falls pushing this wheelbarrow?" The man replied, "Of course I believe you can do it - I've seen you do it!" Blondin then asked him, "Are you willing to climb into my wheelbarrow and cross the falls with me?" The man was shocked and too afraid to accept his invitation. What a concrete example of the difference between believing that God is real, and trusting Him enough to entrust yourself to Him!
A third example of how God has been bringing this theme of true faith and trusting Him to the forefront of my mind is through the book I'm currently reading with my spiritual coach Lindsey. The book is called "Ruthless Trust: The Ragamuffin's Path to God" and is written by Brennan Manning. In addition to being beautifully written, this book is wonderfully challenging, thoroughly convicting, and extremely encouraging. I would highly recommend it to anyone who, like myself, too often finds themselves working for God instead of being with Him, trying to control and micro-manage areas of life that God wants to take care of, and doubting or not living in light of our identity in Christ. I wish I could share the entire first chapter with you here, but instead I will limit myself to two key passages that really touched me. Firstly, one that perfectly exemplified the distinction between intellectual belief and trusting faith that God has been teaching me about. Manning writes, "The faith that animates the Christian community is less a matter of believing in the existence of God than a practical trust in His loving care under whatever pressure. The stakes here are enormous, for I have not said in my heart, 'God exists,' until I have said, 'I trust you.'" If I want a faith that animates me - that gives me life and pushes me to action - I need to practice trust in God's love for me in concrete, daily ways.
The second passage I'd like to share comes from midway through his first chapter. He writes, "The way of trust is a movement into obscurity, into the undefined, into ambiguity, not into some predetermined, clearly delineated plan for the future. The next step discloses itself only out of a discernment of God acting in the desert of the present moment. The reality of naked trust is the life of a pilgrim who leaves what is nailed down, obvious, and secure, and walks into the unknown without any rational explanation to justify the decision or guarantee the future. Why? Because God has signaled the movement and offered it His presence and His promise." Through reading and reflecting on this passage, I clearly heard the Lord softly whispering to my heart and extending me His hand saying, "Kristin, do you trust me? Are you willing to leave what is comfortable, logical, and expected to follow me into the unknown? Will you trust My love even when times are difficult? Are you willing to die to your reputation, expectations, and need to control in order to follow where I'm leading you? Are you willing to do all of this without any promise of clarity, understanding, guarantees, or rational explanations simply because I have assured you of My presence with you?" More often than I care to admit, I am not ready to say yes to Him in all of these areas. I would rather stand on the bank of the Falls and pay Him lip-service than commit myself to His will and hop into His wheelbarrow.
I am so thankful for the ways that God has been teaching me and helping me to grow in relation to my trust in Him and my entrusting all of myself to Him. I hope this longer-than-intended sharing of my thoughts and reflections has been an encouragement to you! My prayer for myself, and for our movement here in Montpellier, is that we would trust God and follow where He leads, even and especially when it seems obscure, ambiguous, and undefined. That, like Moses, we would say, "If Your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here." (Exodus 33:15) I pray that we would seek God's will for each moment of our days and earnestly strive to follow where He is leading for the simple joy of His presence and the assurance of His promises.
A third example of how God has been bringing this theme of true faith and trusting Him to the forefront of my mind is through the book I'm currently reading with my spiritual coach Lindsey. The book is called "Ruthless Trust: The Ragamuffin's Path to God" and is written by Brennan Manning. In addition to being beautifully written, this book is wonderfully challenging, thoroughly convicting, and extremely encouraging. I would highly recommend it to anyone who, like myself, too often finds themselves working for God instead of being with Him, trying to control and micro-manage areas of life that God wants to take care of, and doubting or not living in light of our identity in Christ. I wish I could share the entire first chapter with you here, but instead I will limit myself to two key passages that really touched me. Firstly, one that perfectly exemplified the distinction between intellectual belief and trusting faith that God has been teaching me about. Manning writes, "The faith that animates the Christian community is less a matter of believing in the existence of God than a practical trust in His loving care under whatever pressure. The stakes here are enormous, for I have not said in my heart, 'God exists,' until I have said, 'I trust you.'" If I want a faith that animates me - that gives me life and pushes me to action - I need to practice trust in God's love for me in concrete, daily ways.
The second passage I'd like to share comes from midway through his first chapter. He writes, "The way of trust is a movement into obscurity, into the undefined, into ambiguity, not into some predetermined, clearly delineated plan for the future. The next step discloses itself only out of a discernment of God acting in the desert of the present moment. The reality of naked trust is the life of a pilgrim who leaves what is nailed down, obvious, and secure, and walks into the unknown without any rational explanation to justify the decision or guarantee the future. Why? Because God has signaled the movement and offered it His presence and His promise." Through reading and reflecting on this passage, I clearly heard the Lord softly whispering to my heart and extending me His hand saying, "Kristin, do you trust me? Are you willing to leave what is comfortable, logical, and expected to follow me into the unknown? Will you trust My love even when times are difficult? Are you willing to die to your reputation, expectations, and need to control in order to follow where I'm leading you? Are you willing to do all of this without any promise of clarity, understanding, guarantees, or rational explanations simply because I have assured you of My presence with you?" More often than I care to admit, I am not ready to say yes to Him in all of these areas. I would rather stand on the bank of the Falls and pay Him lip-service than commit myself to His will and hop into His wheelbarrow.
I am so thankful for the ways that God has been teaching me and helping me to grow in relation to my trust in Him and my entrusting all of myself to Him. I hope this longer-than-intended sharing of my thoughts and reflections has been an encouragement to you! My prayer for myself, and for our movement here in Montpellier, is that we would trust God and follow where He leads, even and especially when it seems obscure, ambiguous, and undefined. That, like Moses, we would say, "If Your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here." (Exodus 33:15) I pray that we would seek God's will for each moment of our days and earnestly strive to follow where He is leading for the simple joy of His presence and the assurance of His promises.
