Overwhelmed and Encouraged.

Since my last post, I have been overwhelmed with encouragement from friends, family, and people I have never met in my life. The feeling of support has swept over me like a mighty wind of grace that I can't help but fall on my knees and thank God for his perfect mercy in my life. 

Emails, calls, texts, and Facebook messages from believers have been reminding me that Christ is sufficient in my struggle, and he will prevail and have the victory over my unbelief. 

Today, my friend Caleb called me and encouraged me with Isaiah 61 which says, 

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,

because the Lord has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor;

he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives,

and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,

and the day of vengeance of our God;

to comfort all who mourn;

to grant to those who mourn in Zion—

to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,

the oil of gladness instead of mourning,

the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;

that they may be called oaks of righteousness,

the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

They shall build up the ancient ruins;

they shall raise up the former devastations;

they shall repair the ruined cities,

the devastations of many generations.

This passage gave me assurance in my call this morning. As I said in my previous post, God's working in my heart is evidence of big things to come in my life. If he wasn't planning something big, he would not be drawing on my heart in such a big and painful way. 

His call on my life right now is to bring the good news to the poor, and to bind the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives that our God has set you free in the Son. God also plans to restore me, as he has begun to do today through the encouragement I have received.  I believe that God is preparing me for something big. And if I have learned anything from God in the month I have lived here, it is that when you pray for big things from God, you had better expect big things to happen. 

I'm praying today for grace to keep following God, I don't want anything in my life to become so important that I could not give it up for Christ, and whatever he calls me to do. 

Even though I look around and have nobody but Christ, I can rejoice because God has given me everything I need. 

John3:30

HE must increase, I must decrease.

-Daniel