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Complete Trust

Growing up I had always had a heart and passion for missions. This passion first started in middle school when I went on a mission trip to Guatemala. After that I began to go to Guatemala every year and eventually I went by myself. Once I got to college and found a church of my own, I decided to go on a mission trip through my church to Honduras. Little did I know, the Lord was preparing my heart for missions and ministry work in the future. 

At the beginning of my Sophomore year I moved to Wilmington, North Carolina for college and I immediately knew this was where I was supposed to be. As college was coming to an end, I started thinking about what I wanted to do after and praying for the Lord to guide my steps to where I was supposed to end up. I began googling global nonprofits in Wilmington for potential job opportunities. Only one came up in Wilmington and that was Global Education Ministries. Going out on a limb and not very hopeful, I sent an email asking if they were hiring for a position in the states. Within the next few days I received an email asking to meet and talk more, and from there things fell into place. To say God played a part in all of this is an understatement. Looking back, I can clearly and boldly say that God’s hand was in every moment leading up to me accepting a position at GEM. 

As I begin this new chapter in life, I am filled with a wave of emotions. It brings me joy and hope to know that the Lord has led me to GEM all in His timing and will continue to guide me and help me build His kingdom here in Wilmington and around the world. 

Unlike most of the new hires I will be working at the local office in Wilmington. My role will be the Mission Advancement Coordinator, working to recruit missionaries to go and teach at our gospel-saturated schools. As I am preparing to take on this role, I am reminded of Jeremiah 17:7-8 “ But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” 

Trust. 

This is one word that the Lord has placed on my heart. As I step into a new chapter in life, into a new job role, and as missionaries are being brought in, it all comes back to trust. Trust can seem like an easy thing but when we are called to put trust into action we can quickly find out how difficult it can be. I am so excited to put my trust in the Lord and continue to grow in trust as I work for Global Education Ministries. It will be difficult and challenging at times but oh how it will be worth it. So today I challenge you to truly trust the Lord with whatever is happening in your life.

– Taylor Johnson , GEM Missionary

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Living the Life of a “Blank Check”

Hello GEM friends and family! Our names are Bailey and Derrick and we could not be more excited to become a part of the GEM mission and community. We have quite a unique story of how God called us to go and serve in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, Mexico but before we share our story we wanted to share our own individual journeys. 

Hello everyone! My name is Bailey Bartlett and I recently graduated from Liberty University with a degree in Elementary Education and Christian Leadership. I come from a strong Christian family and felt the calling to go into ministry when I was a teenager. My parents have been big advocates for ministry and missions and I never thought my story would turn out the way that it did. When the Lord called me into ministry at a young age, I had no idea what the outcome would be. The one thing I was certain of was my desire to attend the Largest Evangelical Christian School in the world, Liberty University. It was at my time at Liberty that God began prepping and preparing me for the calling that I surrendered too, but was still unaware of. You see, I had already planned out my life on my own terms and in my own way. My prayer of being a “blank check” in the hands of the Lord was quickly being filled in by my own will and agenda. For years, I wrestled with the calling of vocational ministry and wanted nothing to do with pursuing a career in Education. I wanted a career in ministry with built-in discipleship and a platform. In reality, I thought the calling of being a missionary could not have been a lower calling. I had no idea that I had idolized ministry and how I was so undeserving of the calling placed on my life. Truthfully we are called to missions and to go and make disciples. The mission has always been the same but the method may look different. I only wish I would have realized this and obeyed sooner. 

Hello, my name is Derrick Wood! At the age of 17, I decided to study to be a teaching pastor of a local church. That is what led me to go to Liberty University to study and graduate with a degree in Pastoral Leadership and a minor in both Biblical Studies and Expositional Preaching. I always told God in my prayers that I would serve Him in ministry, but He could never move me outside the United States. God would use my time at Liberty to show me missionaries and other ministries that were doing great things for the gospel, but that would never be me, I told myself. I had a deep love for the local church and a large heart to see people grow in discipleship. Looking back now at freshman year of college, God had bigger plans for my life than I ever thought to be possible. God would use those passions to partner me with a local church in Puerto Escondido and use me to teach Middle and High School Bible. 

 Bailey and I met two years ago at Liberty University while we were both in student leadership. At the time we both were not quite sure where God was leading but we were faithful to follow. The two of us both had a strong calling to go into ministry in whatever form God was calling. Little did we realize at the time what this would mean for us to follow where God wanted us. In the fast-paced rush of life as college students, we both quickly saw the real world starting to become more real as we prepared to graduate. Little did we know that God was already working in the details for we had our wedding date set, honeymoon booked, and everything else accounted for.  

One afternoon we sat down and talked about what we might do for work after graduating, I had no church leads and Bailey was still working hard to finish her degree. Our best option was comfort, which meant moving to Roanoke, VA near Bailey’s family,  to avoid being pushed too far. Even for a while, we discussed both teaching in a private Christian school where Bailey’s mother taught. Really things seemed to be going smoothly for us to start our marriage together. 

One day, Bailey’s “blank check” prayer would be answered when she encouraged me to go to a Ministry Fair that Liberty University was hosting. With little to no hope, I walked into the large and buzzing room to find countless ministries that were offering positions for everything from worship leaders, camp counselors, unpaid interns, and teachers, really anything but being a pastor. After a few painful conversations with people that were not even interested in talking to me, I awkwardly made eye contact and a half-smile with Rachel Hill from GEM. She was gracious to give me the rundown of information even after I told her I was wanting to be a pastor. After Rachel finished, as a joke, I threw out that my fiance was an Elementary Education Major. God was working his plan all along right into the details of this conversation, and Bailey’s “blank check” was about to be written. 

In the month of April, we both committed and signed a two-year contract to go and serve with GEM. We both will be teaching at Manantial School in Puerto Escondido. Bailey will be teaching third grade and I will be teaching Bible while interning at Camino de la Cruz.  Our wedding date is set for July 30, and we have booked a one-way ticket to Mexico. Only three days after our wedding, Bailey and I will spend our honeymoon making our way down to our new home in Mexico. 

We hope our story has encouraged you in some way and that you will be praying for Derrick and I as we step out in faith and into our calling as missionaries. In reality, all believers should live the life of being a blank check in the hands of God. There is no greater joy than experiencing the calling placed on your life, and seeing the Lord fill in the details in greater ways than you could ever imagine. 1 Corinthians 6:20 reminds us that we have been bought for a price and our bodies and lives are no longer our own. We are all called to ministry and to put away with the self-filled life. This is our testimony of what God can do with two nobodies who were willing to surrender their lives and agendas for the glory and kingdom of God.

– Bailey and Derrick, GEM Missionaries

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Abundantly Clear

When I look back on my journey to Global Education Ministries it is quick in time but very detailed in how. Each step you will hear about may not mean much when you read it, but at that moment for me or my family, or even someone around me, that was a clear message from God that this is what I was supposed to do next.

I was saved at a very young age but my mom and pastor at the time wanted to make sure that I truly understood what I was doing. After a little while and many questions, everyone decided that I was ready and there was no reason to stop me from inviting Jesus into my heart if it was what I really wanted to do. From then on I have always been very strong in my faith and knew that I loved God and even helped others around me to love God too. I came to notice this not because of all the VBS events or camps I had volunteered at but after leading my high school Fellowship of Christian Athletes club. Here I was able to see many people who were not too sure about God or what it meant to really live out your faith. I knew when I was president of our FCA club that I needed to be living out my faith as an example to others.

In my senior year of high school, I applied for a scholarship program to teach in Wake County for three years after my graduation. I planned to return to my hometown after I graduated to teach locally. Although, now I am excited to tell you how God has shown me he has a different and much bigger plan for me than I could have even planned for myself.

Within just a short month, starting in mid-March God began to set pieces into motion for His plan to take place. In mid-March, I attended a career fair through UNCW and this is where I first interacted with Global Education Ministries. This led to a more in detail meeting the next day to discuss what the organization is, and it was supposed to be about an hour, but we sat talking for over two hours. As these meetings took place, I felt comfortable and excited and continued down the path I felt was right. Nearly a week later after this meeting, I was asked to interview with the founder of this organization. This meeting was supposed to be in person at the GEM offices in Wilmington, NC. The weather in Wilmington on this day was unsafe, so we met through Zoom for two and a half hours and somehow the weather did not interrupt. After that interview just four short days later I was extended a contract to teach with Global Education Ministries for two years at their Manantial School in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca.

This contract came with lots of excitement but also many nerves as this made this opportunity real and something I needed to seriously consider. In the same week, I received my contract from GEM I also submitted my edTPA (internship assessment for graduation requirements), started teaching all subjects in my internship classroom, took my final licensure test, had my second formal observation, and then substituted for my partnership teacher for the first time. To say that week was a busy week would be an understatement. I had briefly discussed this opportunity to work with GEM with my family but not at all as much as I would have liked to. My family is very important to me so I really wanted their opinions and support with this new opportunity.

Thankfully, Spring Break for me was right around the corner, so I was able to come home and discuss the contract and opportunity with my family then. This is when I saw even more that this is what God wanted me to do. As each step of the way, God continued to open doors but not just for me but my family as well. On Easter Sunday I was at home in Raleigh for spring break and at church, our pastor’s message felt like it was directly for myself and my family to hear. He said that we need to not hold onto this message inside the four walls of the church but to go and tell, and do not be afraid for God will roll the rock away. Then as I thought through more questions there was little to no push back in each situation. Things like my healthcare coverage or phone plan that I thought may have been an issue were both already covered in Mexico. God has taken care of everything along the way and made it so clear at the same time so that I know that I am truly supposed to combine my passion for teaching and love for God to work with GEM.

Now I am so thankful for this opportunity and have loved sharing how God has been working in so many ways throughout this new journey. Also, I am thankful that God knows our needs and has a specific plan for each of us because as I look back, I see how many other things have been tied to me being able to do this now. I am so thankful that God will turn our mess into our message and that he loves us no matter what.

– Sydni Williams, GEM Missionary

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Blessing Amidst Hardship – A Message from Casey Herring

Hey GEM family! I am writing this in hopes that it is encouraging to you and gets you excited about everything God is doing through our ministry.  I recently just got back from Puerto Escondido. I came to meet with our school directors, meet with staff, and participate in some end-of-the-year events (like graduations).  It was an AMAZING week and I want to share some of the highlights. I hope you take away from this post how awesome and great our God is! He is great, and greatly to be praised!

First, La Luz (Juquila): I met with Tito and Betty and started our meeting by saying how hard this year was and how it was probably the worst we’ll ever have because of the pandemic. I tried to be encouraging… and then I let them talk. I wasn’t prepared for what happened next. I thought we were going to work through program problems, staff problems, money problems, etc. Instead, they just shared about how this was actually the best ministry year we’ve ever had in Juquila. They shared that the pandemic created the perfect opportunity in Juquila for our La Luz team to go and be with our school families in their homes (virtual schooling wasn’t possible).

Tito and Betty said that over the course of this school year, because students couldn’t come to classes, they were in different homes every day and 4 school parents came to faith and made decisions to follow Jesus!  They are currently meeting with each family in their home once a week studying the bible and discipling them! In addition to that, there are 10 more families (non-Christians) that they have started to study the bible with on a weekly basis. They said it started by just dropping off homework each week, then it turned into real conversations about hardship and life, and then finally over time Tito and Betty and their teachers were given permission to open the bible and share from God’s word. It’s been an amazing work over the course of the whole school year! I am confident there will be more salvation and rejoicing in Heaven!

The meeting with Cornerstone (Huatulco) was basically the same.  This is their second year in existence as a school. Talk about a tough time to start a school, right?  Nope, according to Sandra and David, it was the perfect time! Last school year they built relationships, this year they spent the whole school year in their homes.  Sandra and David said 8 families made decisions to return to the Lord and recommit their lives to Jesus (and be committed to gathering with their local churches)! They also said there were 5 new converts (all adults) this school year…including the water guy who delivers water weekly and a construction worker who was hired to build new bathrooms on campus!

I wish you could’ve heard their stories and seen their excitement. They’re tired, exhausted really, and have had so many hard things to deal with this school year. But mostly they’re just so happy to be reaching their communities and serving God in a meaningful/impactful way.  They had so many stories of God’s grace and how lives have been changed.  This post is a very poor replacement for their stories.  It’s truly incredible how God is working through our schools and moving in those two communities.

For Manantial, staff has been working through hardships in the midst of an unprecedented time. Virtual school in a developing country is NOT easy! However, this trip has given me the chance to meet with and talk to our directors, leaders, teachers, and school parents. It was a hard year–for sure–but our people and our school parents LOVE Manantial and are so grateful for our school. Parents are hopeful and excited for this next school year.  I’ve heard so many stories over the last week from parents about how much Manantial means to their children and to them.

God is at work and He’s doing great things.

Thank you all for your encouragement, support, and prayers. The Lord has proven Himself once again to be so faithful in tough times, and in the darkness His glory shines ever so bright.

I pray that you are encouraged and blessed by all the ways Christ is working throughout Global Education Ministries. May Christ be glorified, honored, and praised.

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A Calling

Hey everyone! My name is Heather Hall. I am a recent graduate of Asbury University and a new missionary with Global Education Ministries. I will be serving as an English teacher at La Luz School in Juquila, Mexico. I would like to begin with an introduction about who I am and why I am going to Mexico. Like I said earlier, my name is Heather. Since I was a kid, I wanted to be a teacher. I used to play school with my dolls and even created a binder where I would store their assignments! I also had a passion for overseas missions, even though I didn’t have a full understanding of what that was. My dream was to teach at a small school in a rural village overseas. God used this idealistic childhood fantasy to open my heart towards missions and prepare me for the future.

 

When I was 16 years old, God gave me the opportunity to travel overseas for the first time, and I went to Costa Rica with a mission team from my church. I was amazed by the kindness and generosity of the people I met and kept in touch with a few local girls in the following years. It broke my heart to leave those people after only a week and, after that trip, I knew that a mission trip wasn’t enough. God had given me a desire to live life with the people and not just drop in and out at our convenience. After the trip, I also decided to continue learning Spanish with a newfound motivation and used it to communicate with a few of the girls I met in Costa Rica.

 

When I entered college, I chose to pursue a missions degree because my heart was still drawn towards long-term missions. Other students had told me that “Missionary Methods and Problems” had caused others to realize that long-term missions wasn’t for them. However, I loved the class and it only fueled my fire for missions. During my freshman year of college, I began volunteering as an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher at my church and fell in love with it. During my college years, I taught English as opportunities arose and became involved in the World Gospel Mission center at my university. We hosted missionaries from all over the world, and I got to have conversations with them as I wrestled with God’s calling on my life.

 

After my Junior year of college, my plan was to go back to Costa Rica for a missions internship, but I was unable to travel due to COVID. However, God opened the door for me to use my COVID room and board refund to complete my CELTA (English Teaching Certificate) coursework and teaching practicum online with a school in Mexico over the summer. That summer, He also gave me a vision of myself kneeling in a classroom, confirming my calling as a teacher. This past Spring, I did my internship with a language school in Spain, where I taught English classes online. While teaching, my face would light up, and I knew in my heart that this is what God created me to do.

 

During this time, I was searching for something to do after graduation, and I found some job postings for English teachers at Global Education Ministries. The more I looked into the organization, the more I was drawn in. I could see their heart for Jesus in the centrality of the Gospel in their schools, the honoring of local leadership, and the open invitation to all regardless of their background or how much they can pay. I began the interviews and was able to witness these ideals being lived out in the lives of real people who faithfully follow God’s call. I came to a point where I knew that this was the next right step in my journey with Jesus. He used a sermon to break down my fears and lead me to commit. Ever since then, my calling has been confirmed. Yes, there are still fears and doubts and questions. But God is bigger than all of that, and He will provide what I need. He says, “So do not fear, for I am with you; Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10 NIV)

 

**You can follow my adventures here: https://heathergranaventura.blogspot.com/ and join my prayer team on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/408866517078866)

or by email (herha8@gmail.com)!

– Heather Hall, GEM Missionary

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Go.

I want to start off by saying Christ is so AWESOME!! I am truly so humbled that He can take broken sinners like me, and use us as vessels to overflow and outpour the grace, love, and mercy He has ceaselessly given us. May everything I do be done through Christ and for His glory alone. If for any other reason, then it’s for nothing. It is not I, but Christ in me. I pray that this would be the song of my heart and at the forefront of my mind with every step I take. I pray that I may continue to boast in all of my weaknesses because Christ’s power is made perfect in them!!

I have been learning this more and more throughout this journey thus far.

When I share with people that I am moving to Mexico for a couple of years after I graduate college, I have received responses of all kinds. I have got the question, “are you sure you can do this?” or “are you sure you want to do this?” I am sure that the ones who were asking these questions were doing it out of care and love for me. However, over time, these questions on repeat started to wear on me. I began to ask myself… “can I really do this? I must be crazy for thinking I can!” Following that came the urge to prove to myself and to others that I could. Well, God used this to teach me a hard but beautiful lesson.

I found that the more I tried to prove myself capable, it only magnified my incapability.

The answer to the question, “do you think you can really do this?” has a simple answer: I know I can’t…

…but hallelujah I know the one who can!!

Christ in me who has called me by His great name! I can do all things through Him because He strengthens me. That is the only way.

Vessels are best filled when empty, so that’s what I want to be. Empty before the Lord so that I can be filled with more and more of Him.

Here’s a quick summary of how the Lord got me to say a joyful “yes” to moving to Mexico with GEM:

In college, the Lord started revealing things in my life that I had a death grip on. He kept saying to me over and over again that He wanted it all. Not just a piece of my life, but the entire thing. When I submitted to what Jesus did on the cross for me 10 years ago, my life had died. I had known this, but I was suddenly burdened and was made heart-wrenchingly aware of the blueprints I sketched for my life that I had been hoarding for myself… my comfortable kingdom I was building here when there are souls dying every day who have never heard of the name of Jesus! The name that had set me free and given me Life…people were dying without even knowing of Him. (As I am writing this I pray that this Truth will continue to overwhelm our hearts and bring us to our knees. May it send out laborers! For the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few — Matthew 9:37) This began to wreck me…but it also stirred up a passion within me for the gospel that was overwhelming me to do something about what had been shown to me. At college group one Sunday night, I was sharing what was on my heart and my youth pastor pointed out to me that it sounded like I had a calling to ministry and to pray about it/look into different opportunities.

After months and months of prayer over where the Lord wanted me/what He wanted me to do, I went through some interviews as well as looking at different avenues I could take in the mission field. Nothing seemed right, and at one point I thought I was trying to force something that wasn’t supposed to happen, so I stopped looking yet kept praying.

Boom.

One Wednesday night my youth pastor mentioned Global Education Ministries (GEM) to me. I was immediately intrigued just from reading their website, but there was a problem… I was a marketing major… not an education major. I didn’t think they’d have a need for someone in Marketing.

Not mentioning my major, my youth pastor’s mom, who has been a part of GEM, reached out to them about my interest and this was their reply:

That right there is undeniably the Lord. I get chills thinking back to this moment.

To be honest, Mexico was not where I would have chosen. The only way I would have even considered going to Mexico was if the Lord gave me a heart for it.

Well after all of my interviews… I fell completely in love with GEM and what God is doing through their ministry. It is like my passions and the Lord’s desires beautifully meshed together it is so awesome and exciting!!

Throughout this entire journey, I have been saying that I don’t want to do anything for Christ, but I want to do everything with Him and through Him. I know without a doubt that He is with me and has given me a heart to serve Him and the beautiful people down in Mexico.

I am so honored to get to be a part of what God is doing through GEM and pray that He is glorified through everything that is done in my life and through this ministry.

– Sarah Beth Moore, GEM Missionary

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Dogs and Ducks

As our family has been back in North Carolina now for about a month, dozens of things continue to arise each day that make me think “wow, this is so different than life in Mexico.” One of those small “wow” moments being my daily runs.

In Puerto, I would never venture out for a run without my sidekick in hand- a nice big ‘ol rock. Street dogs in Mexico are everywhere and can’t be trusted. So, as all the locals do, you grab a rock and use it when necessary. Even with my sidekick in grip, I would still be on the lookout, watching my back, just to make sure one wasn’t looming around the corner.

As I laced up my running shoes in Wilmington and hit the road, I was certain that dogs were behind me. For the first few runs, I constantly turned down my music, confident that I heard loud barking and they were out to get me (a little paranoid, I know!)

In the middle of one run, I jumped because I saw something out of the corner of my eye. Lo and behold, it wasn’t a gnarly street dog, but instead a group of cute little ducklings huddled together trying to cross the street. I think because this sight was so different than what I was used to over the last 7 years, I slowed down and lingered longer, watching them.

My very first thought was, where was their Mama? Six little ducklings huddled together, looking a little scared, with no mama or daddy duck in sight. But as I glanced around, across the street, there they stood, with eyes completely locked on their babies. I sensed that if I were to run at their little ones, they would do whatever it took to defend them. They stood tall and confident, almost proud, with eyes never leaving their childrens’ sight.

As I watched them for a few more seconds before jogging on by, I couldn’t help but think how this scene reminded me of our caring and ever-present Father.

So often, we are faced with new or different life seasons or situations that make us a little (or a lot) uncomfortable. Life can be really challenging, in a variety of ways, for many different reasons. Sometimes, God does give us more than we can handle and we feel at the end of ourselves. Yet, He is always near. He is always present. His eyes are forever locked on His children. He will do whatever it takes to defend his precious ones. He will not let the enemy harm them.

As I finished up my run, I couldn’t help but feel overwhelming gratitude. The current daily struggles and challenges that I’m facing are still there, but I was reminded once again through some sweet little ducklings, that our faithful Father sees us, watches us, and will forever protect His own.

-Megan Herring, GEM Co-founder

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Who is God and Who am I?

“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.”‭‭ Lamentations‬ ‭3:22-25

Wow, these words. I was cut to the core this morning. To be quite honest, any sort of praise or recognition of God’s goodness has been far from my lips. I hadn’t even realized how hard my heart had become until I started reading different passages like this and realized how little faith I had in them. 

I don’t know about you, but lately I have found it much easier to focus on the hardships, hurdles, and things going wrong in my life. I have been spending way too much time complaining to God about everything around me, crying out about the evil that continues to infect our world, and growing bitterness in my heart for all of the ‘unfairness’ I see. In my flesh, my heart says ‘God is not good and He is definitely not Faithful because if He were, He would do this or that… or ‘how could God be silent in times like these?’… but oh how incredibly wrong this is, how much farther from the truth could this be!

Number one, who am I to think such things about God? How could I (mere dust) point my finger at THE living God and say, ‘this is unfair, you don’t know what is good, you need to change things’? 

Psalm 24 tells us, 

“The earth is the Lord ‘s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place?” – ‭‭Psalm‬ ‭24:1-3‬ ‭

Psalm 33 reads,

 “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host… Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him! For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm… The counsel of the LORD stands forever” – v. 6, 8-9 & 11.

Who am I in comparison to YAHWEH?! God is the Holy, Perfect, and Just Creator of the Universe. He is the One in charge.

Number two. After reflecting on God being the Sovereign, Powerful Author of all things, Lamentations 3:22-25 (above) reminded me that God is also overflowing in mercy… without condition. “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end” – Lam. 3:22. God has never stopped pouring out his love and mercy on us, ever. Even after accusing God and having an ungrateful heart, He has not ceased to bless me every single day with both the gift of salvation and the physical gifts that I take for granted, e.g. food, safety, clothing, etc. Jesus laid his life down for the sheep. 1 John 2:2 says, “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” Need I say more? The LORD has loved each of us beyond what we can ever comprehend, He is indeed The Good Shepherd; the very definition of Faithful love. 

And Lastly, the third thing. Psalm 33 showed me what my heart’s response should be to God. “Shout for joy in the LORD, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright. Give thanks to the LORD with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings! Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts. For the word of the LORD is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness. He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the LORD” – v. 1-5

He is more than worthy of praise. Truly. After reading verses this and pondering all of the other scriptures mentioned, my heart was totally changed. God made Psalm 33 the song of my heart. You know how? I looked upward instead of to myself for the answers. This is how amazing and wonderful God is!  The moment we give ourselves over to Him and realize His love, he begins to shape our hearts and take out all of the darkness and untruth. When we begin to believe we are in charge, that is when things fall apart. When we stop trusting God for who He is. 

Cry out to God in faith and He WILL respond. He saved me from my bitter heart! Before reading Psalm 33, I was filled with discouragement and sadness. After being exhorted to praise, for the rest of the day I couldn’t get praise songs out of my head! It just started flowing out of me! So Let us constantly consider – Who is God? And who am I? The Lord loves you and He will show you His love if you seek Him… “The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him” Lam. 3:25.

Natalia Saint Clair, GEM volunteer

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Change Happens in the Desert

Prayer is hard.
 
As a young girl growing up in a Christian family, I went to church (on many occasions more than once a week) and attended a Christian school. So, you can imagine just how many times I was told I needed to be disciplined in reading the Bible and prayer. Naturally, after hearing this I would go upstairs in my room and try. I can’t tell you how many times I would tuck myself away, try to quiet my thoughts, and pray to this invisible and inaudible Being. But I began to notice the more I tried to will myself to pray, the more I disliked it. I didn’t know what to say, I didn’t have much to ask for, and besides, did God even care about the things going on in my life? If He did, it’s not like he responded audibly to my requests anyways.
 
Though my idea of prayer and God changed as I grew in my knowledge of and relationship with Him, I still struggled with prayer. What about the many times I had called out to him – no, begged – for him to change a situation or give me something and He hadn’t? Was He really who He said He was? And if He’s so powerful, then doesn’t He have the ability to do these things? So why isn’t He? Those are just a few of the many doubts I had (and still have) that kept me from reaching out to Him. But God was working in my heart and, about a year and half ago, I asked God to transform my prayer life and give me a desire to pray. No, it definitely did not happen overnight. I tried to read books on prayer, ask friends for advice on prayer, etc. As a matter of fact, many times I got so frustrated with not seeing any changes in my prayer life that I would sit in my room and force myself to be quiet and pray. Of course, this only led to me being hard-hearted with the Lord and forcing an outward prayer that my inner self was not praying. It was then that I decided that if God was big enough, He could and would change my heart in regards to praying and it wasn’t up to me to force it. Ironically, that was actually making things worse.
 
So, I stopped praying. And God started working.
 
Several months into this process, circumstances in my family’s life and my own personal life brought me to a place where I had absolutely no control. I was desperate – I could do absolutely nothing to change the situations – so I began to pray.
 
In his book, A Praying Life, Paul Miller recounts he and his wife’s experience of having an autistic child. He calls the space in between hoping and reality a desert. “The hope line represents our desire for a normal child, reinforced by our prayers from Psalm 121. The bottom line is the reality of a harmed child. We lived in the middle, in the desert, holding on to hope that Kim could somehow be normal yet facing the reality of her disabilities.”
“The hardest part of being in the desert,” Miller says, “is that there is no way out. You don’t know when it will end. There is no relief in sight.”
 
This sounds utterly hopeless, doesn’t it?
 
But Miller draws our focus to what God is doing in the midst of our complete vulnerability and weakness. He explains that “The first thing that happens is we slowly give up the fight. Our wills are broken by the reality of our circumstances… The still, dry air of the desert brings the sense of helplessness that is so crucial to the spirit of prayer. You come face-to-face with your inability to live, to have joy, to do anything of lasting worth. Life is crushing you.”
 
“Suffering burns away the false selves created by cynicism or pride or lust. You stop caring about what people think of you. The desert is God’s best hope for the creation of an authentic self. Desert life sanctifies you. You have no idea you are changing. You simply notice after you’ve been in the desert awhile that you are different.
 
“After a while you notice your real thirsts. While in the desert David writes,
‘O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.’ Psalm 63:1
 
“The desert becomes a window to the heart of God… You cry out to God so long and so often that a channel begins to open up between you and God. When driving, you turn off the radio just to be with God. At night you drift in and out of prayer when you are sleeping. Without realizing it, you have learned to pray continuously. The clear, fresh water of God’s presence that you discover in the desert becomes a well inside your own heart.”
For so long I had only viewed prayer as a way to get things from God; an avenue through which I could change situations and circumstances; a tool to access His power when I am powerless. That view is not entirely wrong! In many ways, it is completely scriptural (Matthew 7:7, Matthew 18:19, Psalm 107:28-30). But often times, God chooses not to grant our requests or chooses to make us wait for years until He answers them. When we view prayer only as a means to get what we want, we are missing out on potentially God’s biggest purpose for prayer: bringing us closer to His heart and carving us into the image of His Son, Jesus.
 
I had always thought that through prayer I could change things, but I never realized that God was using prayer to change me. In my powerlessness, God has begun to show me aspects of Himself that I never would have seen unless I was desperate for Him. And slowly, but surely, He is changing the way I pray to become more aligned with His heart.
 
2 Corinthians 12:8-9 “Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ can work through me.”
 
Have your way, Lord.

-Maggie Addison, GEM Missionary

If you’d like to support Maggie as she serves with GEM in Mexico, you can do so HERE. You can also contact her directly to talk further about what it means to be on her support team and find out how you can be praying for her!