Things I Learned Summer 2010-- That I Never Want to Forget

My friend Kalahan over at "Be Still" wrote a wonderful a week or two ago about what she learned this summer. In a way, she inspired me to write this post. I learned so much this summer... things that I truly needed to learn, and I never want to forget. God is so great and merciful to teach me now!



Here are three things I learned this summer:

1. "If Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him." ~C.T. Stubb.
Now, I'm not going to pretend that I made some extraordinary sacrifice for God this summer that changed my life forever and was really difficult. At this point in my life, God hasn't yet asked that I physically die for Him or that I give up my freedom, security, or leave my homeland in order that His gospel could be preached-- although He has told me to be willing to do all those things if He should some day ask! But, even though God isn't asking me to make the "big sacrifices" right now-- shouldn't I make those small ones every single day? You know, the things like holding my tongue when my siblings say something and I want to give a harsh reply, or giving up a few minutes of free time when one of my siblings wants to do something with me or needs to talk, or volunteering to do those 'thankless' jobs that would bless my parents by my doing them, and just serving the way that Christ did when He lived on earth! If these are the things He wants from me, and He was the God that died for me, then is there any sacrifice ever that could possibly be too great for Him?

2. God's plan is infinitely greater than my own. I was so stressed in June and July because I was still living in Nagoya, Japan, while I wanted to be back in Washington state. I was very, very worried that I wouldn't get back in time for our annual Vacation Bible School at my grandparent's house... however, the more I worried, I realized the less I was focusing on Jesus and what He did on the Christ. How ironic... the very reason that we do the VBS every single year-- to remind and teach the children about the cross-- was the very easiest thing for me to lose sight of in planning for it! Fortunately, we serve a God who, despite all my inefficiencies and mistakes, divinely orchestrated everything to work out so much better than I could have every imagined! We ended up having about 20-22 kids every day, the drama worked out well, the helpers were amazing, and I loved, loved, LOVED our curriculum. Also, I was able to get home almost a week early to shop and prepare for VBS. What a fool I was to worry so much! Everything seemed to go so well at VBS-- but the amazing thing about God is that He showed me that it went well in spite of me, NOT because of me.

3. I saved the most convicting, and the hardest, of this summer's lessons for last. It's simply this: I really needed to get over the "childish need" for friends. Now please hear me out. I love my friends! If you're reading this, then I want you to know that I deeply care about you and more than likely I have really enjoyed our conversations, learning from what God has done and taught you in your life, visiting with you, etc. In fact, many, many of the people I call my friends have been great spiritual influences in my life and have taught me a lot about God's blessings and how great He is! God has blessed me with great friends.
*Takes deep breath* That being said, I think that it's important to remember that that's all that friends are-- blessings. Friends are gifts from God, they are NOT meant in any way to "replace" God in our lives or be placed on par with God. Now, to be perfectly honest, I've never really been a girl who's 'obsessed' with her friends. I enjoy going to visit people, and having company over. I love talking with friends-- but I've never been a person who's constantly trying to spend every waking moment with her friends. Even so, I realized these past two or three months that I've found a lot of "SECURITY" in my friends. It's a false security, but it's one that I've been valuing for years now. I've had a "childish need," so to speak, for friends. I realized after I had spent several months in Japan that it was really hard to meet many new friends and to keep in touch with all the old ones. And I realized, to my dismay, that I was far too devastated about this. I was far too concerned over the fact that I wasn't surrounded by friends-- because I had found too much of my 'security' and 'identity' in who my friends are-- but wait, there's something wrong there. My security and identity should be found only in Christ!

Again, there's nothing wrong with having friends. God doesn't want us to hide in a closet our whole lives and never spend time with other people... but there is something very dangerous about placing too high of a priority on friendships-- because, after all, my best friend is always, ALWAYS with me! And He is the same forever and always! And His name is Jesus, and He IS awesome!

And those, my friends, are the things I learned this summer. And painful as it was to learn some of these things, I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world. And I never want to forget them for the rest of my life...