Build Your Bed on the Rock
Hey! Remember to RSVP (at the link) for that taco party if you want to join in the fellowship and hear all about what the LORD has been doing!!
This week has been nothing less than a test of attitude through obedience. Sometimes the LORD doesn’t perfectly and thematically teach you something every week. Sometimes He puts what He taught you into practice. And that is what this week has been. A test. After the surrender. After the refining. After the abiding. Comes obedience.
This week we had our last outreach in Rosarito, and then we flew to Mazatlan. And that has been a complete adventure in itself.
I have about $600 left to raise! Each week I am continually blessed and praying for each and every one of my supporters. It is an encouragement to me more than anything that I have people at home who have my back.
This week at our last outreach I had the opportunity to teach the children’s lesson. Now, I already told you I taught Sunday School a few weeks ago so you might be thinking it was the same. It was not. A few weeks ago, Sunday School consisted of a classroom with four kids and a translator, some worship songs, a craft, a game, and a little devotional style teaching. This week looked a little different.
This week, I was told, the night before we went, to prepare the children’s lesson. I thought to myself, “Easy! Right up my ally, I do this all the time.” Little did I know that in the room ALONG WITH all the children would be all their parents, the entire CSOM team (including the pastors that brought us), the entire team from the house we have been staying at, the local church members, and anyone else that decided to show up. I was told to stand in front of the room with the translator and present the teaching. Not exactly the same thing.
The kids weren’t five either. They were fifteen. This was my first experience really TEACHING.
So I stood up there, and with it all written on my phone, I put my phone in my pocket and opened the Bible. Speaking in front of people used to be absolutely petrifying for me. When I was younger I would tremble with anxiety ALL SEMESTER if I saw in the syllabus that we had a presentation. The LORD gave me peace. Of course I have practiced my public speaking since then, but the LORD works through our own efforts.
So I taught on Romans/Salvation Road. I don’t know if you’re familiar but it is a series of verses in Romans that highlight the path to salvation. I asked the LORD how I should start the message eloquently, as to not abruptly drop into:
“For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”
Romans 3:23
He gave me a clear analogy of a maze. We are the ones in the maze, and we are blindfolded trying to make our way through. God is on the outside of the maze, telling us the directions to get us to the end. I asked the kids if they wanted the directions, and I shared with them that the Word of God IS the directions that He has given us. I also shared that NOT ONLY is He telling us where to go, but He is also HOLDING OUR HAND through the maze and leading us.
I went on through the message highlighting a variety of verses including
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 6:23
“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8
“For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Romans 10:13
“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Romans 10:9
The kids were engaged, and many understood and decided to accept Christ at the end of the message. But what I want to highlight is the LORD’s faithfulness. Not only to strengthen and embolden me, but also to use what I had to give. I can’t possibly give what I don’t have. I gave what I had, and the LORD took that and used it for His glory, and for that I thank Him.
It also ministered to me…even as the one teaching it. All I need to do is hold His hand. I can’t drag Him my way and tell Him I know better. I am blindfolded. And it comes back to the simplicity of our relationship with Him. Cry out to Him and you will be saved. Build the foundation of your life on Him and He will be with you.
“He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built”
Luke 6:48
So build your house on the rock. But what if you had to build YOUR BED on the rock?!…
We flew to Mazatlan this week. We went from a nice, cool, and comfy place in Rosarito, enjoying our showers and food and basketball/volleyball court… to sleeping on the concrete floor of the church in Mazatlan. It is QUITE humid here in Mazatlan. I think approximately 0.5 seconds after stepping outside, my skin starts to feel sweaty from the humidity and heat.
Now of course I am exaggerating. We have air mattresses to sleep on, and the room is cooled with AC. We have been so blessed to have these amenities. The team has been working together to make each meal absolutely amazing, and we have taken our turns using the shower. We have enjoyed the laughs and jokes that have been created by bonding over all going through the experience together. In these circumstances, obedience isn’t simply following the instruction of our leaders, but rather doing it with right hearts and right attitudes. Doing it with joy.
But it emphasizes the point even further to make Christ your foundation. If our motivations stemmed from any sort of selfish desires, we would be miserable. That’s because this trip isn’t FOR us. Paul said this a long time ago in a book I am sure you know fairly well - Philippians. He said,
“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,”
Philippians 3:8-10
In Mazatlan we haven’t done any outreaches, but we did get to help with the VBS at the church here, Calvary Maranatha. It was honestly such a blessing to me. Even though we got to work the same day we landed (after leaving Rosarito at 3am). Through a tired smile, I tried my very best to converse with the children, who only speak Spanish. I realized that I had learned a lot more than I thought I had and I was able to hold a basic conversation and give directions. It encouraged me so much to have people to talk to in Spanish, who were just as eager to try to learn our english.
The week is coming to a close, and Christ is my Rock. He has to be. I have a few more important prayer requests, AND some praise reports!!
Prayer Request: We will be driving to the tribe on Thursday. It is a 9-hour drive. Pray for safe and smooth travels, and the hearts of the people of the tribe we will be ministering to.
Prayer Request/Praise Report: As I have applied to jobs, I have received some interviews! Continued prayer for open doors as well as clarity in where the LORD would have me for my next one steps.
Prayer Request: Some of the students on our team are facing some health issues. One in their back that is flaring up from the intense travel, and one feeling ill. Pray for healing for these two as well as continued health for the team as we finish out our trip.
Prayer Request/Praise Report: I received an encouraging word from a brother about my next steps. I still have not received the necessary confirmation from the LORD, but his word to me helps with clarity in some ways. I am still surrendering to the LORD, but He is starting to develop something in my heart that feels very exciting. I want to hold it with completely open hands, as it is quite a BIG dream. Good thing we have a BIGGER GOD!!
I would love to see you at my vision sharing party on August 16th to share all about this big dream that we can continue praying about, but also to show you what the LORD has graciously shown me. The cultures of the world, and the religions they practice, and ways we can get involved in raising up more worshippers of the ONE TRUE GOD. RSVP at this link!!
I want to leave you with a quote from a book I read this week called, “The Baptism with the Holy Spirit."
“While the baptism with the Spirit imparts power, the way in which that power will be manifested depends upon the work to which God has called us, and that no efficient work can be done without it. … It is not for us to select some field of service and then look to the Holy Spirit to impart to us power in that field which have chosen. It is rather for us to recognize the divinity and sovereignty of the Spirit, and to put ourselves unreservedly at His disposal.”
-R.A. Torrey
I love you, and God loves you infinitely more,
Jadyn Burnett
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