Dear friends and family,
The past couple months have held quite a lot in them for my life here in Yorba Linda. I knew I was heading into a heavily busy season of life, and though it’s been challenging, I’m learning really valuable lessons.
Wait, Hold On a Moment
Due to how busy my life gets, I often feel overwhelmed in the midst of it. And I forget why I’m doing all of it in the first place. But the Lord slows me down and beckons me to sit still with Him.
When you are so busy with ministry, you tend to be more susceptible to falling into the routine of it. And when serving God becomes routine, your heart can grow hard, and even bitter. I started to find that this was happening to me.
But praise the Lord, God is so faithful to hear our cries for refreshment and respond. For me, it is helpful to remind myself that if I just work and serve without prioritizing quiet time with the One I am serving, the works I do become pretty counterintuitive and pointless.
It’s easy to get caught up in the stress of all my tasks and responsibilities and so I take myself back to the Bible passage about Mary and Martha. Where Jesus told Martha, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41-42). At the end of the day, there is only one thing worth being concerned about, and that is pausing to sit at the feet of Jesus.
Visitor from Mexico
Now that I’ve shared what the Lord has shown me in the midst of my busyness, I’d like to share just a few special moments from the busy season.
First, Hugo Limon, a pastor from Culiacán, Mexico, visited our church at the end of April. He has planted almost 10 churches in Mexico since 2015, and he actually joined our missions organization (Saving Grace World Missions) last year.
It was so awesome to hear what the Lord has been doing in his ministry in Mexico and how the Lord has stirred his heart to even figure out a way to send church planters to the Middle East! Hugo is such a gifted and humble guy, and it was such a blessing to hear him share his testimony at a house gathering one of our pastors held for him.
Hope Central Watts Outreach
The next thing I want to share is a little trip I took in May with a team from my church to Hope Central Watts, a church in Los Angeles. We went over to do a “church takeover” to relieve some of the congregants from serving on a Sunday. My roommate Tori and I ran the children’s ministry class and taught “Noah’s Ark.”
I loved this short trip, the church reminded me of the church I grew up in because it was a small, Spanish-speaking church. I really can’t wait to go back this month and get to know some of the congregants a little more this time.
Dessert Gathering for the Roots
Before I wrap up this long update, I want to lastly share about a dessert gathering my church had for my friends Jeff and Alishia Root. They are a couple called to serve in Japan and Lordwilling, I, Geoff, and another couple at my church will be sent out to serve there with them too one day.
At their dessert gathering, Jeff and Alishia shared about their recent 3-month vision tour to Japan where they visited different Christian churches there. The Lord confirmed to them to go to Osaka and serve alongside another missionary couple at Abide Osaka church.
It was so amazing to hear about their trip and be stirred again for the spiritual needs in Japan. Japan is about the size of California and yet their population is about 125 million! And of all those people, less than 1% are Christian.
Jeff and Alishia are planning to move long-term to Japan in the new year and we are planning to have a 2-week vision tour thee in early Spring. Please pray for both these trips.
And Now You’ve Reached the End
Thank you so much for reading my update- I know it was a long one this time! I love you all so much and thank you especially to those of you who have reached out to me lately, I really appreciate you guys. As I’ve mentioned in this newsletter, it’s been an intensely busy season lately and so thank you for your patience with me! I’m hoping things will slow down a bit more in September when I’m on break from the internship. Until next time! God bless.
Sincerely,
Lydia Grace