stephonduras2013: Out With the Old, In With the New

Wow, another year has passed. As we ring in the new, I can't help but think about the old. All of the life lived, the people met, the friends and family left behind. I see their faces dance across my memory and maybe I miss them a little bit. There is a whole other life out there I could be living. Proverbs 16:9 "We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps." The Lord had something better in store for me, and for the girls. Slowly it is being revealed to us the more we follow Him.

Luke 9:23 "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me."

The girls and I were given Spiritual Gifts tests before we got here, and all of us have Voluntary Poverty, among others, in common. I don't think we knew what that meant before coming here. Sure, we're all willing to live with less, willing to do without when necessary (here we have to) but poverty is more complicated than the absence of money and possessions. Poverty is not solely the lack of material things, it can also be the absence of family and friends, cultural comfort, and, sometimes, the ability to communicate. It is a deficiency. We gave up lives that had all of these things for lives that are deficient in all of them. We all chose to deny one possible future for ourselves. That's not always easy. In return, though, we are getting a life that is anything but deficient in the workings of God. It is only by his providence and protection that we make it through each day. It's looking more and more like we got the better trade off.

"...[D]eny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me." What does that look like? I think we're finding out.

John 12:24 "unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies it remains alone; but if it does, it produces much grain ."

Not only must we deny ourselves, we must die to ourselves. That doesn't sound exactly appealing. BUT, when we do, we are promised to grow and produce much fruit. We are also promised a new life:

Mathew 10:39 "If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it."

We are here, living an adventure, because, let's face it, that's what it is, an adventure for Christ. As we give up the old year, let us also give up our old ways, our old habits, and our old lives. Let's open our hearts to the new and wonderful promises of Christ Jesus. When we give up the old, He gives us new! If this past month has been a glimpse of a new life for all of us, then we're sure in for it. It isn't going to be easy, but, man, is it going to be beautiful.

As always, we are here to serve Christ, but first let us follow him. Here's to finding new life in Him in the new year.

Bendiciones (Blessings),

Kris

Here's a review of our time here in pictures: