interesting observations from this chapter's cessation.

observation #1:

i have never been more deeply loved or cared for by those around me than the moment i stopped looking for it in them, and started looking for it in Him. i am so profoundly loved that it fills me to the brim.

i've also never been more uplifted or affirmed by those around me than when i stopped looking for it from them, and started acknowledging who it is that the Lord says i am.

it's interesting how love and affirmation from the Body come in expendable amounts when they're no longer the things that make or break your world.

observation #2:

this time last week i was in Haiti. i was surrounded by death, dehydration, heartbreak and starvation. i was also surrounded by a people group more hungry for the Lord than any i had ever seen. the harvest is more than ready in Haiti, and this time next month i will be down there again, working the fields. the Haitian nation is His, and He has come to claim it.

[Rescue is coming.]

during my time there, i found myself thinking and believing that, at this moment, Haiti was THE most hapless, helpless country in the entire world. i had never seen people worse off or more broken. "destitute" does not begin to describe the condition of the Haitian people. this also lead me, naturally, to believe that there would be no better place for me to exhaust my energy and lifeblood than in Haiti -- fighting and working and loving and leading.

once i got back in the States, i started catching up with people again. i was taken off-guard when 3 out of 4 of the first real conversations i had with friends ended with them in tears (..or almost in tears). after hanging up for the day, i sat down on the couch in shock, taken aback by how much had happened in their lives in the two weeks i'd been gone. i realized then that heartbreak is a universal sentiment, and that the U.S. is just as broken, if not more broken, than Haiti is. while we will never have to worry about finding things such as shelter, food, clothing, or water, our hearts can weigh just as heavily and can become just as downcast here as theirs are there.

i'm fully confident that the Lord wants me, specifically, in Haiti delivering Wholeness to the brokenhearted there, but those here in the U.S. are just as in need of this Deliverance. the only notable difference i can find between the two nations is that Haiti is painfully aware of its need.

being cognizant of such, seemingly, ubiquitous pain UNDENIABLY elicits action on our parts. the question is, are we filled with the Courage and Audacity needed in order to move?

[Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall

tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine,

or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

No, in all these things

we are more than conquerors

through Him who loved us.]

thinking through all of this sets me beside myself with excitement.

change is here.

and for the first time, i'm welcoming this old adversary of mine with open arms.

bring. it. on.