Proverbs 25:2... a calling?!?!
Proverbs 25:2 reads,
"It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings."
"It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings."
This verse means the world to me. Of all of the verses that I have underlined and highlighted and circled in my Bible... this is the verse I return to over and over again. And there is a reason for why I return to it time and time again. It has been a verse that has proven to be true on so many occasions and one that holds a special place in my heart.
On Sunday, July 25, 2004 I found myself sitting on a rock by the bus stop and across the street from la Iglesia de Cristo Iberoamericana in El Recreo, Ecuador. It was about 10 in the morning and we were getting ready to have our morning team devotions. Half of our team (about 30 Chilenos and Americanos) went to the nearby city of Sanborondon to worship and celebrate with the church there for the church's anniversary. The rest of us stayed behind to have a quiet morning and prepare for the church service that would take place in the street in front of the El Recreo church later that night after VBS. Because it was the 25th of July we focused our devo time on the 25th Proverb. And as our team leader, California Doug (the missionary we worked with was also named Doug so we had to differentiate somehow between the two), read the Proverb first in English and then again in Spanish, I began to feel a stirring in my heart. Proverbs 25:2 is what caused me to notice it. We ended our devo time in prayer and then splitting off to have our own quiet time of reflection and rest before lunch. I remained on my rock and spent a great deal of time listening, thinking, and watching.
As time passed away, I felt the stirring in my heart go stronger. I couldn't figure out what was going on or what was behind it. I didn't know what it meant or what I should do. I didn't know what words to pray or what to think. I just sat there and watched the town of El Recreo and the busy highway. I just sat there. Until a couple of the American interns to Chile returned from their prayer walk. They had found their way to the large Mormon church down the road from where we were. And they had been invited to sit in on one of their Sunday school classes for girls. They shared with me and a couple of the girls from my team about what they had heard and it literally broke our hearts, made us cry and moved us to our knees right then in prayer. The girls told us about how the young Ecuadorian girls were being taught that day about how they would never see heaven or be worthy of going there unless they married good, Mormon men who were much older than them and marry them soon. They were told they had no chance unless that happened. That was heartbreaking. And we were stunned to say the least. After that conversation, the stirring within me grew stronger.
As the afternoon came and the other half of our team returned from Sanborondon, we began to prepare for our afternoon VBS. We had done numerous VBS programs by this time and it took us no time at all to get everything ready. We went and got set up and before we were done we had all of the neighborhood kids there. They were sitting on our laps, hanging on our backs, holding our hands and playing with our hair. They loved us even they didn't know us. We had a our VBS and as I sang, danced and played with those kids, my heart began to physically ache due to that stirring. I had never experienced anything like it. And I knew I needed to find out what was going on.
After VBS while everyone was getting ready for dinner and the evening church service, I stopped my team leader, David, to ask him if I could talk to him. He and I sat on the curb outside the church and talked for a little while. I explained to him everything that had happened that day, what I was feeling. And then I asked him if he had ever experienced anything like that. I was surprised when he said he had been feeling the same thing for the entire trip (at this point we had been there for two weeks and were leaving in two days). He shared his story with me and then prayed. He then encouraged me to keep praying and to point blank ask God to reveal what was going on to me. He told me to keep praying Proverbs 25:2 and to seek out what God was doing in me.
A few hours later, I found myself sitting criss-cross-applesauce with my friend, Anna (she was from my home church and we were blessed to get to go to Ecuador together). We were sitting on the second floor of the church where all of us girls slept (the boys slept on the first and third floors). And we could hear the worship music and clapping through the open door off of the balcony and we were sitting in the dark. All we could do was pray and listen. And before I knew it God had a hold of me. In my mind I could see an image from the Passion of the Christ by Mel Gibson. There is one scene where after His beating and just before He reaches Golgotha, the camera zooms in on Jesus' face and His swollen bloody eye. And then it scans across the crowd and focuses on the people. It was a scene I had only seen once, but one that spoke volumes to me. In that moment, as I sat in the dark, listening to a worship service in a language I didn't understand, with a heart that physically ached and a vision of Christ in my mind, I realized what that feeling in my heart was and what God was trying to reveal to me after having kept it hidden all day (Proverbs 25:2). That was when I realized that Christ had died for everyone. It became real to me in that moment. And as I saw His face, I began to see the faces of everyone I had met and hugged and played with in the last two weeks roll through my mind like a film. And I knew that they were the reason Christ had died. They were the ones that Christ wanted to bring to Him to reside in heaven. And then I realized that I needed to be one of the ones to step and help them realize that. I realized then that I was being pushed towards full-time, cross-cultural ministry.
That night before bed, we had a time with our team to just debrief about the day and talk about what we had learned or experienced. And that night 6 of us girls (we had 15 on the team) stood up and dedicated our lives to full-time ministry. And I was one of them. That's the night my life changed forever. And that's the night that I realized just what it meant to pray Scripture, to seek out God and to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit. It was an experience like none other. But it is one that I will never forget. And that is why Proverbs 25:2 is the verse I return to over and over again when I feel like there is something that I need to be seeking out and pleading with God on. It is a verse that changed my life. And one that I will never forget. What is your verse? What is your story?
On Sunday, July 25, 2004 I found myself sitting on a rock by the bus stop and across the street from la Iglesia de Cristo Iberoamericana in El Recreo, Ecuador. It was about 10 in the morning and we were getting ready to have our morning team devotions. Half of our team (about 30 Chilenos and Americanos) went to the nearby city of Sanborondon to worship and celebrate with the church there for the church's anniversary. The rest of us stayed behind to have a quiet morning and prepare for the church service that would take place in the street in front of the El Recreo church later that night after VBS. Because it was the 25th of July we focused our devo time on the 25th Proverb. And as our team leader, California Doug (the missionary we worked with was also named Doug so we had to differentiate somehow between the two), read the Proverb first in English and then again in Spanish, I began to feel a stirring in my heart. Proverbs 25:2 is what caused me to notice it. We ended our devo time in prayer and then splitting off to have our own quiet time of reflection and rest before lunch. I remained on my rock and spent a great deal of time listening, thinking, and watching.
As time passed away, I felt the stirring in my heart go stronger. I couldn't figure out what was going on or what was behind it. I didn't know what it meant or what I should do. I didn't know what words to pray or what to think. I just sat there and watched the town of El Recreo and the busy highway. I just sat there. Until a couple of the American interns to Chile returned from their prayer walk. They had found their way to the large Mormon church down the road from where we were. And they had been invited to sit in on one of their Sunday school classes for girls. They shared with me and a couple of the girls from my team about what they had heard and it literally broke our hearts, made us cry and moved us to our knees right then in prayer. The girls told us about how the young Ecuadorian girls were being taught that day about how they would never see heaven or be worthy of going there unless they married good, Mormon men who were much older than them and marry them soon. They were told they had no chance unless that happened. That was heartbreaking. And we were stunned to say the least. After that conversation, the stirring within me grew stronger.
As the afternoon came and the other half of our team returned from Sanborondon, we began to prepare for our afternoon VBS. We had done numerous VBS programs by this time and it took us no time at all to get everything ready. We went and got set up and before we were done we had all of the neighborhood kids there. They were sitting on our laps, hanging on our backs, holding our hands and playing with our hair. They loved us even they didn't know us. We had a our VBS and as I sang, danced and played with those kids, my heart began to physically ache due to that stirring. I had never experienced anything like it. And I knew I needed to find out what was going on.
After VBS while everyone was getting ready for dinner and the evening church service, I stopped my team leader, David, to ask him if I could talk to him. He and I sat on the curb outside the church and talked for a little while. I explained to him everything that had happened that day, what I was feeling. And then I asked him if he had ever experienced anything like that. I was surprised when he said he had been feeling the same thing for the entire trip (at this point we had been there for two weeks and were leaving in two days). He shared his story with me and then prayed. He then encouraged me to keep praying and to point blank ask God to reveal what was going on to me. He told me to keep praying Proverbs 25:2 and to seek out what God was doing in me.
A few hours later, I found myself sitting criss-cross-applesauce with my friend, Anna (she was from my home church and we were blessed to get to go to Ecuador together). We were sitting on the second floor of the church where all of us girls slept (the boys slept on the first and third floors). And we could hear the worship music and clapping through the open door off of the balcony and we were sitting in the dark. All we could do was pray and listen. And before I knew it God had a hold of me. In my mind I could see an image from the Passion of the Christ by Mel Gibson. There is one scene where after His beating and just before He reaches Golgotha, the camera zooms in on Jesus' face and His swollen bloody eye. And then it scans across the crowd and focuses on the people. It was a scene I had only seen once, but one that spoke volumes to me. In that moment, as I sat in the dark, listening to a worship service in a language I didn't understand, with a heart that physically ached and a vision of Christ in my mind, I realized what that feeling in my heart was and what God was trying to reveal to me after having kept it hidden all day (Proverbs 25:2). That was when I realized that Christ had died for everyone. It became real to me in that moment. And as I saw His face, I began to see the faces of everyone I had met and hugged and played with in the last two weeks roll through my mind like a film. And I knew that they were the reason Christ had died. They were the ones that Christ wanted to bring to Him to reside in heaven. And then I realized that I needed to be one of the ones to step and help them realize that. I realized then that I was being pushed towards full-time, cross-cultural ministry.
That night before bed, we had a time with our team to just debrief about the day and talk about what we had learned or experienced. And that night 6 of us girls (we had 15 on the team) stood up and dedicated our lives to full-time ministry. And I was one of them. That's the night my life changed forever. And that's the night that I realized just what it meant to pray Scripture, to seek out God and to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit. It was an experience like none other. But it is one that I will never forget. And that is why Proverbs 25:2 is the verse I return to over and over again when I feel like there is something that I need to be seeking out and pleading with God on. It is a verse that changed my life. And one that I will never forget. What is your verse? What is your story?
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