Dear reader,
To be completely honest this has not been an amazing week.
Yet, it has been a very good week.
Allow me to explain. I recently made it home to Mt. Pleasant Iowa, and as soon as I arrived I wanted to talk and share with everyone what God has shown me over this past month or so that I had been away.
Well, as soon as I walked through the door I learned that my roommate was feeling under the weather, which inevitably meant an outbreak of sickness was going to go through the whole Vine household.
I did my best to stay healthy but in the end, it hit me. An overwhelming feeling of fatigue, a constant headache, and a sniffly nose to top it all off.
If you have read my previous letter you’ll know I started to pray more dangerous prayers lately.
“God would you Search me, Break me, and Send me?”
This week God has done a lot of searching my heart, and he very much allowed me to be physically broken this week.
As I am drawing near to the actual launch date of my missionary journey (49 days to be exact.) There are still a lot of details that need to be worked out. Purchases that need to be made, and funds that still need to be raised, and when you feel absolutely down for the count you can’t actually do anything productive.
Trust me. I wanted to. Every time I attempted to I felt even worse.
One thing I’ve started to learn about myself in the recent years of my life is I don’t rest very well. I can’t just sit down when there is work to be done. I don’t want to waste my time, or more importantly God’s time that He’s given me.
Yet, this week I really can tell God wanted me to just be with Him. Rest in Him. Talk with Him. Learn from Him. The list goes on and on. So that’s what I decided to do.
One day I got to focus on fasting and prayer, (an amazing experience actually.) the idea of giving something up to focus more on the concept of “Man shall not live on bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” From Matthew 4:4.
Instead of eating earthly food, I ate up God’s word. I worshiped Him, I listened to the teachings of His word.
This week my weakness has been very-much on display. I’m learning to be very okay with it. Just as Paul writes to the church of Corinth, in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10.
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
As you read this I pray that you are thinking about your weaknesses, whatever they may be. I pray that God breaks you down in a way that you see them more vividly.
Until next time.
-Mitchell
