Endless Ocean

Endless Ocean

by Jonathan David Helser

Our God really is like an endless ocean and bottomless sea.  There is always more of Him.  There is always more to learn, more ways to grow, more ways to experience His love.

The Lord gives us endless possibilities and options.

Because He is endless it means our dreams can be endless.

The impossible can be done.

Regurgitated Thoughts

At a time I don't remember and by a person I cannot recall, I heard insightful words eerily similar to these-

It is easy to believe God is good.  It is hard to see how God is good in your own life.

It is so much easier for me to see the goodness God has done in someone else's life.  Sometimes I even look at a subject receiving goodness and wonder why they aren't shouting praise to the Lord at that very moment.

And then I realize I am looking a mirror.  I am the subject receiving the goodness, yet I fail to recognize it.  I have become blind to God moving in my own life.  As much as I wish I could say I was the only person suffering from this ailment, I have become quite certain that I am not.

I have several theories as to why I might have become unable to see His goodness in my own life; most of my theories revolve around either pride or insecurity (which in-and-of itself might be pride- who am I to think I am anything beside who the Lord says that I am?)

Regardless of the cause, this is something I have been convicted of lately, and something I am trying to pray through.  I need a shift in thinking (is that a term?) and several head-smacks, I am sure.

As long as there is no time like the present, then today I see the goodness God has given to me in His using me to speak life into my friends.

That is a start. :)

The Thankful Game

  This is the thankful game.  If anyone has taken part in a trip with Adventures in Missions, you have probably played the thankful game at some point in time.  It's when you don't want to be thankful or you feel like you have nothing to be thankful for, but you thank God anyway because He is good!  Since I really need to be thankful right now (and don't feel like I have much to be thankful for), I am going to scream on the internet until I lose my internet voice.

Thank you papa for two jobs

thank you for making me able to pay my bills

thank you for having a plan for me

thank you for knowing my heart's desire

thank you for wanting to give me my heart's desire

thank you for knowing what is best for me

thank you for building a community around me

thank you for the Holy Spirit

and for Holy Spirit worship

thank you for loving me regardless of what I do

or what I don't do

or how I feel about my own self

or how I don't feel about my own self

thank you for not letting me have malaria again

thank you for giving me time to rest

thank you for new tires for my car

thank you not letting my old tires blow up

thank you for not letting me get in car accidents

thank you that you are still molding me into a more wonderful woman of You

thank you that you give me new determination every day

thank you that you are teaching me what beauty is

thank you for the unconditional-ity of your grace

thank you for speaking to me

thank you for guiding me

thank you for never having hurt me

thank you for your promises

thank you for your faithfulness

thank you for your own desire in chasing after my heart

thank you for restlessness

thank you for the desires you place in my heart

thank you for your sacrifice

thank you for never giving up

thank you for being a warrior

thank you for not letting me be defeated

thank you for setting me apart

thank you for making me in your likeness

thank you for technology

thank you for books

thank you for music

and harmonies

and dissonance

thank you for putting songs on the radio that we need to hear when we need to hear them

The list could (and should) keep going on forever.  Maybe I'll play the thankful game via blog again a later.

Home

I can't tell you how excited I am to be home.

How nice it is to have my bed,

my family,

my dogs,

my car.

Everything about home has been amazing and I rest in knowing I am exactly where I am meant to be.

When I came home from Uganda, all I could think about was when I was going on another trip again.

This time, all I can think about is how God is going to use me in my present situation.

What is my present situation?

I was unable to get enough financial aid to cover this semester at North Hennepin Community College, where I have spent the last year working toward my Associate of Science in business management, so I am not attending at this time.

Instead...

I have just gotten hired for two part time jobs, one at a local grocery store and one at a drugstore.

Other than that, I'm still waiting to see what awesome opportunities God has come my way...

I have no idea what they are yet, but I can only guarantee they will be amazing.

As my life back home begins to pick up speed again, I'll keep you filled in on the progression and the events of my adventures.

Welcome (back) to Georgia

"Welcome to Georgia!"  I saw these signs everywhere as I arrived back in the US with the 21 other people I just spent the last two months in Kenya with.

This was my second time in East Africa.

It was not anything like the first time I was there.

My team was completely new.

The ministries were completely new.

The church was completely new.

The entire experience was completely new.

And that's what I needed.

The Lord gave me newness in all areas this summer in order to break expectations I didn't even know I had.

So long I have been living under the rule of expectations, constantly trying to live up to what I think or what others think is required of me.

The Lord asked me to go on this trip not to continue to live under the rule of expectations, but to experience freedom from them and relish in knowing the Lord has made me sufficient.

As long as I do what God has asked of me, I have done enough.

It took me a while to realize this, and not without the wise words of my co-leaders, but I was able to step into this with confidence through the course of the summer.

I ended this last semester in the freedom God has given me, without expectations, and in anticipation of what He has next.  This ending transfers over as the beginning of this upcoming semester, and I cannot wait to see what else the Lord will walk me into if this beginning is already so good.

Not in a Spirit of Fear

The other night my entire bedroom was uproariously laughing at a super lame joke.  There was snorting, honking, gasping for air, and cackles.  Even in our over-tired state there was so much joy filling the room, and I was sure God was laughing with us.

All of a sudden our laughter stopped and every head turned toward the window.  We heard a scary noise.  There was a bit of rustling and some heavy footsteps.  Every heart in the room started racing, eyes wide open in the dark, ears perked to hear what might happen next.  Our spirits froze.

But we have not been created in a spirit of fear.  We are not meant to fear anything.  We are meant to rest in the peace our Lord gives us, knowing that we have been created in His image, knowing that we have authority because of how we were created.

But I couldn't help it.  The Enemy placed some fear around me, and instead of fighting against it, I succumbed to it.  My mind raced through all the horrible possibilities of what might happen.  I was making up a thousand what if circumstances, deciding how to make a run for it rather than stand up and fight.

After what felt like an eternity, I finally managed to choke out the words "in the name of Jesus Christ, there is no fear, and in the name of Jesus Christ, we are protected."  Within five minutes of this declaration, all the girls in my bedroom were sleeping, including myself.  God dropped a divine rest upon my room, and we all woke up feeling more refreshed and joyful than the day before.

When I woke up in the morning, after recounting the terrifying noise, I went to examine the compound to see what it could have been.  Turns out it was the guard dog bumping his food dish around the driveway, and the footsteps was the security guard trying to make the dog stop.

There was nothing to fear afterall.  What amazes me is how we allow the Enemy to take a dog's food dish and turn it into a murderous prison escapee breaking into our room.

All this to say, we ought to stand in the authority and strength we have as children of God, knowing we are protected and can cast out fear in Jesus's name.  If I had remembered to do this in the first place I would have saved a lot of adrenaline from pumping vigorously and unneccesarily through my veins.

New... Again, and Again, and Again

The other day God gave me an incredible revelation:


Just because you are struggling today with something you struggled with one year ago does not mean you are taking steps backwards.

It means He is making you new... again.

He is always making you new.

You were new a year ago.

You were new six months ago.

You were new last month.

And yesterday.

And now you are new today.

God always has something more for us.
A deeper intimacy.
A greater mercy.
Bigger eyes to see.
More words to speak.

God takes us to places where He knows we will be stretched and where He knows we will grow.
Shouldn't we be happy we have struggles?  Even if they are the same as they were a year ago or a decade ago, it means the Lord loves us enough to bring us closer to Him, to make us more like Him, and to make us newer than we were a minute ago.