The Battles in the War...

I know, it's been a while since I have updated the ol' blog.  If I was honest-it's not because I haven't wanted to write what has been happening over here-most of the time it is because I have no idea how to write what I have seen or experienced. Life has lots of little battles that we are engaged in everyday-recently, it has felt like I have been losing a lot of them! Much like running, every training run is a battle, some days you want to just quit or you feel that you will never finish the 'war' or marathon.  You get bogged down by injuries, work, heat and humidity or just plain tiredness!  But as I have learned recently, you just keep at it-always keeping in mind the war has been won..

It is easy here to get caught up in the battles that we loose- preventable needless death, oppression, gender issues, corruption, sickness..those are the bigger battles.  The smaller ones slowly build up-inconsistent power, internet issues, idiots in traffic and the list goes on.  I hate what it does to me-get's me down, angry, physically and emotionally exhausted-if you are not careful to recognize that you are riding on the 'struggle bus' you soon will be bumped off at burnout station...

God knows.  He knows all the battles before we even try to fight them-He has known forever and that's why He gave these words to Paul to write in 2 Corinthians 4:7-9 NLT.

"We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure.  This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not ourselves. We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed.  We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but NEVER abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.  

 I am a fragile clay jar.  It's hard for me to admit sometimes (ok, most times) but I am, and I let myself get crushed and how easily I forget that God, the sovereign Creator not only knows every single battle but He is the one where my power comes from! When I do win the odd one I know it's not because of my strength but the strength of the One who lives in me. 

 Little people that make the battles seem small...

We have won plenty of battles, Children protected and taken out of harmful living situations, springs built, children latrines constructed, women and men learning to read and write, an airstrip dedicated, -those are some of the bigger battles we have won.  

 Flying into Foya on the new airstrip!

 On the ground getting ready for the VP to cut the ribbon

It is a war out there my people and if we are not careful we can let ourselves be defeated by the battles that we loose instead of seeing that in the end with Jesus we have and will win the overall war.  The Spirit inspired words of Paul again tell us later on in 2 Corinthians 4:18 (NLT)

" So we don't look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen.  For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever"

Those are not just words in in old book my people-this is God's promise.  Yes, you win some and loose some-but if we keep at it, get back up dust ourselves off, keep moving forward in the strength of Christ and 'fix our gaze' on that finish line we will see things with a new perspective.  The war has been fought and won-and I am grateful to be on the winning side of that war.