We finished training

2 Corinthians 4:1-12

"Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways;we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.  For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.  For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side,but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.  So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you."

We worked on memorizing the above verse during out time at CIT.  It has so many great reminders and points to focus on, not only now as we continue to work towards the goal God has set before us but once we are on the field serving the people in England.  The first line alone helps us keep our focus - we have this ministry because of God's mercy.. there is no reason for us to ever lose heart because we are just servants in His ministry. He is the one who is in control. 

We talked a lot about the fact that God's heart is for the people on the field AND for our growth as we prepare here (and serve there). That is so easy to forget! We can so easily put all our efforts and thoughts into the future, and we can look at the time it takes to get there as wasted.  We rush through waiting periods, trying to get to the finished moment - whether it is marriage, having a baby, getting the new job, or starting a ministry over seas.  We train ourselves to think of the end product - we miss the journey and what God is doing before then. We miss the joy of being engaged, the little moments of pregnancy, and the lessons of the heart that grow us for the field. We focus on everything that has to be done for others that we forget that God also cares about our heart through the whole process.

Working hard in class

We had such a great time learning and being poured into by the facilitators at the campus. I look forward to sharing nuggets of our lessons with you guys over the next few months.  There is so much that we took in and I know it will take a while for us to process it all. 

We passed training (we even have a certificate to prove it 😃) and are making our journey home. Little did we know we would be leaving beautiful mountain view with 75* weather to be driving towards a record setting blizzard. Thankfully we made it to my parents house (in Milwaukee) before the snow hit there. We are now camped out here until we can head home to Green Bay.  

Hope you are staying warm :)   

Me and Baby on a break from class