The day I died

Morbid title, I know. But it caught your attention, didn't it?This verse jumped out at me yesterday: Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For YOU DIED, and your life is HIDDEN WITH CHRIST in God (Colossians 3:2,3). I died? It's not really something that you hear on Sunday mornings too often. It struck me because God has been teaching me so much about surrender, and repentance, and other stuff that is really not very fun. But dying? Do I really have to go that far? Isn't that a bit extreme? But if I am completely surrendered to my Jesus, if I let go of my selfish desires, then I have died to self. This is my new passion...for my life to be so hidden in Christ, that people no longer see Sarah, but they see only Jesus. When I go to Peru, are people going to see a selfish, spoiled white girl, or will they see Jesus?

This is a picture of the Mark Center, where my days are numbered. It has been a wonderful home for 2 months, and I will remember it as a place where I had fun, made friends, learned tons, and met God. On Saturday night we have a comissioning service, and then we leave at 1 a.m. on Sunday morning to drive to Seattle and catch a 6 a.m. flight. Lovely. And then, I will be back in my sweet Peru. It's hard to believe that I'm really going back for a 3rd time, and will be there in less than a week. I can hardly wait!!!!!!!!

I hope you are all well, wherever you might be reading this. Your prayers, friendship, and encouragement mean so much to me. My challenge for you today is have you died? Is your life hidden in the shadow of Jesus?

Countdown

Well, I have been scolded for not keeping my blog updated, so here's to a renewed effort.

12 more days and I will be flying into Peru. I must confess that I was getting cold feet for a while, but they're gone now. I'm ready. I was born ready.

OK, so maybe I wasn't born ready, but God in His grace has prepared me for this for 11 years. (Yeah, I'm a bit of a slow learner.) I have flashes of memories of Peru, and my heart resounds within me...this is what I was made for...to walk with Jesus in other countries, spreading His love in whatever way I can. I look forward to this longer mission, where I can actually form relationships.

Training is incredible. By taking the time to step away from my life at home and just be with God, I think I've learned in 2 months what normally would have taken me several years. God challenges me, I try to resist Him, His love wins me every time, and I learn to walk with Him more. I'm trying to take out that second step and just get to the good stuff though!

My invitation to you today is to let God speak to you. What is He saying to you today? And how will you respond?

Teammates

Some of my teammates and some bonding time. We'll be together in a foreign country for 3 1/2 months. We'll laugh and cry together. We'll encourage each other, and fight sometimes, I'm sure. So while we're here, we are trying to connect as much as possible. As you can see, there is a beautiful rocking giraffe here, "Percy", lovingly handmade and something of a Mark Center legend. And even though we are adults and soon-to-be missionaries, we enjoy playing and riding on him. Unfortunately, we found out the hard way that he was not made for 3 adults...craaaaack...and I am afraid that my team will go down in history as the ones who broke Percy. It was sad. Quite sad. Not to mention embarrassing.

Other than that incident, though, training is going great and I'm loving it here. That's all for now.