Full Circle

“And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.”

Deuteronomy 8:2

I started this blog because God changed my life in Peru in June of 2014. He used that trip to bring me back to Him, to redeem and restore my life, to guide me back into a sweet relationship with Him.

Since then, I have constantly had to go out of my comfort zone, and it has been so rewarding every time. I have had to speak on stage with no prior warning, approach strangers and make friends with them (I scared a few of them away, sorry!), camp in the Bahamas in pretty horrible camping conditions, jump off a cliff (okay, that was just for fun), teach for the first time ever and in front of a panel of women, and now be part of a flashmob as I get ready to return to Peru in about a week.

This past year has been nothing short of adventurous and full of unknowns. But as I meditate on that verse above, I cannot help but see how God has led me from one situation to the next. I did not know where each step was leading, but I was willing to follow His lead.

As I became part of a discipleship group, I desired to be humbled and tested. I wanted God to reveal what was in my heart. I wanted to become a woman who follows His commandments out of joy, and not out of fear or indifference. And oh did He answer those prayers! The humbling came, the tests, the searching, the exposure of hidden things in my life, and the tears came. SO many tears. Tears of sorrow, tears of repentance, tears of yearning, and tears of joy.

I feel joy because It has been a year of letting God take the lead and seeing the difference it has made in my life. My first blog post starts out:

“If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?” Galatians 2:14

 A hypocrite. That’s what I was.”

But because of HIS never ending love and grace towards me, I can stand here, one year later, and write a blog that starts out:

“…For I have walked in my integrity. I have also trusted in the Lord; I shall not slip. Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; Try my mind and my heart. For Your lovingkindness is before my eyes, And I have walked in Your truth.” Psalm 26:1-3

Your life CAN be redeemed, my friends. He is a builder and repairer. Want to know the best part? He wants to. (Read Ezra and Nehemiah!)

Jeremiah 29:13 says “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”

Just as He has been faithful with me, He is with you, even when you and I are not.

Seek him. Ask him to search you out. Repent from your sins and ask him to redeem you and build you up in Him. But don’t forget to also actually receive His forgiveness and His love. Accept it. Take it. Embrace it.

It is worth it.

#shamelessplug: If you’d like to donate any amount for my trip to help me finish fundraising, you may go here and click on my name, Gaby Herrera. It would mean the world to me, as all I want is to go and be used to transform lives as I myself am radically transformed into a woman who brings glory to God.  

Out of Focus

“And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts…”

Colossians 3:15

PEACE. What is that?

Google says it is “freedom from disturbance; quiet and tranquility.”

The Bible says that Prince of Peace is one of the many names for God (Isaiah 9:6)

First of all, when I think of peace, I picture myself taking a nap on the beach somewhere in the Caribbean or swinging on my hammock at my old apartment staring at the Christmas lights on the patio. Yet I had never realized that peace requires action (even if it’s something as seemingly unrelated as walking to my neighbor’s house to get a drill and suffering to hang the hammock up).

Secondly, (whether it is a good thing, or a bad thing, I don’t know, but) I am not the type of person who enjoys doing nothing. I am constantly running around, making plans, talking to friends, trying to learn new things, discovering new hobbies, etc. I make sure to always be busy. So if I want a moment of peace, I have to purposely make it happen. I have to cancel a plan, I have to say no to a friend (which we all know is one of the hardest things for me to do), I have to miss out on a fun event (which is torture for someone with FOMO. I’m sure it’s a real disease, look it up) I have to get away and go somewhere where I can be alone and be free of disturbances. So what is wrong here?

I’m relying on myself. I’m giving myself temporary peace. My eyes have been out of focus these past few weeks, for they were on me and not on Jesus.

Friends, Jesus is the only provider of true peace. Psalm 23:2-3 says “He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul…” If that doesn’t sound peaceful, I don’t now what does. 

In Mark 6:39-44, Jesus was taking His 12 disciples to a deserted place so they could rest because they had been working really hard, but people saw them and followed Him. Instead of ditching them, He taught them all day, and because it was late and they were hungry, He wanted to give them food “…Then He commanded them to make them all sit down in groups on the green grass … and the two fish He divided among them all. So they all ate and were filled. And they took up twelve baskets full of fragments and of the fish.” [this is psalm 23 in action, people! how awesome?!]

I’m sure a lot of people know the story of the huge storm that was taking place one night, and while His disciples thought they were going to die on that sinking boat, Jesus was sleeping! They woke Him up and Jesus simply told the waves to be still. They obeyed.

Another example is Mark 6:51  “…Then He went up into the boat to them, and the wind ceased.” What caught my attention this time is that Jesus didn’t even say anything for there to be peace on that boat! He went up into the boat and everything was fine. He brought peace with Him because He is peace.

So here is the conclusion I drew from all the mess that’s in my head: Peace DOES require action, but not your own. You see it in all the examples above, God does it for you. He wants to give you peace. He wants you to sit down and hear Him teach and be filled. He wants you to be satisfied in Him. He wants you to be secure in His presence. Let’s take our eyes off ourselves and put them on Him who has power over everything in this universe. Even if you’re an energizer bunny like I am and are always running around, just allow His everlasting peace to take a hold of your life and dwell in that peace, revel in it.

Forty

“To whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining the kingdom of God.”

Acts 1:3

Have you ever asked yourself what was up with the number forty? We see it in scripture over and over again, but have we ever stopped to consider it? If you look in the Old Testament, you see Israel wandered through the desert for forty years before being delivered to the the promised land. Deuteronomy 8:2 reads: “And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.”

As Andrew Murray in his book Humility puts it, “God’s dealings with man are characterized by two stages. There is the time of preparation…then comes the time of fulfillment” (p.98)

I believe those forty days, or years, represent the period of time when God prepares us for the fulfillment of His plan for our lives; it’s a period of testing and revealing the condition of our hearts.

Noah endured the flood for forty days “and the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights” Genesis 7:12, and after this period of testing and a period of patient waiting, God established His covenant with him. Moses was on the mountain for forty days, and then God gave him the Ten commandments “And it came to pass, at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant” Deuteronomy 9:11. Jesus was in the wilderness for forty days “and when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He was hungry” Matthew 4:2, “being tempted for forty days by the devil…” Luke 4:2, and then God allowed Him to start His ministry.

It wasn’t until after this period of preparation- one where God tests and humbles you, where He searches your heart out, where He sees your obedience- that you will be ready to receive the fulfillment of the promise God had made you, in just the same way He fulfilled the promises He made each one of these men

In the same way, I believe the forty days Jesus spent on earth after His resurrection was a period of preparation for His disciples. He was preparing them for what was to come, getting them ready for the fulfillment of His promise of the Holy Spirit, getting them ready for each one of the ministries The Father had prepared for them beforehand.

God will test and humble us, He will search us out and gage our obedience, and He will speak to us. It is only through all this that we are able to be ready to inherit the promises He has made us.