He Is Always Faithful
A constant theme since I arrived in Dorchester has been faithfulness. Life in ministry.... not easy. There are times when it seems like even though we have done all we can, prayed continuously, and loved lavishly, there is no change. This has been most evident with some of our youth, many of whom are facing temptations such as using and selling drugs, stealing and reselling stolen goods and responding to being wronged with violence. There have been countless times where other staff and myself have sat and asked "what is going on, and what do we do?".
A few weeks ago, my pastor was preaching on Noah, and the importance of him staying faithful to the heavenly vision. When God told Noah "Hey, so I need you to build this HUGE ark, get two of every animal, and go chill out for 40 days while I rid the earth of all these unrighteous people", I'm sure once or twice Noah went, "Excuse me... come again? You want me to do what exactly?". Noah didn't have the big picture. He was just given a glimpse of the vision from heaven, and because he was a righteous man who chose to follow God in whatever it was he was called to, he listened. Despite how crazy it sounded. Despite not knowing the outcome.
I loved the sermon, and my heart resonated so quickly with the idea of "being faithful to the vision from heaven". I'm a big picture person. I need to know why and how we are going to do something. So when we talked about how Noah didn't have the big picture, yet was still faithful, I could feel my stomach ache. How could he follow without knowing everything? I am learning to be faithful when I don't have the "who, what, when, where, why" and especially when I don't have the "how".
Please pray with me for Christians in my community [including myself] to remain faithful to the heavenly vision for our neighborhood, and to continue to trust in God's eternal faithfulness to our neighbors. We may not see the fruit right away, but we trust His promise that "in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28)
