God: The Awe-inspirer

Well, my friends, the time is almost upon me! In just about 14 hours from the time of this post I will be in the air for Africa! I thank God and all of you for allowing me the privilege to have this incredible experience... and I have no doubt it will be incredible! Today I consider myself to be one most blessed... I have felt such love from the people around me and I have been showered with blessings just because I'm taking this journey. I wish all of you could go with me, but you will be with me in my heart and your prayers are the most important part of however God chooses to use me and what He works in my life through this experience. I want to share a Scripture God spoke to me a few days ago. I was reading in Exodus 33, starting with verse 12 where Moses is talking to God about leading the people of Israel and He basically says, You told me to lead these people, but how? and God tells Him, "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." Then Moses says(my paraphrase), Lord, if you don't go with us, don't make us go at all. How else will people know that Your favor is on us, because this is what will set us apart from all the other people on earth. And God tells Moses that He will do what he asks and He reaffirms to him, "you have found favor in My sight, and I know you by name." This passage was special to me years ago when I was preparing to go into a training program to learn to mentor troubled kids. I was scared and feeling that I had nothing to offer to these kids, and my heart echoed Moses' words: God, if You don't go with me and put Your hand on me with power, don't make me do this at all." And I claimed God's promise to Moses as my own. I can't say there were any shining results from that time or that I came home any better qualified for discipling people, but I know God walked me through it and taught me a lot just in the experience and in seeing Him uphold me through my weakness. So I went back to this passage because I was thinking about how it applies to this journey in Rwanda. Again, I wonder: How can I possibly relate to the Rwandan people and what they've been through with the genocide 15 years ago and all the residual consequences and pain of that time? What do I have to offer them? How can I hope to make a difference to anyone I encounter, even as I'm traveling and then during my stay in Rwanda? After I looked at the verses I continued skimming the chapter and turned the page to chapter 34, and these words caught me: verse 10: And the Lord responded: "Look, I am making a covenant. I will perform wonders in the presence of all your people that have never been done in all the earth or in any nation. All the people you live among will see the Lord's work, for what I am doing with you is awe-inspiring." That last phrase went straight to my heart and I sensed the strong assurance of God that what He wants to do in me during this adventure is something that will inspire awe in the people around me. And people will know that it is God's doing. And it's just so unbelievable that God would want to show His glory through me in awesome ways, but isn't that the purpose for which He created each and every one of us? And He desires to transform us into the image of His Son, that we may be true to His original intent. Isn't that wondrous? I just had to share it!
Thank you again to each one of you who are taking this journey with me and will be covering me in prayer as I travel tomorrow. By the way, comments really should work now. I thought I knew how I wanted the settings, but it wasn't working that way, so I changed it and it turned out to be okay. It worked when I tried it, so comment away! Love to all!