le voyage de l'amour

only thing in the way is the atlantic ocean. by the grace of god this is gonna happen. praise you god.

so. secretly, i’ve been lying in the bed of anxiety this week.  

anxious about this trip, financially. 

just received word that i am half way funded. 

3 out of about 24 folks have given. 

this means that if everyone gives, there will be enough money to care for the needs of some of group. this is such a blessing. praise god. 

wow. god. wow. god. wow. god. 

the lord has been so faithful thus far. in everything. i sent out my letters & a particular recipient(i don’t know who) contacted the group leader and explained how thankful they were for the letter & also commented on the formation of the letter and it was more encouraging than anything. i’m beyond thankful. 

growing up in my faith, purity was the most popular game. 

here’s the rules: 

one.) set a goal to see who could go the longest without lusting or deleting their history. 

two.) appear to care for others about their struggle with sexually immoral sin. 

three.) never accomplish righteousness.

this may all seem confusing, but this is the way i saw it. 

if i didn’t physically commit to sinning sexually, i was perfect. i was having a good day. 

i firmly believed that if i looked at porn or committed a sexually immoral sin, i couldn’t be righteous before the lord. 

what a mess i was in to believe that. satan won that particular battle 3-4x a week. i never really rested in the grace of god. 

read- 

galatians 2:21, for i do not nullify the grace of god, for if righteousness were through the law, then christ died for nothing. 

so i can’t achieve righteousness thru my own works, so i’ll just try really hard not to do bad things so i can be righteous, right? 

colossians 2:23, these have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. 

ok, a big word. asceticism-the doctrine that through RENUNCIATION of worldly pleasures it is possible to achieve a high spiritual or intellectual state.

how many times do we do this? we buy the purity ring. we download the software on our computer to inhabit us from looking at porn. we run over our iphone. we even memorize scripture that is written about sexually immoral sin. 

these things don’t stop the indulgence of the flesh. they just sound good. 

what does stop the indulgence of the flesh? 

james 4:7, submit yourselves, therefore to god. resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 

this is meant to be taken literally. we have to physically submit ourselves to god and physically resist the devil. ignorance is not a form of resisting the devil. 

going back to the game-, it’s not about who can go the longest or who can go the shortest amount of time without sinning.

it’s about being a new creation. galatians 6:15. 

i’m being tempted right now as i write this to get a big head about it. i’m remembering now that i’m an unworthy servant (luke 17) and that i shouldn’t boast about anything other than the cross(galatians 6:14)

thanks for letting me share. to the 1 person that follows me. :) 

sending out 5 letters today! 

passion 20duzen. learning patience. waiting in lines, losing food, remembering james 1. as troubles increase, so does grace and perseverance.

Sometimes God has to let your dream die so that His vision for you can come alive.

Hebrews is wrecking my life. In a good way.

gave the first letter out today. oddly nervous.