You will see this email full of tidbits from my week. My goal is simple. I hope that from how I live my life, you can find a thing or two that helps you as you try to live a life that matters. I am always trying to do one thing - make Christ-focused decisions in love, work, and life. And this was my week.
The Story of My Week
Someone sent me a message this week that reminded me of the importance of what I do.
She asked if I was doing ok as she hadn't seen me post anything over the last couple of weeks.
I responded that I was doing well and this was intentional.
I had decided to take some time from some of the postings and live videos I do.
It was encouraging to have someone ask.
I am committed to doing what I do even if only it's just one person that listens.
My joy is that I am being faithful to what I have been given by God.
And the highest reward in bringing joy to God by serving people in a way that makes Him happy.
If you want to check out my social media posts & videos, you can follow me on Instagram or Youtube.
As always, I collate everything on my website - tolawrites.com
I look forward to serving you more in the coming days.
I want to see you live a life that matters through the power of your Christian faith.
Things I Learnt
1 - Prepared for the Fight: Something strange happened to me as I work on Sunday.
I felt I heard God tell me not to go to church.
This was a surprise since I didn't hear anything more related to it.
Anyhow, I continued on with my normal morning routine.
As it would turn out, I felt I heard him say again that I could go to church.
I didn't understand this. At a point, I was checking my heart out to be sure that I was not pushing myself to church.
Going to church when the opportunity avails are part of a routine - I wanted to be sure that it was not my routine "working to the answer it was used to."
As it would turn out, church was pretty difficult for me. Distractions kept coming one way or another.
Nothing unusual. Just normal people doing normal things on a normal day. But they were distracting me.
Perhaps due to the "to go" or "not to go" situation in the morning, I was committed to fighting all the distractions.
I told myself that I could not come all the way here and waste my time.
Through it all, I understood one thing - God finds ways to prepare us for what we will face.
My alertness levels were up due to the events of the morning.
The whole thing reaffirms my commitment in God who watches over His children.
2-When Following Jesus Makes no Sense: I was listening to a couple of sermons by Elisabeth Elliot.
In case you are not familiar with her, she was the wife of Jim Elliot, one of the 5 missionaries who were killed by the Waodani tribe in Ecuador as they tried to bring the gospel to them.
After their deaths, Elisabeth said in some of the interviews that happened, the press was somewhat incredulous of why 5 brilliant young men with young families in the prime of their lives went to disturb the Waodani.
The Waodanis were not complaining about the life they were living. Why did the missionaries bother disturbing them?
Elisabeth says it's because we believe in the value of the gospel and its necessity for all people. The value of the gospel makes it worth giving up their lives towards.
And their families believed that too.
Afterward, Elisabeth Elliot and the sister of one of the killed missionaries (Nate Saint), Rachel Saint, made peaceful contact with the Waodani.In October 1958, she went to live with them with her three-year-old daughter Valerie and Rachel. Rachel would go on to spend the rest of her life with the Waodani, passing away in 1994 at the age of 80 and buried with them.
Steve Saint, Nate Saint's son, would start living the Waodani from the age of 10, staying with them during the summers. He was adopted by the tribe and named "Babae". Two of his father's killers who had now been converted baptized him.
Mincaye, one of the men who killed his dad, adopted him as his tribal son. After the Saint family came to live permanently with the Waodani in 1995, Mincaye considered the Saint children his grandchildren.
I had the opportunity of watching Steve & Mincaye during a Steve Curtis Chapman concert. Only the grace of God could have created the sort of bond that they have.
It all began when 5 young men decided that the gospel was worth giving their lives for.
In the words of Jim Elliot, Elisabeth's husband and one of the missionaries "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."
May the gospel always be more valuable to me than anything else.
Postscript
May you see the great value of the gospel and be willing to give up everything so that the name of Jesus will be made famous. May you always be ready to give what you cannot keep to gain what you can not lose. Amen.
Tata,
Tola - The Everyday Disciple
I help Christians like you who want to live intentional lives incorporate their faith into everyday life so they can make Christ focused decisions in all areas of life and truly live to make an impact and make God happy.
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