Fullness
Dear Friends,
If I had to choose a word to describe my past two weeks here in Kenya, it would definitely be FULL! Not full as in I’ve been super busy - but full as in my heart has felt so full of God’s presence, joy, and peace. I’ve truly felt like a vessel “filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19). And let me say that it’s all a testimony to God and His working in my heart over the past year- and nothing to do with me. God has been speaking to me about fullness for over a year now and has been leading me on a journey towards it, but it seems like my heart is just finally beginning to truly experience and enter the tip of all that He’s wanted for me.
A friend sent me an e-mail as I arrived to Kenya saying that as she was praying for me, she saw a picture of a soaking wet sponge that just dripped blessing wherever it went. She saw that as I soak in the Holy Spirit, he is going to make me a dripping sponge that drips blessing wherever I walk because of HIS spirit in me instead of my own striving. I found so much freedom in her words to know that I simply get to soak in God and His amazing presence and He will do the rest. For the first time ever, I don’t feel pressure to squeeze as much “ministry” as possible into my days here. Normally I race around the village trying to visit as many people as possible, hug as many kids as possible, write as many e-mails as possible, etc. But this time is so different. I have such a peace in simply “being” here. If I spend a whole afternoon reading and journaling by the river, great! If I only visit one person during the day, but go overflowing with God’s love, great! I think I’m beginning to step into the quality of life and fullness that God created us for.
And the amazing thing is that I’m learning that we’re far more effective in this peaceful, full, abiding state than when we try to race around and “do” a bunch of things for Him each day. One of my Kenyan friends approached me the other day and said, “Kierra, when I look at you, I see hope. I see joy, peace, and hope. Something is different about you.” I asked him if I seemed different than last year and he replied, ‘Yes. Last year you seemed…somehow stressed.” Wow, I couldn’t believe how transparent my striving and stress were to him and others in this community. Thank you Lord for leading me down this journey towards fullness in you and for the new reflection of you and life in Christ that you are allowing others to see in me. This world doesn’t need more striving, stressed-out, workaholic Christians. It simply longs to see in us a reflection of the hope, freedom, peace, and joy that only God can give.
So although there’s been “ministry” that I’ve been blessed to be a part of these past two weeks, I didn’t feel like that’s what you need to hear today. I think God simply wants to invite you wherever you are to continue to “soak” in Him that He might make you an overflowing sponge that drips his presence and life wherever you go. More and more, I’m realizing that life isn’t about doing things for Him, but simply abiding in Him and allowing Him to fill us to overflowing so that He can touch others with and through us. I was planning to attach some pictures and share some stories of what God’s doing in this place, but as I tried to load the pictures onto my computer, I accidently erased them all. Yeah, big bummer! But then I felt this gentle nudging from the Holy Spirit, “Kierra, your supporters and friends don’t need to see a bunch of pictures of you doing all these “great” things in Africa. They don’t need to see you at all. They need to see me. So instead of pointing them to you and the supposed “greatness of Kierra,” will you simply point them to me? For in me is life and I am longing to overflow them with life as I am overflowing you right now). So there you have it – the King of Kings is inviting you into His presence and I pray you respond and experience the joy of His inflowing Spirit and life! (And don’t feel bad if your experience isn’t immediate. It’s a journey that takes time – but I can’t think of any journey I’d rather be on!)
Ok, one final thing. We are hosting our annual youth camp next week and would love your participation! First of all, will you please pray? We’ll have between 200-300 youth (ages 15-30) staying at our Training Center for 5 days for a time of teaching, worship, games, and fellowship. This is a hurting generation in this country – and one that seems to often be neglected. Most of the post-election violence at the beginning of the year was led and caused by groups of youth – youth who are angry, fed up with injustice, hurting, and longing for change. I’m sure that many who attend our camp will be ones who were caught up in the violence. Will you please pray that God meets them in a powerful way? Pray for the teachings, the conversations, the worship times, and for divine God encounters. Pray that each heart hears from his maker and the lover of his soul. Pray for unity and forgiveness and reconciliation and reversal of lies and strongholds of the enemy. Pray for the Holy Spirit to fill and love on these youth. Also, we still need to raise $2000 to cover the cost of this camp. Our normal funding for the camp didn’t come through this year, but we are still holding it in faith that God will bring in the resources. Though we require each youth to pay a small amount to attend, the amount they can afford is nothing compared to the cost of running the camp all week. If you’re interested in contributing towards the camp and towards these youth who are the future of this country, you can send a check to the ELI office at PO Box 67 Upland, CA 91785. Just write “Youth Camp” in the memo section. Thanks so much!
If I had to choose a word to describe my past two weeks here in Kenya, it would definitely be FULL! Not full as in I’ve been super busy - but full as in my heart has felt so full of God’s presence, joy, and peace. I’ve truly felt like a vessel “filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19). And let me say that it’s all a testimony to God and His working in my heart over the past year- and nothing to do with me. God has been speaking to me about fullness for over a year now and has been leading me on a journey towards it, but it seems like my heart is just finally beginning to truly experience and enter the tip of all that He’s wanted for me.
A friend sent me an e-mail as I arrived to Kenya saying that as she was praying for me, she saw a picture of a soaking wet sponge that just dripped blessing wherever it went. She saw that as I soak in the Holy Spirit, he is going to make me a dripping sponge that drips blessing wherever I walk because of HIS spirit in me instead of my own striving. I found so much freedom in her words to know that I simply get to soak in God and His amazing presence and He will do the rest. For the first time ever, I don’t feel pressure to squeeze as much “ministry” as possible into my days here. Normally I race around the village trying to visit as many people as possible, hug as many kids as possible, write as many e-mails as possible, etc. But this time is so different. I have such a peace in simply “being” here. If I spend a whole afternoon reading and journaling by the river, great! If I only visit one person during the day, but go overflowing with God’s love, great! I think I’m beginning to step into the quality of life and fullness that God created us for.
And the amazing thing is that I’m learning that we’re far more effective in this peaceful, full, abiding state than when we try to race around and “do” a bunch of things for Him each day. One of my Kenyan friends approached me the other day and said, “Kierra, when I look at you, I see hope. I see joy, peace, and hope. Something is different about you.” I asked him if I seemed different than last year and he replied, ‘Yes. Last year you seemed…somehow stressed.” Wow, I couldn’t believe how transparent my striving and stress were to him and others in this community. Thank you Lord for leading me down this journey towards fullness in you and for the new reflection of you and life in Christ that you are allowing others to see in me. This world doesn’t need more striving, stressed-out, workaholic Christians. It simply longs to see in us a reflection of the hope, freedom, peace, and joy that only God can give.
So although there’s been “ministry” that I’ve been blessed to be a part of these past two weeks, I didn’t feel like that’s what you need to hear today. I think God simply wants to invite you wherever you are to continue to “soak” in Him that He might make you an overflowing sponge that drips his presence and life wherever you go. More and more, I’m realizing that life isn’t about doing things for Him, but simply abiding in Him and allowing Him to fill us to overflowing so that He can touch others with and through us. I was planning to attach some pictures and share some stories of what God’s doing in this place, but as I tried to load the pictures onto my computer, I accidently erased them all. Yeah, big bummer! But then I felt this gentle nudging from the Holy Spirit, “Kierra, your supporters and friends don’t need to see a bunch of pictures of you doing all these “great” things in Africa. They don’t need to see you at all. They need to see me. So instead of pointing them to you and the supposed “greatness of Kierra,” will you simply point them to me? For in me is life and I am longing to overflow them with life as I am overflowing you right now). So there you have it – the King of Kings is inviting you into His presence and I pray you respond and experience the joy of His inflowing Spirit and life! (And don’t feel bad if your experience isn’t immediate. It’s a journey that takes time – but I can’t think of any journey I’d rather be on!)
Ok, one final thing. We are hosting our annual youth camp next week and would love your participation! First of all, will you please pray? We’ll have between 200-300 youth (ages 15-30) staying at our Training Center for 5 days for a time of teaching, worship, games, and fellowship. This is a hurting generation in this country – and one that seems to often be neglected. Most of the post-election violence at the beginning of the year was led and caused by groups of youth – youth who are angry, fed up with injustice, hurting, and longing for change. I’m sure that many who attend our camp will be ones who were caught up in the violence. Will you please pray that God meets them in a powerful way? Pray for the teachings, the conversations, the worship times, and for divine God encounters. Pray that each heart hears from his maker and the lover of his soul. Pray for unity and forgiveness and reconciliation and reversal of lies and strongholds of the enemy. Pray for the Holy Spirit to fill and love on these youth. Also, we still need to raise $2000 to cover the cost of this camp. Our normal funding for the camp didn’t come through this year, but we are still holding it in faith that God will bring in the resources. Though we require each youth to pay a small amount to attend, the amount they can afford is nothing compared to the cost of running the camp all week. If you’re interested in contributing towards the camp and towards these youth who are the future of this country, you can send a check to the ELI office at PO Box 67 Upland, CA 91785. Just write “Youth Camp” in the memo section. Thanks so much!
posted by Kierra Higgins at 10:41 AM
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