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The Real Exposure

A little over a month ago, I would have literally cried tears of joy if someone had handed me a cup of coffee from a Keurig with real creamer in it. Today, I am well immersed back into American culture, and I use my Keurig more times a day than I would like to admit.

It was too easy to come straight back into my life before the trip. I forgot what it felt like during the trip to be so thankful for the questionable food I was about to eat. I forgot how to completely rely on the Lord for strength through the weight of exhaustion. I forgot the pure joy that I could feel just from a simple cup of coffee because these are things I take for granted every day.

The combination of walking back into my old life and being isolated from the people with whom I shared these experiences made it seem like I never even left the United States.

It seems like we didn’t really fly across the world to tell people about Jesus. We didn’t really watch the Lord heal people. We didn’t really walk the streets late at night talking to people about Jesus in a city completely divided by Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam. We didn’t really get that close to our team after only living with them a month. We didn’t really change that much.

But

We

Did.

We truly flew across the world to carry this outstanding message of hope and goodness. We not only saw the Lord heal multiple people, but He even chose us to play a role in Him healing them. We did not simply tell people about Jesus, but we spent hours praying that their eyes would be opened to His beauty and glory. We didn’t just get close to our team, we formed some of the best friendships we’ve ever had in our lives, friendships that I will treasure forever. We changed. We experienced God calling us into a deeper intimacy with Him. We got the incredible gift of a first-hand glimpse of the mind-blowing work the Lord is doing in a country where only 9% of the citizens call themselves Christians.

John 10:10 reads, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” I refuse to let the enemy rob me of my memories. He will not dampen the power of God that I witnessed by corrupting my thoughts. The enemy knows that we were exposed to the uncontrollable power of the Holy Spirit, and he hates it because he knows how much trouble he is in if we truly begin to walk in this authority.

American life and the enemy almost swept me away from everything I watched the Lord do this summer. Almost. John 10:10 continues with, “I (Jesus) have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” We must recognize the attack of the enemy and silence it. Because Jesus came so that we can truly walk in freedom. So we can not only have vivid memories of what he showed us overseas, but so we can tell people at home that our God is alive and doing amazing things all over the world. Jesus took us on this trip for a reason, and that reason was not to come back to America as if we had never even left.

1 Timothy 4:14 was on my heart so much at the end of our trip. It reads, “Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you.” I think Jesus knew I would struggle with remembering the trip, so He gave me this verse. Don’t forget what He has shown you. Don’t forget the gift he placed inside your heart before the creation of the world. Don’t forget the power that lives within you, and that he will use you to move mountains for his glory.

This was the trip of a lifetime. I am so humbled that the Lord allows us to experience his surpassing greatness both overseas and in the United States.

Jesus really is as good as they say He is.

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The Real Exposure