Heather Swik - Atlanta Team - 3/2/15 Post

Hi Everyone!

Thankful to kick off the blog with Tina today!

Today I wrote my weekly post for Helpers' Training regarding Mei Lan's beautifully written Quiet Time post on 2/28/15 so this is a mixture of my old and new thoughts and how it all applies to Missions.  Feel free to read if you have the time.  :)

This past Saturday my friend crashed in my apartment as we spent the night studying and enjoying fellowship together.  The next morning as I was getting ready for Church I invited her and encouraged her to come along.  She is one of two really close friends that I have who are both Christian with beautiful hearts yet shy away from attending Church.  For months, I have invited each of them frequently to Church and GCC events but the other day I took the opportunity to talk to her and really listen as she expressed her hesitation.  I realized there is a palpable fear for many nonbelievers or Christians who believe but struggle to walk with Christ.  A fear of giving their lives over, of what their friends will think, of failure, of facing past regrets and mistakes, and knowing that living a Christian life means changing their lives AND hearts.  Often, when someone isn't ready to change they shy away or run.  Taking that initial leap of faith is not easy. 

God also uses believers who are strong and devoted to growing in their faith to help grow others but our hearts and motives must be in the right place.  It's so encouraging to me to be able to experience a journey with the nonbelievers in my life and I gladly commit.  Many people did the same for me along my path to Christ and I know it is meaningful to nonbelievers!  That also means doing a lot of work on my own heart in a continual process.  Just a side note, when God places a nonbeliever on our heart, it is a blessing not a burden.  I think this is really applicable to Missions and the discussion of having a humble heart that motivates us to follow God's will, which leads into the Quiet Time for today.

The Quiet Time for 3/2/15 is about where our hearts are and how that affects our walk with Christ.  Our actions follow where our heart is but sometimes prideful or self-righteous hearts use works to fool.  I think a key point in the devotional is God answers prayers but our hearts must be in the right place if we want to see good things.  Otherwise, God may answer like he did with Saul, but in a means that will provide eventual discipline intended to lead us back to Him.

These two particular Quiet Times and a recent conversation with an older sister at GCC, all remind me that no matter what God doesn't make mistakes, and nothing we do surprises Him.  Our true hearts and underlying motives don't surprise him either.  Whatever our past, God is a redeemer and He works with and through us to help others.  Something that proved to be an aha moment for me was when someone told me, what if what looks to us like a nonbeliever in a dire situation, who is running from God and regressing, is actually a situation where God is building up a testimony, bringing that person back to Him?  Wow!  I'd never really thought of it quite like that before.

In summary, our hearts and actions are closely linked and it's not always easy to make changes but we must always keep accountable before God.

Heather Swik