Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Come Away With Me

A new Jesus Culture song called, "Come Away," has given words to something God reminded me of in a recent mission trip with Back2Back to our new site in Cancun. During that week, I was reminded again of what God has done to transform who I am in the past 5 years so that He can use me to minister to orphans everyday. Everyday of my life is an adventure. Ministry to orphans can be emotionally draining and physically exhausting in the heat of Monterrey but my heart has never felt fuller. I have never felt more reaffirmed in my calling than in these past few weeks. Right now - right here - this - this is exactly what God wants me to be doing. But when God first asked me to open up my heart to him and to let him in - I didn't want to. I was afraid. When God first started telling me to move to Mexico to work with Back2Back I thought it was crazy. It seemed too crazy to be the right thing to do so I avoided it for months. Raising support to move here was scary and I didn't want to do it.

During the Cancun trip, I told our group an illustration of my spiritual life. In college, I went skydiving once with some people that I had met the week before. I got a group discount to go skydiving with about 20 guys from Kappa Sig and 2 girls who invited me to join them. What was I thinking? On top of that - I had just met these girls that week.

the week I met Lindsey and Jess in 2006 - right before our big jump

When it came time to jump out of the plane with the instructor dude strapped to my back - I had both of my hands securely holding onto the plane. He told me to let go of each hand - one at a time- and then he'd push us out. I stood there looking out the open plane door for a good minute yelling at the guy and arguing with him and saying that I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't let go. Well eventually I did and it was one of the most insane experiences of my life. I'm glad I jumped. But I couldn't have jumped out of the plane if I didn't let go completely. Deciding to say, "YES!!" to God and follow Christ with my life and not just one hour of my Sunday mornings felt like jumping out of a plane all over again. I am so so so glad and thankful that I did jump with the Lord. I don't think we can fully know what God has for us unless we jump with him. To give the Lord your life - your career - your bank account - your free time - your stuff - your car - your friends --- it's scary. It can feel like jumping out of a plane. Will your parachute even work? Will you land? That's the adventure God has for you. Bible tells us that God has wonderful plans for our lives. I believe that for each of us - that involves our decision with whether or not we even want that plan - God's plan for our lives. But in order to have God's plan for your life - you gotta jump out of the plane because you can't have 2 lives - your plans and also God's plans all at the same time. They are different plans. So pick one. Go all in.

listen to the Jesus Culture song by clicking on this link ----> Come Away

The song says - "Come away with me, Come away with me. It's never too late, it's not too late. It's not too late for you. I have a plan for you. I have a plan for you. It's gonna be wild. It's gonna be great. It's gonna be full of me. Open up your heart and let me in."

Amen

1 comment:

Heidiferous said...

Caroline,
Hi- this is one of those totally random God things- I just heard that song by Jesus Culture this week and have been playing it nonstop on my ipod for the past two days- My name is Heidi Coberly. I work at a children's home in Houston, Texas and just been really burdened for the past couple of months for something more. My heart is for kids- but after three years at this home, I still crave something more. Could I talk to you about your experiences at Back2Back? My email is:heidi.coberly@gmail.com
Thanks! I hope to hear from you.
Heidi