Let the adventure begin...

Do you know that feeling sometimes you get when you hear a distant train whistle? Or when you see an airplane take off? Or maybe just looking at a road map? The smell of the ocean and the site of a ship out to sea. All of which silently calls ... adventure. 

Or, maybe it's just me... but I love adventure. I love traveling. I love learning new things, meeting new people, and exploring what I don't know. I think I'd go anywhere and everywhere in the world if I could only afford to. It is just built into who I am. I don't think I'd ever be happy staying in one plot of soil the rest of my life. Of course, I'd do that too if God asked me to. Thankfully He hasn't, though. 😀 No, instead, He has moved me into an entirely different direction. The unknown. The uncertain. The unforeseen. An adventure. 

Besides having a strong desire to travel, the Lord has also given me a love for English. More specifically, TESL. (Teaching English as a Second Language) I first heard of it back in 2012, when one of my coworkers at the time, shared how she traveled to different foreign countries teaching ESL classes and also giving the gospel to close door countries. Something in my heart was stirred and I never forgot it. I thought about how incredible that would be. Not that I would ever do it myself, or so I thought. Time went on and the desire always stuck. I prayed about it. Then in 2016, I took the first step and enrolled in an online college course. The Bridge TEFL. Through this program, I am certified to teach ESL anywhere in the world, with the exceptions of North America and United Kingdom. And I was surprised to see just how many countries instantly became available to travel to, to teach at, and to possibly share the gospel of Jesus Christ with. This thrills my soul. God could send me anywhere, as long as He went with me. 

In February of last year, our church read aloud a letter from one of the missionaries we support. Brother Kory Mears in Fiji. In this letter, although not extremely detailed, he mentioned the growing need for an ESL school and the desire to, Lord willing, start ESL classes in the coming year. It jumped off the page and landed in my lap. (Not literally 😋) And thus I began to pray in a specific direction. That summer, the Lord allowed for Brother Mears to come visit our church and I was able to share with him what I was thinking and praying about. He seemed excited and agreed to pray with me for the Lord's direction. Since that time, God has given so much peace, answers to many questions, and a lot of wisdom. Lord willing, I am now in the process of getting ready to move to Fiji, where I'll be teaching ESL for the next year.

God has given me an adventure. One I know He intends to use for His amazing glory, His Eternal Kingdom, and my ultimate good. He is so gracious. So patient. And He is faithful to show us His will. And He is good, in enabling us to take it up by faith.

I compiled this blog, http://lyneasletters.blogspot.com/, if you would like to follow it also, mostly to share this adventure with you. To show you where I am at, what I'm learning, what God is doing, and hopefully be an encouragement in Christ. To challenge you, Christian, to trust in a God who cannot fail. To God be the glory for great things He hath done. 

 Blessings in Christ Jesus our Lord,

,

      Lynea

"Thou Mighty Man of Valour"

I love the story of Gideon. (Judges 6-8) 

It is such a picture of God's intention to use us for something, when we don't feel very usable. 

It is an awesome example of how God often sees in us, something we do not see in ourselves. 

Gideon wasn't a mighty man of valour. At least, not to our standards and certainly not to the standards he had for himself. (Judges 6:14-16)

But GOD called him, "thou mighty man of valour" in Judges 6:11-12. Gideon was hiding. He was threshing wheat in the most unsuspecting way possible, because of his enemies the Midianites. He wasn't super courageous. He wasn't super strong. In fact, he gives the Angel of the Lord a list of reasons why he shouldn't be the man to lead in the deliverance of God's people. But, that list didn't matter. Why? Because GOD knew what He was doing and because GOD was the one doing it. God calls us by a "new name" in the book of Revelation. And here, God calls Gideon by what Gideon wouldn't call himself. God calls him to something he wouldn't have felt called or qualified for. And so the Lord does with you and with me. We know who we are. And we know that 'in us is no good thing'. (Romans) How could we do what a holy, all-powerful God would do? We can't. And if we are honest, we know we can't. But what does God say? "Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us." Romans 8:37
He holds the power source and we are promised that power (even a faith that moves mountains!) through Him. Gideon is filled with the Spirit. (v. 33-35) and what happens? He lays out a fleece. (More than one actually.) He obeys God. He tares down his father's idols. He listens to God when the LORD told him to send MOST of the men willing to fight with him away. There were too many for GOD to get the glory. What did Gideon do to win victory? In men's eyes... something very foolish. He blew a trumpet. He lit a lamp. And GOD delivered the people. "The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon". (Judges 7:17-18)

God calls us to step out by faith. Not based on what we see in ourselves. Not limited to what we think we already know how to do. But based on a God who cannot fail. A God who cannot lie. A God who always wins victories.

It is said that courage isn't the absence of fear, but rather the willingness to act in spite of that fear. Gideon was used of the Lord to win the victory against his enemies, because he had ENOUGH FAITH to allow God to OVERCOME his weakness. This is what the Lord want to do through us. To take Him at His word by FAITH and ACT on it.

This really encouraged me recently with some of the things God has asked me to do. Teaching is something I have never done before. But He's opened the door for me to go to Fiji and teach ESL there. I know I'm going to feel nervous to the point of being sick when I stand in front of a room full of people who don't speak the same language as me! Moving to a foreign country for a year without much of a plan past that, the unfamiliarity, the unknowns and lack of the same sense of security I've know all my life to this point, isn't easy for me. I know my own weakness and inability. And so does the LORD. In fact, He knows those weaknesses better than I even do. But God also sees the invisible. Faith. He sees what He can do, if I'll only choose to trust Him and step out on His word. This is a blessing. I might feel weak and doubtful and afraid, but God says "thou mighty man of valour". And I can trust what HE says over what I feel or think. To God be the glory...for great things He HAS done and WILL do... if we would only trust Him by faith.