Preparing to Serve... Again and Again!

Here I go again, attempting another blog! I started this blog almost a year ago, and named the blog "Preparing to Serve," with the intention of blogging about how God was preparing me to serve on my missions trip to the Dominican Republic, the journey itself, and processing it thereafter. I was tempted to just go ahead and start a whole new blog page, but I sort of like sticking with the title "Preparing to Serve." After all, my goal in this life is to be serving my Lord Jesus Christ, and he's constantly preparing me for new adventures, teaching me new things, and growing me, so it seems appropriate, right?

So as I start blogging again, I don't have any clear direction of what I'll be writing about, but think I'm just going to write about the day to day happenings of life, the joys that the Lord shows and teaches me, and everything in between. It may be a little bit random, but maybe it's more fun that way anyways, right? :) And so it begins...

Last night, I was driving in my car, stuck in some traffic, processing the day, week, etc. I thought about the conversations throughout the week that I had with friends, co-workers, customers, and strangers, and asked myself how I was representing Christ. Was I being a good ambassador to him?

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us."

-2 Corinthians 5: 17-20

I think sometimes, as children of God, we can get frustrated with ourselves. I know that I do-- I know that I will never be perfect, no matter how hard I try. I know that I will make mistakes, that I will experience failures-- that I'll occasionally get irritated with that co-worker who is interrupting me as I try to work, the long traffic light I have to sit through, the person in the Express Lane at the store who clearly has more than 15 items, etc., and in my car last night, I felt weighted by that thought, knowing that my flesh will continue to fail, that I'll continue to have trouble in this world, but finding joy in the truth that my spirit is made new and I must walk according to that.

"In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart: I have overcome the world." -John 16:33

Almost immediately after thinking through that, two songs came on right after each other, with words that I think the Lord was clearly trying to get across to me (sometimes it takes 2 songs instead of 1 for the Lord to get a point across to me, and sometimes a neon sign, too... good think He knows that! haha).

The first song I listened to was "Safe," by Phil Wickham. Here was the highlight:

"These are the hands that built the mountains
the hands that calm the seas
These are the arms that hold the heavens
they are holding you and me

These are hands that healed the leper
Pulled the lame up to their feet
These are the arms that were nailed to a cross
to break our chains and set us free"

Next song was "Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)" by Chris Tomlin:

"My chains are gone
I've been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy rains
Unending love, Amazing grace"

I felt an immediate sense of joy as I was reminded of this truth-- we are SET FREE as new creations, but we were bought with the precious blood of Christ. I know that each day there will be challenges and struggles in being an ambassador of Christ, but I find joy in knowing that I am set free in Christ, and when I fall down, I just gotta get back up again and keep walking faithfully according to God's truth, "preparing to serve" Christ in every action, word, and thought.

How are you being an ambassador to Christ today? What are the challenges you face in that? Know that you are SET FREE! :)