My heart in my hands

So, I leave in less than three days for another country, where I will be stepping into a completely different culture with a rich, deep and dark history, in an attempt to communicate the love of Jesus Christ through my hands in the form of daily medical clinics in rural towns outside of Iasi. I feel rather unprepared.

As a team, in preparation for the trip, we are going through a personal prayer journal called "ignite3 your prayer life" by Jim and Kaye Johns. They are e3 missionaries that have printed some simple prep materials for the e3 teams. This journal uses the five fingers of our hand to walk through the Lord's prayer, ascribing an WORD to each finger to accompany the principles taught by Jesus in this model prayer from Matthew 6:
"Our Father...(v9)" - our palm, as RELATIONSHIP
"hallowed by Your Name..." - our thumb, as WORSHIP
"Your kingdom come, Your will be done..." - our pointer, as SURRENDER of our lives to Him.
"Give us this day..." our long, as ASK for God to meet our needs.
"Forgive us..." - our ring, as CONFESS our sins daily to Jesus.
"Deliver us from the evil one..." - our small, for PROTECTION.
"for Yours is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever. Amen." - returning to the palm in WORSHIP.

At first, I felt it pretty basic. But as I continue to work through the daily devotions on each page, I am being challenged, humbled, and encouraged to truly evaluate my heart.

- page 5 "As we begin, let us recognize that active service for God is not the same thing as spiritual intimacy. Empowered service...is the result of an intimate walk with God, not the cause."
- page 11 "Name some of the ways you want to yield your mind, heart, will, attitude, dreams and goals to God in surrender." Ephesians 4:22-24
- page 16 "Need to forgive: We are to ask God to forgive us as we forgive others."
Does anyone come to mind? Do you have anger, resentment or grudges? Ask For His grace and strength to forgive unconditionally..." Ephesians 4:26-27,32

And finally, pages 28,29, is where I'm camping out:

- "We must all grow in our understanding of the faithfulness of God to find the persistence and boldness to continue in prayer-sometimes for years-without giving up. Jesus said we must not give up (Luke 18:1)
- "God honors obedience (1 John 3:21-22) The apostle John makes it clear that we cannot separate the lifestyle we live from the prayers we pray. This does not mean we have to live perfect lives, but obedient lives - confessing our sins so that our prayers are not hindered. (James 5:16)


I'm thankful for the time to prepare my heart to serve. I'm excited though apprehensive because of the element of the unknown. I'm looking forward to seeing the light of the Truth of the Gospel Message break through the darkness of a post-communist country to bring New Life in Christ to those who had no hope (Ephesians 2:11-13).

Thanks for your prayers!