More and more...

I am overwhelmed and deeply humbled...again! My ticket has been paid for in full, and the money for expenses while I am there is continuing to come in. I am so excited about the prospect of taking some extra cash to buy Bibles and give away to those in need while I am there. Those who have given so generously are making the way for that to happen. God is definitely working through His people, I just feel lucky to get to see it again and again. This past Sunday my close friends Chase and Maria' had thier baby girl Ellie. As I was visiting with them and looking at that precious little life, it made me think about all the good things our Father in Heaven has to give us. Amongst so much pain and hurt, there is also so much good. We serve a gracious and compassionate God and I needed to be reminded of that. I had my last class of the semester last night at DTS and my professor told us (as we were studying the book of Judges--yeek! ;) that yes, God demands our holiness and it grieves him when we are not living as He desires BUT that we need to communicate to the world that as much as He is just and full of wrath against sin, He is also merciful and kind and loves in a way we cannot even fathom. In these few weeks leading up to the trip, He is teaching me so much in such a very short time. I am thankful that He is continually revealing who He truly is to me. There are so many false understandings and untrue versions of who He is out there--basically lies (that I used to believe too) about His identity. I believe there is a need for truth. It is sweet freedom to really know and understand in our hearts His grace. I can only hope to bring that to my Rwandan friends, I want them to know the freedom of God's grace and to help show them His face as I have been shown it too.
In His grace,
Melissa

"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "no" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people of his very own, eager to do what is good." ~Titus 2:11-14