Christmas, Ignite, and Reflections. Oh my!

I know most bloggers, missionaries, and people in general would do some kind of "year in review" type post this time of year, but I simply don't want to.  Also, you can always go back and read the last year's worth of posts if you want to.  So instead I am just going to talk about the last month and the future a bit.

Christmas

As many of you know, I. Love. Christmas.  To the point of listening to Christmas music from November 1st all the way to Valentines day.  However this year I was not in the Christmas spirit.  A lot of things have changed in the last year, and not having a designated vacation time, as it was my first time not being a student over the holidays, combined with Satan's attacks of loneliness and isolation really hindered my happiness.  Despite these circumstances, I had the most perfect Christmas day.  I started the morning reading the story of Jesus coming to earth as a vulnerable infant by the light of the tree as I sipped my morning coffee.  As I talked about in my last post, I was just struck by the bleakness of the world Christ was born into, and how unexpected and seemingly unnoticed his birth really was to the rest of the world.  As the day continued and my siblings and their respective families rolled in I cooked most of the day and just enjoyed the company.  It has become somewhat of a tradition for me to pray for our meal and I am so grateful for the opportunity.  I have been praying a lot for opportunities to share my faith with some of my family members and simply being able to pray in front of them and share the gospel in this way is a huge answer to prayer.

Christmas Morning

The Seybert mantle.  One of my favorite Christmas scenes.

 

Ignite (reflections)

Every two years Collegiate has a conference called Ignite.  This year the theme was "Piercing the Darkness."   It was in Indianapolis and I had the opportunity to attend the conference for the first time this year.  It was great to be surrounded by mission minded people and know that there are other ministries all around the country that are reaching out to college students to further the Kingdom.  There were even people who rode a bus all the way from Texas!  There were a few things that really stood out to me from the conference: one was a talk by Neil Kring, a pastor at another Collegiate church, and a talk given by Kyle Chase who is on staff at New Life here in Ann Arbor.

In Neil's talk he focused on shame and the dark areas in our personal lives.  This talk helped me to realize all the areas that I feel shame and how shame is never good or helpful.  He made a statement that was so simple and yet so profound: "you are OK."  One of my biggest struggles is feeling like I have to perform to earn people's approval and worst of all God's approval.  Like somehow if I don't measure up to a certain standard there is no way I can be loved, but what Neil expressed is quite the contrary.  God doesn't want us to DO anything to prove ourselves.  He says, "you are OK right where you are and exactly who you are right now."  By believing anything else we are saying that the cross is not enough, that somehow we need to do more that what was done for us by Christ on the cross.  Is that freeing for you?  It is for me!  I am free to be exactly who I am right now because God sees me as not just acceptable, but he delights in the person that I am.  I seriously tell myself that I am OK pretty much every day now.

What stuck out to me in Kyle's talk was this statement, "God is willing to let you suffer so that his power might be displayed in your life."  That hurts.  However as Kyle continues to explain in his talk, this does not mean that God causes your suffering, but it is so often that his power is best displayed in our weakness.  In a strange way this is comforting to me because it means that God does not allow us to go on suffering for no reason, but that he sees us in our suffering and he is in it with us.  It doesn't mean that it is easy or that it will end soon, or even in this life, but that if we turn to him and depend on him we will not suffer in vain.  I want to live a life where I am willing to suffer for the gospel.  The apostle Paul goes as far as to say "I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church, (Colossians 1:24 NLT)."  Rather than running away and always trying to protect ourselves from pain and suffering, how much greater is it to walk through the pain with Christ?

New Life and La Libertad News

In La Libertad I have exciting and concerning news.  Firstly, my dear friends Giovanni and Susana are expecting a baby!  Yay!  They are so excited and Susana seems to be doing really well.  So you can praise God for answered prayer as well as pray for a continued healthy pregnancy.  On a more concerning note, last Sunday a volcano in San Miguel erupted.  The eruption was only ash, no lava, but still can have some potentially concerning effects.  Besides the obvious concern of ash in the air damaging people lungs and covering the ground, if it rains it can turn to basically concrete and damage crops.  El Salvador is already getting hit by the coffee rust fungus that is decimating Central Americas vital coffee crops so the last thing they need is more crops damaged or potentially destroyed.  Please pray that it does not rain, and that the volcano does not erupt any more.  You can click here for pictures and more info on last week's eruption.

The New Life front is quiet since the students are not back yet, but I do have a cool ministry story.  My dad sent me an email asking me to reach out to a girl that is the daughter of one of his friends.  She has had a rough time feeling like she belongs at U of M and has seriously considered transferring out.  Her dad actually called me yesterday to see if I would be willing to meet up and I have plans to meet up with her next week.  The cool part is that she lives in the dorms that are in the area where our New Life Team is focusing and I really feel like God is providing me with an opportunity to befriend someone and share the gospel.  I have been praying for opportunities to share Christ and I am blown away at God's provision.  Another quick note on God's provision that is awesome: while I was on vacation God brought me three new ministry partners and 4% in new giving.  

God has brought me so much to be grateful for in the past year, and I know He will do the same in 2014.  Thank you so much to all of you, my ministry partners, prayer partners, and support system that have helped to provide the means, the courage, and the faith to do what God is asking of me.  My biggest prayer request for this year is to know myself better and understand how He has made me so that I can better glorify him with my life.  Please let me know if you have any goals that I can be praying for this year!

Standing in Awe of new beginnings,

Sigourney