I think the phrase that best sums up our experiences this week has to be "God is SO awesome!" Not that we couldn't say that about any week, but I feel like we used that phrase so many times the past 6 days. Every single day the past week was absolutely filled with God's amazing provision and care for us. Since there's so much to tell I think I'm just going to blog about what stuck out to me the most personally… and we'll see how long this gets!
So when we arrived in Christchurch on Monday morning we had no idea where we were going to be staying that night or any other night that week. I'm not going into detail because I know the others are, but basically we were forced to rely on God to provide a place for us to stay every night and he SO did. He provided for us in ways that were so obviously his hand at work that we couldn't even begin to pretend it was coincidence, and that was just so amazing to see. It was just awesome to realize that God really does have complete control of what happens and he really, really cares about us, even the little things.
Another thing that was so cool about the trip was how much it was totally filled with prayer. We spent heaps of time lifting up praises, requests, blessings, and thanks to Jesus and it's crazy how much of a difference it made. Even today, our first day back home, we went to a healing service for church and were able to pray for healing for so many people and to see dozens of people healed right in church! The power of prayer in Jesus' name is so strong, and it's sweet what will happen when the Holy Spirit is welcomed and present in the room and there's no space for the devil.
The other lesson I think I learned the most this week is how unfathomable the love of God really is. He loves us. He LOVES us, and like a Father, he cares enough to make our day with small things, like free hot meals and clear skies to be able to see the stars on the ferry ride home. He loves us and doesn't want to see us struggle or suffer, and he's always always always available for us to call on him whenever we need him. We can't even realize how much he loves us… and if we're blown away by the amount of love that we do see, I can't even imagine what it would be like to know the full extent of his love. How awesome is that? …That was just a random thought I had at the beginning of the week, but after seeing his constant care and provision for us this week and how he always came through when we needed him, I just can't stop thinking about it.
So yeah.
God is SO awesome.
