For Joe.

Unfortunately, our team is feeling a "wee" (Irish people say wee with everything– a wee bit of tea, a wee nap, and my personal favorite **a wee cuddle!) bit under the weather. Lots of sniffles and headaches. The enemy is trying to attack us because the Lord is getting ready to use us in even bigger ways! "They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, "Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed." BUT I prayed, "Now strengthen my hands." …Should a man like me run away?" Nehemiah 6: 9,11. When we are weak, it is when He can use us the most, because we get out of our own way and are required to trust Him fully. We are carrying each other's hands and we will not give up.

In light of feeling sick, yesterday was probably my favorite day in Ireland so far. Our team went to a nursing home in the town of Limerick, and we got to spend a few hours brightening the elderly's day. We did a skit, led some worship, and shared a few of our testimonies. I spent a lot of time with a precious man named Joe. I asked him to tell me about himself, and he told me how he used to be a professional opera singer (Interesting!). He told me about his wife Bridget, and how she was the best woman he had ever known, so gentle and kind to him. Bridget passed away 8 years ago. With tears in his eyes, he told me it seemed like just yesterday. I told him I understood, that my dad passed away 6 years ago and some days I still feel like it was last Wednesday. Joe and I bonded quickly and talked a lot about his family and grandchildren. He has Alzheimers disease, so we had the same conversation many times over and over again. I told Joe that I felt like the Lord had sent me there to relay a message to him, that He wanted to know him personally and that He loved him with an everlasting love. With tears in his eyes, that sweet old man gave me the biggest hug I've ever been given straight out from the arms of his weelchair. Then he asked me where I was from again, and we started the same conversation over again from the beginning.

My relationship with the Lord is a little like my relationship with Joe. I get caught up in the same conversations over and over with Him, falling right back into the sin I've proclaimed to leave behind. Thank goodness that God's work in our lives is a process, not an event… That God is willing to tell me how much He loves me over and over, even if it means having the same conversation again and again with me. A verse that the Lord keeps reminding me of this week is Isaiah 43:1: "I have CALLED you by name, you are Mine." He has called me to be here, summoned me for this purpose, for this trip, with these people, for this town, for such a time as this. I don't have to be perfect, I just have to be willing to be used. God forgive us when we begin to prioritize our own lives over the work of You.

"Anyone who puts his hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for service in the Kingdom of God." Luke 9:62

Today, I am thanking the Lord that He reminds me of His trustworthiness every time I begin to look back. He never grows weary of having the same conversations with me, no matter how many times I need to be reminded that He loves me with an everlasting love. It's no mistake that you are reading this blog today. The Lord wants me to remind you that He has loved you with an everlasting love. He has called you by name; you are His.