Contentment.

"It is done." Such a powerful statement. How often do we take the time to step back from our busy lives and look at what Jesus did for you and me. He carried the cross after being beaten and hung there to die for our sins. Appreciate that every moment of your life. I know I want to. I fail, I stumble, I walk on my own sometimes. I'm human and so are you, but we should be striving to give God everything. To be in that kind of place we have to be broken, on our knees, completely dependent on Him because His love is so great. This morning I was reading about Cain and the murder of Abel. Genesis 4:7 "If you do what is right, won't you be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it." God was saying this to Cain before he murdered Abel, but how incredibly true is that for each one of us? If we are doing what isn't right, then sin is sitting there just waiting to pounce when we give it the foot in the door that it wants, to take right over our life. Fight! Fight against sin and push it out of your life!

I've been back in Mexico for 25 days now. Crazy to think of how time flies. I had a month away from this place and wanted to be back more than anything. I wanted to be serving God and working for His purposes, not sitting at home doing nothing. Don't get me wrong, break was great! It felt nice to be home and in familiarity, just relaxing. It was nice to see family and friends, whom I hadn't seen in a while. I miss Michigan and the feeling of home. I miss the summer air and hanging out with friends. Though I'm glad to be in a warm place right now and not the terrible winter cold there.

Since being back, we kicked it right into gear. I arrived in the middle of a week long group. So the next day I was building a house! We've been building, having visitors, experiencing cultural days, and working around the dorms. I'm just going to mention a couple cool things we've done since being back. One weekend we went out to the open markets and bought produce, boxed it up, and delivered it to ten families houses. Another time a few of us staff headed out to find a roof to repair randomly. It was tough! We had to pick one first of all. How do you pick out of all the need here!? We had to find one that we could cover with the materials we had, that we could stand on, and who had people home. It took us a couple hours, but we found one and it was so rewarding to complete it and to know the testimony that this lady now has! Another time, we were sent out on a cultural day and told to do things off of this list of "things to do" that we hadn't done before! So we got to check out the cemeteries, a museum, a corporate meeting center, and the shower house that we take all the groups to. It was quite a fun day! We have been memorizing Philippians 4, doing weekly disciplines (last week we couldn't have a mattress--ouch!), and reading a book called "Celebration of Discipline." Overall, it has been great and challenging to be back!

God has been teaching me a lot about being content with where I am at in life. Philippians 4:12-13 says "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through Him who gives me strength." These were two of the verses we had to memorize this week and God has really been laying them on my heart to be content, whatever the circumstances and to trust in God that He is always good. He has also been humbling me through different experiences in the culture and teaching me that we are all His people and there is not one of us better than the other.

Prayer requests:
1. For me to be on my knees in worship of Him.
2. For my heart to break for what breaks His.
3. To be content in any and every circumstance.
4. For opportunities to better serve and love others.