Checking In

Wow! These past two weeks have been crazy busy, but so good! Sessions have been going well and I'm loving getting to know all the kiddos I've been working with! I even got the chance to go to a play one of my kids was in! Last weekend I needed to take some time to myself... my introverted brain was pretty much fried! But after taking the time I needed I was ready to get back to work! The week went really well! Then this past weekend Alyssa and I helped a friend redo their roof Wednesday and Thursday after work, then Friday and Saturday. We also had a wedding Saturday! Thus where the crazy, but the so good comes from! :)
Through all the crazy, God has still been teaching me through my time here, and it won't surprise you that He's shown Himself to me through... you guessed it, horses! During our horse time we were riding and I saw one of the other interns horse's checking in with her. When a horse does this they are asking questions, they want to know if you are asking anything of them. (You can see the horse I was riding doing the same thing above. Her ears are pointing back at me, showing that she is looking at me and checking in.) As I was watching my friend and her horse, it hit me that that's exactly what I want to do with God. I want to constantly be checking in with Him, to see if He wants me to do anything, say anything, pray about something, or even just say hey to Him and thank Him! I want every day, every hour, every minute, to be dictated by Christ, to be glorifying Christ, to be connected with Christ. John 15:5 says, "I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." I want to do that. I want to abide in Christ at all times. I want to check in with Him and be exactly where He wants me at all times. When I am abiding in Christ, that is when I will bear fruit. That is when I will shine Christ. When a vine is connected to the tree, the tree is what feeds the vines, the tree is what allows the vines to live and to bear fruit. When a vine is detached from the tree, it withers and dies.
When I am checking in with the Spirit, asking Him to guide me and flow through me, I am abiding in Christ. I love this quote by an African pastor named Surprise, "The Holy Spirit is like a great and mighty river. You do not tell the river where to go. No, you do not do this. Instead, you jump into the river... and go where He takes you." I want to jump into that river and go where the Spirit leads! But if I'm not checking in with Him and asking Him for direction and guidance, I'll miss it. "When the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever he hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come." John 16:13. When we check in, we allow the Spirit to speak into our lives and guide us.
I was so blown away by this sweet analogy the Lord used through His creation! Jesus, thank you for teaching us through ponies!

Quote from the African pastor is from Kim's new book "Encountering Our Wild God".