carolineball - NUEVA ESPERANZA.

PLOT TWIST: This is not a ministry update! It's just something I felt like I needed to share and that someone needed to hear. Enjoy.

Not only is the Lord working the hearts of Guatemalans, He is also working in mine! I often thank God for my upbringing and for my amazing parents raising me in a home that prioritized the Lord. It's easy, however, if you were raised in a Christian home, have been in church your whole life, and have grown up around Christians, to become numb to the beauty of the gospel. It is easy to brush aside messages that you've heard a million times and assume that the Lord has nothing new to give you. It's easy to lose sight of the urgency of the Good News and to take for granted the blessing of growing up in a place where I have no fear of being persecuted for my faith. I've been praying that through this eleven month journey, the Lord will reveal all of these things to me; that I'll have a refined heart after being hard-pressed.

This past week, the Lord has given me this: NEW HOPE! Not the Star Wars kind (although that's awesome too). He has given me a sense of urgency to tell all people that the only place we can find hope is in Jesus. There is no hope in the money you're making, in the job you've secured, in the status you've achieved. Don't get me wrong, you can honor the Lord with all He has blessed you with. But there is no hope for the future in earthly blessings.

Ecclesiastes 3 says this: 'What gain has the worker from his work? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into the human heart...'

I know that my chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever! This I cannot do without hope in my heart; hope that only comes from Him. All my earthly work is meaningless. He has set eternity in my heart so that now I desire to do Heavenly work: spreading the New Hope. It is so easy to get caught up in the day to day. Buying groceries, paying bills, checking things off of our lists. If you still feel empty, stressed, or lonely at the end of the day, maybe it's because you weren't doing Heavenly work. HEAR ME SAY THIS: you do not have to pack up and move to another country to do Heavenly work! Get in the Word outside of Sunday church service, pray constantly, not just before meals, and press in to heart of the Father. YOU'LL FIND ETERNITY THERE. And new hope.