A very worth sharing e-mail from a single friend that agreed to let me post…
A couple of years back, I was reading this passage:
“3 Then the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: 4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?” 5 Now this is what the LORD Almighty says:”Give careful thought to your ways. 6 You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.” (Haggai 1:3-6) and I totally thought of young adults. I was kinda depressed that my generation was so focused on pleasing itself and being entertained and comforted, and not giving thought to how they might build up the church. So, I found myself praying a very strange prayer. I prayed, “God, would you let me fall in love with a girl who would reject me for missions? I’d be content just to know that there’s such a girl out there still.”
So it turns out, this prayer was answered in just that way. And yet, this “rejection” shakes not my friend’s faith.
His response —
Please continue to pray for me, that I’d just seek God out all the more. I’ve been realizing that I put a lot of my hope in temporal things, things that I hope to happen in this lifetime, and “if only…” can turn so quickly into “only if…” God’s been reminding me through this that I need to put my hope in Christ. Please pray also that I would continue to be there for her to encourage and support her as God calls her to missions, not out of a selfish hope that she’d change her mind, but out of a selfless hope for God to be glorified through her, that my friendship towards her would look like this following passage:
“9Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.” (Romans 12:9-13)
