Wow it’s crazy to think I have been gone for almost 7 months. I am currently on a plane headed to our 3rd and final country, Ecuador. I am so excited to be going to Ecuador and I’m ready for all that the Lord has in store for us there, but South Africa will be greatly missed. The Lord has been teaching me so much over the last 2 months and because I’m lazy I figured I’d throw it into one blog 🙂
At the beginning of our time in South Africa, I found myself slacking off in my devotions and just not seeking the Lord as I should. I was finally comfortable, yeah I missed everyone at home but I knew God had put me where I needed to be. Then one day I got some hard news and my first instinct was to run to the Lord and seek guidance. that’s great right? Yes it is, but our first instinct whenever, good or bad, should be to run to the Lord. After that it just seemed like one hit after another. The devil really knows how to keep kicking you when you down, but as always the Lord is still faithful. He kept showing me through His word to just wait, be still, to press in and be faithful as I wait. Except I hate waiting and I didn’t know what I was waiting for, to be honest I still don’t, but I do know that where you find the Lord the most is in the stillness and waiting. (1 Kings 19:9-18)
During this period of waiting one thing that the Lord taught me a lot about was radiating His glory. The word radiant was something multiple people had prophesied over me, but I had no clue what that meant. One day someone had a vision of me and when they were describing it to me they used the word radiant and I was like okay seriously Alli you have to figure out what the Lord is trying to tell you about this word. I went upstairs in our mission house and spent 4 hours searching every time the bible mentions radiant, digging into the context, the greek word and it’s meaning, everything I could think of. I ended up more confused than when I started. My beautiful friend Anri was sitting at the table across from me and asked me what was wrong. I began to tell her the whole story, after I finished she said “like Moses and radiant”. This was something others had said to me as well and in my 4 hours of finding every time the bible mentioned this word I missed the one titled “Moses radiant face”(Exodus 34). Through reading the story and further conversation with Anri everything finally made sense. The more time you spend with the Lord the more you radiate Him. The longer you look on Him with an unveiled face the more you start to reflect Him. (2 Corinthians 3:17-18)
My relationship with the Lord should not be just a 30 minute devotions in the morning and then close the bible and go on about my day. The more time I chose to spend with Him, through intentional set aside time and through bringing Him into everything I do throughout the day, the more I will radiate Him.
love y’all and can’t wait to hug y’all soon!
WOW! What a word!
We love you soooo much and cannot wait to see you again!
I hope your time in Equador opens more doors and opportunities for you to see God working! ENJOY IT!!!
wow al, this is so good!! I love this story of Moses and its so cool to see all the things He’s teaching you through that story!! love ya!
Alli, thanks for the reminder that the more I walk and talk with the Lord throughout my days, the more I will reflect Him – to the point of being radiant! No matter our season of waiting in this life, what we’re really all ultimately waiting for is to be forever in the the Presence of our Savior. For followers of Jesus, maybe there will always be a sense of waiting as long as we live on this earth. And that’s not a bad thing since this world is not our home. Keep digging, keep looking to Him. Praying for all of squad H as you transition to Ecuador and begin ministry there.
You definitely glow with the love of God. So proud of you and May 29th cant come soon enough. Love you
You are truly radiant my dear! This WORD was exactly what I needed for today. You are such an inspiration, Alli! We love and miss you so much!
Ali this is good stuff , keep letting God radiate thru you .
thank you ms. chandler! love you!
Once more, powerful words. Thank you for the encouragement. Lots to be said about someone “knocking” once and the Lord answering but even more to be said about a heart that consistently “knocks” in pursuit, then the Lord speaks. Thanks for the reminder to be persistent and patient in the pursuit.