He Doesn't Need Us, He Wants Us!

Well, it's been a month since I posted a blog so it's probably about time I update you all on what has been happening in our lives. As many of you know, I had the incredible opportunity to serve in Zimbabwe last month. With travel, I ended up being gone almost three weeks, and then my wife and I had a quick trip to Denver for K-Love's concert event at Red Rocks Aphitheatre. So the last month has been extremely busy. But it is good to finally be home..... for a few days. My wife and I travel to Hawaii next week for a time of exploration and relaxation on the big island for her baby moon before hibernating until spring. So that spills some big news for our readers, Tanja is about 20 weeks pregnant, and everything has been going extremely well. In fact for the first time the doctor never seems to have a problem finding her (yes, it's a girl!) heartbeat at all, which is rare for us. So please pray for our growing child and for Tanja during the second half of this pregnancy.

There is so much I could talk about in regard to my trip to Zimbabwe. We held revivials in Cheredzi and Che Che Che. We got to spend a little time at Central Africa Christian College. We threw VBS' at primary schools throughout the region. We held a homecoming for past students at the Cheredzi Christian Children's Village. We got to spend time at the new Living Proof High School at Pemberton Station. We had canclled flights on the way home and got stuck enjoying Cape Town, South Africa for a day. There was so much. The highlight for me was beginning a relationship with the student at the village that Tanja and I are virtually adopting. His name is Tadiwa and he is a higher risk situation. His father had similarities with my past life, and I knew instantly that He was the one for us! I got to take him clothes shopping, and get him some new shoes. We got to enjoy some ice cream, and hang out a few different times. To see him truly overcome with joy was incredible. I was able to communicate to him that he is not just loved by us, but by a loving God as well, which is a message being communicated to him at the Village as well. I already can't wait to go back next year and spend some more time with him and the other students. But I could talk about the Zimbabwe trip for days. If you guys want a full recap of the trip, comment on this post and let me know! I would love reliving those couple weeks while writing it!

But what I want to share today is something I came across last night that so closely aligns with one of my main focuses right now. I was watching an Amazon Prime documentary on Casting Crowns and their lead singer, Mark Hall, kept mentioning something that he holds closely to his heart, and that is the thought that God doesn't Need us, He WANTS us! One thing I've learned over the last couple of years is that God LOVES to love us. He enjoys loving us. He loves to bless us. He loves to answer our prayers. He finds joy in our happiness. So when I heard this saying from Mark that God doesn't Need us, He Wants us, it fit right in line with this understanding that God loves to love us.

It's a humbling thought at times, but one we need to remember, God doesn't Need us. God doesn't need anyone. He is all powerful, all knowing, all everything. Every blessing in my life is not a result of my own hard work, as some would think, but instead a direct gift from Him. He doesn't need me on His team. He doesn't need me to preach. He doesn't need me to go to Zimbabwe. But he WANTS me to. If not me, He will use someone else, becuase He will draw those He calls to Him one way or another. But man does He want it to be me. And man does He want it to be you. Our God is the most compassionate and loving thing there is. There is no greater love than Him. So to think about that and realize that He who is love, individually loves each one of us beyond what we can comprehend is truly mind blowing. He loves us SOOOO much. So, every time I feel down, or anxious, or empty, all I have to do is think about the level at which He loves me, which I don't even have the mental capacity to truly understand. But that love is so much bigger than any circumstance.

See not every day is great. Not every day is full of joy. We go through seasons of hardship. We go through battles. There was one thing that Mark Hall said in the documentary that stopped me in my tracks. "We don't worship God because today is good, We worship God because God is good today." Read that back again. "We don't worhsip God because today is good. We worship God because God is good today." There is not a day that can go by where we can not praise Him for who He is. Too often we praise him out of thankfulness for a blessing or we praise him on the peaks, but we forget to praise him in the valleys. We forget to praise him in the hardest seasons of our life. But when we do, we are reminded that we Worship Him for who He is, not for how we feel.

For those that haven't followed the blog for a long time, my wife and I have gone through two miscarriages. The first was not only early in our faith journey, but also early in the pregnancy. It was hard, and confusing, and we battled ourselves and our pride through it. We chose to cling on to our faith, but there were times when we were mad at God. There were times where we kept how we felt from each other, which ultimatley made things harder as well. We knew that God was good, but I don't know if our life painted a picture of worship to Him through it all. We were still learning.

Fast forward to our second miscarriage. In between the two we had been blessed with a beautiful baby girl, Oakley. Our faith was also much deeper, much stronger, and much more rooted. However the second miscarriage brought new and different pain. We were much further along in the pregnancy. There were complications after the miscarriage that made the situation even more difficult, physically and emotionally. I was away at a pastors conference in Florida when some of these events took place. But one thing was different this time. We truly praised God through the storm. We truly worshipped Him through it for who He was, not for what we were currently feeling. We were able to recognize that the pain we felt did not detract from how good God was and we were able to worship Him through it all.

He doesn't Need us, He Wants us. It's a fact that is so humbling yet so uplifting at the same time. It's a statement that I hope I remember and repeat for a very very long time as I think that one statement has so much meat within it. No matter what season you are going through, remember to worship Him for who He is. Don't let your circumstances, or your feelings dictate your level of worship. Worhsip Him for who He is. He doesn't Need us, He Wants us! He doesn't need you, he WANTS you!

"When you go through deep waters, I will be with you.

When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown.

When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up;

the flames will not consume you." - Isaiah 43:2 (NLT)

"I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world." - John 16:33 (NLT)

"See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are!" - 1 John 3:1 (NLT)