Living in LA
I come to you as someone broken and confused, forgiven and set free, searching and longing, someone who longs to have an intimate moment with the creator, to be able to understand what is going on around me. I just recently moved in to one of the most diverse cities in the world, which can be a defining moment for anyone including the brave, the humble, and wise. As I sit and try and feel God's presence with His people around me in the city a lot of feelings come to service.
Living in LA, you might ask the question where is God? These people need God. But here it is a different kind of need. People from the suburbs, in the privilege areas need God just as much, this need is just less noticed or noticeable. But it is all the same in needing God, just in different contexts and situations. Where you go the need is the same just presented differently. My heart cries out for these people, for everyone to KNOW God and experience Him in all His glory and power, for his honor and nothing else. As I have been here and at home, God has been challenging me to live out my Christian faith in all I do. To be keen and alert of His spirit in the places I go and the people I visit. As I seek Him this will happen more and more.
Living in La, and coming into a city like this, feelings of wanting to try and fix it service, but they are so wrong, ultimately I am not really going to fix anything. Someone might ask, what are you doing? How do you do anything to try and change "the problem?" To understand that you won't and you can't is key in being able to handle being here. Trying and coming up with a method or answer in how to fix things or change the hurt, pain, and injustice, is not why I am here in LA. I don't have an answer, and I don't think I ever will. I don't think that it is the point either. But our minds are wired to want to know a tangible readable answer, something concrete to "do" in order to fix the poverty, and injustice. Like here are the instructions, this is how to do everything, so just move into the city now and start making a difference. First in for most you can't ever start making an impact unless you allow God to come beside you to lead the way. He is the one who will be working THROUGH you and making the big impact you might never see. That is the beauty of working for such a King as Jesus. All I have to do is partner with Him and say Lord take control.
So the point is, I have no answer, and I don't think I ever will. Resisting the temptation to try and solve "the problem" is important to realize, because we so desperately need things laid out before us, to be told what to do, and not be challenged to try. We of course have to defie the feeling to try and answer a question that we have no control over. It is our trust that keeps us persevering when it seems like there is no hope.
Before I close, and end my first entry, one of the most challenging things I have encountered while I have been living in LA has been making space for God in a world so consumed with "doing things" and you find yourself being caught up in a busy schedule. I need to schedule my day around God. Hold high value to your time with Jesus, becaue it has and holds a high value, higher than anything else you could be doing right now. Be encouraged that all God simply tells us is to seek Him, and He will do the rest. I find strength in knowing that all I have to is that.
It is ironic that one can feel alone in a crowd of people, but sometimes that is how I feel. Living here has been amazing and challenging thus far.
"And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sines to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." -James 5:15-16
Living in LA, you might ask the question where is God? These people need God. But here it is a different kind of need. People from the suburbs, in the privilege areas need God just as much, this need is just less noticed or noticeable. But it is all the same in needing God, just in different contexts and situations. Where you go the need is the same just presented differently. My heart cries out for these people, for everyone to KNOW God and experience Him in all His glory and power, for his honor and nothing else. As I have been here and at home, God has been challenging me to live out my Christian faith in all I do. To be keen and alert of His spirit in the places I go and the people I visit. As I seek Him this will happen more and more.
Living in La, and coming into a city like this, feelings of wanting to try and fix it service, but they are so wrong, ultimately I am not really going to fix anything. Someone might ask, what are you doing? How do you do anything to try and change "the problem?" To understand that you won't and you can't is key in being able to handle being here. Trying and coming up with a method or answer in how to fix things or change the hurt, pain, and injustice, is not why I am here in LA. I don't have an answer, and I don't think I ever will. I don't think that it is the point either. But our minds are wired to want to know a tangible readable answer, something concrete to "do" in order to fix the poverty, and injustice. Like here are the instructions, this is how to do everything, so just move into the city now and start making a difference. First in for most you can't ever start making an impact unless you allow God to come beside you to lead the way. He is the one who will be working THROUGH you and making the big impact you might never see. That is the beauty of working for such a King as Jesus. All I have to do is partner with Him and say Lord take control.
So the point is, I have no answer, and I don't think I ever will. Resisting the temptation to try and solve "the problem" is important to realize, because we so desperately need things laid out before us, to be told what to do, and not be challenged to try. We of course have to defie the feeling to try and answer a question that we have no control over. It is our trust that keeps us persevering when it seems like there is no hope.
Before I close, and end my first entry, one of the most challenging things I have encountered while I have been living in LA has been making space for God in a world so consumed with "doing things" and you find yourself being caught up in a busy schedule. I need to schedule my day around God. Hold high value to your time with Jesus, becaue it has and holds a high value, higher than anything else you could be doing right now. Be encouraged that all God simply tells us is to seek Him, and He will do the rest. I find strength in knowing that all I have to is that.
It is ironic that one can feel alone in a crowd of people, but sometimes that is how I feel. Living here has been amazing and challenging thus far.
"And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sines to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." -James 5:15-16
posted by ...julia at 1:46 PM
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