The ultimate title [I am a SLAVE of Christ]

The Lord has been revealing Himself more and more to me as the past weeks have gone by. Simple things like the wind, the rain, the moon and the stars absolutely captivate me from the display of beauty created by MY creator. And on top of that, I, Rachel Miller, am HIS creation... And He says I exceed all of the stars combined :) How cool... WE, His creation, display His beauty!
On top of this new found joy brought by my Savior, the Lord has been also been strengthening me, equipping me, and preparing me for sometime. This past week I have learned of why... Thursday night I went to a missions dinner. This dinner had the purpose of making our goals of how much we would, as a youth ministry, raise for mission this year. Specifically, raising money for sweet, innocent, little girls in India who have been sold into sex-trafficing. As this dinner went on, with tears in my eyes, the Lord began breaking my heart for these precious children. As I began contemplating, doubting, and arguing the thoughts in my head, I heard our district youth director say one thing that shook me to the core, and, of course, the Lord repeated in my ear for only me to hear this time, He said,

Rachel, these are MY girls

My heart dropped. Just as the Lord tenderly rescued me, pursued me, and swept me off my feet, these little girls needed a rescuer. They too desired to be pursued, loved, and held by their Daddy. With a following question, He said,

Now, what are you going to do about this, my love?

With that, and of course the many slue of doubts, with the help of my Lord, took hold of this, and we, Elevate youth ministry and I, pledged to raise $54,000.00 for oversees missions. Along with this, of course, will come much time, PRAYER, and seeking the Lords face, but I believe with everything I am, with the Lord, we can do this!
God is good. He desires to use each one of us, isn't that incredible? He HAS a plan for you... you just have to be willing.

A song that has caught my heart lately is the song by Misty Edwards, I will waste my life. I wanted to share some of these incredibly powerful lyrics with you...



I will waste my life I'll be tested and tried
With no regrets inside of me to find I'm at Your feet

I'll leave my father's house and I'll leave my mother
I'll leave all I have known and I'll have no other

I am in love with You There is no cost
I am in love with You There is no loss
I am in love with You I want to take Your name
I am in love with You I want to cling to You Jesus
Just let me cling to You Jesus

I'll say goodbye to my father my mother
I'll turn my back on every other love and
I'll press on yes I'll press on

A Hard, Intense, Unhindered Gaze...

If you could see me now, you would see my giddy expression spread all across my face; My thoughts are simply consumed with the goodness of Jesus... He is truly amazing, isn't He?
It has taken me a couple weeks to fully comprehend this work the Lord has began in me. Throughout this week though, when my various questions to the Lord of this strange state I am currently in arose, one word has continued to echo in my mind... FOCUS. Now, being truthful, the first reaction I had to this was, "Okay Rachel," and of course, this WAS, naturally, all said aloud, "you need to FOCUS. I need to get into the Word more... I need to be in prayer more, I need to stop letting media be an influence on my day, I need to define who I am, wholly, in who I am in the Lord..." yada yada yada. Now, as I continued my list on my new goals and focal points, though all necessary things, I realized I was leaving one key ingredient out... HAH. I bet you can guess. :) Where was the Lord in all this? While I was so busy making my list of the things in need of changing, guess Who was there ready to take my every burden? My savior.
This time in my life so reminds me of Peter and Jesus...

So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But, when he saw the strong wind and the waves , he was terrified and began to sink. "Save me Lord!" He shouted. Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him, "You have so little faith," Jesus said. Why did you doubt me?" (Matthew 14:29-31)

Its true. When the Lord begins to move, our focus is directed at Him, and then, we see OUR circumstance, OUR hurts, OUR insecurities, OUR flaws,and OUR doubts. Then, we suddenly shift our attention to our "problems" and are no longer fixated on the Lord, our Redeemer, our Healer, our Comforter, our JESUS. The Holy Spirit so patiently and lovingly convicted me of this very thing. I have been so blessed to experience the joy and release that comes with this surrender of control, and to only FOCUS on the One who calms the raging storms. With our eyes SET on the perfecter of our faith, we can have total confidence that our lives are in good care.