Nine high school students and three leaders with an immense desire to spread the love of Jesus jumped onto a plane in the middle July to travel to Pucallpa, Peru to be missionaries. My earlier thoughts of this trip were just about how much fun it would be to go do something crazy and different! I was expecting God to do something. I was expecting some great miracle. I was almost putting pressure on God to make sure He made something glorious happen.
My thought process was all wrong. My hope to have God show up in an outrageous, awe-striking, miraculous, out-of-this-world way was not what I should have been anticipating. I learned right from the beginning that God displays his glory and his wonder in every day.
I vividly remember the day we traveled by a small motorboat to a village. We were on our way back and the weather was simply beautiful. All of us were staring up at the sky and just how puffy clouds were up above. I remember thinking to myself…WOW. I know and have a relationship with the glorious God who MADE all this. I am loved by Him. I am His child. I do not need Him to prove anything to me. He displays His truth and light in the skies above and the flowing water of that river.
“Sing a new song to the Lord! Let the whole earth sing to the Lord! Sing to the Lord; praise his name. Each day proclaim the good news that he saves.”
-Psalm 96:1-2
view while on the motorboat in Peru
From this point on I felt that I was truly singing a new song to the Lord in my life. I made a conscious decision to make sure I let myself glorify God each day. I watched more and more for God’s glorious signs in every day situations. This encounter in Peru changed the way I thought of God. He is not here to prove anything to me. I saw all around me the love of Jesus and glorious movements in my hometown. Whether it was the songs children were singing together on Sunday morning or in the smiles I got from strangers, I saw God. His work every day became more and more evident.
This thought has stayed with me and stuck in the back of my mind. I’ve noticed more and more that I was even reading my Bible differently and not sort of reading a chapter until something popped out at me. I genuinely read each word so that I can fully understand His instructions and His will for my life.
These lyrics have stuck out to me a lot through this:
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
And I am Yours
What does that make me?
This reminds me that I don’t need special signs of God glory. It shines through everything and it shines through ME!
