It’s another rainy day. Rainy days can be so cozy and so warm and a great day for snuggling up to a good book, but when that’s what you have been doing for the past two months it starts to get old and I have started to get restless. My body is slowly coming back to normal (It’s amazing what a little bug can do to you. My goodness!) and I can see God work in all of this. How He has planned this season specially for me to rest and learn what it means to slow down and process a whole lot of things that I have just kind of pushed away for so long and covered up with pouring into others and being busy.
You see I used being busy and pouring into others as a great excuse to just push through the hard. To cover-up the pain that I was really feeling. I wrapped myself into my students, pouring all my time and energy into their lives and teaching them the best I could. I wrapped myself into mentoring the girls on my soccer team and loved coaching them. I wrapped myself into hosting ladies over for dinners. I wrapped myself into being a listening ear to friends and co-workers or whoever needed a listening ear. I felt like I had purpose. A purpose to be there for others. To point others to Christ. To give words of wisdom. I mean I was living overseas being a “missionary” and that’s what you do overseas, right?
And now I am back in my “home country” and trying to figure out what my purpose is here? Why does it change because I am home and not off in a far away country?! I don’t have the answers yet, but something that God has been speaking to my heart is “Kingdom Living.” It started when I was on outreach in New Zealand.
So what does Kingdom Living mean to me? First, I know that this has become a buzz word and that there is probably a really good definition for it out there somewhere and lots of research done, but I am not going to get into all the details and such I just want to share what my soul has been learning lately about this topic as I have reflected over it the past few months. Hope that’s okay!
Kingdom Living to me means living a life with eyes focus on Jesus and seeing Him in the little and big of everyday. It means taking time to pause and be still to listen to Him speak to you throughout the day. It means looking around seeing all that you can be thankful for like the rain that’s refreshing the earth to a warm house to my water bottle that keeps me hydrated. It’s being attentive to the nudges that God gives you each day to do something for His Kingdom whether that’s speaking an encouraging word to a friend or even a stranger, or buying someone’s groceries or making a meal for a family or being a listening ear. It means living life with others. Loving on people. Serving where you can. It means smiling at someone. It means taking time to refresh yourself in Jesus. When Jesus was here on Earth He would go away to the mountains or the beaches to pray and be for a little awhile. So, why do we think we can’t do this too?! (We are trying to strive and we need to stop!)
On outreach we had the opportunity to do “Kingdom Living”. Everyday we were willing to do whatever was needed of us. We helped do farm work. We cleaned pregnant ladies homes. We helped out at Youth Group. We made a meal for people. We baked cookies to hand out to strangers with an encouraging note. We had game night. It was awesome. We just flow throughout the days blessing people as the opportunities came up!
Yes, of course I am all about preaching the gospel and telling others about Jesus, but I think sometime we get overwhelmed by that. We get overwhelmed with the pressure of saying the right thing or ruining it for someone. We forget that our actions sometimes say so much more than our words. We forget that little acts of kindness can do an big impact as well. We forget that people are watching us. And instead of getting overwhelmed or worried we just need to live our lives loving Jesus and reflect that love in all we do. I believe it’s a overflow of our quiet times with Jesus that produces this in us…
We need to ask the question: “God, how can I be your hands and feet today?” and then we need to be ready and attentive to listen to how He leads us throughout the day and to act upon what He says. I have realized that I don’t just want to coast through life. I don’t just want to keep Jesus to myself. I want everyone around me to know Him and love Him deeply. I want to live my life reflecting Him in all that I do and say. It’s not trying to do and earn anything because that’s not what God ask of us, but it’s just living my life in a way that reflects Him. Not striving or proving just using the gifs and talents and the promptings that God gives me throughout my days! I think Kingdom Living is the calling of a Christian and it should be something we all want to do. It’s not a duty or a checklist. It’s just living life with our eyes on Jesus! So let’s do it, friends. Let’s live life the Kingdom Life way! :)
With much love,
Daniella
A sweet surprise in the mail was a reminder of how much God loves me!
"What is done in love is done well"- Vincent Van Gogh
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