9 months digging deep into the Word of God while only “scratching the surface.”
This school exists to transform lives and to end Bible poverty. Through the grace of God, the patience/ perseverance of my school staff, and the intentionality of my classmates, I have come to know a God who is FOR ME and FOR ALL PEOPLE. My repeated thought is “who am I that I get to do this and learn this?” I think everyone deserves to learn how to truly study and understand the Bible for themselves. It is not just a book with random stories, facts or weird names. It is so much more. It is God’s heart. It is God’s victory. It is God’s story. And it is right in front of us. It actually might be the coolest thing ever. God wants to engage with us through the Bible. I promise that he has something to say to you. Do not miss out on that. Start a Bible study/plan, meditate on a verse, listen to a podcast… do something- even if it is “small.” Isaiah 55:11 “…so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” While it was such a gift to “pause life” for 9 months, I fully believe that you can engage with God and the Bible in your everyday life. Obviously it looks different. It looks like surrender and maybe a little discipline to put aside time for it. But, we can all do hard things – especially when that surrender includes the Lord.
(okay, Ted Talk over)
This picture represents the expectations that I had with God going into the school. I chose the road that had a curve because I really did not know what to expect, but I knew it was going to take the risk/choice to move forward and go around the bend. I felt like God gave me the word “with.” That I was to do it all with him- to include him in all the good and bad moments. The gorilla is funny but that was to represent God and me (the cat). The gorilla is so big that it is all the cat sees. I wanted God to be the thing that surrounded me in this school.
Now, at the end, I feel like God showed me that his presence was on the other side of the turn. Through faith, risk and vulnerability with God, I experienced his presence in a whole new way that I never want to forget or lose. I also felt like God was saying that his presence is on both side of the turn. His presence is and was with me the whole time. In the beginning, before taking the risk to know him more, he was there. I think this truth is reflected in the Bible. Whether or not the people recognized God’s presence, he was there. Even when people chose not to repent, he made a way to be with them. He literally sends Jesus TO BE WITH HIS PEOPLE.
In a loving way, God pointed out ways that he wanted me to become more like him and it was sometimes a hard choice to walk in sanctification. Carmen, our school leader, says something like “it is impossible to not be transformed when you are spending day and night in the Word.” Even when I was tired of changing, God’s grace was with me. And I am glad that I let him refine me 🙂 (and there is still so much refining to do because we are lifelong learners and believers).
I only made it to one day of ministry this month as the school was wrapping up. I went to Hope Zone which is a type of family night in Tijuana. There is a whole group time and then everyone splits into different groups (men…women…teens….all the way to the littles!). I joined the littles because it was my first time and I could attempt their level of Spanish. This is a big night for our base and a lot of people work together to make it happen. I was happy that I got to experience the way my community works together to love the people around them. I would go to the Monday ministry where we go out to the streets and invite people to Tuesday night Hope Zone. It was special to finally experience what I have been inviting people to! The kids were so sweet and you could really tell they just need love and truth. That is what we all really need- love and truth – Jesus.
A book/ week that really stuck out to me this quarter was Revelation. I always thought of it being confusing and maybe a little scary. Our teacher really made an emphasis to point out the beauty and art – how it is the gospel shared through art and imagery. Yes, there are big topics in the book, but it was so beautiful to read it and really see the victory of Jesus! This book just made me so excited about the gospel.
Another book that I really liked this quarter was Colossians with the message that Jesus, alone, is enough. There is nothing to add to Jesus, yet we often add things to him. “If I have Jesus and *this*, it will be enough.” But Jesus is sufficient. What am I adding to Jesus? What are you adding to Jesus? Do we actually believe he is enough or do we just say it? Yeah, a little confronting.
An interesting and important part of this school was that we could not look up information online. We had specific Bible dictionaries that we had access to, but we could not Google anything or use AI – such a good rule to help us be inductive students (even if it would have been a lot easier at times). But finding the information through effort and research is something that I became really proud of. The “worst” part of the homework for me was finding the Basic Required Information (BRI). It took so much time and focus. I would have loved to Google the question and have the answer come to me in seconds. Now, at the end, I will say this was important and I am glad I did not give up (Thank you for forcing me to do it, Carmen).
I see the gospel differently. I see evangelism differently. Because this message needs to be shared. This hope needs to be known.
So, if you want to learn how to study the Bible inductively or you want to hear specifics about what I have learned about different books- let me know 🙂 This school was not just for me- it is a tool for me to serve the kingdom of God!
Thank you for joining this part of my journey:)
