1 week 1 day 22 hours 26 minutes and 24 seconds until I board my flight to Ecuador, South America. ISN'T THAT SO EXCITING? This whole year I have been counting the months, the days, the hours, until I leave and now the day is within hands reach. As I finished my last week of my sophomore year at Samford, my head was spinning with things to do, finals to finish, work to do, and for this past year it has been all I can do to keep my head above the water. As I can finally catch my breath for a second and survey the past year, it is amazing to see what God has done. He has provided, led me through some of the toughest trials I have ever gone through, showed my brother his desperate need for God, and done a work in me that I don't think I can ever explain. But God has shown me something: something I hope I never forget.
Flash back to this past Easter. I felt drowned with school and work, and the last thing I wanted to was to have a wake up encounter with God Almighty. I didn't realize it then, but I had put my relationship with Christ on the back burner, on cruise, on autopilot. I let my circumstances define my attitude and ultimately my walk my Christ. Well, I received a message on Facebook from Ashleigh Gurley inviting me and some other college girls to her girls night with the girls of her student ministry. With out thinking, I said of course and planned to go with my best friend from college, Lauren. Well life happens, and my friend couldn't go with me, and I invited my mother to go with me to the girls night at church. Ashleigh had a great night with the girls planned, as we ate and had great fellowship. But what I didn't know, was she had more in mind. As we walked together upstairs to the refuge room, silence enveloped the girls as we knew we were walking into something, but we didn't know what. As we sat down, the passion of Christ started playing. As we started watching, tears started rolling down my face unknowingly as I was so lost within the movie. And then it hit me. Like a brick wall. I had become comfortable with the cross. I was used to the sacrifice Jesus had paid for me. I heard it so many times in church via the sermon, sunday school, or worship, but it was true: I was comfortable. When the Holy Spirit revealed this to me, I just sat there. Is it true? Me? Morgan Ramsey? The girl that goes on mission trips more than stays in the States? That girl is used to the cross? Oh Jesus, forgive me. May my pride never get in the way of my relationship with Christ again. May I NEVER be used to the cross again. May I never be comfortable with the blood, the whippings, the beatings, the death you died for ME, a worthless sinner!
Now I know what you're thinking: um, yeah, that's awesome Morgan, but how does this have anything to do with Ecuador? Well, I realized my disease of familiarity had spread to all areas of my life. The many times where I had said to myself in the morning, "just sleep in, you can read the Word later" and never getting around to it, within my workplace as I am used to working constantly with a mindless way of thinking, the routine of drowning myself with homework, and also with my trips to Ecuador. It was routinal, familiar, old. Ecuador became something I looked forward to doing camps, seeing my friends, doing the things I always do. My heart for this year is that Ecuador doesn't become another check on my never-ending check list. The word that the Lord gave me for this year is a word I didn't expect. I usually expect words like balance, trust, rely that allow my life to re-center around Christ. But my word shook me, this year as it woke me up from a deep sleep. It made me realize that this word is something that I need to use in every aspect of my life. My word for the year is, refresh. My life had become routine, gasping for air of something different.
But I thought at first the word was only for a certain aspect of my life, my college ministry at church. My prayer for the college ministry is that we don't go through the motions of singing, "learning", and then going home. As I shared with my college leaders my word of the year for our ministry, I started to realize that I was the one in need of refreshment. God has reminded me of this through many things: a manager change at my job, the immense increase of hard work at school, and through personal events, I realized my life is not the same anymore. And then suddenly in the admits of uncertainty and insecurity, God breathed this verse into my life:
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here!"-2 Corinthians 5:17.
So this is where I am at. Realizing that Christ is not something or someone to be familiar with. God is truly doing something NEW in me! I am realizing that life was not designed to be routine. Jesus is constantly calling for me to be more than what I am used to. And maybe, you are reading this and saying that is exactly where I am. You're wondering why God isn't speaking and it feels like He isn't near. Well lemme tell you something: God is always near and always speaking, but in my case I had put a wall up. A wall of familiarity. Maybe your wall is work, stress, money, a relationship. Well, one thing that helps you break this wall is to call it what it is: an idol. An idol is anything that separates you from God. And my idol is routine. My schedule, my hard heart was the wall. But the most important way to demolish is to spend time with Him through prayer and the word, which is something I had ignored.
So with all of this being said, I am taking on a different mindset for my final trip to Ecuador with Camp Chacauco. I am praying for a fresh touch, a trip that will change my way of thinking and living. I hope you will join alongside me in praying for a different trip. I leave next Thursday morning, the 29th, at 10:30, for two weeks with Samford, and then 5 weeks with Chacauco. Please pray for safe travels and health, as health is always a huge factor for me. Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts and what God is doing in my life, as I prepare for my final trip to Ecuador!
Serving Him,
Morgan Ramsey
Isaiah 6:8
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