The power of belonging
This weekend God has taught me such a great deal about family, about belonging, about adoption, about love, about what it all means and how very very precious it is. I forget so easily, not having the same relationship with my family as Im sure many of u americans do have, we live far away and my grandparents i see most often i still hadnt seen for two years. Its npt that i dont love them or dont wanna see them, we just never realy get round to it. But this weekend God bridged so many awkward gaps, he filled in the space normally taken up by irritability, He came into the place where familiarity has in the past bred sarcasm and frustration. He came this weekend, and I cannot praise HIm enough. He performed a miracle in getting me a day off today with less than 24 hours notice, i have no idea how they gave it to me but it was a full blown miracle whatever anyone says. And He just bridged so many gaps, just shone through, i ended up taking at length with my grandparents about the Lord, about Holy Spirit, about Jesus and us and my future and their church, tonnes of stuff. I curled up with my gran on the bench in the garden outside under the evening sun and realised for the first time in so many years of just taking my family for granted, how very very deeply i love them. I write all this for my benefit not yours i suppose, noone can understand quite what i am saying or mean or have been but generally;

God gave me a new depth of insight into the power of belonging. Thats the crux of it all. He has challenged me again and again that unless we are forgiven we cannot forgive, unless we are loved...wait, unless we RECEIVE love, unless we ACCEPT it and LET IT take place...we cannot show love, the same with grace, forgiveness, mercy, joy, freedom. To give it we have got to have revelation of what God has done and does daily, hourly, minutely for us. To freely give we must freely receive, oh how often do I do that the wrong way round! And yet,that is it. and so He showed me afresh, anew. So much so it almost hurts to be honest. However much I love being here, there was something so significant, so important about finding pictures of mysef aged 3, 5, 9, 14 on the walls of the house, pictures of my mother and father and aunts and uncles in their wedding clothes, to know that not only was i wanted, but i was treasured, talked about, boasted about and BELONGED. I do not say this as a 'my ego was inflated this weekend' because to be honest it did quite the opposite. I was so so so humbled. When we get revelation of the power of family and of love and of belonging, we understand its importance and long to give it to others. I pray for deeper and deeper revelation so that by the time I am on the mission field, God might give me a family, children upon children that I can love and mother and with me, can belong. Their photos on my fridge, their names upon their door, their own toys, own presents, own beds, own identity. Adopted.

And it leads me to the most profoud revelation, one that has not fully sunk in yet...we are adopted. That same sense of belonging can and does occur with our Father in heaven. I wait for the day when I realise that one in its fullness. Can u imagine the ramifications in every single ounce and aspect of our lives?! More Lord! MAIS DEUS! MAIS PAI CELESTIAL! MAIS SANTO SPIRITO!!! Bem-dito o Deus e Pai de nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo, o qual nos abençoou com todas as bênçãos espirituais nos lugares celestiais em Cristo. (Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ) Para louvor e glória da sua graça, pela qual nos fez agradáveis a si no Amado. (To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.)

Gloria, gloria gloria. Amen