Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Big Love

"The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. - (Deu 7:7-8 NASB)

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. - (1Jo 3:1 NIV)

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. - (Rom 5:8 NKJV)

Something a fb friend posted got me thinking a lot about the love of God. And I realized something. Or rather, I remembered something that I have known for awhile and came to appreciate it greater. God's love is GREAT!

But for us to understand how great the love of God is, we must first understand our own desperation. The Bible is very clear that before a person comes to know God the Father personally through faith in Christ, that person is headed straight towards Hell. And the Bible is also clear that Hell is a real, literal, eternal destination. At least as far as I can tell. (I hate to say this because I know many people are offended by this truth. I know it saddens me beyond the point of expression to think that those around me are going to Hell, that some I love dearly have already made up their mind for it. But keep reading, it gets better.)

I, too, was headed on a path straight towards that horrible, nightmarish land of unending torment when a miracle happened. God got a hold of me. I don't understand how or why, but I know it is only possible because of His LOVE. I was everything opposite of everything He stands for. I was His enemy. My best effort was no better than sewage. But He loved me.

In His love for me, Jesus died on the cross. In His love for me, 2000 years after His resurrection, He reached down from Heaven and showed me that love. As I reached out in faith for Him and His love, He gave it freely and completely. That was it, and now, I am His beloved child.

Some ask why, if God loves us, He created Hell. The truth: He didn't create it for us, but for Satan and his demonic angels.

More ask why, if God loves us, He sends people to hell. The truth: It's our own choice. God will not force anyone to be with Him if they want to live outside His will. Eternity in Heaven with God, is eternity submitted completely to Him and His will. And there is no place I'd rather be, but many would rather live for themselves.

Others ask why, if God loves us, He gave us the freedom to choose sin. The truth: I don't know for sure, but I think it is because He wants us to love Him unrestrained. To love Him because we choose to. To love like He loves.

Many people, I know are angered when things like this are thrown out there. They feel that people who believe these things are close-minded, self-righteous haters who would condemn the world around them. But I just want you to know, I am sharing God's love the only way it makes any sense to me: in light of my own desperation. It wouldn't be salvation if I was not saved from something horrific.

I share this news, which I see as the Good News, because I love you all, and I want nothing more than to share eternity with you. To give you an opportunity to taste God's love and see for yourselves how good it is.

Friday, August 31, 2012

Corrie Ten Boom


So, I recently wrote a paper on Corrie Ten Boom, a Holocaust who was imprisoned for living out the gospel to God's chosen people. This is what I wrote for my "Personal Application" section of the paper:
            God is so good, but sometimes we forget that. I forget that whenever something happens that goes against what I thought was God’s plan. As I studied the life of Corrie ten Boom, I was reminded of something no Christian should forget: God’s thoughts are not my thoughts, neither are His ways my ways. His thoughts are so far beyond my understanding, and His ways so much greater than anything I could accomplish.
            So, how is it that I can for a second question the will and work of my God? Yet, that is what I do whenever I look around me and think, This cannot be right. Nothing good can come from this.
            If anyone ever had a right to complain about their circumstances, it was Corrie ten Boom (besides, of course, our Savior, and maybe Paul, the Apostle). She watched the man she loved marry another woman, while she lived the life of a spinster. She watched her mother suffer through paralysis before dying slowly. She was torn from her home for helping God’s people who were being persecuted by a hate-filled world system.
            Then, she was put in one of the most horrific living situations imaginable, and there watched her beloved sister waste away before her very eyes. Her father and her brother both died as a result of ill-treatment. And her life was never the same. But her response was to do exactly what God had called her to do: to love, to forgive, to rejoice.
            How often I am upset because I don’t get the job I want, or I can’t afford a car. I am dissatisfied with the timing of my education, or the living situation I found myself in. But I know, like Corrie and her family, I am doing what God has called me to do. I am living a life of service to Him. And sometimes I think that means I am entitled to something… better. But the truth is, in this world, we will face persecution. That is a promise. But with it comes another promise: the Holy Spirit.
            Corrie ten Boom was right. God never asks us to do anything without giving us the power to accomplish it. And He gives it to us just when we need it. Not early. Not late. At the perfect time. He is faithful, and that is what allows us to be faithful.
                Her life is a great reminder of how we are to live. No matter what life brings our way, we need to live in surrender to the Lord of life.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Costa Rica Letter


Dear Friends and Family,
For the last two years I have served as a small group leader in the youth group at my church, Calvary Chapel Surprise.  As much as I enjoy spending time with these teens, it has been my desire to share God alongside them in another country as I was able to do with so many groups while in Peru. Recently I was asked to be one of four adult leaders accompanying a group of teens on a trip to Costa Rica. This was a great answer to my prayer.
We will leave Surprise, Arizona for Heredia, Costa Rica on July 24 and return on August 2. During our time there, we will be ministering in support of the church and missionaries already serving in Heredia. We will be performing dramas, sharing testimonies, and street witnessing. We are also prepared for a number of special projects that we may be asked to do including Vacation Bible School and painting a building for the church.
As a youth leader, I am hoping to play more of a supporting role on this trip, and ask for your prayer as I take on this new role. I hope to be a good example and source of encouragement for these teens, many of whom are traveling out of the United States for the first time. Please pray that God would show me the best way to minister to the young men and ladies of my team.
Over the last few weeks, we have begun to raise the funds needed for the 13 of us to go on this trip. Each of us has a personal goal of $1,300 to be raised, a large chunk of which will go towards our plane tickets. The rest will provide for food, room and board, and ministry supplies. Many of you have supported me in the past as I went to Ethiopia and Peru. I want to thank all of you who have supported me with prayer, encouragement and all forms of support throughout my journey. God has used each of you to reach the people in each of these places.
Today, I am asking that you pray about supporting our team as we travel to Costa Rica. Any amount of money would be a great blessing, and prayer is the biggest blessing of all. In the past, I have learned that God will supply for all my needs, and more. And I have no doubt that He will provide for this trip as well. Please pray about what part you might play in supporting us on this trip.
If you would like to learn more about our team, the trip or upcoming fundraisers, please visit our facebook page (@CCS Costa Rica 2012) or our read our blog (http://ccsurprisecostarica.blogspot.com/). If you have any additional questions, please let me know.
If you would like to support me and the team financially, please make you check payable to Calvary Chapel Surprise with “Costa Rica” in the memo section. Please contact me for my address.
Any funds that I raise beyond my personal goal will go into the group fund in order to assure that every team member is able to go on the trip.
God bless,

Rachael Hicks

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

The Tunnel

There's a particular tunnel in PHX that goes on for quite awhile. It's downtown on the 10 between 7th and 7th, and as your reading this, if you have traveled in this tunnel you likely will not need any of my authorly help in picturing it in your mind. It is long, and dark, lighted with those small round lights that seem mostly to remind you of how dark it is. As a teenager, I went on a few field trips that took us on buses through this large tunnel. And, as the superstitious theatre enthusiasts they are, my friends tried their hardest to practice their breath control by holding their breath the entire way.
I usually just laughed at them, enjoying the extra oxygen for the few long minutes while they looked near expiration.
(There are other tunnels that I have been through that are similar, so I have no doubt that if you are reading this in another part of the world, you can relate to my local tunnel. I can think of one along my family's usual route from Sacto to Frisco.)
As I travel through tunnels, whether or not I am holding my breath, I find there is some great relief in the moment when the light at the end engulfs me and I re-enter the world outside. It is that same feeling of tunnel-escaping relief that overcame me on my 23rd birthday.
As most even shortly acquainted with me know, over a year ago, I returned from my excursion to Peru, full of hope and anticipation for what was next in my life. This was followed by a roller coaster of depression and frustration as I waited for some kind of direction to be revealed. I don't know if I expected lightening to strike, or to go to the mailbox and receive a missive written on stone tablets, but I didn't expect to be on my 6th semester of Bible College with a trail of part-time jobs in my wake as I stared at my still undecided, not-so-distant future.
During this period of my life, I have been faced with other various trials, and difficulties. I moved 3 times. I have said goodbye to some very special women who filled my childhood with fond memories and taught me the importance of family. And I watched as those close to me grieved for even more loss.
I have seen betrayal and insensitivity strike the lives of my church family. I have watched as others close to me have struggled with illness and financial hardship.
I was going through a long, dark tunnel, and I couldn't even see the end.
I found myself growing envious of joy experienced by those around me. Even those who I thought I loved more than myself. I found myself thinking, How can they be so happy while my family is suffering?  and Why does all this have to happen, now, to me? Why am I going through all this?
But guess what... I was wrong think that way. I couldn't see the end of the tunnel because I was looking in the wrong direction. I was so consumed with my lap, the little lights, and the entrance to to the tunnel, that I couldn't see the end.
Well, I am starting to emerge from that tunnel now, but there was something I think I needed to learn.
It was not strange that I had a rough year, though it was perhaps the roughest I've known. God warned me that I would face "Trials of all kinds." But I was selfish and self-righteous in my struggling, thinking I was the only one, and that I, somehow, was worthy of a better life.
I forgot that I should see it as an honor to be counted worthy to share in Christ's sufferings.
I hope that you understand that I am not sharing this with you so that you will feel bad for my hardships, because in the light outside the tunnel, I have realized they are no worse than most of yours. In fact, I almost didn't want to share this message that God put on my heart because I realize how petty and self-important I sound.
The point is this, if you are suffering, praise God because He is with you. He is faithful. And He will use this suffering, yes, even this for your good and His glory.
See the tunnel for what it is, and look forward to its end. Don't become obsessed with the lights or the other cars. Don't focus on what was left behind, outside the tunnel's entrance. Just know you will come out with greater patience and experience that will help you minister to others, if you are willing to submit the whole thing to God. And, who knows, maybe you can expand your lungs in the process.