Spanish Snapshots... and Stars

Spain is a religious country, and yet a surprisingly low percentage of people here would claim to know God in a close and personal way. So there is still a real need for church planting and discipleship in this nation. Yesterday I attended two informal church gatherings that were held in people's homes; one was in Cártama, and the other was the Alhaurín fellowship which currently meets at the home where I am house sitting. It was good to meet with these Christian families and share in their heart to see God at work in this part of Spain.

In an unexpected turn of events, I was recently invited to stay here in Spain for a few months and work with the discipleship training school at one of the YWAM centres in this region. Strangely enough, when I was praying at the beginning of December, I had asked God to show me whether He wanted me to work with a DTS during 2008, and I had thought about Spain as one possibility. But I felt that God said I should simply wait for Him to open the right doors. When I received the phone call last week, I wondered whether this was a door He was opening. However, as I took more time to pray about it, I came to a place of peace that God was simply asking me to continue with the commitments I have made to work with FireStarters youth ministry and with a leadership school in Scotland this year.

I've been challenged recently by the story of the wise men (Matthew chapter 2) who followed a star all the way from the east and yet, near the end of their journey, were wandering around Jerusalem, asking where the new-born King could be found. It seems that they were no longer able to see the star that they had been following for so many months. And I wondered if the wise men lost sight of the star at that point because they began to depend on their own understanding instead of just following God’s direction. You see, they knew that they were looking for the new King of the Jews, and so perhaps that’s why they headed to Jerusalem; that’s where the royal palace was, and so that’s where you’d logically expect the new king to be born. I realised that one of our biggest dangers in discerning and obeying God’s will is that we could fall into the trap of doing what seems logical or obvious... instead of just continuing to depend on the way He is leading us.

Some of the doors that have opened for me recently - like the PCYM in Switzerland or the DTS in Spain - have seemed very "logical" because they are so much in line with the kind of ministry that God has put on my heart. But, in this season of transition, I'm realising that not every door that opens is the right one, or sometimes it's just a case of not being the right timing. And so I'm continually renewing my commitment to do as it says in Proverbs chapter 3 verse 5: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and don't depend on your own understanding. As we closely follow God's leading, and submit every decision to Him, He is more than able to lead us through the right doors at the right time.