Hill of the Lord Blog

Hey Church,

I hope that you are doing well and ready for the summer. For some of you, work is as usual. You students are taking a deep breath after finals week. Others of you are planning on a migration to various parts of the world in the next months. For me, at the Baptist Collegiate Ministry, these weeks are slow as students move back home and we staff take a look back on the past semester. This May completes my first year of full-time ministry, and wow have I learned so much! God has been showing me how to live sacrificially: relationally, financially, and emotionally.

God has been overwhelmingly faithful through this season of life. It’s been two years since graduation.  I never thought I’d still be living in Columbia today. Neither did I expect to find a community like Hill of the Lord. The summer after graduation was a difficult one. I found myself without direction and cold towards the Spirit. In my short 24 years on this earth, it was my most difficult season following God. This was my comfort:

Habakkuk 3:17-19 Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls, yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord GOD is my strength; And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, and makes me walk on my high places.

It was the pride of my heart that needed to be broken. I needed to be humbled; God was the only one capable of doing that. Through my sadness and pain, I learned to receive grace. It was the end of that summer that God led me to Hill. I remember knowing that God was going to repair what He had allowed to be broken that year before. It wasn’t easy transitioning to a new church, especially because it seemed impossible to really be apart of this community. I was full of insecurities, fears, and pain. It seemed like everyone was so close. I wanted to be a part of it. But relationships mean taking chances. No matter what community you’re apart of, you have to take a chance for people to know the real you—human, flawed, and unfinished. So I took a chance; I kept coming. I introduced myself, learned the songs, and prayed through the fears I might have of not being accepted. I truly believe that being in such a church family is what has brought me to today. God is not done refining me, but He has repaired parts of me.

Since that summer, I’ve become a member by signing the covenant, joined the Monday night small group, and made a commitment to be at Hill of the Lord until He tells me to leave. I serve on the leadership “table” and help organize our Sunday services. I’ve had the privilege of traveling to South Asia two times with our partnership there. In just two years I’ve realized that His plans will always trump mine, no matter how godly they may seem to me. God is leading me to “stay” and not “go.” My heart is for the nations to know Him. As I sit here and write this, tears well up in my eyes for the desire to go. God wants people to know Him and that means those in Columbia too. This is the reason why I continue to stay. I crave your encouragement and prayers as I choose to serve another year with the Baptist Collegiate Ministry.

I truly am thankful for you all and how you strive to live for the gospel alongside me. I’m thankful for this past Sunday where we sent out so many to who will be going. I’m thankful for those who are staying to serve in Columbia. But above all, I’m thankful for such a good God, who has brought me from death to life, guiding me to a church family and ministry.

I pray that this testimony might be an encouragement to you of how God is using this local church as a means of grace and truth. I am evidence of it. How has God used this church body, though flawed and unfinished, to challenge or strengthen you?

Filled under: Blog | by JulieM |