Have a Little Faith

For those of you who don’t want to or do not have time to read the more in depth parts of this post, I will do a short little summary of what is going on in my life!

I’ve had a rough week, but the Lord is never far and His arms of love and comfort are right there waiting for me when I finally decide to turn back and face his wonderful embrace. THUMBS UP!

I GOT A JOB! I’m working as a receptionist at the Hampton House Hotel here in Hampton Beach and am also helping to train new housekeepers and make sure that they clean all of the rooms necessary. I love my job. My boss is great and the lady, Andrea, that I work with is a sweetheart. Here’s something cool: the hotel has a coffee shop attached to it and I LOVE to go and sit in it to journal and such. Well last Wednesday I was there journaling and this guy came in and was playing guitar and singing. Music is a passion of mine, and I was entranced by his great skills! It was one of the most peaceful times and I was completely lost in the music. Well, I walked into work Saturday and who do you think my co-worker is? COFFEE SHOP GUTARIST! I walked in, and the first thing I said was, “Hey, you played in Jumpin’ Jacks!” Great start to our co-worker relationship. He’s a fun gent to work with, though. If anyone is planning a vacation up this way, feel free to call the hotel in order to book a room and talk to me!  But God has TRULY blessed me with such a wonderful spot to work.

So you know the family that I have mentioned, Amy and Dave? Well here is another way that the Lord has blessed me: I have them as my host parents while I am here. I cannot even begin to explain the deep respect I have for them and how much they mean to me. I hope to be half the person they are 10 or 15 years from now. Incredible. 

And now a special thanks goes out to those who have sent me snail mail. Honestly, I cannot even begin to say what an encouragement it has been. The other day I received a letter from a  dear friend and it rbought tears to my eyes. My friend Kayla and I usually have a letter every day when we check our mail boxes and its just so comforting to know that people back home are thinking about me. I think about you all a great deal as well and am really missing spending some lazy summer days with friends and family but loving being right where God wants me. With all that said, if anyone would like to send me any snail mail, I’ll post my address again:

Rachel Hrovat

20 G St.

Hampton Beach, NH 03842

I am also doing pretty well for support raising. God really has been providing. I still need about $500 but know that the Lord will bring it in. So many of you have contributed and I appreciate it in more ways than you can imagine. But if you would like to support me, please don’t hesitate! I would deeply appreciate it! Here is where you can: DONATE

Now on to what God has been teaching me and working on me with:

I know its been quite a time since I have actually written a decent post. I’m going to be completely honest with you all by saying it is because I’ve had one of the most trying weeks that I can remember. It felt like I was hanging from a precipice with the devil pulling me downward by my ankles. Because I felt like I had nothing to share, I thought that “if I had nothing nice to say, I wouldn’t say anything at all”. But things began to change Saturday and then yesterday at church God was basically taking a respite on my earlobe and opening my ears to hear a great message from Him via one of his faithful servants.

I’ll start with a quick re-cap/background info to let you guys know why I was feeling spiritually drained and just out of sorts. First, it was because so much information has been thrown at us. All of it good. But my mind can only hold so much, so I have been frustrated because I cannot harbor these great thoughts, ideas and stories of Christ. Basically, I have been upset by my lack of knowledge. I’ve been a Christian for around 15 years, so of course I should know just about every Bible story and characteristic of God, right? Well I certainly thought so and was beating myself over the head for not knowing these beloved stories. For not knowing what was the focus of a particular book of the Bible. For not knowing or understanding who Jesus was as he roamed this earth. So instead of humbly accepting that I did not know or recall all of this information and striving to learn more, I became angry. Bitter. Unwilling to listen and annoyed with many around me.

So Saturday morning rolled around and I’m not sure how my mind got on this track, but I just became SO very aware of the wretched state my heart was in. I have not been loving towards others that are on project with me. I have been nasty. My heart began to ache and I then I Timothy 1:15 came to mind (which I shared on this blog) and states: “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.” Sitting and comprehending that I am no better than anyone else, but in fact, much worse than my neighbor was quite a humbling and breaking realization.

My discipler, Abby, said something to me in our Bible study last Tuesday that has stuck with me. When I was explaining to her how frustrated I was that I cannot remember verses, stories or anything from the past 15 years, she just simply surmised that perhaps it is a humbling experience.

Pride really can get the best of a person. I am reminded of spring break when I went to Orlando with CRU for their “Urban Immersion” trip. I spent a whole day cutting vines and clearing brush and thorns from the side of a highway in the blazing sun. The women who had asked us to do this said that they don’t even remember when it got so overgrown…it just seemed to happen out of their view. Hebrews 12:1 came to mind when it mentions the “sin that so easily entangles”. That brush overtaking the fence along the highway is a great picture of what it looks like when sin overtakes our lives.

So back to what Abby said: this hit me like a sack of corn off the side of a train. Maybe….no not maybe, it IS God humbling me. Him desiring for me to draw close to Him and to dwell in his presence. To soak up his goodness, his love. To start afresh with my knowledge of him.

This pushes me to spend time with him—more than I ever have. And this is all very good. And I am looking forward to it.

Yesterday at church during the Adult Sunday school the pastor was discussing reason, and how there are all of these books trying to prove that the Bible is true and that Jesus really existed and so on and so forth. I have dealt with some doubts here and there and especially in talking to others about the Lord, trying to somehow convince them that He is the truth! But that is just not the way it works. The Holy Spirit himself moves in others hearts. God prepares people and all that we can do is be His vessels. And we must be willing vessels at that. Anyways, the pastor said that if we use reason to try and “win” people over to Christ, than we are totally leaving the Holy Spirit out of it. We with our brains want to convince people why they should believe rather than just letting Him move in their hearts to lead them to believe. God says that he is true. What more do we need? By having faith in the Lord, we believe what He says. He says that his word is true. Therefore, we have to believe it. Sure it’s nice to have all of these ancient scrolls and artifacts that solidify it as being true, but nevertheless we must still just BELIEVE! This has been revolutionary in my life—to have a little faith…