No Shame November

Hello all!

Well, I guess I should start out by apologizing for taking a while to write again!

This trip has definitely pushed and stretched me in ways I could have never imagined. This past month I decided to live a “No Shame November”. That is where you live a life holding nothing back and refusing to let anything stop you. I learned how much shame can hold you back if you let it. It can stunt the ways God is trying to grow you and blind you to His purpose. Here is a list of some  of the areas where God has taught me to push away the shame:

The Gospel: That should have been something I have already mastered but I started to realize just how little I put it first. Presenting the gospel to someone is the most important conversation I can ever have.

The Language: My Spanish has improved since I first arrived! However, I am still no master of the language. God has taught me to not let that keep me from trying to communicate with the people we meet. He taught me to look past my embarrassment of not being fluent in Spanish.

Loving When It’s Hard: As all humans do I get annoyed with people, offended, and hurt. The Lord has taught me to love whole heartedly when it seems impossible. He has taught me to put myself and my feelings aside to love others. He has taught me to love shamelessly at times when it seems acceptable to get frustrated or angry.

Prayer: The past few months I’ve been “relearning” how to pray and why I do it. I have been learning it’s not something you just do in your alone time, it’s something you do all the time. I have been pushing myself to be bold and pray for other people as often as I can. There have been some awkward moments in ministry when people say they don’t want prayer. It’s at these moments that I’ve had to push through my own fear of rejection and continue on. I’ve also been learning more about my personal prayer life. I’ve been learning how to shamelessly pray, get real with God, and be completely vulnerable. Learning I don’t have to try to come up with some sort of solution or promise before I come to him with a problem. It’s ok to get real and say, “Father, I have nothing left to give, and I don’t know what to do.” It’s in these prayers that he speaks loud and clear! This is one of the most humbling lessons I’ve learned since being here. I like to always have a solution or some sort of answer before I confront a problem, but God has been teaching me that’s not what He’s here for. He’s not just there to listen and accept my solutions or my promises, He’s there to speak. (A lot of this learning process came with the help of my home church 12Stone! 12Stone has been doing a series called, I Pray, which I’ve been able to follow through their podcasts! I recommend everyone go check it out!)

Being Bold: Boldness has been my biggest challenge throughout No Shame November. It kind of ropes everything into one. I have had to learn to be bold about everything, from speaking truth, to prayer, to choosing joy. This has impacted me the most and is one thing I will definitely be bringing home to the states.

I'm excited to see how all of this will translate when I go home and the new ways I'm going to be tested. I know there's going to be a lot of changes in my life coming up in the next few months, and I know God is preparing me. I am ready to keep No Shame November going for the rest of my life, now that I know what living a shameless life looks like.

Romans 1:16

Peace and Blessings!