Love Your City [Houston]

What do you hear Christ calling you to become? This question caused me to consider a strong desire that had been pressed on me throughout a weekend full of evangelism and prayer; a desire to become a servant of Christ who is always listening to His voice, filled with his Word, and attentive to His guidance.

It was all too easy for me this weekend to become overwhelmed with the depravity and brokenness of this world as we were exposed to the horrific realities of human trafficking in our country, specifically in Houston, through our training with Unbound. The temptation then is to let the anger and sadness fuel reliance on my own plans and words in an effort to end this problem. However, our good Lord was gracious to surround me with His body of believers and bring verses to my mind about stillness- Exodus 14:14, Psalm 37:7 & 46:1- to keep me from succumbing to this temptation.

For our team, the stillness we were being called to over the weekend was not about a physical state of being. We set out with informative pamphlets and started engaging in conversations all over Herman Park and Houston. We were most anything but still. However, it was the stillness of heart and mind that comes from trusting that our God is faithful to work out the glory of His name through us who love Him and have been called according to His purpose that allowed us to move. Looking into the eyes of the people of Houston and telling them about the harsh reality of the brokenness of this world in regards to the human trafficking that we are seeking to prevent as we partner with Unbound and spread awareness, I saw a thirst for healing. But all our efforts, if not done in the Lord's strength and for his glory will fall short of the healing we desperately need. As we rested in Him and went out to share His love, the Lord graciously gave us story after story of eyes that lit up and spirits that were lifted as we shared that the love of Christ conquers all the trouble and hatred of this world.

But we were not the only ones who saw peoples' need for healing. Other groups of Muslims and Jehovah's Witnesses were in the park as well. As one friend put it so eloquently, in order to fight effectively for our Lord we need to know him well and recognize what we are fighting against. We have to understand that the enemy is not people but rather sin, Satan, and our own selfish desires. So let us be still and seek to know our Savior better each day so that we may better know how to participate in this struggle against sin on this side of heaven knowing that in Him we have all we need if we choose to hide in Him.

—Anna Heffner

"If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" - Romans 8:31-32