KICKSTART DEVOTIONAL

EVERY WEEKDAY AT 11 AM CST ON FACEBOOK LIVE

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On every Mission Discovery mission trip, we begin the morning together in God’s word. One speaker is chosen to give the word of the day so that everyone else can meditate on the Scripture. Our hope is that volunteers engage in group discussions throughout the day and in their small groups.

Since the way ministry is being done has shifted, our goal is to serve by creating resources that will help others focus on God throughout the day, and influence family and small group discussion.

Join us every weekday as we explore God’s word together. We will have speakers from all over the US and the world. Here is today’s Kickstart Devotional.

 

Video: Tony Dykstra // God is bigger than anything going on in this world. 

 

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God is bigger than anything going on in this world.  

Mission Discovery Mission Trips with Tony Dykstra

Tony Dykstra has been on several mission trips with Mission Discovery.  He has been to Jamaica once and twice to Puerto Rico.

Hello everybody, my name is Tony Dykstra and I am from the great state of Michigan. And I have had the privilege of working with Mission Discovery for the last two, two and a half years. My first mission trip was in Jamaica as a participant and the last two were in Puerto Rico working alongside a great staff and team members there. And right now I decided to do my devotion this morning right here by Lake Michigan to show a couple of things.  One,

That I’m just out here enjoying God’s beauty amongst this crazy chaos world we’re living in right now. And the uncertainty that’s going on, I can still get out and enjoy God’s word.  Second thing i wanted to show,  you can see, its kind of windy today and the waves are kind of crashing really big. And it brought me to this story in the Bible of Jesus calming the storm.  So I’m going to read to you from  briefly for Mark 4, starting at verse thirty five.

“That day when he became he said to his disciples. Let us go over to the other side. Leaving the crowd behind they took him along. Just as he was in the boat, there was also other boats with them.  A furious squall came up and the waves broke over the boat so it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in boat, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, Teacher, don’t you care that will will drown?  He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves Quiet. Be Still. And then the wind died down and it was completely calm.”

It makes me think about what’s going on right now, being in quarantine,  I think, God wants us to be still right now. He wants us to be still and look for him in our lives right now. To what we can find him and allow him to direct our path right now. Ya know, the world’s going to be going back to normal soon,

if you call normal our busy hectic lives and you know with blinders on and we’re not looking at guys anymore. So it kind of brought me to this thing that I shared on Facebook not too long ago. And it was I Pray we don’t go back to normal.  And let me read from this and it hit home to me. I pray that the next time my friend grasps me and pulls me in for a hug, I actually take the time to appreciate the gift of their embrace.  I pray that when school resumes and people are dropping off their kids,

I take the time to look around at the smiley face and loud voices and thank God for the gift of community. I pray that the next time I’m standing in church listening to the voice of praise & worship that I take a moment to thank God for the gift of congregation. I pray that the next time I see a person or situation that needs a prayer, I hope I pray passionately and fervently as I have these past few weeks. I pray that I when I’m in the grocery store, that I take a moment to thank God that He provides us with the necessities of life.

And the amazing people who work so hard to keep us supplied.   I pray that I never again take for granted the ability to hop in the car and visit a friend or go to the mall or go to the etc. So the truth is. I lost my thought here. But the truth is, I don’t want things to return to the way they once were. I pray that take the lessons and challenges of the past few weeks and create a new normal

My goal is to pray more, love harder, and to truly appreciate the daily abundance of blessings that are so easily overlooked just a mere few weeks ago. Ya know, we’re sitting here uncertain of what is going to happen with this quarantine stuff and this COVID 19.  But I do know that my God is bigger than anything that’s going on in this world. And all I have to do is just trust in Him, Be Still, and follow his guidance through all this.

Look for those opportunities to be blessed every day. And just love on my family right now. That’s what God wants me to do, He wants me to love my family and I want to leave you with this thought.  As you prepare here, hopefully shortly, to go back to our normal lives.  In the rush to return to normal, use this time to consider which parts of normal are worth rushing back to.

So I ask you, was your life so busy, that we forgot to focus on God completely like we are now, or have the opportunity to now.  Look at the parts of your life where you can change and be a better person, and pray that God works fervently in your life. You guys have a great day. Blessings to all. Talk to you later.

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