I Have EVERYTHING and More!

Hey Friends and Family,

I hope you all are doing well. I miss you dearly! I wanted to share some exciting updates about how the Lord is moving.

A huge praise: I’ve been assigned to serve with a ministry every weekend! Each weekend, I travel to Hurlingham, Buenos Aires, where I help lead a sports ministry. We offer volleyball and soccer activities with the intention of using them as a means to share the Gospel.

Please be praying as we hope to start a women's soccer league and functional fitness classes soon. We begin each time with sport-specific training and then share the Gospel afterward. It’s been such a fruitful and powerful ministry, and I feel incredibly blessed to be a part of it.

I’d love your prayers for a few girls I’ve been mentoring and investing in: Antonella, Tiara, Moren, and Celeste. There are many more who attend our events, but I can clearly see that Jesus is stirring something in their hearts. Please pray for wisdom, discernment, and boldness, and that this ministry would be less about us and more about Jesus.

On the academic side, I’m wrapping up another set of classes and will begin my final set next week. I feel so blessed by the wonderful people God has placed in my life here. I know that some of them will be lifelong friends. I pray that the Lord continues to use me to point them to Jesus, both during my time here and beyond.

I have just over a month left here. It’s beautiful to look back and see how the Lord has grown me, pruned me, and worked in and through me. I know that what He’s done in my life here won’t stay here. I’ll carry it with me for the rest of my life.

Recently, I have been overwhelmed with gratitude. I’ve realized how often I let entitlement take hold of my life, as if I deserve any of this. I catch myself thinking, Naomi deserves this. Of course this was given to me. Of course God loves me. Of course my sins are forgiven. Of course the Lord has blessed me with wonderful friends and family... of course.

But when entitlement kicks in, we lose our perspective. We lose our joy. We lose the ability to love and sympathize with those around us. How heartbreaking it is that we allow this deception to strip us of so many beautiful things.

But that’s how the enemy works best, and it’s what our sinful nature craves: deception.

Lately, I’ve been challenged to fight back against that deception that constantly knocks at my door. So I began to write. I began to pray. I began to ask. I simply began to talk with my God on a deeper level, telling Him everything, no matter how big, small, or even dumb it might seem. He already knows it all.

I began to ask God to humble me, to break my heart for what breaks His, to prune me, to give me eyes to see the brokenness around me, and the faith to do something about it. And He did.

But He also showed me something in particular.

In the midst of my quest to be more grateful, He reminded me that I have so much more to be thankful for than just the clothes on my back. That’s obviously a blessing, but I have a gift that I often take for granted every day: the gift of salvation.

Yes, I live out of the hope given to me by Jesus on the cross, His resurrection, and His promise to restore all things. I truly believe that. But how often do we really meditate on the Gospel? How often do we pause and offer deep, sincere gratitude to the Lord?

Think about it.

There is a God who created me, intricately, fearfully, and wonderfully. And He desires a relationship with me. What?! We serve a God who created everything — the mountains, the sunsets, the butterfly, the blade of grass. He created it all.

Think of the person you love most in this world. Yep, God created them too.

When we look at history and at Scripture, we see the Lord’s faithfulness. He not only made promises, but He kept them. Seriously, study the prophecies of the Bible. It reveals so much about the character of our God.

We have a God who hates evil and loves goodness. A God who is just and fair. A God who saw our separation from Him and made a way to bring us back.

He came to us.

We have a God who sent His one and only Son to die for us. A God who was beaten and bruised for our punishment. A God who gave everything to save us.

Not only did our God die… He defeated death.

And we’re worried about the clothes on our back?

We have a God who conquered sin so that we could be united with Him. A generous God who offers the free gift of salvation. A God who is alive. A God who lives inside of us.

And our God promises to come again and restore all things to the perfection they once were.

This is just a glimpse of the God I serve.

All I am is His.All I have is His.Everything is from Him and for Him.

It becomes clear how entitlement is just deception when you place it beside the truth of the Gospel.

Look at all we have to be grateful for.

People often ask me, “Why did you move away? Why do you want to learn a new language? Why leave the comfort of your home and family? Why do you do what you do?”

This is why.

Because this is what my God did for me.

How could I not give Him everything?

Nothing is mine to keep anyway.

It’s impossible to look at my life, my brokenness, my sin… and place it beside the never-ending mercy of the Lord, and not choose to follow Him.

This is my hope.This is my prayer.

That I can simply be a tool to serve this big God.That I can make Him known.That others may receive this same undeserved mercy I’ve received.

There’s just nothing that compares to it.

Thank you for your prayers, support, and investment in the mission and vision of Jesus’ work around the world. I am forever grateful for you guys! 

What a JOY it is to follow Jesus! 

Naomi