You’re the God of this City. You’re the King of these people. You’re the Lord of this nation.

I was avoiding doing a post today because I didn't want to turn out some cheesy 4th of July post about how awesome America is and yada yada yada. Truth be told, I started out today a little self-righteous and angry because I just wish people could see how life is in other countries. I just wish people knew that there is a life outside of this American bubble we live in. God quickly convicted me. I am not here to brag on this country and talk about how proud I am to be an American. I am just here to say that God put on my heart a thankfulness. I am thankful that I don't have to hide my Bible. I am thankful that I can go to church without having to be a foreign passport holder. I am thankful that there aren't limits here saying how many children a family can have and that we aren't under pressure to abandon our babies if we have more than one or something is wrong with a kid. I was also challenged this morning with how am I going to use this freedom that God has given me to show love to those who don't have the same advantage. There is a reason I was born here. What I am I going to do with it? Today, Thomas said something in Roots that I loved: "America isn't in the Bible. He doesn't love us more than other countries." It is so easy to become too proud to be American and start worshiping this nation. My challenge to you today is to pray for those all over the world that don't have the freedoms that we do.

As I was wrestling with all of this on the way to church this morning, the song God of this City by Chris Tomlin came on my ipod. One of my absolute favorite memories from the trip was sitting on the roof of MBHOH on our last night in Luoyang and singing this song with my team. I felt so much peace in that moment. My heart became heavy for the country that I love so much that I left a couple of weeks ago. I have been struggling since I have been back, feeling that God has forgotten those orphans and all of those people in Luoyang. Why couldn't we stayed and done more? Why couldn't God have just swooped in and rescued all of those kids and given them to families who want to love them. When that song played this morning, I was drawn back to that peace. I was reminded that God isn't finished there. He is still the God of the nations. He is still the Lord there. He isn't done!

Here are some pictures from that night on the roof

                                                

You're the God of this city
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation
You Are

You're the light in this darkness
You're the hope to the hopeless
You're the peace to the restless
You are

For there is no one like our God
There is no one like You God

For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done
In this city
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done here