{"id":2134,"date":"2013-05-08T22:37:20","date_gmt":"2013-05-08T22:37:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/?p=2134"},"modified":"2013-05-08T22:37:20","modified_gmt":"2013-05-08T22:37:20","slug":"a-glimpse-of-the-masterpiece","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/2013\/05\/08\/a-glimpse-of-the-masterpiece\/","title":{"rendered":"A Glimpse of the Masterpiece"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>God is always at work, but often I can&#8217;t really see the work in progress. However\u00a0occasionally\u00a0there\u00a0are times that God allows us to see the masterpiece\u00a0he has been at work weaving. Those moments are always exciting!<\/p>\n<p>Recently God has given we a few glimpses of the masterpiece.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We have been working alongside a new\u00a0believer\u00a0at our church who is facing some persecution for his faith from his family. Many of you have been praying for him as he continues to press on\u00a0despite\u00a0this resistance. This past week we invited to the village to a wedding with our host family. In the midst of the time out there we realized that his mom originally came from this exact village. More importantly that, he has family lines that connect him to our host family. I wish you could have seen their faces light up with this connection being formed. He has not only spiritual family in our church, but also some physical family members. Satan was trying to take his family away and God was giving him new family.<\/li>\n<li>Joel preached two Sundays this past month on unity and forgiveness. Then he took a trip out to the village and one of the difficulties they were facing was disunity in the church. Joel said it was clear that God had been preparing him not only for a sermon, but also for this moment.<\/li>\n<li>We came to Africa with one ministry in mind, but ended up getting redirected over the first year we were here. However as Joel travels and as we begin to interact with this ministry, we are seeing how God has prepared us for this ministry in a way that only he could have. It is pretty exciting!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Most of the time I just have to follow God and trust that he is weaving something better than I. Sometimes I scream in the\u00a0confusion\u00a0and uncertainty and have to desperately cling to the hope of the\u00a0masterpiece. However those moments when I get a\u00a0glimpse\u00a0of the\u00a0masterpiece\u00a0are amazing. They are moments when there is nothing to do but worship the amazing God we serve!<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2135\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2135\" style=\"width: 480px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2013\/05\/DSC_6073.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-2135 \" title=\"DSC_6073\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2013\/05\/DSC_6073.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"320\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2013\/05\/DSC_6073.jpg 800w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2013\/05\/DSC_6073-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2013\/05\/DSC_6073-500x333.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2135\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Life is full of snapshots<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2137\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2137\" style=\"width: 480px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2013\/05\/DSC_6174.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-2137 \" title=\"DSC_6174\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2013\/05\/DSC_6174.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"320\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2013\/05\/DSC_6174.jpg 800w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2013\/05\/DSC_6174-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2013\/05\/DSC_6174-500x333.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2137\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Yet sometimes those snapshots are all I see<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2136\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2136\" style=\"width: 480px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2013\/05\/DSC_6080.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-2136 \" title=\"DSC_6080\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2013\/05\/DSC_6080.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"320\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2013\/05\/DSC_6080.jpg 800w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2013\/05\/DSC_6080-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2013\/05\/DSC_6080-500x333.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2136\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">or dwell on<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2140\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2140\" style=\"width: 480px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2013\/05\/P1020391.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-2140 \" title=\"P1020391\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2013\/05\/P1020391.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2013\/05\/P1020391.jpg 800w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2013\/05\/P1020391-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2013\/05\/P1020391-500x375.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2140\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Especially when the waves surrounding me<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2138\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2138\" style=\"width: 480px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2013\/05\/DSC_7242.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-2138  \" title=\"DSC_7242\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2013\/05\/DSC_7242.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"320\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2013\/05\/DSC_7242.jpg 800w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2013\/05\/DSC_7242-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2013\/05\/DSC_7242-500x333.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2138\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Yet God is at work<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2139\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2139\" style=\"width: 320px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2013\/05\/DSC_7266.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-2139 \" title=\"DSC_7266\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2013\/05\/DSC_7266.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"320\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2013\/05\/DSC_7266.jpg 533w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2013\/05\/DSC_7266-199x300.jpg 199w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2013\/05\/DSC_7266-333x500.jpg 333w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2139\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">And his work is absolutely amazing!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>God is always at work, but often I can&#8217;t really see the work in progress. However\u00a0occasionally\u00a0there\u00a0are times that God allows us to see the masterpiece\u00a0he has been at work weaving. Those moments are always exciting! Recently God has given we a few glimpses of the masterpiece. We have been working alongside a new\u00a0believer\u00a0at our church [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":830,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2545],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2134","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-updates-and-news","7":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/830"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2134\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}