Rachel Basile: 2010

Good Morning

Posted by Rachel Basile Friday, September 10, 2010 6:02 AM

There is something so beautiful about the morning. I had to wake up at 4:30 today to take my dad and brother to the airport and although I'm not a morning person, I always love when I can be awake to greet the sunrise. I admit that I haven't seen many sunrises in my lifetime because I'd rather sleep as late as I possibly can, but I think it's such a special time of day. With every dawn comes a new day and with every day comes a fresh start. I think it's easy to get caught up in the quickness of life and it's so important for a fast paced person like myself to just take a moment to breathe and calmly welcome the new day. Feeling the crisp air and hearing the birds chirping when no one else is around is such a spiritual experience for me. I can't help but be reminded of God's unconditional love in these moments and I think of all the things I've been blessed to wake up to. I'm so thankful that I'm not only greeted by the sun every morning, but also the love of the one who made it all. So today, as well as everyday, I put all of my hope in the Lord as he lovingly guides my steps. I am even more in love now than I was when I went to sleep. How cool is that? Jesus is so rad.

"Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself 'The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.' The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him"

Lamentations 3:22-25

Off Course

Posted by Rachel Basile Thursday, August 19, 2010 11:05 PM

The past few days I haven't been able to stop thinking about those who have fallen away from their faith. My heart has been so heavy and with each day that passes I feel more and more burdened for lost, conflicted souls that have experienced God's love and truth at some point but no longer follow Him. Having experienced this myself, I know what it's like and it's hard to not have compassion for people who are going through what I did in my own past. I just feel like I am supposed to share my testimony so here it goes.

I was born into a christian home and was always very involved with church until I hit my sophomore year of high school. I never once doubted that Jesus was real growing up, but the fact is it wasn't something I had chosen for myself. I had been going to church since I was born and it was all I knew. I always felt like I was strong in my walk with God, but looking back it was more something I had inherited. I didn't really have my own self sustaining faith. I read my bible, went to church, and did everything I thought I was supposed to do, but I was missing the real relationship part of it.

In middle school I was horribly insecure as many kids that age are and I was struggling with depression as well as my ADD that was undiagnosed at the time. I was already feeling emotionally unstable and then freshman year of high school came. It was an extremely tough year and I remember every day just crying and praying that God would help me and make it all go away, but it didn't. My whole world seemed to be falling apart and I didn't understand why He would let me feel that horrible. I figured if He was going to let me suffer like that I would do my own thing, so I decided to do just that and take on the world without Him.

For three years after that, I lived a selfish life separate from anything that had to do with God or church. I compromised who I was and made decisions that I never thought I would make. I chose a path that led to nothing but emptiness and more hurt on top of what I was already feeling hurt from. I'll never forget this one day senior year I distinctly remember thinking I had figured out the key to life and how to be happy with God out of the equation. I honestly believed that I didn't need Him anymore and I was 100% content with never having anything to do with Him ever again. By the end of senior year I just remember feeling so worn out. That happy feeling I thought I finally found was nowhere to be found and I felt hollow and defeated.

One night at a party I randomly had a conversation about God and the person I was talking to had similar experiences in her past as well. We ended up talking for a while and I began to realize that deep down inside me somewhere a tiny hint of life still existed in my seemingly dead spiritual life. The next night my mom was talking to me about my brother getting ready to go to the summer camp at our church and for some odd reason I felt like I should go. I had been to church once or twice in three years and when I told my mom she was seriously in shock. There's no explanation as to why I even had that thought. God was wooing me back to Him and I had no idea what was about to come.

To make a long story short, that summer camp changed my life. God broke my heart wide open and told me that he still loved me regardless of my past mistakes. Even though I had willingly turned my back on him he wasn't going to give up on me and I was completely set free from years of pain and destruction.

When I hear of someone who is going through that journey of inner conflict and separation from their faith I feel so much for them. I think it can be easy sometimes to judge others when they seem to be going off course in their relationship with God. We have an idea of what we think a solid walk with the Lord should look like and when we see others not living up to that we form an opinion. Going astray from a relationship with God is just a way to escape deep pain that seems like too much to deal with. I've been reminded this past week of how painful that journey really is and how much more I need to love those walking in similar shoes. Even when it seems hard to love them and I'm more inclined to form an opinion.

It's okay to make mistakes and it's inevitable because we're human. Believe it or not it's a Godly thing to be human because there can only be one perfect being that that's Jesus. I hope that by sharing a little about my life it will help you realize that there is a love greater than anything we could ever understand. And you're not alone in this fight.

Lay Over

Posted by Rachel Basile Saturday, July 10, 2010 5:00 PM

There are so many things I still need to tell about Spain. My desire was to get to the cafe every night and blog about the day, but it wasn't as easy as I thought. Plus it was starting to get a little expensive buying drinks to use the wifi, so I figured I would update even after the trip. With that said, I will give plenty of information about my time there, but right now I feel like I want to talk about the airport.

Five hours into our 7 hour lay over in Atlanta, I decided to check if it would be possible to get on a direct flight to Seattle. I pretty much knew the answer already since we have checked luggage, but I decided to try anyway. You never know, right? So i went to the counter and got in line behind about ten people. The first thing I hear is a family clearly not getting what they're asking for. They were arguing back and forth with the lady and throwing a huge fit. You could just feel the frustration radiating off of them. It was crazy.

After that ordeal, it was nice to have at least two minutes of quiet until the next person went up to get helped. They also didn't get what they were wanting and they also decide to throw a fit. The next person did the same exact thing. It was getting ridiculous and I started to feel really bad for all these people. The air seriously felt heavy and every single person was upset. It was such a bummer.

About 15 minutes into waiting this old man got in line behind me. We didn't talk at all until about 15 minutes after that. So yes, that's 30 minutes of waiting in the line so far. I absolutely hate lines, but I had been standing there so long already and there was no way I was going to leave now, even though I basically knew the answer I was going to get. The man told me that he was a diabetic and badly needed his insulin, but his insulin was in his luggage that was lost. He was the only person in the line that wasn't visibly freaking out and he was probably the only one whose life depended on getting what he wanted. I don't know if he knew Jesus or if he has just lived long enough to really know that you can't control the circumstances that life brings. All I know is that he really touched me for some reason.

After he told me that I started to pray for his body and then I just started praying for everyone around me. I couldn't help it in the moment. I couldn't imagine being in a situation like that and not having the peace of Jesus to keep my heart calm. Life will stress you out over and over again, that's just life. But our God doesn't want us to simply live life, he wants us to live it abundantly and to the fullest. So even when those things come along that seem to shatter your hope, He has it all under control.

To me when I think about that it takes away all the pressure. I don't have to make things work. And if things don't work, I don't have to waste my time stressing about it. I almost felt like God put me in that line today to be the peace among the storm and to just be there and present praying for each one of those people whose day took a sudden turn.

I knew that this trip changed me, but I really think that my entire perspective of the world has been altered. Because now I see Jesus everywhere, in everything. Things that used to scare me almost excite me now because the smaller I become, the greater he becomes and the more I get to see his glory. He really is in every situation it's just whether or not we're willing to find him.

Oh man, God is so good!

Wednesday

Posted by Rachel Basile Wednesday, June 30, 2010 9:07 AM

Today was a free day and we were able to do whatever we wanted. I thought about going to the beach or taking a bus into one of the local towns nearby, but for some reason I just felt like sleeping in and starting my day off at whatever pace I was moving. I wanted to have a day without plans and obligations, which I haven't really been able to do more than two or three times in the past few months.

Something that I love about Spain is that the people are never in a rush. Being 10-15 minutes late is expected and they even walk at a slower pace. Going out to eat is so different because the waiters aren't constantly coming over to your table trying to rush you along. The Spanish will sit for up to two hours just talking and enjoying each others company. They are more concerned with relationship and connection than anything else and it's very obvious that this is their priority.

Slowing down and relaxing is something that has always been hard for me. I walk very fast, I cut conversations short to finish whatever it is I'm working on, and I will go, go, go until I'm stressed out of my mind and can go no longer. About a month before I left, I realized this about myself and started to work on just taking a deep breath and pausing in the midst of chaos. I find it difficult sometimes to just breathe when there are certain things you have to get done every day, but I'm starting to learn that resting is just as important as any other obligation I may have.

Rest has been something that the Holy Spirit has put on all of our hearts. It's faith building to see how God has perfectly orchestrated this group of people to come together and how we all came seeking similar things. Many of us are in transition and all of us have been needing rest. It's more evident every day that everything going on during this trip is 100% God and that he really does have his hand on each one of our lives in a very special way.

As I had this free day of rest and time to myself, I prayed that this would be a continued theme in my life even when I leave; That when I go back home I won't be so concerned with simply accomplishing all the tasks before me, but that as I accomplish them I will take time to breathe in deep and give God all the glory. The little things that so consume our time and energy are so unimportant compared to his great purpose and I want to live a life that is more focused on His purposes rather than my own.

I seriously laugh every time I write a new post because I feel different with every day that passes. I'm already excited with how I'm being changed and shaped, but God keeps telling me to expect even more. It's almost hard to imagine, but there is no limit to how much blessing can be poured out on our lives when we truly surrender to him. There is nothing better than the true love of Jesus Christ!

You Won't Relent

Posted by Rachel Basile Sunday, June 27, 2010 2:37 PM

Today was awesome from the beginning to end. At eight this morning we went on a hike to a lighthouse overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. After we got to the top and saw the view, we climbed down through some Ochre mine ruins and went swimming in a beautiful cove. I have always been so inspired by nature so this was a perfect start to the day.

After the hike, Jordan and I spent some time together and got one the yummiest pizzas I've ever had. After that we headed back to the house for our siesta. I seriously can't go without a siesta now. Once 2:00 hits I'm out for the afternoon.

To close out the evening we had a powerful time of worship. I never want to stop worshiping once we start. There's no better feeling in the world than being completely abandoned at the feet our God. We played the song "You Won't Relent" and it was the first time I had played the song not just in my own private time of worship. It's one of my favorite songs and it was so great to see a song that has always impacted me personally impact an entire group of people.

God is so good and it is extremely evident that he has me exactly where I am supposed to be for now. Again, I am still anticipating even bigger things to come and I can't wait. Jesus is alive and well in Spain that's for sure!

So Far

Posted by Rachel Basile Friday, June 25, 2010 6:02 AM

First off, I’m sorry that I haven’t been blogging as much as I planned. We’ve been getting used to how everything works here and now it will be much easier to get away for an hour or two since we’re in more of a flow. So I apologize and I’ll try and be better about updating!

But anyway, Spain is amazing so far! I have been completely in awe of the Lord every day just looking around me. Every morning when I wake up see the Mediterranean right out my window and it’s absolutely breathtaking. We’re staying on top of a hill that overlooks the whole city and of course the ocean and it's sooooo beautiful. The streets are made of cobblestone all of the apartments by us are white with clotheslines hanging from the upper stories. The Spanish people do everything outside so their living spaces are much smaller here since homes are not commonly used for entertainment purposes like they are back home. The culture here is to go to the bars and restaurants and be among people at all times, which I happen to love this since I usually enjoy being out more than being home. We do have group meeting times in La Terazza which is basically our program’s headquarters, but we’re encouraged to go out and be in the culture as much as possible so we can meet the people here and get involved as much as we can.

Last night we went to a festival in Alicante where they display gigantic handmade floats and then burn them at midnight. Yes, they light them completely on fire and everyone gathers around and watches. There were tons of firemen all around spraying the people with water and containing the fire as much as possible. It was seriously so crazy seeing huge floats up to five stories high completely on fire. Things are definitely very different here, but I am loving every second of it!

There is so much to say and I feel scatter brained writing this but I’ll definitely be updating more frequently now that I’m more used to being here. I came to Spain with great expectancy but I think I was still expecting too little. In 5 days I’ve already changed and I can’t wait to see how God continues to mold and shape me while I’m here. I’ll tell you all about it J

Love and miss everyone!

Spain!

Posted by Rachel Basile Friday, June 18, 2010 8:31 PM

In less than 24 hours I'll be on my way to Spain! I am beyond excited for what this trip is going to bring and I anticipate some life changing moments. I will be writing all about my experiences on here throughout the trip so be sure to check for updates :)

Please keep me in your prayers for safe and easy travel. I'll miss you all!