On my second day here I was walking to lunch and I saw coming towards me a woman wearing a t-shirt with the F-Word full back plastered across the front of it. It said something along the lines of F***ing Ibiza Summer Vibes. I remember thinking to myself…wow how can you wear such a profane t-shirt like that?!
I was literally SOOOO absorbed in reading her t-shirt and wanting to make out what it says as she walked past that I didn’t even realise that she had greeted me with the Spanish word “Ola.” As I suddenly realised she was saying hello to me and I kind of caught myself and said hi in response, she’s already walked past me and I had missed the opportunity to actually bless her with a smile and some love.
I felt God highlighting to me in that moment that if I waste my time looking at the outward - preoccupied in judging the profanity I seemingly see on the surface, I will totally miss what’s in someone’s heart! I felt God was showing me that I had gotten so distracted in that moment focusing on the exterior, the apparently sinful, the profane and the perceived perverse that I had missed the moment of access that I had to this precious woman’s heart because I was distracted by her outward appearance!!!
I knew He was setting me up afresh as I began my work with Ibiza 247 - to be one that looks at the heart and not at the external. Man looks at the outward appearance; God looks at the heart. As I reach out to people on this party island whether during the day or night and as I come across partygoers who will be involved in all kinds of things on the outside BUT I am to connect with their hearts and not with the outside.
What a gracious reminder. So so thankful God that You look at the heart. That’s what You did with me when I was lost in darkness. Thank You that You teach us how to be led by the heart, and not by sight…
xxx