I was reminded by Ms. Patti (my squad coach) at the last debrief that L squad was the first World Race squad to go to West Africa. We pioneered this land. For whatever reason, God chose us to till the ground and plant the seeds. Honestly, laboring is not easy. I will say that I have a much better understanding of why Jesus said the harvest is plenty but the laborers are few. There is alot of fruit, but few are willing to work for it. Few are willing to plow through because the work is hard and exhausting and tedious; not many people are willing to do the dirty work. We somehow plowed through and did the dirty work.
I [Paul] planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.
1 Corinthians 3:6
We may have done the work, but only God can bring life to the things we did. These are the times when I have to believe [have faith] that the Lord is going to bring increase to the work that we did, even if I didn’t see one good thing come from it. God reminded me of what our forefathers did for us and how we would not be where we are today had it not been for those who went before us. We are reaping the benefits of the things they sowed into. They probably knew they wouldn’t see most of the fruit, but they labored for the sake that we may know Him and experience greater things than they did.
The truth is Africa was hard on everyone. Nigeria, our final month, was grueling for most people because the battle that we had to labor for was spiritual. Right before we left Africa, Celeste challenged each one of us to focus not on the things that happened, but looking to what God had done. It’s easy to get caught up in all the bad we saw, but after looking back, God really did do so much! Nothing appeared to have changed when we left, but if I have any hope at all, then I have to believe those seeds will flourish.
We planted.
God will bring the growth.
This is where my heart lies.
Stay tuned for testimonies…
