Life isn’t awesome just because you get to travel to a different country each month. This last month in Malawi was difficult for me. The first day of ministry I volunteered to be part of a group going to play soccer. About 15 minutes into playing I twisted my knee. Suddenly my month in Malawi became very different.
For a few days I couldn’t walk anywhere and for the next 2 weeks I could only walk short distances. The terrain was very uneven and the ground was made of shifting sand. Each day, in order to make food, flush the “toilet”, have drinking water, or have water to wash our hands a team had to carry 20 liter containers up a hill from the well 1/2 a mile away. A large part of the ministry was manual labor on the ministry site. A bad knee and manual labor don’t mix very well together. A lot of this month was God reminding me that my value is not in what I do but in who I am. It was hard to “sit around all day” while others were in the villages supporting the locals or working hard all day for Joahan and Marie (missionaries we worked with). There were lies going through my head about how I wasn’t as good as everyone else, how I needed to work harder, and about being insufficient.
However, something Brian, our honorary 3rd squad leader said struck me. He said, “Ministry is about the person in front of you.” I had the opportunity to chat with people right where I was, even if it was just someone from the squad. I also had the chance to pray for those who were out in the village or doing manual labor. I learned a lot about prayer this month and how important of a ministry it is. I may not have gotten to hang out with locals at the soccer field or gotten to help carry water to the camp, but I did get to pray for all those people. I had a lot of time to converse with God and deepen my relationships with others.
Even though it was a tough month it was a month of growing and learning. It was a month of dealing with tough spiritual situations. The month was not wasted and God always had some way to use me. I am thankful for my month in Malawi and everything God showed me.
Where is God using you? What is He trying to show you?
