Quick Update:
My team and I left Guatemala last Saturday. After one last team dinner and final goodbyes to our honorary Guatemalan team member, Alejandro, we began the journey to Honduras.
What was planned as a 10-hour bus ride, slowly but surely, turned into a 22-hour adventure. The bus company sent us the wrong bus, forcing us to take on any incline greater than 5 degrees at 10 kph. Several hours into the trip, the exhausted engine could not handle any more, and we broke down on the side of the road. Several hours later, our replacement bus came to collect us. We arrived out our destination at 10 pm, a mere 12 hours after we planned to haha! #worldraceproblems
The coolest part of the journey came when I sat back and admired the attitudes of my squadmates. Here we were, incredibly uncomfortable, hungry, hot, and uncertain if we would even make it to our destination that same day. But as I looked around, all I saw was joy! A phrase we use a lot around here is “choose joy”. More often than not, we cannot control our circumstances in life. We can control our attitude though. It’s not about just accepting the circumstances and “going with the flow”. It’s a conscious decision to survey the situation and actively seek the positive, the lesson-to-be-learned, and/or the blessing.
Now I know that life is more complicated than a bus breaking down. Our world did not end when our bus was late. But what if I told you that in the entire spectrum of circumstances, ones that interrupt our lives for 5 minutes and the ones that can devastate us for a lifetime, the formula is EXACTLY the same.
As Christians, we believe in a Constant. We believe in Someone that is bigger than the biggest interruptions in life. Along with the gift of abundant life in Him, God gave us JOY (one of the fruits of the Spirit). Not in small doses, but in an overwhelming abundance. So in circumstances that interrupt our lives, when life takes a turn for the worse, when the course of life does not seem to be aligned with our expectations, all we have to do in that moment is remember that God gave us JOY. By thanking Him for that JOY, we are taking our attention off of the circumstance and putting on the One that is greater than the circumstance.
Life is good for me right now. Honestly, I have never been happier here. But I am finding, the more I practice the formula in the small things, (broken down vehicles, frigid showers, no washer and dryer, etc.), the easier it will be when the big things come along.
Struggles in this life are real, circumstances are out of our control, terrible things do and will happen, but how comforting is it to know we serve a God who is there with us through it all, holding our hand, giving us the tools to succeed, and loving us every step of the way.
