Today is team [Rooted 19:30]’s eighth day in Candelaria,Nicaragua. For me, this past week has been alot of things . . but it for sure has consisted of more growth than my entire first month on the race. Upon arriving in Nicaragua, I immediately felt pain and emptiness at the pit of my soul as a result of starving spiritually. As you may have read in earlier blogs, I didn’t spend much time in the Word last month, but instead relied on myself to make it through. I usually deal well with change, but this transition from Honduras felt more like a vital organ had been ripped out of my stomach rather than just having to become accustomed to a new country. I have seen a trend in my life . . God uses my absolute lowest points in life to really shake some major sense into me. These are the times I experience life-long changes of how I think and live. He knows my stubborn ways and knows I have to hit ultimate lows before I will listen. However, I am proud to say this time it didn’t take that. I knew I needed Him and asked for His presence to meet me where I was. I admitted I was helpless and hopeless and didn’t even know what the next step was. On my own I am nothing, but in Him I can accomplish anything. I am not telling you this to boast or brag by all means, but only want to testify to the fact God is good and faithful to those who love Him. He answers the prayers of His children and meets you where you are. He can and wants to empower you to do things you never thought possible. He wants to use each one of us no matter how awful and selfish we are. He makes it clear in (Luke 11) that He is already there waiting to give us these things, and how simple it is to obtain them.
9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”
Well, I asked for direction and He gave it to me. I sought out God’s power,and I found it. I knocked on the door to His love, and He invited me in with arms wide open. This week we have been blessed with sermons, Bible studies, relaxation, a trip to the beach, fellowship, awesome worship (in Spanish and English), intense prayer, and have been in the midst of some pretty wise folks. We have had time to bond as a team . . to learn more about one another, as well as what our roles on this team look like. We have been refreshed, renewed, and my broken heart has been mended.
I am excited about this month of ministry and am trying something new out. My goal is to pretty much put myself in situations where I feel inadequate, uncomfortable, paralyzed, and have absolutely no plan. I never want to feel the hunger pangs of spiritual starvation again, but I never want to be full either. I want to hunger for more of God in my life each and every day. I want His plan for my life as well as for those we are going to come in contact with in upcoming months. I want His power, because it surpasses mine exponentially. I want to live in the way I was created to live, because I will never be happy otherwise.
With all that said . . I am working alongside New Song Mission, which is a church here in Candelaria. We have the opportunity to live alongside the long term missionaries here whom are all North American, and since we are living at the church, we have daily fellowship with the community and church members. We are going to be intensely working with the youth here (ages 14-30ish), and whatever else God places on our hearts. This month will be about freedom in Christ, about listening to His direction, about growing both as a team and individually, about strengthening our spiritual gifts, and whatever additional adventures He will show us along the way.
I promise the next blog will come much sooner than the recent ones did!
