As we entered our last three months on the race, we entered into a new season.
Team changes.
Being called up into leadership as a team treasurer.
Getting ready for reentry into the United States.
Yeah, about that reentry though… It’s going to be here soon, ready I’m ready for it or not. Seeing all my family and friends again for the first time in almost a year, processing everything that happened on the race, trying to find a job, getting ready for what the Lord has planned for me next. All these things that are going to happen are going to make my life busy again.
Again? Haven’t you been busy this past year? Haven’t you had long and exhausting ministry days?
You might be asking these questions and the answer is yes. But as I enter this new season, the Lord has put me in a season of rest.
It started when we arrived to our ministry site in Honduras. Our ministry host right off the bat told us that she knew we were in month 9 and she really wanted the month to be restful for us. Ministry was done and they ended up running out of tasks to give up. This lead us to a lot of rest, which they wanted us to have. To be honest, after a very busy month before, I was super happy about the rest. I went about my days, thinking I was getting the rest I needed. It wasn’t until about 2 weeks in that I realized I felt like I was on vacation. Ministry was being done and then I would spend the rest of my time hanging out, reading books, and watching movies. And I realized I hadn’t sat with the Lord and talked to him in a while. I was getting rest, but not the right way. I wasn’t being filled. So am I going to get filled when I get home when my life is so busy?! If I have nothing in my schedule and I can’t get filled and spend time with the Lord, it’s going to be rough when I go home.
But I never had this problem on the race before… Since the beginning, one thing that I really wanted to do was make it a habit to spend time with the Lord everyday so that I could take that home with me. And I was doing a good job at that until this month.
So what was different? Rest.
I realized that since I left America, I have never experienced rest like this before. It’s become easy to make plans and fit things into a busy schedule but I didn’t know what to do with so much free time.
So the last two weeks that we were in Honduras after I made this conclusion, I really tried to be disciplined in this. But you what? It was a lot easier said than done for me. My team started a bible study in the mornings and I would spend the afternoons listening to worship music and reading the word. But I still didn’t feel completely filled.
As Honduras came to a close, I was excited to be back to a busy schedule. But we all know that the Lord has a sense of humor. So what did he do? He gave me another restful month.
This month in Guatemala, we really only have 2 to 3 hours of ministry a day. Talk about a lot of free time there… and we just got our placement for our next and final month. And guess what it has? Yeah, that’s right. A lot of free time.
I’m just starting to learn what it means to actually rest in the Father’s hands but so far, I’m realizing that rest is necessary. Even God had to rest on the 7th day. And to rest in his hands is to get filled in beautiful way.
As I continue to learn about this concept of rest throughout the rest of this season, I’m excited to see what other things He teaches me.
As I prepare for reentry into America, I know that life will be busy overall, but there will be days that I need to rest. With this season, I will know what to do then.
So America, I’m coming for you!
