God has reminded me of many simple truths this month in Ecuador. Things I’ve always known, but not always been able to trust fully in. Here are just a few of the things he has been teaching me and the team.
- Always serve with a joyful heart
- Be faithful in the small things
- He can work with any timetable
- He is my Provider and Protector
- Always trust him – he is moving even when it is hard to see.
I will be the first to tell you my heart was not joyful about ministry this month. Not in the beginning. We were busy, had little time to rest. and did a lot of what seemed like menial
tasks: Sweeping floors, washing windows (with a wiper blade as our
squeegee), painting the basketball court, cutting the lawn with
scissors, etc. It was easy to question where God was in those things, and how he would move through them.
tasks: Sweeping floors, washing windows (with a wiper blade as our
squeegee), painting the basketball court, cutting the lawn with
scissors, etc. It was easy to question where God was in those things, and how he would move through them.
After a short time of doing these jobs, I was reminded this trip is not about me and what I would choose to do with my time. This trip is about dying to myself and my own desires and following him wherever he leads. This month, he was teaching our team a lot about what it means to have a servant’s heart. Our hearts began to change…we stopped rushing to get things done and instead focused on doing the best job possible. We realized God was moving, even though at the time we couldn’t see how or where. We began to realize all of those little tasks are just as important as when we were out evangelizing the month before, and our attitudes while we do them is vital.
Suddenly, we were singing praises to God while we were cleaning classrooms. We could see the Lord was asking us to have faith, because he placed us in that location for a purpose. The last few days of ministry, he made it so clear to us why. We could have just as easily never have found out the reasons for it, and there might still be more we will never know of, but we were blessed to see part of the impact we had on the church, the school, and the community. We don’t know why or how – it certainly was not us, but the Lord working in the hearts of the people around us.
Leaving was rough… Funny, that as hard as it was to adjust to life if Ecuador, it just made it that much harder to leave. I am going to miss the conversations with teachers, the support of Pastor Fabian and Mabe, the hugs of the children each day, and the joy and love my host family poured into me. They all taught me so much, and God showed me a lot about the way he loves through them.
