Expectations…Ugh!
This first half of February the girls from team Joy, for various different reasons, were able to go back to South Africa and stay at the Betor House. This is a ministry house where many missionaries come and stay to rest and get supplies. They also have different ministries that they are involved in there as well.
During our stay we met two wonderful couples and a Canadian who love the Lord and we became just like family for the two weeks. We ate dinner together every night worshiped together every Sunday evening. It was a small taste of Heaven.
While I originally went to accompany Jessie to the doctor to advocate for her health, it became clear quite quickly that the Lord was up to something in my heart…again.
One of the things that I have had to do recently was to lay down my expectations of this trip. It’s not that I had bad or ungodly expectations…it just that they were not being met. Some of my expectations were that I would enjoy every moment of this trip; that is would be a “joy ride;” that I would completely love and get along really well with all my team mates; and that I would love all the traveling and countries.
What I have found in my experience is that, the world race has been a hard trip sometimes like the “valley of the shadow of death” but in that I have found the comfort of God’s rod and staff as he has guided me through and protected me. I also now know through more experience that God is almighty and will not leave you in the dark. You can choose to stay in the dark but the light of Christ is always shinning and leading you out into his amazing grace.
I have found that love does not come cheaply. It’s not an emotion. It is a choice that you make. Also that relationships are meant to be worked on and a lot of times the most difficult relationships that you have are the ones that God is using in the greatest ways to make YOU a better person.
I have also found that God is good, no matter anything else in all of creation, God is good and He loves you! Even when you mess things up a thousand times, He is still good and longs to see you restored to him. Praise God for his amazing love and grace!
