Tomorrow morning we leave Mae Sot, Thailand. This thought brings me to tears. This month has been so refreshing, so growing, so full of Jesus. I don’t want to go.
I’ve sanded, painted, cleaned, stained, deconstructed, salvaged, planned, talked, listened, shared, cooked, played, taught, sung, smiled, and loved.
I’ve confessed my fears to Jesus, my friends, and others (and conquered a few).
I’ve shed tears from physical pain, emotional turmoil, the joy of the Lord, empathetic sorrow, laughing so much, and hard surrender.
I’ve been incapacitated and empowered.
This month has been exhausting and refreshing every single day.
I don’t really have the words to explain every thing that happened this month. From this perspective it feels like every moment was full and deep and required much of me. Each moment also gave me an opportunity to give all of me and ask Christ to fill me one more time. This month was a practice of trust.
One small example of this: The past few days I’ve helped deconstruct, salvage, sand, paint, stain, and plan a coffee table. During this process I reached new depths of understanding who I am, what I’m capable of, how much I enjoy working with my hands, how much I enjoy working on a team, who Jesus is, and what He has called me to.
As I carefully ripped the old table legs apart looking for salvageable wood, Jesus spoke to me of sanctification and surrender. As I sanded and sanded all the pieces (sanding is not my favorite), I chose to love my hosts by doing something hard and uncomfortable and better understood the concept of joy in the pain. As I painted and stained all the pieces, I enjoyed community and teaching a new skill to others and saw my gifts in a new light. As I planned the final product, Jesus showed me how to request more than what was necessary and expect amazing things always.
This month has been deep and wide just like His love. I aim to keep running after Him in depth and width. I’ll let you know how that works out. 🙂
————————————————————————————–
Pray for my squad. We are traveling to Bangkok for a few days of rest, debrief, and training. Then we are moving on the month 11 in Cambodia.
Pray for my team. Next month we will be in Phnom Penh working with International Theological College and Seminary.
