God told me near the end of last month, rather clearly, “I need you to walk through the desert before I can bring you to my oasis.” I didn’t realize he meant this not only spiritually, but physically.
I hate to admit how difficult the last few weeks have been. If you read my last blog, I (hope that I) seem thankful for not having to live this life for the rest of it. Truth be told: I’m tired of sweating, from the hours of sleep I have lost from lying awake scratching my bug bites, of being dirty all the time, of combi rides where they squeeze 20 people into a van with not enough leg room…
Mostly though, I was tired of working. I was tired of lugging mud bricks across a 100 yard stretch of desert, scooping sand, wheel barrows, and leveling ground. Is this what I signed up for? I would be ashamed to tell you how much I had to hide my attitude from my teammates so that I wouldn’t be called out on it. Yet…it seems we were all in the same place.
Last night, the director of the program, IncaLink, shared the vision of the orphanage where we are working (including this video ). The plan is to rescue about 6 dozen Peruvian children from the dump where they search for edible trash, and give them a place to live, eat, learn, and be loved. After seeing WHY we were doing what we were doing, it made today’s work have a sense of purpose. My spirits were lifted and with each new shovel full of sand I saw a smile on a child’s face. That shovel IS caring for a child. It IS loving a child.
After long days of work, this is how He blesses me:
