Welcome. Welcome to El Shaddai.
This beautiful place is where we have spent the last 30 days. This isn’t quite what I pictured when I thought of Swaziland….El Shaddai is an orphanage often haunted by mist,
regularly visited by electrical storms
but usually blessed with breezy warm days.
We have been splitting our time between the Preschool,
the Baby House,
Grounds Upkeep….which means building a septic tank,
the Clinic, Chapel, and Tutoring.
This is no doubt the busiest month we have had yet in actual scheduled ministry. It has been a challenge, but a challenge worth pushing through. As a team we realized that this past month has been about choices.
The choice to be invested in ministry even when your tired.
The choice to hug the child with snot, dirt and food all over his face and clothes even when your flesh doesn’t want to.
The choice to stay invested in community even when you just want to be alone.
The choice to enjoy and soak up every bit of this month for what it is instead of looking forward to the next thing.
The choice to continue to push into what God has for our remaining 3 months on the race and expect Him to show up, even though we often long for home.
You see, at the beginning of the race, with months on end in front of you, its simple to stay invested and stay in the moment. But as we are hitting month 9, we realistically all start making plans for after the race, at the very least thinking about it. This makes it so easy to begin to long for home, to long for the day when you will have a bed again, when you will own more then 10 articles of clothing, when you will have access to fresh fruits and veggies, when you will see much missed friends and family. But as of now, even amidst our planning, we have the choice to check out or stay invested. However challenging, I know what I must choose. I must remember and trust that this very day, this very moment, this very situation it the absolute best for me….this is where God wants me. I must keep an open eye to WHY he has me in this day, what He wants to teach me, what He wants to do through me. God is working on the ‘to-do’ list even when I’m not.
So I ask you the same thing I have been challenging myself with. Are you invested in this moment, are you invested in Gods work TODAY, or have you checked out?
UPDATE:
We are
