It feels strange to be writing this in my first home on this amazing adventure with Jesus. It feels like last week I was arguing with God about how I did NOT need to apply for The World Race. Oh how I imagine God laughed at that, knowing that I would be here now, not being able to imagine my life anywhere else. My life has become so much richer since I came here. The people, the city, the culture, and the love have transformed my heart into one that loves deeper than I could have ever thought on my own.
I could go on for a long time about how much I love this place, but instead I would like to extend an invitation to you to come journey with me on what God has consistently been doing since we arrived here.
I would like for you to close your eyes and picture the quietest place that you have ever been to. That place could be a library, your house at night, an open field, etc. Are you picturing it? Now I want you to imagine that you live in that place. This place is completely void of all noise that even you can not make a sound, although you try with everything inside of you. Picture living there, day in, and day out for years, never hearing any sound. I imagine that if I were to live there, that I would grow very tired of not having noise quickly. I also would propose that it would grow very wearisome trying to make sound, but nothing ever reaching my ears. Now, think about living in this place for many many years, never once hearing anything. Growing more weary, more burdened, more used to the silence every day, until you don’t remember anything but the silence.
Keep your eyes closed. Now imagine yourself hearing a bird chirp, a small gust of wind, or a leaf fall from a tree. Slowly, you start hearing the things that were once so pleasing to your ears. Picture that music coming back into you, creating a sweet melody. The song now fills your head, and you forget what silence is like. Open your eyes.
That is what Jesus did in Pozaravec this month. My team and I walked into a city that had been so void of Jesus and His voice that they had become used to the silence, viewing it as normal. The pastor, his family, our amazing translator, and all the other church members had been walking through life, spiritually dried out resulting in deafness to what Jesus was so gently trying to whisper into their souls. I am incredibly blessed to have had a front row seat to seeing hearing restored, and life breathed back into these beautiful people.
Jesus was glorified. Through the seven church members that were baptized, He was glorified. Through the countless conversations that were had in coffee shops, He was glorified. Through the discipleship that happened within the church, He was glorified. Through the rededication of a beautiful daughter, He was glorified. Through forming a community, He was glorified. Through our mistakes that led to His perfection, He was glorified. Through the indescribable moment when a gorgeous woman asked Him into her life, He was glorified.
I don’t know if I will ever get over watching Jesus do His thing, and I pray that I never do. This month, I witnessed Him begin to empty out all the death that had taken such a root in this beautiful city, and start whispering life back into it.
And now, let me introduce you to my life this past month in pictures:
