Putting a full stop to another journey.
These past two weeks has just been amazing. I had the privilege to serve 85 people who came from all different denominations and backgrounds, from 8 year olds to a 70-year old man. I never would have imagined myself leading them.
Was it hard? Yes.
Was it tiring? Definitely.
Was it worth it? Without a doubt.
As much as we were challenging the participants to hearing God’s voice, I had to seek God even more in this as well as God showed me how very important our position was as ‘spiritual leaders’ for this appointed time. Isaiah 61: 1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. We cannot take this position lightly but have to continually seek for His direction everyday for each group, for each individual. Boy was that tiring, especially when you only get about 6 hours of sleep everyday and running nonstop from the time you wake up till you finally hit the bed.
But God always shows up. He’s that faithful.
Participants who have never heard God speak so personally before were sharing amazing stories about how God led them to people who just needed a kind word or a helping hand. It touched the recipient as much as the giver. Their eyes and heart and mind became open to the Lord’s leading. To see them transition from never hearing God speak so personally before to running after it and determined to bring it back home to continue practicing and sharing it within 4 short days I think is the most rewarding thing to me.
Yes there are challenges, there’s resistance. In fact, there are even groups that decide not to participate. I was put on the spot just this past Wednesday when I introduced a listening prayer exercise and half of the group walked out of the room. And it just so happened that neither Shannon nor Jovoni was with me at that time and I had to face everyone alone. That was probably one of the toughest situations I’ve been in. But God never throws you in a situation without first equipping you for it. I did not feel rejected or dejected in any way. I had absolute peace that this was what God had asked me to do and I had simply obeyed. I was able to face everyone without any anger or shame or resentment. But my heart did break for the disunity in the church today, even within this small circle of 44 people. But I trust that God knew what He was doing and He is the one in charge of changing hearts anyways, not me.
So I put a ‘period’ to these two weeks for the time being. Maybe I should put a ‘coma’. Because who knows when God might tell me to lead another short term missions trip. Haha.
Some pictures from the trip.
Hanging out with the kids and youth at the Boys and Girls Club. Many of them come from broken families or are living in foster homes.
Teaching them to make friendship bracelets.
Making bird feeders using pine cones, peanut butter, and bird seeds. Messy but fun!
Finished bird feeder. Yum!
Hanging out with Mark and Debbie, a blind couple who loves to give and play Uno! (Bet you’ve never played Braille Uno before!)
Painting the mural at Salvation Army.
Working on the community garden at Salvation Army.
Feeding and talking to the homeless under the overpass.
And lots more other ministries that I didn’t get pictures of.
My wonderful co-leaders, I couldn’t have done this without them!
