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The past few days have been a whirlwind–A plethora of emotions colliding.
By Wednesday this week, our teams reached a breaking point. We were all exhausted, at the end of our ropes, and half of us were sick with one ailment or another (including myself–I've been battling a fever and body aches for 4 or 5 days now). The full schedule of our days, the lack of sleep on the cold, concrete floors, the incessant rain, and the emotional exhaustion of language barriers and these children who require constant supervision and attention had left us all feeling frazzled, drained, and in dire need of rest and restoration. So, Wednesday, we took a much-needed day for spiritual renewal. We spent most of the morning praying, listening to worship music, and spending time alone in God's Word. I can't even begin to tell you how much I needed this. I felt like my whole attitude had done a complete 180 since I'd arrived in Guatemala. When I got here, I was excited, energized and so hopeful for all God had in store. But our circumstances had started to weigh on me heavily, and I felt so exhausted, so defeated, even doubtful about what the heck I was doing here. Why was I feeling like this after only being out of the country for a week and a half?! The answer came during our day of rest–We are at war. There is a spiritual battle going on here. Satan sees this group of missionaries, people out to change the world and expand God's kingdom–and he doesn't like it. At all. And so he attacks us with doubt and exhaustion and makes us feel utterly defeated. But he is wrong. That day God reminded me that I've been set free. "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." -Romans 8:37 He is a soldier, and He battles for my soul! He will not allow me to be defeated. He hides me in the cleft of His Rock, and covers me from the furious storm. This verse really resonated with me that morning: Even though we are under attack, He is still our refuge, our great Protector. He holds me in the palm of His hand and hears my cries for help. So now, I am overwhelmed by His joy. I bet you're wondering why this blog is titled Southern Hospitality & Sunshine. It seems contradicting to my situation. But God BLESSED us abundantly in our time of distress: First of all, THE SUN CAME OUT! We have been living under dark clouds and listening to the constant sound of rain ever since we arrived in Guatemala almost 2 weeks ago. Unless you're from Oregon or Washington and you're used to this type of weather, it is quite depressing. This Tennessee girl wasn't having it! But we saw blue skies and sunshine and my spirits were instantly lifted yesterday. On top of the glorious sunshine, Lizeth, the principal of the Los Gozosos school invited all 13 of us to her home across town in Chimaltenango for an authentic Guatemalan lunch. So it wasn't actual Southern hospitality, but it was hospitality, we are much further south than Tennessee 🙂 We loaded into a rickety old van that was probably from the 70s and had rows and benches to hold all of us. We headed across town and arrived at the beautiful home of Lizeth and Martin and their two beautiful girls, Claudia and Nancy. We sat down at two long dining tables and were served and amazing soup called "pepian," which is filled with chicken, potatoes, yerba root, rice, cilantro, and other spices. It was incredible. Check out all of my pictures HERE! |
