God is breaking me. He is chiseling away what is not of Him with what seems like an intense hammer. I realized I was somewhat of a perfectionist before I left for the race, but I didn’t realize it was a problem or something I really needed to work on. I also didn’t realize where it came from. I am now taking the first steps in Facing perfectionism.
“Help me to embrace the brokenness when it comes and allow You to mold me and shape me into the vessel You want me to be. Give me opportunities to share Your gospel and make a difference in the lives of those I meet.” This was my prayer before launch in December. I asked my church of over 2,000 people to pray for this for me during the World Race. This is still my prayer.
In month one, my team and I painted lots of murals. The first project, we divided up into different rooms and each person had a wall to paint. The last project was one wall outside for the entrance of the school. I wanted it to look good and I was in charge of the project, so I kind of took over. If someone painted something a solid color or not as detailed as it could be, I went back through and added the detail I thought would make it look better, after all, we want it to look the best it can right? By the end of the project, I was the only one painting. No one wanted to paint with me. I upset my team mates by not encouraging them on their part of the mural and embracing their artistic abilities. I just wanted to do it myself, which is what I got. Before this month, I had actually never painted with anyone on a project like this. God is bringing to the surface some hard things that have to go. The chisel is in place. Tap. Tap. Tap. It’s gentle, but it is still painful.
Usually Adventures in Missions tries to change the ministry each month so we aren’t doing the same thing. Well, that didn’t work out for our month two. Guess what they had for us to do? Painting! I knew why. I talked to my team and apologized. I let them know that this month would be different. We would evenly distribute the painting so everyone would have a part.
The first project was the creation wall. This is the longest wall we will paint right behind the playground at the church. Megan had the idea of creation. Since we have seven on our team and there are seven days of creation, each person got a panel to paint. Megan painted day 1 when light was created. Mary painted day 2 when the waters in the sky and earth were separated. Melissa painted day 3 when the plants and vegetation were created. Jordyn painted day 4 when the sun, moon, and stars were created. Julia painted day 5 when the sea creatures and the birds in the air were created. Danielle painted day 6 when the animals and man were created. I painted day 7 when God rested. Creation complete. Earth in place. Wall covered.
Photo by: Megan Williamson
Our second project was the Jonah room. Mary had come up with the idea for this room so she designated jobs for each person. I was not involved as much in this project because this is when I was sick and missed ministry for a few days.
Our third project was the Noah Project. I got to plan this one. I drew the background and we painted it in one day. The next day, I drew the animals for those who wanted me to draw it for them. Each person picked the animal of their choice and they got to paint it. I painted the ark, the rainbow, and the background detail on the grass. They did the rest of the mural and the animals. This project is my favorite project we did in Ecuador. We all had a blast working together, mixing colors, getting paint on each other, and taking pride in our work. Each person did a beautiful job on their animals and the background. The artists on our team got to shine in their individual skills. The non-artists on our team discovered that they too are artistic. The unity that shown in our team through the painting of this mural was beautiful. This is my favorite mural. Hands down.
