The good the bad and the ugly. I’m gonna lay some situations out for you and let you decide which category they best fit in to. You ready?
Maria, an 11 year old in Guatemala, spends most of her days in the city dump. Her parents work in the dump sorting out plastic bottles from the trash in order to make a little money. She has the pressure of watching over her 2 little sisters weighing down on her and just one look and you can see in her eyes just how much she yearns for the chance to just be a kid free from the responsibility she’s taken upon herself.
Situation number 2:
Free high speed Internet, all the movies you could ever want. Coffee shop right down the road. Free access to a top notch tropical resort that includes a beautiful pool, full on gym, hot tub, sauna and steam room, and a HOT shower.. All surrounded by some of the most beautiful beaches and coral reefs this world has to offer. Yuppp.
In a previous blog I told you about my experience with meeting a prostitute named Adrianna. Adrianna though she sold herself for sex and probably lived from one intoxication to the next was no worse a human being than the rest of us. She was however the victim of deceit. She had been deceived by the world, she had been deceived by her flesh and she had been deceived by the common enemy that we all have who has been roaming this world far and wide trying to distract us from the truth God has for us. She had come to believe money to be her god. This is what she lived for. She knew sex as nothing more than a way for her to come closer to her god and her god gave her the things her flesh lusted after.
Now where do you think each of these three situations and stories falls under? First let me start out with little Maria. Now Maria is in a hard place in life, a place where she has to rely on God to be her strength and a place where God is more than willing to make her absolutely full of joy. Maria is in a place where God is able to shine brightest. And He loves her so much that is exactly what He wants to do through her. So based on the impact this little girl had on me in the short time I was able to spend with her and eternally speaking I would have to say that this situation was good. Don’t get me wrong I want the best for this girl and her sisters and friends but i also know that God can provide so much more joy and comfort than the world and all it’s riches ever could and I pray that God will continue to use Maria to His glory as He shines through her smile in what would seem, without God, a hopeless place.
Now before I argue how the island paradise wasn’t the “good” situation I do want to explain how I believe that those things are blessings and if received with praise and thanksgiving to God then they aren’t bad.. But what happens if those things start consuming your life? You start out and you’re receiving those things with thanksgiving on your island paradise as you serve God in different ways. But as time goes on it becomes so clear as to what is easiest to do. And what’s easiest to do isn’t always what’s best to do and before you know it you’re spending hours and hours sowing to your flesh and enjoying the things the world has to offer when you should be spending that time sowing to your spirit seeking after God and enjoying the peace, comfort and joy he has promised those who seek his face. For me last month this was a bad situation. I found myself feeling spiritually sick as my time in the Word dwindled and my communication with God came to an all time low since I started this amazing relationship with Him. I left America expecting to leave behind the luxuries and distractions of the world and when I arrived somewhere that offered even more than I had before I ended up in a ditch covered in mud and just spinning my tires as I tried getting out. But thankfully I have a Father who pulls His children out of ditches all the time and He has all the wisdom in the world to point out where I went wrong and point me in the right direction.
And then we have the story of Adrianna. I don’t need to explain much of how ugly the world had shaped her beliefs. The enemy had blinded her from the beauty of freedom leaving her to know nothing but the filth of sin. If she would just call out to God I know He would just overwhelm her with his grace but when presented with the gospel in love all she would do is mock the name of Jesus and blaspheme the Word. When I left Adrianna, that night that me and some squad mates prayed for her at the beach, she was in an ugly situation. But praise God that He brings hope to the hopeless. Praise The Lord that we serve a God who is more than able to take one of the ugliest life situations I’ve ever seen and make one of the most beautiful stories ever told with it. And I pray that that is what he will do in Adrianna’s life.
I apologize for how long it has been since I updated everyone and I thank you all for continuing to support me. I truly am thankful to have you all joining me in this. I couldn’t do it without you. Please be praying for my squad and I. My team has been experiencing a lot of spiritual warfare since we got here in Guatemala but God is strengthening us all through it.
