The streets were covered in trash and drug paraphernalia. Spanish swirled around me and suddenly from the corner of my eye I saw the flowing, brown river. Instantly my heart was drawn to the water. I knew that I needed to go down and soak it in. But before I could make it to the water, I had to climb down the hill past the smoldering piles of trash and avoid the broken glass all over the path.
Suddenly I was past the brokenness that surrounded me and standing on the rocky shore of the swiftly flowing river. A tunnel of green foliage surrounded it with the mountains peeking out in the distance. As soon as I heard the water rushing over the rocks my heart found peace.
The river flowing through La Vega.
Water has always been the place where God meets me. Water centers my soul and brings me peace. My life has always revolved around the water, whether it’s lakes, oceans, or rivers, I seek water out when ever I can.
In the moments standing there with 2 of my teammates God showed up. There was no one else but us on the shore, and in those quiet minutes God revealed to me how much he loves the Dominicans. God reminded me that he has been at work in this country all along, just like how the river has been flowing through the city way before I stumbled upon it.
The river was a source of beauty, peace, and life in the midst of brokenness. God is our source of beauty, peace, and life in the midst of our brokenness.
The trash pile we walked down to get to the river.
The stark contrast between the trash pile behind me and the river before me could not get out of my head. I stood there praying out loud to God when he spoke something so clear to my soul. He said, “from the outside the country and the people you are interacting with may seem like the trash pile behind you, broken and a lost cause. But within the heart of it there are streams of living water. There is a beauty inside most people that is more profound than you realize. Look beyond the brokenness for the beauty. Affirm the life inside each person.”
The trash pile didn’t look as ugly in that moment. The river seemed to rush forth stronger and I knew that God has this country held firmly in his hands.
When walking down the streets that were ruled by drugs and prostitution I could have stopped when I reached the pile of trash at the end of the street, but I chose to walk beyond the trash and embrace the beauty of the river that flowed just out of direct sight. We can always choose to stop seeing people when we are met with their brokenness, but God calls us to look beyond to see the beauty, peace, and life in each individual, to look at them with an eye to see their soul and not their brokenness. Every person has a river of beauty flowing within them; we need to choose to look beyond the pile of trash in their life to see it.
