I walked into the World Race I expecting to be humbled but I had no idea how beautiful the process would be. I expected a constant war between my patience/perseverance and my desire to die to myself as it is said in Mark chapter 8:34-38. Yet again the Father’s gorgeous and intricate character was revealed to me in an unexpected and astounding way, in the act of painting a little girl’s nails in the park. The language barrier along with everything else fell away as she gently gave me her open palm with surprise and interest in her eyes. As I focused on painting her nails well the gentle, persistent Spirit of God urged me to give it my all, to ignore her friends that seemed to be in a hurry and my teammates persistence that she might have to go and to just serve her to the absolute best of my ability. I felt my heart go out to her as my hands shook ever so slightly, leaving extra polish that I’d have to correct over and over. I knew I was stumbling and I loved it. I think that’s the first time I’ve painted another girl’s nails in years and it was a girl I met on the street in Romania. How exquisite is our God, who uses the least of these for His work and calls us to be His servants on this earth in such sweet ways. Humbling the self sounds very hard and painful in the Bible, but my Lord is so loving and creative and wide in His ways of teaching me. I can’t wait for all He has in store for the rest of the week! Oh, and just in case anyone wants to know what my daily ministry has been this last week or so I called the different ministry hosts here in Romania to update Hope Church’s prayer request list, gathered testimonies (thank you for those all who sent them by the way!), helped brainstorm ideas for ministries, and in the picture above I along with help from Amie Beth wrote a message on 110 car scents. I’m starting to figure out that ministry sure is a broad term!
