I’ve been trying to do things I don’t necessarily want to do recently. It’s been good for my soul and my pride. One of those things is playing basketball. I don’t really like playing basketball because I’m not really that tall or aggressive. I’m more of a volleyball person.
But on Friday night, I went with the team to play some basketball with our ministry host.
And it was the BEST. God definitely rewarded that step of obedience.
We had to wait on the court for a while and when we finally were able to take the court and play a game of 5 on 4, a group of 50-year-old ladies stepped onto the court, who had been drinking the whole hour leading up to taking the court, and said they would play us for the court.
It was interesting to me that they didn’t even have a ball, so I’m not sure what they would have done if we would have left.
We decided to go ahead and play against them. They were SO scrappy. They took the lead for a while. We were like how is this happening.
When we finally started to take the lead, they started to get more and more aggressive, probably also because they were continuing to drink.
It was seriously so fun though. God reminded me of how fun things can be even if it’s in something I don’t often do. To give Him the chance to work in the unexpected moments.
After the game, Alex preceded to share with them why we were in Ecuador and that God had answered her 10 month long prayer to play basketball in one country and it was with these ladies. She shared Jesus with them and we invited them to church with us.
Something God has been talking to me about is that we are ambassadors of Christ, “sent ones” to proclaim His message. He gave us the ministry of reconciliation. Reconciliation to Him and thus reconciliation to one another. I love the heart behind having hard conversations with people for the sake of one another.
I’m realizing that with the language barrier, when sometimes I have no words to say, actions speak so much louder than if there were words attached to them. All we have on the race sometimes is the example we display. The past couple of weeks in Ecuador, it’s been hard for me to remain completely present. With thoughts of going home, and just being physically and emotionally exhausted, I haven’t been as engaged with the people here as I should. And that’s not loving them how they deserve to be loved.
But I am realizing that no matter what, even if I am tired, I want to live FROM His love, from the overflow, from HIS PLEASURE, from delight, from victory, from REST. We are meant to live from that state of rest because we have the ability to fully rest in Him at all hours of the day. So even if I’m tired, His grace is sufficient to keep me going.
I have been trying to release control in other ways as well by doing things I don’t normally do.
For example, I went to a hot spring last week. Our host graciously got us free passes.
It was very hot. So hot that you had to get an ice bath before you got in. Pretty much like sitting in glacier water. For those who know me, I hate the cold. I hate being cold. I hate the cold. But as I stood outside the ice bath, looking at my friends sucking it up and sitting in the ice cold water, I made a decision to do something I didn’t want to do. Sometimes we have to go through a little bit of pain to have a great reward that far outweighs the pain. And after the ice bath, the hot spring was amazing.
This past weekend- we also decided to have an adventure day as a team and went whitewater rafting and then canyoning down waterfalls and ziplining. It was beautiful. And it was so fun.
Most of you know that I love to hike and go on fun adventures. But I love hiking because for the most part- you can control pretty much everything. Your feet are planted nicely on the ground and it’s warm outside and you stay dry.
But water. Water is unpredictable. There’s no control there. It does what it wants. That’s why when I go to the beach, I usually stay on land. The ocean is too big and too many unknown things in there. Plus, IT IS SO COLD. I have to lay out for a good 45 minutes before my body is ready for the cold water.
I really do hate being cold more than anything. I don’t know why. I don’t think I could ever live in the north. My body was made for the warm. I wear a coat pretty much every day of the year besides the three months of summer, but even then sometimes I wear a coat inside.
BUT IT WAS AWESOME. I loved it. I did something I don’t usually do and risked something I don’t usually risk, and it was awesome. I loved every second of it.
So play basketball, rappel down waterfalls, sit in some ice cold water- you won’t regret it.
I thank the Lord for His continued grace!
