Interruption or Opportunity?
Soo.. If you haven’t heard yet, I won and lost a couple soccer games, broke my arm and got surgery within 3 days. It’s been an eventful past couple days but the amount of peace and joy that’s been in my heart has been transforming. The amount of the Father’s love that I’ve received has been life giving.
Well.. On Monday night me and some of the members from Team Zeal, plus Hayes, Israel and William from our Host family were playing pickup indoor soccer with the Church we partnered up with. This time was a blast. Jesse, Israel and I got put on the same team. Emily watched us play. Hayes sadly was on his own team. And William was coaching and making sure everything was good. The night was going great. My team killed our first game. Having Jesse assist me multiple times for goals was super fun, Jesse had his moves and scored too to win us the game 6-1. We then played a tough match against bigger guys and unfortunately by some missed shots on my part and dumb defense we lost 3-2. Then we were on a break watching the other teams play, waiting with anticipation to go out again and play. Finally, the whistle blew and we were on the court again. We were playing the same team we lost to, which made us play even harder. Minutes into the game I ran passed someone and there was small contact with our shoulders putting the ball away from my feet but as I kept running to get the ball I lost my balance and fell. My plan was to bounce back up using my arms but instead, my left hand hit the ground and immediately I heard and felt a pop. In that moment I knew my arm was broken. I was so stressed and worried. I kept thinking.. what does this mean? Why is this happening? How am I supposed to go on with my World Race?
As I laid on the ground I knew my situation sucked but I needed some hope so I simply prayed, “God I know you are with me so come and help me.” People rushed over and William picked me up. William is one of the Purdy’s best friends. The Purdy’s are our host family. William called the ambulance and took me outside. He immediately prayed and then sat me in his car and went to the street to wait for the ambulance. Meanwhile, I’m in a lot of pain but I knew God was with me so I began to recite Scriptures like;
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans? ?15:13? ?NIV??
“I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” Philippians? ?4:13? ?NIV??
“And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.”
??Philippians? ?4:19? ?NIV??
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
??Philippians? ?4:4-7? ?NIV??
I also began to sing this chorus;
“Doesn’t matter what I feel, Doesn’t matter what I see, my hope will always be In yout promises to me.”
In that moment everything changed. I went from having worry and stress to feeling completely at peace and overjoyed. I get to the hospital in Baños and I just can’t stop smiling. The Pastor of the Church was with me, telling me his stories. William was taking care of the Doctors and eventually Jesse and Emily my teammates came. Emily walks in and is like, “Dude! You are beaming!! What’s going on!?!” And we laughed and smiled reminiscing about our conversation from earlier. It was funny.. We talked about how interruptions are always an opportunity to invite the Father in the situation and more importantly your heart and ask, “Father where are you? What do you want me to do? How can I grow from this?”
Well… I was now in that place. A place of an interruption but instead of seeing it as an interruption I chose to see this as an opportunity. This transformed my heart. This transformed my perspective.
I know that the Father wants relationship with us and in all things there’s opportunity to grow in intimacy and communication with Him. Often the things that we go through can happen because He wants just that, an opportunity for relationship. Through this circumstance I have learned to do just that. This whole process has been one of invitation. I have learned deeper the importance of inviting God into my daily routines like changing, showering, going to the bathroom, cooking and many other things. Many of these things are hard to do with only 1 hand available while the other one in pain. It’s easy to get stressed and have your joy robbed but inviting the Father changes your heart to change the experience of your circumstance. The Father wants relationship with us and applying 1 Thessalonians? ?5:16-18? ?has opened this up and also given much freedom. “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” I have also learned and will be in a process of learning how to humble myself to allow others to help me. It’s only been a couple days but it’s already been a struggle in some areas.
The Father wants to build relationship with us and He pours out His love always but we need to be in a place to receive it. Through this process I have been helpless in many situations and He has put people in my path to just serve and serve me. Experiencing the Father’s love this week has been very tangible through the way people have treated me, through the way the Scriptures have brought life and peace, through me learning about myself and how it leads me to learn more about Him.
Soo.. I lay here wanting to share my heart before it escapes me. I’m ready for this opportunity to grow in my relationship with the Father but also my team. Sure, this sucks and my arm hurts and everything else but what an opportunity to become humble, to see and feel what others do, to just live life differently? Inviting the Father surely will change my heart and grow me. So I leave you with this.
What has been interrupting you and is it maybe an opportunity? Invite the Father into it and gain a Kingdom perspective. In every season God wants to reveal Himself New to us in order to do something in us and through us, for His glory and our good. So let’s start to “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
1 Thessalonians? ?5:16-18?
I’ll write soon ??to share whar God is doing and how I’m growing.
Thank you for the prayers and support. It’s because of you guys that this journey is so FULL.
