This month’s ministry has changed drastically from what I originally thought it would be. Coming into the country I got excited at the idea of ‘street evangelizing’ with our ministry host, Pastor Raymond. Being able to go into the community, build relationships with my neighbors and through it all ultimately have the chance to speak God’s truth and life into them. How amazing does that sound? My job for the month would be to walk and talk, which are two things I know I’m good at!
That would change very quickly.
In the week leading up to coming to Jamaica I had gone on a very long and difficult hike in the Dominican Republic. Little did I know this hike would lead to me fracturing my foot. Now it’s not as dramatic as you might think. It’s something called a stress fracture, which basically means I used my foot too much, and apparently my bones in my feet suck (considering this is the second time I’ve gotten a fracture from ‘overuse’). The most infuriating thing is that there’s nothing else you can do but rest and ice your foot… for upwards of 6 weeks.
I do not like missing out. I do not like feeling like a burden. I do not like feeling like everyone else might be thinking I’m ‘milking’ my injury so I don’t have to walk around all day. I do not like being injured and even more so I do not like being injured just because I used my feet ‘too much’. It all just seems so ridiculous to me.
My initial instinct was to look at the injury for all it was doing to hinder me. I’m missing out on bonding with my team more as they go out every day. I’m missing out on building relationships with the community. I’m missing out on what I thought would be my ministry for the entire month.
But God’s funny like that. In every situation I have to remind myself, ‘Alright God, why is this happening? What do you want me to learn from this? What do you want me to get out of this?’. Where I saw myself as a burden and where I felt annoyed at my own weakness, God instead was answering the prayers of others.
See, as my team goes out every day with Pastor Raymond, his wife, Sheronia, and daughter-in-law, Kadian, stay behind cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, tending to their mother and tending to their kids. They’re doing everything behind the scenes in order that Raymond is able to go out and spread the Word of God and grow his ministry. Some of my teammates had the eyes to see the hard work Sheronia and Kadian put in every single day and were praying for a way in order to bless them in all that they do. God’s funny because somehow He made my fractured foot into an answer to someone else’s prayer.
God’s ministry for me this month looks a bit different than the rest, but this by no means that it is less important. As I say good-bye to my teammates/children for the day I make sure to leave them with God’s Word, ‘go out and make disciples of all the nations’. From there I get to spend the day doing the dishes, cleaning clothes, sweeping and mopping the floors, cooking dinner with Sheronia and being able to fully appreciate all the hard work her and Kadian put in every day. Aside from all the work, my favorite part about the ministry God has given me is being able to spend time with Kadian and getting to hear about her faith and her struggles, being able to intercede and pray for my team as they go out into the community, being able to share in Sheronia’s joy of cooking, being able to read through the entirety of Psalms with Sheronia’s mother and hopefully through all that, being able to show that what they do ‘behind the scenes’ is so incredibly important.
Thank You God for my fractured foot. Thank You God for answering our prayers.
