So, maybe I underestimated God a little in my last blog post. It wouldn’t be the first time.
All week, my prayer has been,
“Lord, let me and my team radiate your love to these children at the Life Center. Let us be vessels of your compassion, peace, and care.”
I’ve found myself having to rely on prayers like this more than ever before. The language barrier has stripped me of my charm, my fancy words of wisdom, and charasteristics of my personality that I didn’t realize I so heavily relied on until now. There are times it has made me feel useless, stupid, and completely disconnected. (The Tower of Babel really did us dirty.)
For example, last Wednesday my team and I were informed that we would be hosting a huge fiesta at the Life Center, and every family in the slum was invited. The Life Center is about the size of an American living room, but that didn’t stop over 200 children from showing up for the food and games. 200 dirty, unbehaved, hungry, loud, and sometimes mean children (punches get thrown).
My team and I were eager to help, so Devies put us in charge of a game, but we didn’t understand the rules. So instead, for three hours, my teammates and I were scattered around the room, basically silent, while children tugged at our clothes and screamed things at us that held absolutely no meaning. We were here to be Jesus to these people, but how were we supposed to do that when we couldn’t even help with the simple task we were asked to?
It’s times like this that I feel useless. In the last hour of the chaos, I just sat down and prayed.
The next day during lunch break I asked Devies, our ministry host, if our presence in the Life Center changed the kids’ behavior.
I said, “Do the kids act differently when we are gone?”
Devies got his phone out and typed into Google Translate,
“I believe that your arrival from the United States has made a great difference here. It used to be so difficult for me to control the children by myself, but the love that you have shown them has made them much more behaved. It has made a great difference.”
I never understood why Devies always acted to grateful towards us and always thanked God for us in his prayers. Devies was saying that every hug and smile and “infinitsemal” act of love that God showed through us was valuable and yielded actual fruit.
The coolest thing about Devies saying this is knowing that I have nothing to do with it. God fulfills His purposes in us the second we are drained of our own power and stripped of our own abilities. He will make sure He is glorified and that His little children feel safe and loved.
——
God is moving every day. Prayers are being answered. Some of my squadmates and I are experiencing a hunger for the Lord that we have never felt before and are chasing after Him faster than ever. Spending every weekday at ministry and every off-day in the Word has caused my desire for success in this life to shrivel and starve. All that I want is more of Him, more Kingdom on earth.
Prayer Requests:
-That the hunger that my friends and I are feeling would only continue to increase
-That God would calm the hearts of the children at the Life Center, and that we would continue to be a source of God’s peace and acceptance and attention to them
-That God would do a new, fresh work this week in my squad and our ministries
