Every week the World Race requires us to fill out Journey Markers. Journey Markers are simply tools that the World Race uses to help us process through our faith and what the Lord is teaching us. Additionally, they are used to give our leadership team a glimpse at where we are at and how they can better come alongside us and support us. For the last few weeks they have made references to and asked questions about seeing the image of God in the people around us.
In Genesis 1:26, we read that God created man in His image and in His likeness. In the first 26 verses of the Bible, God gives humanity such dignity and worth, simply by creating us in His image. Of all creation, He created man unique. From the beginning He set us apart, creating us in His likeness. As we continue to read the Bible, we continually see more examples of how intimate the creation of man was and continues to be. It’s absolutely mind blowing.
Our journey markers have asked the question, if we’re created in God’s image then how we see the image of God reflected in the people around us. Particularly, in our teammates. For the most part, I’ve found seeing His image in my teammates easy. But, where I’ve started to struggle was finding the image of God in strangers, the people who pass by me every day who I may or may not have a conversation with.
How is the image of God reflected in the cashier at the corner store we frequented way too much for blue Gatorade? How is His image reflected in the Muslim women we see walking by us on the street? Or in the pastor we listened to preach every Sunday? Or, the question I’ve wrested with a lot this month, how is the image of God reflected in the children and young adults we’ve been serving here?
Last month, in India we partnered with one of my favorite organizations to date. I seriously loved that place to much. Our days were spent doing everything from cleaning, organizing, painting, and a variety of other projects. Yet, we’ve also had a ton of time to spend with some of the children and young adults our organization serves – all of whom have special needs. Many children are strictly wheelchair bound and no longer walk, others cannot see or hear, many have learning disabilities, and so on and so on. All of the children and young adults for some reason or another have been orphaned and because of their needs depend on someone else to take care of them for their basic necessities such as eating, changing, and hygiene.
I sat on the floor one day beside a sweet girl with special needs and thought to myself, “how do I see the image of God in her?” This sweet child is 100% dependent on others. She is unable to walk, she cannot talk, she relies on a feeding tube to eat, and so on. While I was sitting there, the woman who selflessly takes care of her everyday walked over and began to feed her through her feeding tube. I watched her refill the syringe full of food time and time again to care for this sweet girl whose unable to ever thank her.
& in that moment, the Father whispered, “That’s how she bears my image. She reflects my heart for my creation.” For a moment it caught me off guard. What does that even mean? But the longer I thought about it the more I realized how my “abilities” keep me from not living a life dependent on the Lord. I don’t rely on the Lord for food because I have a bank account with money in it that I’ve gotten from working. I do not have to worry about getting water to drink, because I am more than capable of walking to a sink myself to get water or finding a place to get clean drinking water from. I really do not worry about where I’ll live or where I am going to go, because I trust in my ability to get a job of some sort when I get back home. I could go on and on, but you get the point. I trust in the Lord, but I also trust in myself a lot. I trust in myself to do things that are required for sustaining life.
When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, He said “give us this day our daily bread.” Truthfully, despite the teachings of Jesus that is a prayer I’ve simply never had to pray. But as I watched this sweet girls’ caregiver feed her, clean her, and tend to her every need I could hear the Father saying, “this is what I want for you.” I want you to depend on me for your every need.
In full honestly, I still do not fully understand what it means to press into Jesus and rely on Him like that sweet girl relied on her caregiver. But I’m excited to learn. Excited to see even further the depths of the Father’s love as I lean into Him and depend on Him for my every need.
