Happy Thanksgiving!
Today has been so much harder than I thought it would be. I have been holding back tears all morning and trying to swallow down that AGGRAVATING lump in my throat. Its not a feeling of homesickness, although theres nothing I would love more than to give BIG hugs to my family and friends as they gather together today. It’s also not that I don’t want to be here. I think its just an overwhelming feeling of thankfulness for everything that I have back at home, for everything God has blessed me with, and even more overwhelming thankfulness for the opportunity of being able to be where I am today. Despite being away from family, I still have SO MUCH that I am able to be thankful for.
The morning of our first day of ministry here in Honduras, one of my teammates asked me what I wanted God to grow me in this month. My response: to learn how to sympathize with people. To be honest, I was talking about my Squadmates. We had just begun a month of all 37 of us living in a small house for an entire month. Thats a LOT of personalities in a little space. Those of you that know me well know that I LOVE my quiet personal time. So I was preparing myself for a struggle filled month. Little did I know that God would answer that request to sympathize with something FAR more advanced than I was prepared to handle at the time.
We arrived to our ministry which is an orphanage for adults with mental disabilities. Our ministry for the month is simple: love on them, build relationships with them & care for them the best we can.
Honestly, I was a little freaked out at first. I don’t speak much Spanish so I didn’t know how to communicate with them. Most of them can’t speak back. It was super uncomfortable. I didn’t know how to SYMPATHIZE with them or love them well.
Wow God.
I have never meant the prayer “break my heart for what breaks yours” more.
We have been spending time with them every week day for the last 3 weeks. My heart has been so broken for them – overwhelmed for them – filled with joy because of them & I have become more attached to all of them than I thought would ever be possible. (I’ll be posting a blog in a couple of weeks so you can officially meet them).
Because of these beautiful people, I have a new sense of thankfulness for my ability to walk. For my ability to articulate and express myself through words and emotion. For my ability to dress and bathe myself. For my ability to think, see, and hear clearly. Things that I never even realized that I took so for granted.
As you gather around the table with your loved ones and your yummy hot food today (eat some extra mashed potatoes for me, please!) I just want to challenge you to think of a few things that you’re thankful for. Not the cliche “air, water, and food” but ask God to reveal something to you that you truly take for granted that you don’t typically think to thank Him for.
Maybe you need to find something that you aren’t particularly thankful for and pray about it – change your perspective on it – and become thankful for it.
This morning our hosts took our squad to a river and had us pick a rock that stood out to us. They are challenging us to put the rock under our pillow for a month & every time we touch it, give thanks. If you want to join us, I won’t be mad 🙂 Sadly, I don’t always think to give thanks once my head hits my pillow at the end of an exhausting day or as soon as my eyes open in the morning. But I am accepting the challenge.
Here are a few things that I am thankful for today.
* Loving, God fearing family & friends
* My supporters that so willingly gave their hard earned money to make it possible for me to travel the world and share Jesus
* My singleness
* Running Water
* God’s Grace & forgiveness in my learning and growing
* My Independance
* Breath
* Freedom to talk to anyone about Jesus whether we take the opportunity or not
* Second Chances
* My Squadmates (all 37!)
* The Holy Spirit for revealing something new to me every day.
* Beautiful views (I wish you could see Honduras! The trees, Bright colored flowers, animals, mountains, rivers etc are gorgeous!)
* Emotions – although most are uncomfortable for me, except happiness, Im so thankful for them all to allow me to process everything going on.
The list could go on and on! Let me know some things you’re thankful for! I would love to hear them!
I hope everyone has a very HAPPY THANKSGIVING! They don’t celebrate it here in Honduras so my day today will consist of sitting at a coffee shop and going to lunch with some friends. We have AWAKENING this weekend which is a small retreat with our squad, a squad in their 4th month, and a squad in their 11th month. Its just a time for us to hang out and learn from each other, worship together, and be poured in to. We leave for that this evening and will have our own “thanksgiving dinner” together (what that looks like I’m not sure) but I can’t wait!
Enjoy your time with your family. Hug them extra tight today and make sure you let them know how much you love them. If you happen to see my family – give them all a big hug for me too! I miss & love you all so much. Thankful for all your prayers and cyber hugs 🙂
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
