Wow January flew by, so sorry it has been so long since we have chatted. But man, Vietnam took me by surprise. It was honestly been the opposite of what I expected.
I imagined falling in love and being in awe of the new culture and just wanting to soak up every little part of it. Vietnam was supposed to be like all the other months so far, full of connecting with new people, and sharing the love of the Lord with the people around me. A month full of enjoying the burn of growing (you know like that burn you feel when working out, it hurts but you love it cause you know it is making you stronger).
Well needless to say, that is not what the past month has looked like. My expectations were left in the dust compared to what God had in store for me. It has been a FUNK filled month.
To back track just a little bit, the past three months in Central America have been overall wonderful. One of the things I have been realizing so far is how I use my time and how valuable time is. So I decided to be very intentional with making space for God and make the most of my time in Vietnam. Funny thing when you give God space in your life, He does NOT waste any time. He gets right to the point.
God started poking and prodding at things in my life/heart that I have had “successfully” buried for years. Things that I was more than happy to leave down in the basement of my mind to never touch again. However, God didn’t agree with this tactic. He saw the damage it was doing and knew that it needed to come out. This meant spending lots of time sitting with the Lord, working through many boxes I had packed up and ignored. This threw me off my game real quick.
It was not the kind of growing I am used to. This was more like one of those workouts where you get in over your head and you are wondering why you started in the first place, but you are with a friend and you cant let them down. So you keep going even though your lungs are screaming at you, threatening to stop working. Yup, this was more like that. However, the best part of those workouts is sitting on the couch all clean knowing you just pushed your body to its limit and relied on strength you didn’t know you had. It makes it all worth it.
Throughout the past month, all of me wanted to beg God to stop, just let it be. But He knows the strength I have deep down, strength I wasn’t aware of. He knows the lasting effects of unpacking my basement and the fruit that will come from it in the future. It was uncomfortable, challenging, emotionally draining and yet now I am able to sit on the couch next to Jesus cleaner than before and so very thankful.
I never expected to have a month of funk when I signed on to the World Race. I planned this year to be full of pouring out but in order to pour out you have to balance it with taking care of yourself. I learned that I would rather have one month full of funk than years of just coasting through life. Dealing with all the funk brings more life than letting it “hide” in your mind. We have an incredible God who knows what we need before we do. A God who loves us enough to call us out of our unhealthy habits, especially when it is hard.
Now don’t get me wrong, I have great memories from Vietnam that I will carry with me forever. I was able to teach English and connect with some incredible people. I am not about sugar coating reality. I am now on the flip side of this round of funk and have found a deeper joy and excitement in my relationship with Jesus than I have ever had.
Life is not something to coast through! I highly recommend embracing the funk for a short time so you can move into the rest of your life with more energy and freedom than ever before!
Love you all!
Martha Kuhn
PRAYER WARRIORS:
- We are in Cambodia and we all have new teams!! Please pray that as we have fun while adjusting to these all the changes and love our new teammates well.
- This month my team will be doing ATL (Ask The Lord) again. I am praying that each day we will let go of our own plans and dive into what the Lord is putting in front of us.
