Week two in Peru was not as enjoyable as I had hoped.
Our squad is working with a new ministry each week. This week we worked with a church in a more rural area of Peru. We had to endure a 90 minute bus ride to and from ministry every day and then walk up a very large hill. It doesn’t sound too bad, until you actually climb it. But I’ll get to that later.
Tuesday morning rolls around and I wake up and my head is spinning like crazy and my stomach was turning in knots. I can’t even get out of bed without almost falling over. I decide its best if I stay home and rest and hope I’m better tomorrow. I start having blackout spells and feel glad I stayed home.
Now its Wednesday and I don’t feel any better. I find it a good idea to go to the clinic and get checked out. So we get to the clinic and I see a doctor and he diagnosis me with vertigo. He gives me an anti-vertigo medicine and instructs me to get an injection. I go down to the next office to get my injection and when I get there, they tell me I have to get the injection in my bottom. I hesitate but agree. Let me just say… THAT HURT! So I’m finally done and we start to walk home.
I go to pull up my pants and feel something wet. I’m bleeding from the injection site and its leaked onto my pants.
My leader and I get back to our apartment and she so willingly put a bandaid on my “wound”.
Now it’s Thursday and I’m still not feeling well, so I stay home again. By the end of the day I’m starting to feel somewhat normal and am excited to go to ministry in the morning. So I get all my stuff together and head to bed.
Finally, its Friday and I get to go to ministry! I get up and get ready and we head out. We start walking to the bus stop and I already start to feel dizzy. I drink some water and brush it off. The 90 minute bus ride went good and I started to feel better. Now, it’s time for that hill… I hype myself up and start to head up. I start out steady and slow determined to make it up. After about a 15 minute hike I start to feel dizzy and my head is spinning. I rush the rest of the way up and reach the church and feel absolutely exhausted. I end up staying at the church while my team goes out and works on some street evangelism. I feel bad for missing out but on the bright side, I get to work on my sermon for the next day. And I finished I!
Saturday morning comes around and I’m dizzy again, I take a shower and some medicine and finally start to feel better… and then I throw up… This is just not my week. On top of that, they canceled my sermon, so that message I was so proud of the night before would never be herd. Except I thought it would be nice to post it here! So here it is!
“Trusting In God”
Psalm: 56:3 “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.”
One of my favorite scriptures talking about trusting in God is Daniel 3 – The story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Daniel 3: 1-7
- King Nebuchadnezzar had a good image built and requires everyone to bow down and worship it on command. He threatens that if anyone does not obey, they will be thrown into a fiery furnace.
Daniel 3: 8-23
- It was brought to King Nebuchadnezzar’s attention that there were three Jewish men named Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that refused to bow down to the golden image. He called upon the three men and ordered them the bow before the image or be thrown in the fiery furnace
- Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego respondes with, “If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
- King Nebuchadnezzar was so furious, he ordered for them to be bound tightly and thrown into the furnace after it had been heated seven times hotter than usual.
Daniel 3: 24-30
- Once the men were in the fires, King Nebuchadnezzar noticed there were 4 shadows, unbounded, and walking around in the midst of the flames. He called them forward out of the furnace.
- When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego retreated from the fire, King Nebuchadnezzar was surprised to see that they were okay. “the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. The hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them.”
- King Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged the trust Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego has in their God and declared that be the God all followed.
When we receive the love of Christ, we are given a new nature. In nature to trust in Him. Sometimes that hard.
God wants us to trust in Him with our nature. In good and bad, we are called to turn to Him.
A quote I always turn to in any situation is, “ if God brings you to it, then he will bring you through it.”
Every time we put our trust in Him and cast the decision to obey, His spirit transforms us and makes us more like Him.
The last day of the ministry week, Sunday, is finally upon us, and once again, I’m stuck in bed. But on the bright side, I’m on my last day of medication, I feel well rested, and Ive been able to get some things done before I go into the next week. I also spent a big chunk of my day praying for good health for the following week.
I am so excited for week three in Peru! This week will be filled with helping people with special needs, something I have grown to love so very much!
