I’ve been in chanthaburi for about a week now. It is still far from feeling like home. I came on this trip expecting God to flip my world inside out, to pull rabbits out of hats, to show me everything I hadnt seen Him do in America – as if my upper-middle class life was stopping Him from reaching His full potential. [lol]. Somehow I thought moving 8,871 miles from my house would miraculously turn God into who I wanted Him to be. I was expecting this huge magic show. This huge movement. And God looked at me and laughed.
I have this theory, that when we prepare for God to enter in through our front door by sweeping and moping the floor, turning on the porch light to let Him know we’re ready, we turn around and He’s already let Him self in through the back door. He has a way of recognizing what we want, and doing the complete opposite [like I said earlier, He does that a lot].
During ministry, my friends and I teach English at a local youth prison to 50+ boys roughly our age and at a church to people of all ages. For the first few days I felt somewhat useless. How could God do huge miracles through the song ‘Head Shoulders Knees and Toes’ or ‘If You’re Happy and You Know It Clap Your Hands’?! [lol]. Where were the light shows, the great healings, the ‘coming to Jesus moments’?
It wasnt until mid way through a game of musical chairs to Justin Beiber’s song Baby [everyone here knows every word] at the youth prison when I noticed the smiles and laughs and insanely impressive dancing that I hadn’t seen on the first day. I realized that God doesn’t need huge moments of miraculous preaching to reach people. And that it wasn’t up to me to bring those moments here. Sometimes God is found in songs like ‘Head Shoulders Knees and Toes’ or games of Simon says or prayers that no one but you can understand.
Yanno how people say ‘it’s in the little things?’ Jesus is too. And now I know to look for Him there and not in just the big moments, which will come. God’s taught me to celebrate Him in the little, simple moments so that I don’t miss out on His work here when He moves mountains.
I’d like to thank everyone who has supported me financially and prayerfully. I truly couldn’t be here without you. I ask for prayer that my team and I continue to find God in interesting ways. We’ve found ourselves with a lot of downtime, which is sometimes spent missing home. Please pray that we continue to be where our feet are, in the present so that we can get the full Thai experience 🙂
[also happy birthday to my awesome sister, Emily. Have a fantastic 24th birthday and I love you so]
