In my last blog I talked about our ministry in South Africa and how difficult it was for my team and I to see the impact we were making. While we found it hard to see where our impact was on the people around us, God revealed to us a revelation that has impacted my relationship with Him greatly.
At this pre-school the food that was sent with each kid by their parents was the portion size for a grown adult, they probably ate more than we did. They were expected to finish the whole container of food, and wasting food was unheard of. So we would sit down with around three kids at a time and started the mission given to us.
The kids started out at a great speed, swallowing each bite with no fuss. By the eighth bite things started to slow down and they started to store food in each cheek and it soon turned into a game of zooming airplanes and chugging choo-choo trains. Each day we would leave the pre-school and talk about how frustrated we were that these kids had full plates in front of them and instead of swallowing the food they were given they just stored the food in their cheeks. About two weeks into the month we were walking home after ministry talking about what kid we fed that day and the success rate with which they ate. In speaking out our frustrations, one of my teammates Olivia spoke up. She said it is kind of how we are with the Lord; we are constantly asking Him for more, and begging Him to feed us. The Lord gives us all we need; He is constantly giving us more. But instead of digesting the food He has given us we store it in our cheeks, missing out on all the good nutrients from what He has provided. In this month of ministry and with all the weight of personal trials I was constantly asking God where He was, and I was constantly asking Him for more. And so, through the difficulty of the children we fed day in and day out He revealed my own character. I try to carry so much on my own shoulders, and I am to busy asking for more when I have all I need right in front of me.
All we have to do as children of God is to open our hands and accept the abounding blessings He gives every day. Can you open your eyes to see what those blessings are? Or are you to stubborn to see what the Lord has given as the blessings they are meant to be? Open your eyes, look up, and receive from a Father who provides all things and provides all that you need.
