Y’all the Lord is so, so good.
I have had the opportunity to live in Chilé for about a week and a half, and the Lord is already leading me into a new season, which is full of child-like joy in Him and his creation.
Let me explain: Today during ministry I was sitting in a classroom listening to the teacher talk about the Continents and Oceans in spanish. One of our ministries is to be present in the classrooms and make relationships with the teachers and students so we can show them the love of Christ in that way. During the lessons themselves though, I try to spend time with the father and actually live out “praying without ceasing”, and process with the father. I was thinking through the past two months I have had on the field, and how incredibly different they were, and how they lead me through different seasons.
Month one was kind of like a month of newness. Every turn was a new experience, and answers to all my uncertainties about the race were starting to appear. A few examples: seeing what World Race community actually looked like, the pro’s and con’s of living out of a backpack, actually taking a day to Sabbath well with the Lord, learning what ministry looked like on a day-to-day basis, etc.
Everything was new.
But it also felt almost like a construction zone in the way that the Lord was begining to take me and break down the walls and areas I needed to fix, which led me right into month 2: the month of brokeness.
I don’t mean that to sound sad or dramatic, but it really was a month of wrestling with the Lord, my team and myself while also uprooting a lot of past hurts. It was a month of opening up and learning that vulnerability really is the cornerstone of confidence, and that relationships can’t really work without it. It was about learning to place my idenity in Christ, and be proud of the person He made me to be.
Now over the course of the last two weeks, He is beggining to lead me into another season. I don’t necessarily know exactly what it is yet, but it is definetly a change in pace. These last few weeks I have just felt so full… and not just with my chilean Abuelas cooking, but full of the Lord. My daily devotions have been full of intimate moments with the Creator and He keeps wispering to me that I am His beloved, that He is proud of me, and that I am exactly where I need to be.
And above all, right now in this season I feel B L E S S E D.
The Lord has been giving me little nuggets of His kingdom, and what heaven is going to look like.
This month I get to be a part of a mega team, which is a huge blessing. They fill our house with Joy and endless amounts of laughter.
I get to have conversations with the people here through my small knowledge of spanish.
I am blessed with a gorgeous view of the snow-capped Andes mountains right outside my front door, and a track down the road I can train at.
I get to travel around the world for nine months and visit breathtaking places I never thought I could ever see.
I have a beautiful Chilean Abuela named Beni, who serves our team so selflessly and cares for us with her whole heart… and you can’t forget our scruffy pup named nugget that waits for us to get home when we leave for ministry.
I am so blessed to have a team that is intentional with me, that cares enough to ask how I am, and truly mean it.
I get to have two sisters on my team that enjoy painting, jamming out to music and having movie nights together. They are so vulnerable and I love acting like children with them. Whether its coffee shop dates, pillow fights or listening to podcasts at night in the hammock, I love it all.
I also get the chance to have 3 brothers on my team, that have shown me all that I’ve missed out on being an only child… you know like being dragged around the kitchen by my arm, getting slapped by banana peels, and have random objects thrown at me at all times. While they take every opportunity to pick on me, they have also shown me what it looks like to love and serve unconditionally, and what it looks like to be real men in Christ, and lead with a boldness that is infectious.
I get to live and serve alongside two incredible squad leaders, Emily and Mason Alpert who are so intentional to desciple us and give us ALL the knowledge on ALL the things.
I have the opportunity to do childrens ministry, sports ministry, and use my talents of art to paint a mural at the school in working with.
I’m blessed by my incredible mother, who just baked muffins for the past week and raised a significant amount of funds I still need to continue with my race. I also get to see how the Lord is working in the lives of my parents and how He is using them 5,000 miles away from me.
I have the chance to see my friends back in Wisco be so intentional with me and my family as we go into this holiday season apart from one another.
Last but not least, I get to be on Gap L- a squad who is so intentional, loving, and full of honor and respect for one another and who serve without thought of anything in return.
I am so incredibly blessed and thankful for what the Lord is doing. All I want is to blast the song ” king of my heart” by John McMillan for all to hear, becasue the Lord is so good… and he is never going to get us down.
