I wanted to write a blog to show how Jesus has been convicting and working in me personally in this first week.
Right now, the language barrier is hard. The culture difference is hard.
The culture and language is beautiful and I love learning about it. But, I am such a relational person, that sometimes it gets frustrating not being able to say what I want to say simply because I don’t know the language well enough. Especially when it comes to talking about Jesus.
God knew I was struggling with this, I brought it to Him. I’ve been reading through Acts, and in my quiet time I was on Acts 10. Long story short, in Acts 10, the Jews figured out that the Gentiles were able to accept Christ and become Christians too. So, Paul shared the gospel with the Gentiles, and they all worshipped together in the church as Jews and Gentiles.
The Jews and Gentiles spoke different languages, had different cultures, and had different histories. However, they were all together, as a church, worshipping God.
I knew God gave me this passage for a reason. God is showing me that He is bigger than language barriers. He is bigger than different cultures. He is bigger than different histories. He unifies us in Christ. In fact, He loves when despite our differences, we come together and worship Him. It is SO powerful.
I don’t know what that is going to look like on this trip for me yet, in my brain it seems very hard to do. But I trust God with it. He thinks in the supernatural, while I only think in the natural. He has a plan already in place. I have a heavy conviction that God is going to do big things here, so I just need to be patient and trust that since I am surrendering to the Lord, He will do big things despite these differences. He has me here for a reason.
I get antsy because I just want to verbally share the gospel. God is showing me that I need to wait, trust him, not power through with my own strength, but wait on his strength and his timing.
God spoke to me directly through the message at Horizon Church in Costa Rica, and they are teaching from Acts right now (so, you think God wants me to be in Acts in this season? haha). This is what the pastor said, teaching from Acts 1 and 2:
“There will always be needs, but what is more important than meeting needs is being obedient to God- don’t get impatient and rush ahead. Don’t minister in your own strength and ability and miss what God has in store. When God told the disciples to wait, they waited even though there were needs that needed to be met around them. They waited on God, trusted Him, and partnered with the Holy Spirit.
As a result, the church worshipped God, and witnessed to the lost. This is much more than what they could’ve done on their own in their own strength. Even though it made more sense to them to meet the needs then and there, God had bigger, better, and more effective plans that they couldn’t see in the moment.”
I think God was speaking DIRECTLY to me through the pastor that morning. That’s exactly what I think God is trying to tell me. Be patient, trust God, wait on His strength. He has a plan for reaching his people- despite language barriers! Despite culture differences! God’s got it.
Please pray with me.
God,
Please let me seek you first in all things. Right now, I call on you. I call on your strength. I am laying my plans and my desires down, and want more of you. Work through me. Use me. Let me be your vessel, and thank you for allowing me to be your vessel. Thanks for giving me the joy of being used to do your work. Give me energy and strength in the hard days, and help me to see people how you see them. I love you.
Amen.
