In my new role, I’ve had the opportunity to be more intentional about sitting across from a few of my squad mates and revisiting why we came on this pilgrimage. We discussed the ‘bait and switch’ that so evidently occurred. The age old story of every surprised believer who sets out on their first short-term mission trip to save the nations…and discovers their own salvation. Most of us on this journey had already experienced this revelation through previous missions – and therefore thought we would rise to the occasion of global salvation. And truthfully, we have discovered the amazing joy of bringing His Kingdom to so many unsuspecting places. But…we have also been forced to rediscover ourselves.
When you are taken out of everything familiar…and stripped from every modern comfort…
…from hot showers – to sometimes not having showers at all
…from a closet full of clothes – to wearing the same shirt 5 days in a row
…from radical independence – to never going anywhere alone
…from friends & family – to 40 complete strangers
…from an abundance of food choices – to eating whatever is in budget and shows hope of making you full
…you stop sweating the small stuff…and realize how many of our daily worries should never cause worry at all. You realize that at the end of the day it is still people who actually matter…not what they can do for you. And you realize that a month spent in a country may not change a nation, but you witness it change a life.
After cleaning Grandmother’s house yesterday morning (the pastor’s mother who lives next to the apartment we currently call home), I spent the evening with the pastor’s 13 year old daughter watching the movie 13 going on 30. As we curl up on bean bags in her room, and her mother brings us popcorn (consider this a high luxury evening!) – I took in the joy and innocence of being 13 again…before the world begins to tell you that you are less than who you were created. The time when you had hopes and dreams that knew no boundaries and believed you could become whatever you set out to be. It continued to grow a burden inside me to mentor young girls…to help them discover who they were created to be…deliver them from their deepest fear…and set them free.
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
– Marianne Williamson
(taking being 13 a little too far!)
Thank you for your prayers and support of this journey and a special thanks to everyone who helped send this squad to the field! It’s not just an adventure to ‘get out of our system’ but a lifestyle of high generosity and compassion we’ve traveled around the world to put ‘in our system.’ 🙂 With a thankful heart…
“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.”- Colossians 3:15
