My heart is coming back. Know how I know? Because it hurts. But a good kind of hurt.
I just got back from a week in the desert. We were living beside a church, eating goat, and ministering with messages and testimonies to the brothers there. This is more of what I expected the Race to be like: using cactus potties, goat legs hanging on clotheslines, watching random pigs roam the grounds, no phones or internet, people speaking Quechua. It was AMAZING. What it lacked was a bunch of horses so we could go round up all the cattle. But oh well, there were donkeys instead.
I also went up and led worship music by myself in church with my guitar, in Spanish. Which I had done before, but it seemed so much more poignant here. And I preached – hadn’t done that too much before. It was a fabulous experience.
More photos to come soon.
I think, though, that the most beautiful experience I had this week was when the indigenous churches took up missionary offerings for us. They barely knew us – we had only been there a week – and they were offering up their precious and hard-earned money for us! And then they apologized that they didn’t have a lot of the conveniences we had in the United States. They APOLOGIZED.
I cried – and that’s a big deal for me.
Don’t you realize I didn’t come here for the conveniences? We may miss them because of the month 9 slump, but that’s not why I came. It wasn’t enough for me. I’ve learned that He is worth so much more to me when the distractions are gone, when I have to be grateful for what I have and have joy. Joy! Heavens, it’s so hard to be here sometimes, but that is because I trained myself to put my happiness on my circumstances and on all the toys I did or did not have. I’m learning that everything relies on Him. Nothing in my life is worth anything without Him. With Him, everything matters.
These people loved on us, fed us to the brim, and gave us the best they had. And they received what we had to say. That, my friends, gives me hope and a picture of what the body of Christ should look like. Love does not require reciprocation. But when you get it, it is amazing.
Daaaaaah! I almost wish we could have stayed there all month. I don’t care that I had to shampoo my hair three times when I got back to get all the dust out. However, I am also happy to be back. And communication across borders is very nice.
#myheartiscomingback
