Friends! Hi! My team and i are still in Ecuador tucked away in the mountains! For a little over a week, the sweet country of Ecuador has been filled with protests and riots and lots of unrest. My heart is broken for the country and i ask that you would join us in praying for it and all of it’s people! Pray for safety! Pray that things would settle down soon! Pray for the peace of the Lord to flood the hearts of everyone involved! Pray that the hope and light of Jesus would be seen in this dark time!
Because of the unrest happening, our team has been told to stay put for now. Thankfully, we are safe and up, out of the city. The Lord has changed what we had planned, as we can’t travel on to Peru right now, but i am so thankful for all that He has been teaching me!
Thankfulness.
Something the Lord has really been working on in me while we’ve been with this new ministry for the past week and a half!
It has definitely been one of the hardest weeks so far physically (lots of manual labor), emotionally (missing home and my sweet community lots!! Y’all rock!), and spiritually! We are also all sleeping in one room and sharing one bathroom. 21 of us! Solitude here can be tough sometimes. i have learned here that cultivating thankfulness is so much more important than i ever knew. When i complain, my heart cultivates bitterness and is not glorifying God in any way. There are truly so many beautiful blessings the Lord has provided me with while being here and i so badly want to acknowledge them with praise and thankfulness!! i have noticed that verbally thanking the Lord for all the good He has provided makes me heart overflow with true joy!
“The Greek word for thanksgiving is ‘Eucharisteo’
Which envelops the word ‘chara’ which means joy
Deep ‘chara’ joy is found only at the table of the ‘euCHARisteo’ —— the table of thanksgiving
The holy grail of joy is not in some exotic location or some emotional mountain peak experience. The joy wonder could be here! Here, in the messy, piercing ache of now, joy might be —-unbelievably—- possible!”
That is an excerpt from a book I’m reading called “1000 gifts” by Ann Voskamp and this passage just blew me away!! Even if the circumstances aren’t the greatest we can find true JOY in them when we have a thankful heart! How beautiful and convicting and sweet that is.
i think to truly look more like Jesus, we must truly be thankful in all situations. When i find myself complaining, i want to ask, “how can i turn this complaint into thankfulness?”
i have so much to be thankful for here and now!!
A safe place to stay
Being surrounded by beautiful mountains
A sleeping bag to keep me warm
Kind neighbors that give us hot chocolate
The ability to do manual labor
Getting to worship the Lord on a rooftop overlooking the city
Getting some WiFi to call home
Showers
Food to eat (thank you Jesus for crunchy PB)
Water to drink
Portable heaters
A sweet community to learn and grow with and from!
That i have my pj pants with me:)
A journal and bible
The time I do get to spend in solitude with the Lord on the side of a mountain!!
Every day, around 1, the clouds roll in and we get to dance in the middle of a stinking cloud
Instant coffee!
Prayer warriors back home! I feel your prayer. Thank you<3
So so much to be thankful for and so so much joy found in the thankfulness. God, You are just too good to us. Thank You for this little delay in our plans and the lessons You’ve worked in my heart. Please flood the country of Ecuador and bring peace and healing!
Also, my team is doing 24 hours of prayer for Quito (each of us taking an hour or two to pray) and if you’d like to join please do so! I’d love to know if the Lord reveals anything to you in that time as well. You all are amazing! Thank you for the endless love, prayer, and support!
