Happy Sunday my people!
I miss the luxuries of home. I miss a bed with a legit comforter. I miss the health foods section at the grocery store. I miss Starbucks coffee. I miss driving my car. I miss the gym with all its work out machines. I miss my nice big shower and fancy hair products. I miss my straightener.
Today we were in church service. The experience here in the church is ENTIRELY different than the states. There is dancing. There is shouting. There is applauding. There is weeping. The service has no set end time. The worship alone lasted for 2 hours. An hour into the sermon we left because the kids were getting rowdy, there is a good chance the service went for another hour.
After experiencing church overseas, I can’t help but compare to the church back home and desperately want more for the church. Are we “rushing” God?
Have we given God an hour and a half of our day just to check it off our list similar to a needed trip to the grocery store?
I realized something this morning, the reason church looks so different overseas is because these people know what it means to have needs. Ultimately the more luxuries one has access to, the less need they have for God. Here there is poverty. Here there is pain and suffering. Not that these are not present in the United States but they are easily disguised, emotions are kept hidden and wealth masks what we are lacking. Here there is a blatant struggle for life on a daily basis. Struggle to pay rent. Struggle to feed the kids. Struggle to find a job. These people know what it means to rely solely on the Lord. Their cries, dancing, and weeping in service is a direct reflection of their need for the Lord.
My luxuries have been stripped and it has drastically affected my reliance on God. No longer can I rely on those things to satisfy me but I must learn to be thankful for the little I have. Thankful for the food I struggle to eat. Thankful for the tent that is a struggle to get into and the little bugs I often find crawling on my sleeping bag. Thankful for the shower I share with 20 other people. Thankful for the drool I get to wipe off of faces, diapers I get to change and therapy I get to do n a weekly basis.
It is not easy for the thankfulness to come and it is only through the Lord that my American self is becoming content in a world free of “luxuries.” I want this for the church. For people to understand the desperate need they have for the Lord. A need that causes them to ignore how others might view them. A desperation that ignores all formality, falling and weeping before the Lord God for the pain they are experiencing. A desperation that dances even if they don’t have rhythm. A desperation that has no sense of time because they need the time with the Lord to be able to be sustained for their life outside the church walls.
Today I am thankful to begin to experience desperation and be free of luxuries for it is a gift that has brought me closer to the Lord even if it is an extreme challenge, I accept it. This desperation can be found in the states, even amongst stability, but it takes sacrificing the "American dream", sacrificing our plan. Giving these things up is not easy but to truly experience the life God has for you, it must be done.
Andrea fell asleep on my lap during church service. These are the moments that God uses to remind me why I'm here. The moments I realize giving up the "Americn dream" is worth it.
"Trust in him at all times O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us." -Psalm 62:8
Love,
Ellie
this song is a World Race favorite. enjoy.
