To my supporters,
Firstly I must say I am sorry for the time I have spent MIA from the blog. Honesty is the best policy so… month three has been hard. I’ve been avoiding writing anything because frankly, I have no idea how to cohesively put my thoughts into words right now. But I will try my best to give you an idea of how I am doing.
Suffering, specifically in a Christian sense, is a funny thing. We are all guaranteed to walk through it as God does not promise an easy life when we walk with Him. Feelings of suffering are associated with pain and hardship, lifelessness, hopelessness. Yet, as a Christian, seasons of suffering can reap a fruitful harvest and bring Kingdom. The idea of suffering being painful and joyful at the same time is such a double-sided concept for us to grasp. Yes, God is walking me through something that brings pain. Yes, I praise Him still for He is good.
Currently I am sitting in a season of suffering. The first week we spent in Botswana God spoke to me “Your patience will reward you.” Patience. Wait. Okay God, I hear you. Flash forward a few days to team time. We have just finished worship and a few of my squadmates and I are hanging out in the kitchen. Grace (a member of team Agape and my roomie here) is “reading elbows” and we are all laughing and joking around. I think nothing of it because elbows are elbows. They aren’t going to tell her anything about my spiritual life. But God has a funny way of revealing stuff to us sometimes. She is holding my elbow and looks me dead in the eyes and says “Emma you are in a season of suffering but God is calling you into joy. There is reward at the end.” Floored. How did Grace know I was struggling? And then she tells me “you are like spiritual spaghetti. You are the noodles, you are sitting in boiling water right now. You have to wait and be patient for the noodles to be ready before you can put the sauce on them. The sauce is the reward. You do not know what kind of sauce you will get, but God is promising the sauce.” Did God just speak to me through a spaghetti analogy? Yes. Yes He did. I do not believe my elbow actually reveals anything specific about myself, but I do believe God used Grace to speak a truth over me that I was not fully grasping.
While I am sitting in the boiling water, God is cooking me. Preparing me. Doing a good work in me. And for that I am joyful. Yes, the water is hot. Painful. But in the end a complete work will be done. I must be patient on His timing because He has the complete plan. Half cooked noodles are not as effective as fully cooked noodles. If I want to step into what God has planned for me at the end of this season, I must allow Him to fully cook me. That means pressing into ministry, pressing into the Word, actively pursuing God’s voice everyday, earnestly seeking Kingdom in all aspects of life.
Thank you God for allowing me to be a noodle the spaghetti of life.
Don’t worry everyone, to quote the Dave Sigler who quoted someone wiser than both of us combined “if it doesn’t challenge you it doesn’t change you.” So here is to being changed! Prayers for my team would be much appreciated as we enter the holiday season. Being away from home is hard and we are all feeling it in some capacity. Pray that the teams here in Maun, Botswana would press into ministry and take hold of every opportunity. Thank you for your continued prayers, I am thankful for all of you always.
Love,
Emma
