Estravo from Macedonia!
Walking the streets of Europe, you are surrounded by old buildings. The beauty of the fall trees captivate you, while the crisp air fills your lungs. The generosity of the people here in Macedonia truly makes you question your own reservations about giving. They give and give no questions asked, and it truly is the norm to be generous here.
More about our ministry this month. We have gotten the opportunity to do multiple ministries during our time here thus far. We have gotten to serve in an orphanage ages 0-7 years old, we got to serve in a home for the elderly, and we got the opportunity to serve the teachers of a special needs school, as well as partaking in ministry within the church and congregation.
We have been here a little over a week, and have been settling in quite nicely. I absolutely love the town of Bitola. I love the people in the church, and I love our hosts.
I am really feeling the weight of short term missions at this ministry site. I feel like I am just getting my feet wet, and yet… I have to think about leaving.
Since I’ve been here, God has opened my heart and my eyes and has been pouring revelations down onto me. Because of that, I am doing multiple parts to this blog.
Since June, I’ve been learning how to grieve. After numbing myself for so long, I didn’t know how. My team has been so gracious with my random outbursts into tears, and they have walked me through the steps of grieving and the steps of vulnerability.
God has been so good to me. He gave me this support system to heal with – and I am healing! So much so, that last week when we got to Macedonia the Lord started teaching me about Joy.
He is teaching me that being joyful is a choice – not an emotion.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 “Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”.
If joy was an emotion, it wouldn’t be fair for God to expect us to be joyful always. Happiness is the emotion.. Although similar – Joy, that comes from the Lord and is a fruit of the Spirit.
Galatians 5:22-23 “but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control”.
All of the fruits of the spirit listed are choices, not emotions. There are times when I don’t feel like being patient but I choose to – the same thing applies to Joy.
The Lord has been teaching me to rely on Him through this grieving period, and that He is my strength – and that truly those who mourn are blessed like the bible says:
Matthew 5:4 “blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted”
That comfort can come in receiving Joy from the Lord after the grieving period:
John 16:22 “Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy”.
I am not done grieving. I know it is a long and hard process. Although, at least I now know that even if I don’t feel happy, I can choose to be joyful. I may not understand the reasons behind some circumstances in my life, but God. I know that all I need to do is trust Him and give Him praise. He will make the puzzle pieces fit together – because He is the one who has a broader perspective on my life.
Shortly after He lovingly showed me this revelation about Joy – my heart was broken.
To continue reading, please go to Part Two – Heartbroken, but still Trusting.
P.S- I listened to a great podcast, that I highly recommend! It is titled “Joy” by Red Rocks Church – it aired in August of this year. Which by the way – if you aren’t listening to podcasts, and you are wanting to go deeper in your relationship with Christ – I would suggest starting.
Podcasts are like personalized sermons that you can listen to in your pajamas, in your bed, whenever you want! You can download them for free too, or listen to them online. (sorry for the rant – but as a missionary who isn’t even guaranteed to get the Sunday message translated into my own language, I enjoy my daily podcast).
