I know I haven’t said much about what we’re doing ministry wise this month. So here’s a quick update on what this month has looked like for me!
We are in Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia.
My team
I failed to mentioned that we had a debrief and team changes before heading into ministry in Malaysia. My new team consists of Aubrey, Faith, Kayla Z., Alyssa, Emily and Nicole Bryant. Guys, I could not be more blessed with a team. These girls are amazing to be around and they share my desire to finish the race strong and continue pushing for the Lord no matter what it takes.
I’ve gotta say that I’m overly proud of the progress the girls are making not just in the team, but as individuals in their walk to become the person God’s created them to be. I’ve gotten to know each of them on a deeper level and I’m getting to watch as they choose God and faith in difficult situations. I’m getting to walk alongside them in happiness when the day has been great.
I’m so honored that the Lord has granted me the opportunity to lead this team and get to do life alongside of them as we near the end of this season of life. I believe he’s shown me his heart for them as daughters of the great king. I’m getting to see little glimpses of his love for each of them and the joy and delight he takes in each of their walks. Its been such an incredible experience.
Our Ministry
We have been helping out with a refugee school! We help teach math, english, science and all of the other things I haven’t done in years (refresher course for one please?). It’s such a unique experience to help teach at a school for children who are not accepted in public schools. They don’t get the opportunity or priveledge of an education simply because of where they come from. So being able to provide even a little is such an honor.
All of the kids are so sweet, but one has definitely stolen my heart. Not sure I’m aloud to post his name or pictures, so I’ll leave that up to your imagination. But he is the cutest 5ish year old on the planet! I take him aside most days to do one on one lessons with him, help him with handwriting, the alphabet, numbers, simple things like that.
He does well for a while, but gets super distracted by absolutely everything. Which makes him even cuter. He’ll want to play with my glasses, get a hug, try to make me laugh and play with paper airplanes. I’ve gotta remind myself to focus so he can focus. It’s difficult not to just run around and play tag instead or working. He’s so dang cute!
We are also involved in Penhop, which I mentioned in my last blog, and street evangelism with Penhop’s interns that are out here for the month with us. It’s still just as incredible as a week ago 🙂
My heart
God’s doing some incredible things in my heart. I’ve realized that I’ve been on an uphill climb over the last two and a half years. My desire and growth for the Lord seem to increase exponentially. I feel like so much has changed within me!
I’ve hit a wall recently. I feel like I’ve been stuck in this place with no growth for the last few months and it was frustrating me. I decided to take a different approach to it this month. Instead of complaining about it, why not just ask? (Don’t you just love the aha! moments…) Being at Penhop this month and surrounded by people completely overtaken by God was the perfect set up.
Why aren’t I growing anymore God? Why the sudden halt in the deepening of our relationship?
He showed me a wall. He’s given me an inside view of my heart and what it looks like. He’s showing me the things that I need to deal with internally that may be blocking me from getting even closer to him, things that I wasn’t even aware existed.
Pain from past relationships. Hurts from past and current friendships. Things that have been said over me that I’ve let hinder the person I am and the person God calls me to be. Things from years ago as well as things from even the last few months.
He’s showing me that I don’t let myself feel fully. I always ‘brush it under the rug’ and move on without really giving myself the needed time to feel and acknowledge how things have effected me.
So I’m learning to feel. I’m learning to know myself and how to recognize what’s going on inside of me. And through that, I believe God’s going to help me for bring down this wall.
“How can you draw close to God when you are far from your own self? Grant, Lord, that I may know myself that I may know thee.” -Augustine
I’m stoked. I’m excited to see what comes after. I’m excited to know God in even deeper ways and to have nothing standing in the way of his and my relationship. It’s going to be incredible and I know the breaking part of this journey is necessary no matter how uncomfortable it is at the moment. It’s going to be worth it.
So that’s my month so far! We have one week to go in Malaysia, 3 and a half months left on the race and God is moving. Please continue praying for our squad as we move through this last leg of our journey.
I can’t wait to see you all 🙂
