I didnt choose Moldova.
None of us chose Moldova. When I signed up for our route, Moldova wasn’t even on my radar.
I was going to go to Turkey, gosh-darnit!
But God knows what He’s doing.
Right before leaving on the World Race, we were told that the country that would be replacing Turkey was–Moldova.
He took us there for a purpose.
I didnt plan on falling in love with Bulgaria–I didnt plan on loving Moldova as much as I did.
I thought my heart was for the Middle East? North Africa??
I didnt choose to go there because my heart beat for Eastern Europe–but as I intentionally chose to love the people there, God has been expanding my heart.
When you are obedient and go where God leads you, whether you necessarily feel “called” to go there…its amazing to see how faithful He is. He will expand your heart.
And I love loving Eastern Europe, now.
ANYWAY…thats not really the point of my blog, but I just wanted to throw that tidbit in there.
Living in Moldova for almost a month, we have come to learn something:
There’s always MORE
The people here have showed us that this month through their hospitality.
The first day we arrived in Chisinau after nearly 40hrs on the road–us weary travelers with empty bellies, climbed into our host’s van ready to reach our final destination–Singerei. Mihail (our contact) drove us straight to his home for dinner. We were able to meet his beautiful wife Galena, and his three adorable kids. We immediately felt part of the family.
We sat down around the large table which was draped with a lacy table cloth and set beautifully. The table was covered in REAL food, or as Mihail would say “natural” food. The minute the prayer was said, we filled our plates and stuffed our faces. We were so happy to be fed veggies and meat and bread and fruit after having a month of just plates of rice, pasta, or potatoes. After we filled our happy bellies, they brought out the dessert and the coffee and tea.
Oops.
Next time we’ll remember to leave room.
Breakfast rolls around and we sleepily roll into the dining room at the camp.
Eggs, cucumber, tomatoes, cheese, salami, bread, two kinds of jams, coffee, tea, peanut butter, Nutella,
Is this real??
Lunch, Dinner….again we fill our stomachs with what was on our table…
But then comes the fruit platter or the cake or the cookies etc.
We have to remember “There’s ALWAYS more!”
That became a common phrase repeated throughout the month
Every meal they fed us like royalty. Evert meal we “eat good”. They poured out their hearts in hospitality.
Every time we wold thank Mihail and his family he would constantly say “But no problem for me. It is God.”
He continually pointed towards God, giving Him the credit for His amazing provision and he gave testimonies constantly of how the Lord has provided for him and his family. The Bible says that we are blessed not just so that we can feel good, not just so we can be happy and comfortable, but so that we will bless others.
Genesis 12:2 // “I will bless you … and you will be a blessing”
We have seen Mihail and his family and the people here live this out so well.
Another illustration was when we were invited to a farm for the day where the farmers let us ride their horses and drive their wagon. They killed a sheep to cook for us for lunch and they fed us fish soup, lamb, and potatoes
We fill our stomachs.
But there was more.
Watermelon, grapes, sheep’s cheese, coffee, honey straight from the honey comb…walnuts that we helped harvest.
I was blown away by how they continually gave us more. They didn’t have a lot but they went out of their way in blessing us.
Again
Towards our last days, the people here gifted us with so much. When our hosts found out that we didn’t have warm clothes for Romania they surprised us with boxes of large plush coats and boots.
Philippines 4:19 // And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
They surprised us all with t-shirts that say “I Love Moldova”. They surprised us with “friend” cake in our last meal with them, even though they already had a decoy dessert on the table. As we were climbing into the van to head to CHisinau to catch our bus to Brasov, a woman from the church, Vera, drove past honking her horn telling us to wait a moment. She and her sons got out of the car and we said our goodbyes with hugs. She then surprised us with a bag of clothes and shoes and with a bag of food for our travel day, and her son had drawn portraits of all of us.
Socks off.
SO why am I detailing our meals? Why am I telling these stories?
Often while our socks were being blessed off our feet by everyone around us, it was hard not to try and play catch-up. We felt that it was our job to be there to bless THEM but that they were way outdoing us.
We have to do more.
We have to earn these blessings.
No you dont. God says.
Just recieve.
You dont have to strive. You dont have to play catch-up.
You see, this is how I long to bless you.
The people here were such an illustration of how The Lord loves to pour out blessings egardless of how “worthy” we feel. God’s love and blessing doesnt depend on how well we work for Him. They come regardless and in spite of.
Thats the beauty of grace.
I may not have chosen Moldova, but God did.
He purposefully put these beautiful people in my life. He specifically revealed things to me while I was there.
God always has more blessings to pour out.
He always wants to expand our hearts more.
There is always more of His presence.
There is ALWAYS MORE because He came to give us abundant life.
John 10:10 // The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
James 1:17 // Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
The deadline is only 4 days away and I am still $1,500 away from $11,000
Please prayerfully consider supporting me.
