I never realized how much I relied on comforts until recently. I didn’t understand how a shower or music was a coping mechanism that didn’t allow me to actually go deeper until the lord told me to give them up. It started off with my music. The lord really spoke to me on how we can’t live for him and in the world we must choose and my music choice was definitely not always pleasing to his ears. I read a verse about how if it is not building the lord kingdom is it worthless so during worship I went on my phone and deleted all my my music I was finding comfort in, but of course it doesn’t stop there folks. The lord convicted me of Pinterest which in the moment was very confusing. Why is he asking me to delete an app that I can’t even use during the week because I have no WiFi and I wasn’t using it for anything bad? I loved Pinterest it was an easy way to get cool ideas for stuff to make or see what other people have come up with. But in thinking that I realized where I was finding my trust. I was trusting an app full of other people’s pictures of stuff they created instead of going to our creator for ideas. I never thought of God as a creative God, one who could give me cool ideas for stuff to hang in my room or even cool outfits to wear, but the lord created EVERYTHING! He created all the beautiful flowers and told them when to bloom and he created all the beautiful colors so all I need to do is ask for ideas! Any idea he could give me is ten times better than one I could have found on my own! And last but definitely not least, I’m giving up normal showers for a month. Here in Kampot we have two different types of bathrooms, a normal American bathroom with a shower head and toilet then we have the lovely Asians squaty pottie and bucket shower. I didn’t go in the Asian bathroom much unless I was feeling adventurous but otherwise I would just stay away! One day thought both of the regular showers were taken and I really had to shower after construction. I didn’t want to smell horrible while trying to teach so I thought I might as well relive training camp and just bucket shower. While I was filling the small cup to wash off my body I felt the lord say to bucket shower the rest of the time in Kampot. (and a major plus I can still use the real toilet so praise the lord!!) Even still this was probably the one I was least thrilled about giving up but I’m acting in obedience anyway. A shower was never something I considered a comfort until I had to give it up. The culture we are living in doesn’t get to use shower head so why should I? These little things the lord has called me to give up we’re not ones I ever would have thought of on my own but it’s amazing to see how the lord can speak to every area of my life and push me to lean on him in new ways.
Here is a picture of my new bathroom for a little over a month but one perk is I never have to share it with anyone!
