I am definitely one to try new things, adventurous things, exciting things, different things. If you know me, I’m sure you would agree.
Our first week in Puerto Rico we were asked:
“What is one thing that you think you as an individual can bring to your team to benefit it?”
After thinking about it for a while I answered with:
“I am always up for doing new things and encouraging people to get excited and do them with me. The newer and more adventurous the better. So I see that as benefiting the team when we are in a new location or have a new type of ministry that we aren’t used to, I tend to look as the bright side and get exciting about plunging into the unknown and expanding myself”
Well you see… God has a funny way about hearing you say something, taking it to the next level, and then kind of shoving you into it and watching you struggle until it turns into beautiful growth in your life.
Literally days after I answered this question in team time. We were all meeting with Pastor Peter and discussing ways we will be serving the coming week. Towards the end of the meeting Pastor motions to me and says in Spanish “Oh and Hadey (my name in Spanish, which I love) I heard you enjoy painting” I nod my head and say “Si” (yes) and he proceeds to motion to a massive wall behind him and says, “Start sketching because I have been wanting a new mural here for years!”
Say what??! I’d rather skydive, cliff jump, bungee jump, swim with sharks, anything new and thrilling as in adventure sports. Not thrilling as in I’m going to puke because I’ve never painted in front of people or even thought about doing something even a fourth of the size of this monstrous wall. There is no way I thought. I cannot do it.
I put if off for a week 1) because we were extremely busy serving in other areas, but 2) I also was hoping he’d forget about it. But to my dismay, he didn’t. After much encouraging and prodding, my team convinced me to take a whack at it and although I never thought I’d admit it, I am very glad they did, because I saw God’s hand in it the whole way.
– My team helped me prime the entire wall –
Pastor Peter personally took me to the hardware store to pick out the colors I wanted and the next day surprised me with brand new brushes..
Schuylar endured me being a perfectionist with getting all the tape lines as straight as possible…
And also swore to be as detail oriented as her not artistic mind could be so that she could help paint inside the lines I sketched…
With also a lot of free handing by the grace of God..
It slowly progressed…
And started to take shape…
And before I knew it…..
– The vision I saw in my head ended up on the wall –
(The verse is the vision of the church and reads in Spanish “I have come that they may have life, and have it too the full” John 10:10)
I am so humbled to have been able to use my gift of painting to bring glory to Christ because when I saw people coming through the doors on Sunday and seeing the mural on the back wall of the sanctuary. Their faces lit up and they could not stop thanking me and saying “Glory to God, it’s beautiful”
As our month in Puerto Rico comes to an end we are beginning to say our goodbyes to the very lovely people we have grown to care for so much. I have heard me teammates telling people “Don’t be sad, whenever you walk into church and see Haday’s (Jaide’s ) bright beautiful sun, smile and think of us and how much God loves you”
God can use all of our talents no matter what it is, but if we are too scared to be vulnerable and open ourselves up to possible failure, we won’t see it. The bigger the risk, the bigger the reward.
