It is crazy how much you can
learn in one week. Like I wrote in my last blog I have had the opportunity to
volunteer with three completely different ministries over the past week but one
central theme prevails… Where am I getting my nourishment?
When I am working with Levi
at Sharing His Plan we are doing manual labor all day. It has been a time I
have really enjoyed. Serving with all my strength and energy really gives me a
feeling of accomplishment. At the same time the feeling that has given me joy
has also reminded me that I cannot do life on my own. My physical strength is
fleeting but my strength and energy I receive from the Lord is never failing.
So I get that I can’t do it
on my own and I need to be filled up, to be nourished. What else do I need to
know? When I worked with Forest, from Servants 4 Him, I am reminded of the
importance of keeping pure what I put in my body. Servants 4 Him produces water
filters for families all around Guatemala. The water here is horrible. It has
all kinds of bacteria, viruses and parasites. We have had several people from
our squad already get sick and we are even our purifying our water and being
careful what we eat. I am reminded that many times in my life that I have
filled myself up with something that I thought was good later to find out it
was filled with bacteria, viruses and parasites. I need to truly be aware of
what I spend my time on, what is consuming me. Is it pure nourishment or is it
harmful to me?
Ok so I get that I can’t do
it on my own and I have to rely on others and God to fill me up. I get that
quality matters in what I allow my time and energy to be spent on. What else
could I possibly learn? I did an overnight shift at Casa Jackson on Friday. I
had been working all day with the water filters and laying pipe so I was pretty
tired but I knew it would be a great opportunity to serve so I went. Nichole,
Melina and I got there at 7 eager and ready to serve. We knew they were fed on
the hour every even hour so we all ran up the stairs to play with the babies
for an hour before we had to feed them. There are 5 that I got to know well.
Jose 6 months, Eleana 3 months, Daisy 2 months, Camilla 3 months, and Esvin 9
years old. All of the children are there because they were extremely malnourished
at home. Esvin being the worse, is 9 years old and weights 20 pounds. After the
hour of playing we got down to business feeding them. They have us feed them
their milk via a spoon so it takes about 45 minutes a child. Lets just say
after playing with them an hour and feeding them for an hour and a half I had
lost a lot of my eagerness. I was exhausted. I lied flat on my back on the
stairs for the thirty minutes before we had to start their feedings again. We
fed them at 8pm ,10pm ,midnight, 2am, 4am, and 6am. There were times when they
were hungry and desired to be fed and times when they were full and had no
desire to see us at all. But every feeding is important. It reminded me that
even though I know that I need God to be my strength and seek after him when I
am hungry I need to remember who had allowed me to be full when I am full and
remember that I need to daily seek Him and get by strength from Him so I don’t
have to get hungry or malnourished before I look to Him again.
I have really enjoyed serving
so far and have enjoyed all that God has shown me these past couple weeks. It is fun to look back over the past two
weeks and see how much God has taught me, I can’t wait to see what he
does over the next 11 months!
