“…the joy of the Lord is my
strength!”
Have you ever had a
re-newed joy, been re-energized in a way you’re not sure where the strength
came from? Have you ever been blessed to
receive this excitement from different sources all at the same time? This weekend while we were in town for a
night, God gave me an abundance of excitement, passion, and love to come back
to the kids here at the orphanage. He
gave me His vision for them and His eyes to see these kids the way He does. He gave me a new joy that gave me strength to
spend time with them and love the way He has called me to love.
As I was talking to people
from the other teams who were in town about their ministry, God gave me an
excitement for what they were doing and how God was working in and through
them. Hearing their love for the kids
they are working with and spending every moment with, was encouraging and just
what I needed to push me and get me excited about ministering to the kids here. As they talked about the struggles with their
ministry as well, I could relate and it was wonderful to talk through those
together as well.
God has been blessing me
in amazing ways through people back home.
I have been so encouraged by the comments I have received from
co-workers, family, friends, church family, and people I haven’t even met. God has used them in a big way, especially
during times of discouragement.
Most of the time while
being here, it has been a challenge to want to teach and spend extra time with
the children. It was a battle within me
feeling as though I should spend time with them, but not feeling like I wanted
to. It’s been an internal battle
involving guilt, lack of motivation, questioning, frustration, and learning.
But this time, when we got
back from town on Saturday afternoon, I had a big smile on my face because of
what God had shown me and I was ready to love on these kids. I found the first kids I could and gave them
huge high-fives and hugged the ones who let me.
On the other side of the
world, God has still been using The Daily Bread to encourage me everyday. The other day I read the one called, “I Don’t
Feel Like It.” I found it interesting in
Matthew how one guy answered Jesus, “I will not,” but afterward he regretted it
and went. Dennis Fisher says, “There is
something about recognizing our lack of motivation and then choosing to be
responsible that helps us follow through.”
It’s often times just a choice to do what God wants us to even when we
“don’t feel like it” and asking God for the strength to follow through.
Sunday I had the opportunity
to take pictures of them playing their own games and versions of jump rope and
after they jumped, it quickly became routine that they came to me to see
pictures of the jump. They loved it and
laughed each time, running back for another jump and picture. I eventually joined in, realizing that my
jumping skills are a little rusty but giving them a good laugh as well. Just seeing their smiles makes it worth
it. These kids have ‘very little’
compared to most kids in the US
but have so much joy that just pours out of them everyday. They don’t complain and willingly do their
many chores everyday before or after school (which is six days a week). Sunday is their only day off school and often
the day they get the most chores done.
What a reminder and attitude check for me in my everyday life! God can use the littlest things to get our
attention if He wants.
Only a week left! God gave me the realization that I only have
a little over a week left to spend with these kids and then I’m gone. He gave me the desire to use every moment I
have with these kids in the wisest way possible. Smile as often as possible. Hug often.
Play whenever appropriate. Just
sit with them. Sing with them. Just spend time with them…let God do the rest! Just LOVE them!
Just as God appointed Jeremiah, He appointed me to go to the nations. How about you? 
You have this opportunity
everyday no matter where you’re at. One
of my friends reminded me of how awesome it is that she serving the exact same
God just on the opposite side of the world. There are people all around you, no
matter where you’re at that need love; they need to be shown Jesus’ love,
Christian or not. Christian brothers and
sisters need encouragement.
Non-Christian friends need to be loved in a real way, someone to care
about them and show them what Christ looks like. Don’t miss an opportunity to reach out to
someone and love them. You never know
what just acknowledging someone in the Wal-mart line might do. Sometimes all it takes is a ‘hello’ and smile
from a stranger to brighten someone’s day and make them wonder why you would
care. As you look around in your life,
as God gives you His eyes, you may start to see so many hurting people who need
love and become overwhelmed. We can’t
save everyone, we can’t save the world, but we can love one person at a
time. And the more I live life, the more
I realize it’s all about listening to God, listening to His voice, and hearing
Him say, “This one, I want you to go and love this person.”
‘Obedience is faith in action.’
the whole crew
*this was written a week ago
More blogs you might enjoy:
*Check out a poem our team wrote together about Thailand
*Find out more about our translator and host here in Cambodia
*Wuut! Wuut! Here about Wuut’s story (he was our translator for part of our time in Thailand)
*View Caitlin’s videos on her Vimeo site (keep posted on her worldrace website as we have some new videos soon to be showing!)
*You might be interested in some of Brandon’s videos as well (he’s on the September team, but not my small team)
*For more PICTURES you can go to my Facebook page
