The first month is already done. It was a month of the new and different. Learning to live in constant community, learning what ministry looks like in another country, and just living daily with Christ. Something I learned a lot this month is the value of words. Words have power to bring life or death. They have power to bring glory or shame. They have the ability to bring laughter and confidence or insecurities and pain. I have seen the fact that the words that words have power and purpose even if I don’t think others are listening.
This month I learned this in my team. A group of beautiful women that all come to the table with different life experiences and very different stories. Words are a way for us to learn about each other and to learn from each other. The power that words carry teach us that it is very important to not just to speak carelessly, but to speak in truth and with purpose. What we say matters. I have seen the impact that words of the past have had on the truths that people believe about themselves and even how life is walked.
My Beautiful Team
There is a little boy at the orphanage in Guatemala named Gustavo who has a cleft palate. He is a couple months old and at the beginning of his life someone spoke death over him. Gustavo was found at the dump abandoned by his family, rejected by the very people who had given him life. But the orphanage decided to care for him and give him a chance at life. The hour and a half that I spent holding him was a chance for me to speak life in him, even though he may not remember. I want the power of my words to stay with him every day of his life. I want him to grow up into a strong and confident man because of the words that I got to speak into him. Words of strength and hope, which called him into the power of one day being a man of boldness and character.
Gustavo
This first month of the race has taught me a lot of valuable lessons about words and the fact that speaking with purpose and love is necessary. I do not want to be the reason that another person is walking in defeat and darkness. I want to give each person I know and those that I meet the chance to walk in the power of victory without having words of defeat spoken over them.
