So for the past week I have been very blessed with the opportunity to live with a family here in Quito. Usually , when on the world race, teams aren’t split up for sleeping arrangements. But the next couple weeks my team and I are staying in different houses. My family is so amazing and I have already fallen in love with them.. Really, I have!
Last Saturday Linsey, my team leader, and I were loading the van with our bags and when I picked up one of the bags I felt a sharp pain in my back.. No big deal, right? Wrong… When I woke up the next morning, which was the first morning with my new family, my back was hurting sooooooooooo bad.. I could barely sit up. I was so embarrassed, seeing that I didn’t know these people who I was living with and I really didn’t want to be “that girl” who was already complaining about things. I am also not usually one to ask for help, I take pride in doing things myself and I like to do things on my own. Well, one of my prayers coming here was that God would give me challenges, that He would break me where I need to be broken, and that He would change the things in me that need to be changed.
So, I soon realized that acting like I was fine wasn’t going to work and seeing that it was Sunday morning, my new family was getting ready to go to church. I had no choice. I swallowed my pride (it was a really big gulp) I slowly inched to the side of my bed, and I walked into the kitchen to explain that I had hurt my back and I really needed some help.. They immediately responded with love and compassion. They got out medicine, an Ecuadorian version of icy hot, and a heating pad. They told me to lie and rest until church and then we could talk to my team at church and see what I needed to do.
When we got to church I found two of my teammates and I starting crying really bad, like over the top – can’t breath because I am crying so bad; as I explained to them that I had hurt my back. They began to pray for me and give me words of affirmation and encouragement; telling me that I would be ok and if I needed anything to let them know.
Throughout the day I was praying and asking God to heal my back because the next day ,Monday, we began our ministry here in Quito and I didn’t want to miss being there with my team. I had also sent my family a message asking them for their prayers. When I woke up Monday I felt a lot better, good enough to do ministry, and by Tuesday I had no pain at all.
My point for writing this blog is to say #1 that God is awesome and His power is amazing!!! But also, God works in many ways and He definitely used my back pain to humble me. He showed me that its ok to ask for help when you need it and its ok to accept help from others. This was the first time that my team really saw me vulnerable and I am so glad that they did.
God is always good and He is always teaching us things.. We just have to learn to see His lessons in the middle of our storm.. I’m so joyful that we have such a loving God!
This is what I looked like when my back hurt.. No joke!!
My new Family 🙂
Everyday they send me with a snack….
