I’m finally out of school, so now I can write everything in typewriter font. So I am very happy about that. This blog is about how I, Kayla Grasak am doing manual labor. Or should I say Emmanuel labor, Ha. This is just as surprising to me as it is to you. I would describe myself as more of a creative tasks kind of girl or maybe teaching, but here I am.
When I first heard we were going to be working in an orphanage, my heart lit up. Working with kids is my favorite thing in the world. I love sharing the gospel with them, playing games, singing and dancing with them. It is completely in my comfort zone and when you’re halfway across the world it is a gift to find something in your comfort zone.
When we arrived to ministry our host told us our job and set us up. Next thing you know here I am in the middle of this man’s woods in Thailand with only a sickle in hand. Well, ok.
So expectations… just throw them out the window now because here I am expecting to be coloring or playing some mad gaga ball, but instead here I am shanking trees. I’m not even kidding. Please take a second to close your eyes and image me shanking trees in the middle of Thailand. Thank you.
At first, I was shocked and even a little disappointed about this twist in my ministry. My expectations started to impact my joy and I had to remind myself that I am here to serve even if it's not where my strength lies. God can and will use me. Once I freed myself from my entitlement and expectations I was open to receive what God was trying to show me.
While I was weeding and shanking, I was reminded of the verse, ”He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful” (John 15:2). Before we started pruning the plants his garden was over grown and looked like it was overflowing. When we started weeding we took out the dead plants and vines. We took out the weeds that were choking the plants, and we even removed the flowers growing around them. This revealed to me what it is like when God prunes us. After all the weeds were removed the plants that remained looked lonely. There wasn’t a forest surround them anymore. It’s like when God prunes us he removes people/things from our lives that were holding us back and stunting our growth. It feels lonely in the moment when you have been rid from your weeds, but looking at it in the long run he is preparing us to grow bigger and stronger. We can’t keep growing if our weeds are constantly pulling us back. Through this, I noticed some of the weeds were disguised as flowers. They were beautiful at first, but in reality they were only hurting the plants. This made me think of the things in my life that I thought were a blessings, but were really just my weeds in disguise. They are the things that I loved and clung to that ultimately just stunted my growth. Lastly, there were the dead leaves and vines. These just sat on top of the fruit. In my life, these are the chains God has freed me from that I am just holding onto. They do not bare fruit and are the extra weight in my life that I just need to let go of. When hearing about my ministry, I never thought I would learn this much.
Since I wasn’t used to working in the fields, Jesus’ parables about pruning never hit me like this before. Now, I am able to see the constant work God puts into me. He never stops pruning and is always looking out for me in the long run.
With Love,
Kayla :)
