Well last month
was an interesting one to say the least…we are officially in the Dominican
Republic for the month of August and it is so much different from Haiti. It’s
actually a great change, I was ready to leave Haiti behind after a good but
difficult month. Let me first follow up on my last Haiti blog and then I can
begin to tell you about our ministry in the DR.
The end of our
month in Haiti just flew by! Which was a good thing for some of my teammates
and squadmates and I, because we got pretty sick at the end of the month. A
bunch of us caught some sort of virus that pretty much everyone in Haiti has. I
saw a lot of this virus’ going around when we did the medical clinics (I
probably should have realized that it was pretty easy to catch) Anyway It was a
high fever, chills, headache, runny nose, sore throat and cough. So I think it
was the 23rd that I woke up and was hit with that bad boy like a ton
of bricks. Some other bug also got me at the same time that really hurt my
stomach in several ways that I wont mention, so it was a rough week there J
This was a big
bummer because we were just coming out of a week where we had felt really
lethargic and unsure of what our ministry even was there, but our squad leader
Kyla had come and called us out on that apathy. So after a few great days of
ministry and worship we were ready to finish up our time strong. But with the
sickness hitting me on that first day I was crying out to God to save me from
my sickness (literally- I was maybe just a little delirious and dramatic) but
God just took that time to really restore a lot of joy in my heart and life
that I had been missing the whole month we were in Haiti. I didn’t really feel
like talking to anyone or being around anyone a lot the first few days of being
sick and I felt like the Lord really used that alone time to speak many things
to me that I wouldn’t normally hear Him say if I was running around and doing
stuff all the time. I’m sure you can relate to this….sometimes even back in the
states God allows things to happen in our lives that are unexpected and just
knock us onto our butts so that He can ACTUALLY speak to us. It’s really hard
to hear God when we won’t take time to be still and just listen to what He
wants to tell us. I know that I needed that time because no other way He was
trying to speak to me was breaking through my hardened heart at that time.
After a day of
being miserable (that
was my favorite word for a few days haha) I started to ask God why on my last
week in Haiti I had to be sick!? My team was finally excited to get out and do
stuff and then we got hit with that. And He told me that He had some things to
teach me this month that I just wasn’t hearing. And a lot of that was
preparation for this month in the DR.
I feel like last
month was more about individual growth for me. Each month will obviously be
different and my team worked through a lot of unexpected hurdles that we had to
jump over and hash out, but it was more a month of personal growth for each of
us.
Because we were
in the city of Haiti and not in the mountains like most of the other teams, our
contacts were pretty nervous to have us walk around and do things by ourselves
without a translator- which is probably a good idea anyway. But that was just
really hard because if we didn’t have a translator we basically couldn’t go
anywhere. This was not what we were expecting our first month of the World
Race, so I think we were a little caught off guard. I personally felt a little boxed into our house and it’s
hard to feel that way when you want to make some sort of impact outside the
walls of the house. But really, it’s not about me anyway and it’s about
relationships first and foremost and reflecting Christ in those relationships.
So our last week, after we got feeling better our team got out into the
community more but also poured into the people living in the house.
This is what God
spoke to me from the book of Colossians, chapter 3. I have never read out of my
new Message translation and I felt like it was so clear and God was just
speaking straight to my heart. “So if you’re
serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, ACT like it.
Pursue things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the
ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. LOOK UP and be ALERT to
what is going on around Christ-that’s where the action is. See things from HIS
perspective. Your old life is dead. Your new life, which IS your REAL life-even
though invisible to spectators- is with Christ in God. HE is YOUR LIFE! When Christ (your real life, remember)
shows up again on this earth, you’ll show up too-the real you, the glorious
you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ. And that means killing
off everything connected with that way of death: sexual promiscuity, impurity,
lust, doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing
whatever attracts your fancy. That’s a life shaped by THINGS and
FEELINGS-instead of by God. It’s
because of this kind of thing that God is about to explode in anger. It wasn’t
long ago that you were doing all that stuff and not knowing any better. But you
KNOW BETTER NOW, so Make sure it’s all gone for good: Bad temper, irritability, meanness, profanity, dirty talk. Don’t
lie to one another, You’re done with that old life! It’s like a filthy set of
ill-fitting clothes you’ve stripped off and put in the fire. Now you’re dressed
in a new wardrobe! Every item of your new life is custom-made by the Creator,
with His label on it. All the old fashions are obsolete. FROM NOW ON: EVERYONE
IS DEFINED BY CHRIST, EVERYONE IS INCLUDED IN CHRIST!
So chosen by God
for this new life of LOVE, dress in the wardrobe GOD picked out for YOU:
Compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline, be even tempered,
content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and
completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on,
WEAR LOVE. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it! Pray
diligently. Stay ALERT, with your eyes wide open in
gratitude. Pray that every time I open my mouth I’ll be able to make Christ
plain as day to them.”
This
was just exactly what I needed to hear at that exact time. I am sad that my
heart was not very joyful while living in Haiti for that month and I should
have been fighting the spiritual warfare that was going on around me and
affecting me, because Jesus is so much bigger than that. But I know that God
was at work last month and even with just our first full week here I am full of
joy and so are all of our teams, we are ready to fight for God’s Kingdom here
in the DR.
