This month has been incredibly hard for me and my team in almost every way imaginable. We’ve been sick, cold, rejected, hanging on by a thread, checking out as soon as we can and not choosing joy.
Towards the end of this month though, I stumbled across the verse that says God gives some people the gift of marriage and some the gift of singleness. I’m single, but it’s not hard for me to see both of these lifestyles as gifts.
But there’s something else in this verse.
The time we’re going through isn’t just to wait. It’s not just to learn patience and to trust the Lord with our future and our dreams for better months. It’s for so much more; it’s to bless us!
So in something we don’t like, we don’t understand, we just want out of, how do we choose joy?
I think it starts with the small things. For example! We had a ton of blankets this month. We’ve had a lot of rest time. We’ve gone to La Paz. There’s a tienda down the street with delicious cookies. Water balloon volleyball. Found out yet again that training camp really does prepare you. And Llama burgers…nuf said.
I think eventually that way of thinking, seeing the good God has for you in whatever your position, will lead to that way of seeing. And these intentional choices and the understanding of this time as a gift is us reaching for a different culture. What is a different way of seeing and thinking and speaking but a pathway to a new culture?
And that’s what He calls us to. He calls us out of the culture of the world and calls us to live as foreigners. How we see, what we pay attention to, and how we think should be different. Because those things are always different from culture to culture.
So I say to start looking for the small ways in which your month, your time, your position is a gift, and I’m certain it’s going to lead to seeing truly why it is a gift from God to you. And stop waiting. Because God has great things for us now and we don’t need to wait for them!
I don’t need to wait for next month…because it’s coming no matter how I choose to live right now. It’s coming if I choose to love or to curse. It’s coming if I choose to prepare for it or check out of life. It’s coming no matter how I spend this time, this in-between, this difficulty, this Bolivian GIFT.
