This month of ministry was as ideal as it could be in a lot of ways. It was also incredibly difficult in others. We had a great ministry host who loved us so well, we lived with and got to love 15 incredible children, we worked alongside the most incredible staff, we healed a man's eyes. But we also faced a lot of spiritual attack. We had a teammate go home, the girls got lice (then, several days after we left, we realized that 4 out of the 5 of us had lice), we all got sick (you don't want details), another of our teammates got an injury and had to go home for this month to recover. I'm not going to lie, things were hard.
But the Lord is good. He put us in the best place we could possibly have been (physically) so that we could focus on what we were going through spiritually and emotionally. He gave us beautiful children that reminded us of His love and joy daily without using a single word. He gave us the best host parents who wanted to go to the ends of the earth to take care of us. We got to lounge in Starbucks every Wednesday for our day off. Literally, we couldn't have asked for a better ministry.
More than that, we had the opportunity to experience intimacy with the Lord in a completely new way. We also got to go to a place of depth with each other as a team that other teams haven't yet. The time we were feeling the most spiritual attack, the Lord used us to heal someone. He showed us that all we have to offer is Him living inside of us. I'm sure that's a lesson I will learn many more times on this race, but it was nice to feel it early on.
Even as I sit here, tired, sweaty, with my potentially lice-infested hair, I am thankful for where the Lord has brought this team. How does that work? That's definitely not me. That's the process of the Lord refining my heart so that I can serve Him better. It's crazy how He does that. He's brought us to a place where we can serve Him thankfully and joyfully, even though we don't feel those emotions.
I'm so excited to serve Him this month and see how he further refines this team.
