I want to share with you, what my leader calls “a strawberry moment”. In other words, the highlight of my day, or in this case my month. Its truly the reason I am here.
The school we are working with for this month is half special needs kids and half kids who have a behavioral problem and cannot go to a regular school. Overall I honestly have really enjoyed ministry but because of the language barrier and the difficulty of not knowing where the boundaries lie in how much I can actually help when one of the students is swinging fists, yelling, spitting and trying to escape the room, is difficult. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Lord is always working and using me even in the little ways but there are days when lies of uselessness and fruitlessness creep in.
Today was a reminder and a confirmation that even if this is the only fruit, it would be worth it.
Meet my friend Esperanza.
Esperanza is one of the special needs girls in our class. While she is fully functioning verbally and physically, she rarely talks or gives any expression past her sweet glasses and soft smile. Regretfully so I have not gotten much interaction with her.
It was a slower week this week. This is the schools last week before summer so kids and teachers both are more than ready to be done. The numbers of the kids in our class has decreased, along with their attention span. We were having a pretty slow, quiet morning. The recess bell rang and the kids jumped up and ran outside. I made my way over to the swings, but the two girls normally demanding my attention were not here today, so I decided to swing next to Esperanza. I asked her how she was and for the first time she talked to me and answered. Then I began to play with her, tickling her as she swung past me. And it was in that moment, those precious minutes. Her walls fell. I saw Esperanza, daughter of the king, precious, innocent, and fully know. Her glasses slid down and for the first time, she turned to me beaming. Her beautiful BIG brown eyes and smile I had never seen beamed up at me. It is something I will never be able to describe fully because part of it I know, was not of this earth. Its the moment as if everything else around you falls away. It didn’t matter that I was 18, white, and didn’t speak Spanish, and that she was 12, special needs, and didn’t speak English. In that moment Jesus rested and we were fully known, sharing a pure heavenly joy.
Then, the bell rang. Reality struck. Time to round up kids and go back to class. Esperanza returned to a normal state of closed off stubbornness. Not wanted to go back to class, thinking it would be fun to make you chase her down and carry her back into the class. I don’t know if Esperanza will ever actually remember or look back on that moment again, but what I do know is that I will, and in fact I’ll never be the same. Not only did the Lord teach me that even on the days when we feel unless and/or unproductive is He actually working wonders and healing hearts, but He gave me a glimpse of heaven. Of what it will look like when we stand together in His presents equal, unique, and fully known. Taking part together in living and being loved by our father, The Maker of Heaven and Earth.
I want you all to know that I shared this, yes because I wanted to be able to share what the Lord is doing and because it was a big WOW moment and what some would call a “blog worthy moment”.
But MOST IMPORTANTLY, I wanted to share it to really give you all a feel of what the Lord is doing through you through me.
If it wasn’t for your YES to the Lord, your support and prayers, I wouldn’t have been able to give a full yes to the Lord and been able to experience things that are changing lives for the kingdom. You are building kingdom right now, whether you have supported me financially, you have/are praying for me, or are walking w me in my journey, lives are being changed and saved, including my own. So from the deepest part of my heart,
THANK YOU MY SWEET GENEROUS SUPPORTERS FOR YOUR HEARTS, YOUR LOVE, AND YOUR YES.
I AM ALSO PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THAT I AM
O F F I C I A L L Y F U L L Y F U N D E D!!
Praise praise praise!!
I love you all so much! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!
