When I found out our girls team was going to be paired up with another two girls teams, my heart sank. Why God? Why would you challenge me even more than you already have over the past month in Romania? I love my squad; I really do, but investing in my team and also another FIFTEEN GIRLS who are mainly all younger than me, it’s too much.
When I arrived in our “Princess Palace” three days after everyone else had arrived, I was still quite bitter. I felt so fake being so friendly to everyone when I knew there were quite a few girls that got on my nerves. That evening, we had a triple team meeting. The team leaders spoke about how, despite our disgust and fear, God had placed all three girls’ teams together for a bigger purpose than we all had realised. If we choose to believe in the lies that the world has told us that girls can’t get along, this could essentially be the “break” season for all of us which will ultimately affect our entire squad. However, if we choose to pour out love for one another and really speak out truth to each other from God’s Word, we could set the tone for the whole squad for the next 9 months.
We decided to spend some time praying, seeking the bible, and really sharing some truths to each other. Boy, it was incredible what came out from it! Everyone had a different word from Jesus and it was such a bonding time to just encourage each other and speak truth.
One truth that unexpectedly spoke out to me was “Restoring Dreams.” After coming back from a trip to Thailand where I helped to deliver Operational Christmas Child boxes to thousands of children as a teenager, my long-term goal was to design an orphanage, help build it and then teach in it. This dream was forgotten as new dreams came up, however, coming to Transnistria and learning that our ministry for this month would be construction and teaching English, it has re-inspired this dream in me.
We all wrote our truth down on a piece of paper and we decided to stick them on a wall near the entrance to our room so we could remind ourselves to always choose love and walk in God’s truth, especially when it gets hard.
In Hebrews 13:1, it encourages us to "keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters" so I choose to love my twenty-one sisters, despite them getting on my nerves at times.
Will you do the same for the sisters and brothers around you?
