I've been in the beautiful country of Guatemala for almost 3 weeks now, and I've had the opportunity to see and do so much already. I'm blown away by how God provides. He just DOES! Good food, great journies, and even greater people still…
{such a sweet little lady!}
{barefoot and content.}
In the process, though, I've realized how very "in process" I am—and how that probably won't cease for the next 11 months. While our days are busy from sun-up to sun-down {i woke up at 5 a.m. this morning, and I'm still going to be up until 10 or so}, God just gives us a supernatural energy that abounds in each of us as we minister to elementary thru high school age students in nearby schools, children in a local hospital, and the elderly, who are often alone and wondering when their next visitor might arrive; they are truly entertained by a simple song or rhyme, and just our presence. they like to laugh too, at the little things in life, our horrible spanish, and the fact that they've been around longer and have seen and know so much more.
{the sweetest girl ever, who just kept wanting more hugs.}
{which team can get to the water bottle first game. fierce competition!}
It's in the midst of this that God has given me glimpses of my own heart, and He's shown me how much I still need to learn. To care for the widow and the orphan means so much more when you meet them, and know their name and story. To break bread with one another means so much more when you spent 2 hours at the market shopping and 2 more hours preparing a meal, just to celebrate being alive and living in community in one tiny kitchen. Holding a child means so much more when they have deformities and dibilitating special needs, and yet you realize they are no different from you when you feel their heart beat against your chest, when you see them smile, or offer up a loud and joyful noise the second you take them from their hospital bed and into the beautiful outdoors this country has to offer. It all means more than it did before. So much more.
{breakfast for dinner!}
{bus stop friends.}
God is teaching me that they are more than old people and dirty diapers and a language barrier that can't be broken overnight–they are a story waiting to be told, a hand waiting to be held, a mind waiting to be sewn into–and they're in process too. Their process looks different than mine, as God is teaching me to trust in Him more and lean not on my own understanding, and that I'll surely have a face-to-face relationship with Him like Moses did–I'll come to know Him as my truest friend and greatest comforter. And yet He desires the very same with them. It's really no different, but we all chase after Him at different moments in our lives.
{this man's knee will be healed, in Jesus' name, AMEN!}
{she was wearing some of the original TOMS shoes. legit!}
Is your time now? Is it drawing near? One thing's for sure–it will never come to pass. He's showing me that He's always there waiting patiently, with open arms, asking us to surrender time and time again.
It's because of this that I know my coming here was not in vain, because there are so many more yet to reach out to. Yet most days I just start with one, and say "this is my one for today. this is the one God has given me to love, and they are the one I will choose to love."
{my best buddy man from the hospital, jose'. love him to pieces.}
It really is that simple…it is so much easier and yet so much harder than I thought it'd be. But I suppose that's the fun of it, right? If it were easy, I'd have probably given up by now.
And so we all press on into our last 10 days here, and I anticipate that greater things are yet to come, though my heart has already been touched and my mind has been stretched and I've had to stop and take a few breathers…
not just on the volcano I recently climbed, but real, true breathers where all you can do is lie face first on the floor and pray.
{You know the type?}
MORE IS ON THE WAY.
Terrifying, but true.
But we need not fear, because God goes before us,
and He dives right into the old people and dirty diapers without any hesitation.
He loves fearlessly. He loves the least of these.
I'm ready to live like that too.
