Hey everyone! I’ve been in Thailand for about 2 weeks, and I just finished my first full week of ministry! This month, my team and I are working at Wildflower Home, a safe place for single mothers who are victims of domestic violence, sex trafficking, etc. Each day, we serve the women of the home by gardening, moving piles of dirt, and pretty much just whatever we’re told to do. One day I even spent the entire afternoon in a mushroom house (which is exactly what it sounds like) busting open old bags of mushrooms.
To be straight up, ministry has not been the easiest for me or my team. I came on the race with the expectation of having radical ministry opportunities and seeing the effects of our efforts almost immediately. It can get pretty frustrating, moving piles of dirt, working in the Thailand heat for hours on end. It’s hot, we’re tired, sweaty, blisters on our hands, aching from the manual labor. I kept asking God, how in the world is this ministry? This just feels like a job. For days on end our team had been experiencing some pretty terrible spiritual warfare (physically too- we had a ton of injuries) that was just emotionally draining. Ministry definitely wasn’t what I expected.
The reality is, God has been teaching me way more through this ministry than I could ever pour out to other people. One morning, before catching our daily song thao ride to ministry, I just prayed. Prayed and prayed and prayed. Over spiritual warfare, frustrations, and just asked God for His eyes for this ministry. Told Him how frustrated I was, and asked Him to change my perspective. And for a while, it seemed like He was being pretty silent. For days I felt like I was talking to a brick wall, which was even more frustrating. Finally, in the middle of our ministry day, standing with dirt in between my toes and sweat all over, Papa answered my prayer. Just wait. Be faithful in what I’m doing. As simple as it was, it filled me with so much peace and comfort. I understand now that ministry doesn’t always look like what you expect. But sometimes it looks like understanding that you may not ever be able to see the fruit of your labor but trusting that God has a plan for it. Realizing that the Lord sees a way bigger picture than I ever can. Realizing that doing this labor, right alongside these sassy Thai women who I adore, is the least I can do to serve my father. If the ministry host tells you to sweep the gravel (yes, this is really a thing we had to do), then I am going to sweep the gravel with a smile on my face because I have the joy of the Lord in my heart. And if your ministry host asks you to move huge piles of dirt for days, then you move that freaking dirt with all you’ve got.
I never thought that serving Jesus would look like this. I never thought He would teach me this way, but like always, He keeps on surprising me. Really learning how dependent on Him I am! Tired & aching & sweaty 90% of the time, but feeling soooo good. Thank you Jesus.
I will be posting weekly on my blog throughout the entirety of my race to update you guys on what’s going on. So stay tuned! Thank you for reading!!
**Few things: My next blog is going to be a Q&A on everything World Race. I’ll do these types of blogs every now and then throughout my race to answer any questions you guys have. So, send me some questions! You can comment them, text them, email them, whatever, and in my next blog I’ll spill all the tea ;). Next, PLEASE SEND ME MARCO POLOS. I absolutely love them, so please download the app!! Update me on your lives (seriously, I have FOMO)!! It’s so easy for me because sometimes my other social medias/imessage doesn’t always work. Also, I still have a little over $4,000 to raise before being fully funded (praise God, Hallelujah). My deadline is in January! If you feel led to donate, please do so!!
