Heat is exhausting. It drains you, it makes you irritable, and all you want to do is lay around in front of a fan.
The Lord blessed us the first three month with incredibly nice, cool weather. But, I took it for granted and got too used to it. When we first got to Cambodia, I thought I was going to be miserable. I couldn’t sleep or focus because of the intense heat and humidity. It literally felt like I was walking around in a fog and couldn’t get through it.
I found myself counting the days of how long we’d have to be here and when we’d move onto Eastern Europe and I wasn’t sweating from every pore of my body.
But as we got settled at our new home for the month, I realized not only is the weather warm, but so are the people. They are so incredibly welcoming and so ready to serve us in any way we need. We were given comfortable beds with our own bug nets, our host’s sister is a wonderful cook who provides for us every day, and there is a little store across the street from us that sells the best coffee.
As a team we realized that this month was going to be more physically exhausting than the first three months. During one of our team prayer times I was reminded of one of my goodbye messages from a family friend I listened to back in Chile. In the message she is reminding me to take time to rest during this trip. She says, “it’s the theory of putting the oxygen mask on yourself before you help someone else”.
Lucky for us, we’d just finished our longest travel yet, complete with five flights, so we knew exactly what that meant. Before we can minister to the people in Cambodia, by teaching English, leading worship, sharing testimonies, praying for the sick, we need to take care of ourselves.
We can’t do it alone, though.
Lauren Daigle has a song called “My Revival” that I’ve been listening to a lot lately.
I will run and not grow weary
I will walk, I will not faint
I will soar on wings like eagles
Find my rest in your everlasting name
You are my revival
Jesus, on you, I’ll wait
I’ll lean on your promise
You will renew my strength
As we go through these next two months I’m clinging to the hope that Jesus will renew my strength and keep me going like it says in this song and in Isaiah 40:28-31,
“Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youth grow tired and weary
and young men stumble and fall,
but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.”
