Today is day 12 in the Dominican Republic. The country is beautiful and the people are kind. When we arrived to our ministry, we were informed that our host family had 3 daughters who were very sick. Unfortunately, they were in and out of the hospital until about 4 days ago.
Because their parents (our ministry hosts) were being attentive and caring towards their daughters’ health, they were not able to give us much information about the community and suggested that we stay inside of the compound until they were able to tell us more. Because of this, our ministry was intercession. Literally.
For the first 3-4 days, we sat as a squad on the roof and prayed and interceded for hours at a time, multiple times a day.
We prayed for the girls, we prayed for the country, we prayed for ourselves. We prayed for people to come to know the Lord through all of the ways our ministry site had been impacting the community. We prayed for rain because the area had been in drought (by the way, it has now been pouring for days). Still after a while, many of us became discouraged. There is a certain stigma that says if you are not digging ditches or building houses, you are not doing missions work. Yes, building houses is important and we all are embracing the physical work we get to do now, however, there was a certain level of anxiousness and eagerness to get to the “hard stuff” so that we could make everybody at home proud.
This poem was written on day 3 or 4 of prayer. I thought I would share it with you all. The beginning of this post was just the context. Enjoy.
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Be still and know that I am God.
When the slowness of the day
seems to take your purpose away
When prayer becomes child’s play
When community becomes a teacher you weren’t expecting
And a quiet area feels like the greatest blessing
I pray you bring back my heart’s intentions
I didn’t mean for it to be this way.
When scripture’s felt to be a waste of time
And the way we view intercession is out of line
I thank you for your grace and the constant renewing of my mind
Jesus, thank you for the cross you bore
Thank you for Eden restored
Thank you for this rest You give
and the work You have in store
Thanks for listening to our cries
and sending rain down from the skies
Would you drench our souls with the water of life
Prayer is a gift from You
We are interceding like You do
Help us to see we’re here to follow You
When the plans we had do not play out exactly as we’d hoped
Remind us please, You establish our steps and that IS our greatest hope
So, as we sit and pave and pray the way You’ve laid ahead
Help me have the heart of God in my heart and in my head.
I shall be still and know that You are God.
