Cold showers.
Sleeping on the ground.
More mosquito bites than I can count.
Toilets you have to manually flush.
Dirty clothes.
Dirty hands.
Hunger.
Being thirsty because there’s no more clean water.
None of that matters anymore.
I didn’t come here to be comfortable.
Things I would complain about at home seem so pointless now.
It’s funny.
The harder things seem to get here the more I want to press in.
The more I want to say “Yes, God. Choose me.“
I’ve been praying something that terrifies me lately.
I’ve been praying to be broken.
Broken of everything I used to know and everything I was.
Made anew.
He’s starting to do that.
It’s hard.
I’m happy.
I’m happy because after suffering comes reward.
This is a baby boy in a tiny town called San Antonio.
There’s something wrong with his lungs that causes him to have breathing problems.
Because his mother can barely afford food, he probably will never see a real doctor for his condition.
We got to pray over him for healing.
What an honor.
What a blessing.
Amen.
These are the houses the people of San Antonio live in.
Generally 15ft x 20ft for an entire family. Made from clay, branches, and tin if they can afford it.
Each family invites us in to pray for them and share our stories as we pass.
One woman explains that she has never lived in a house that didn’t leak at night when it rained.
I have nothing to complain about.
The people bathe and wash themselves in a river near the houses.
This river is also where they get their drinking water.
The water was tested by a team from Canada.
The results showed that not only should the Canadians not drink from the water
but that even the locals should never drink from the river.
I’m finding it harder and harder to complain about anything anymore.
I’m getting tired of relaxing.
I’m getting tired of being comfortable.
Jesus never promised anyone they would be comfortable.
He never promised anyone they’d be rich.
He never promised a white picket fence with a two story house for your wife and your family.
Not that those things are bad or wrong. He just never promised it. So stop expecting it.
And a lot of the time, we’re actually promised the opposite of that.
That we’d be uncomfortable, that we’d be persecuted, that we’d be broken. (See Verse References at the bottom.)
No wonder the road we chose is less traveled.
We need to learn to be as grateful and accepting of having less than enough as we are of having more than enough.
Equally thankful for poverty as we are riches.
Philippians 4:12 – I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
How many of us live like that?
Start trying.
To be honest, nothing we had was ever truly ours anyway.
No matter how much you think you’ve earned it.
Everything we’ve ever had has been lent to us.
Thanks, Daddy.
I’m just tired of worrying, I guess.
I’m just ready to be happy no matter the situation.
And God’s been ready this whole time.
Wow.
So often I’ve felt like I’ve been taking apples from a snake when I should be taking a walk in a garden with my Father.
I’m sick and tired of apples.
Well, God. Show me around.
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The World Race
Catch me on Twitter at NinjaZachWR
or see my pictures on Instagram at NinjaZach.
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If you would like to check out my new blog, with everything from the World Race and all my missions since then and even now in Japan, please click on this link for my blog The Vagabond Missionary. Thank you always for your support!
Verse References
Romans 5:3-5 “We also rejoice in our suffering because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character, character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given us.”
Hebrews 2:10 “In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.”
John 15:18-20 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you…If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.
