Saturday evening. Home with my feet up and feeling just like I knew I would at this time... relaxed and tired and thankful and blessed... and very happy that this week is behind me.
Project Love was today at the church. It was an event in which families who have visited the FBC Rogers Food Pantry were invited to enjoy a sit-down meal, games and music. From the beginning of planning the event (back before Thanksgiving) I wavered between worrying that no one would come or that too many would come and we would run out of food. After some specific prayer, I allowed God to convince me that it didn't matter how many people came as long as the ones HE chose were there, and how we interacted with them.
There was a lot of preparation by a lot of people for this event. I really enjoyed working with Becca on the meal, Cindy on the games and activities, Mary Lou on the decor, volunteers and donors. And then there were challenges like the Youth D-Now event getting scheduled for the same weekend. Project Love ended up being the 'service' portion of the D-Now event. Unfortunately, there wasn't as much work as needed for the amount of kids involved. Logistics for any dual events can be challenging. It's interesting to see the real personalities of people when you have to work closely with them.
We just had a handful of families attend the event, but the connections made with them were very fruitful and I have no doubt that God ordained these encounters. I feel that God was glorified and seeds that had been planted through the Food Pantry were cultivated, getting closer to harvest. That thrills my heart more than large numbers of attendees. I got to speak with some really special people today, who were very thankful for the touch that went beyond their coming to the Food Pantry when they need groceries. They really felt that we care about them. I enjoyed getting to meet them and look foward to following up with them and helping to get them plugged in to groups at the church. The time spent with them today was worth all the hours of preparation over the last 3 months. I'm thankful to be able to be involved in these ministries.
I'm really looking forward to the trip to Nicaragua. I feel that God will use this time and place to reveal a lot about His plans for my future. I'm looking forward to being in a location where I can practice Spanish, live in a basic way without the luxuries of civilazation, walk in someone else's shoes for a while, relate to people on a special level. I'm ready for the challenge. The trip is already proving to be a challenge to some team members. Due to traveling over Spring Break, seats on planes are hard to get. Our team is split between 2 flights, but more than that, one of the 'legs' of the journey for 4 team members leaves 7 hours before the rest of the team, and travels by a different airline through and extra city and has a 6 hour layover before meeting up with the rest of the team in Houston. It's not a good choice, but it was the only one available to get all the team down to Nicaragua together from Houston. Unfortunately, the way the team is split up is difficult for the family traveling down. I wish that I would have been placed on that 'more challenging' flight so that the family could travel together, but it's not possible to change. Even though it's not the first choice of situations, it's not the end of the world either. Being flexible on a trip is a must, since the enemy will do everything he can to mess up morale, comfort, plans, and focus for a team setting out to do God's will in such a special way. Please pray for all the team members going on the trip. Especially for those who are being dragged out of their comfort zones. God is going to challenge us in many ways. Satan is going to try to hinder us in many ways. We have to keep our focus on God and His plans and rest in His strength and protection. We can go through anything with and for Him.
Time for me to go to bed and have a wonderful sleep. I'm so thankful to belong to my Lord. I'm blessed to have Him leading my days, even the tough ones. I wouldn't change that for anything in this world. I want to be part of His world.
No comments:
Post a Comment