It's been beautiful and hot these last few days. I love it. It's getting me ready for Nica. I love being there and serving as God calls me, but it is still something I have to gear myself up for. It is not a comfortable place to be. Hot, humid, (rainy during the summer), dirty, long days of work, short nights of hot sleep, limited choices in healthy food, carry around bottled water, hours between bathrooms (carry your own tushy-tissue in case you do find a bathroom), dousing yourself with sunblock and insect repellant, and guarding against car sickness. But I love it, because it's where God wants me to be. And physical inconveniences for me (being from North America) remind me what everyday life is like for people in Nica and most of the rest of the world. We are so spoiled. God is gracious to provide what HE says we Need. We think we have to go beyond that to get all the things and circumstances that we think we Want. Oh to be trusting enough in Him to allow Him to make those decisions for us and to accept them and to praise Him and serve others as He directs. That's success!!
God doesn't always make everything fit into what our checklist of circumstances should be to us to 'be able' to serve Him. But if He calls me, He will make it possible for me to do it.
+He has called me to serve in a very hot and sunny place (my bloodpressure medication says not to spend time in direct sunlight).
+He has called me to serve wherehealthy foods are limited there and raw foods can be contaminated (my liver problems call for me to eat as whole and healthy as possible).
+He has called me to serve where much study and emersion in another language is needed for me to be able to learn and hopefully become fluent in Spanish (I have profound hearing loss in one ear).
But, He has called me to serve in Nicaragua, where He has created some special relationships with people I have come to love, with strangers who I am drawn to love in HIS name and share the truth about HIS power and glory.
He has called me and I will go wherever He sends me, into whatever circumstances await me. Because I know that He is faithful to take care of me. And by the 'inconvenient' circumstances, I learn to look to Him, call upon Him, trust Him and praise Him more and more every day. For that, I am soooo grateful!
I find myself missing people here, especially my church family at Cuerpo Vivo, and my friends at FBCR, when I'm in Nica. I miss my Nica friends and family when I'm here. I'm very blessed to love and be loved by these people and to get to share parts of my life with them.
I think about friends that I met, served with and still miss from my 2 years in NYC. There are so many people, from all over the country, that God has brought into my life while I've been serving Him. Each one makes me smile, some more than others, but I'm thankful for each and every one of them. Each relationship and encounter is like a gift just waiting to be opened. We sometimes limit how much we enjoy those gifts.
I pray that God will help me to focus on the moment He has me in and on the people He has in my path each day. I don't want to waste a single second of the life He allows me to live. There is so much that He can do through all of our lives. He deserves our attention and willingness to share.
Father, help me to submit to You as You claim me as a tool for Your work.
And glorify Yourself in every part of my life. I am Yours.
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