Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Nicaraguan Circus
Oh ME of Little Faith
Oh ME of little faith.
How boring life would be if God only asked us to do the things that were comfortable, easy, or routine.
Yet...I all too often cringe as God asks me to step out rather than allow excitement to envelope my spirit.
Yes, I usually trudge forward, with the motive of obedience-but faith is lacking.
Because if I had the fullness of faith found in the grace of Jesus, I would stand firm on the truth that anything and everything He has asked me to do is overflowing with His transforming power.
Yesterday, the Lord asked me to display His attitude, responses, and choices in situations where letting flesh show up would not only have been easy, but it would have felt good to vent! He called me to do some things that were unfamiliar and new, rather than allowing me to pass that responsibility to someone else.
What did I do?
I displayed His attitude as best I could.
I stepped out and did what He asked me to do.
So...what does that have to do with today?
Yesterday, I saw the reality of what God can do when you come to the end of yourself.
Because of that, today I was able to walk forward in faith, with the assurance that He would do it all if I would just trust. Even when I think I need to do God a favor and help Him out, I just have to let go and let Him do the work through me.
"The one who calls you is faithful and He will do it." 1 Thessalonians5:24
Whatever He has asked, He has already released the fullness of His power to equip you to accomplish it!
That is the truth that the Holy Spirit has been planting in me as we have moved further into our Mission journey here in Nicaragua. And I look forward to all that He has yet to sculpt in me along the way here!
Our Tuesday began early!
We split into 3 teams. Some went to help construct a feeding shelter, some went to help prepare food at an existing feeding shelter, some went to construct a latrine, and a group went to speak on the local Christian radio program.
Wow! That's a lot to do!
But we all embraced our day with God driven excitement!
The construction team was also interviewed for TV during their day today. Michael did a great job I heard!:) They worked so hard all day, until the downpour came in the afternoon. They dug holes, mixed concrete, painted and set poles for the structure today...and man were they dirty! Maybe that rain was a good thing!
The radio team today consisted of Shirley, Nancy, Kevin, myself and Jarrett. Everyone did great speaking and sharing their heart.
The latrine team completed their task today! Onto another one in need of finishing tomorrow!
The food team did everything from cutting Yucca, to watching cow intestine skins be put into soup, to playing with children who lined up their bowls for the
blessing of food. Others from our team in this same Barrio(community), went door to door carrying the love of Jesus and Message of life and hope to hurting and desperate people.
After a later lunch, the women went to a Ladies Conference where I preached and sang to local female pastors and leaders from area churches.
What a powerful connection the Holy Spirit made between our group and theses women! So many made life transforming decisions! We had an amazing ministry time where we were able to speak directly into their lives as we layed hands on them and prayed for them.
We all truly felt that we left there having received so much more than we could even tried to give away .
Our final ministry opportunity of the day was definitely unlike any other!
We went to a Nicaraguan circus...but not what you are probably imagining.
Think circus as in...a variety of performances.
None of the stuff you would assume, really, except that it was loud. Very.
Five minutes after we walked in, I found out I was going to sing in the midst of the chaos! It was a neat experience for sure!
Jarrett preached a powerful evangelistic sermon and even in the craziness of the setting God, was SO in that place!
So now we are all in our rooms-tired but full, empty physically for the day, but so full spiritually.
I am nodding as I write this and my eyes are crossing. I'm actually looking forward to laying down on this extra firm mattress:)!
Wednesday, I am sure, will hold new discovered treasures that the Lord as gone before and placed on our paths.
My resolve is to have unwavering faith to seek and find them, no matter what else the world places on the path to distract!
Oh ME of little faith no more!
Father, help our expectations rise to the level of the people we encounter, wholeheartedly believing that God can and will do a mighty work through us!
Make us unashamed and fearless as we take hold of You and overflow with YOUR LOVE!
How boring life would be if God only asked us to do the things that were comfortable, easy, or routine.
Yet...I all too often cringe as God asks me to step out rather than allow excitement to envelope my spirit.
Yes, I usually trudge forward, with the motive of obedience-but faith is lacking.
Because if I had the fullness of faith found in the grace of Jesus, I would stand firm on the truth that anything and everything He has asked me to do is overflowing with His transforming power.
Yesterday, the Lord asked me to display His attitude, responses, and choices in situations where letting flesh show up would not only have been easy, but it would have felt good to vent! He called me to do some things that were unfamiliar and new, rather than allowing me to pass that responsibility to someone else.
What did I do?
I displayed His attitude as best I could.
I stepped out and did what He asked me to do.
So...what does that have to do with today?
Yesterday, I saw the reality of what God can do when you come to the end of yourself.
Because of that, today I was able to walk forward in faith, with the assurance that He would do it all if I would just trust. Even when I think I need to do God a favor and help Him out, I just have to let go and let Him do the work through me.
"The one who calls you is faithful and He will do it." 1 Thessalonians5:24
Whatever He has asked, He has already released the fullness of His power to equip you to accomplish it!
That is the truth that the Holy Spirit has been planting in me as we have moved further into our Mission journey here in Nicaragua. And I look forward to all that He has yet to sculpt in me along the way here!
Our Tuesday began early!
We split into 3 teams. Some went to help construct a feeding shelter, some went to help prepare food at an existing feeding shelter, some went to construct a latrine, and a group went to speak on the local Christian radio program.
Wow! That's a lot to do!
But we all embraced our day with God driven excitement!
The construction team was also interviewed for TV during their day today. Michael did a great job I heard!:) They worked so hard all day, until the downpour came in the afternoon. They dug holes, mixed concrete, painted and set poles for the structure today...and man were they dirty! Maybe that rain was a good thing!
The radio team today consisted of Shirley, Nancy, Kevin, myself and Jarrett. Everyone did great speaking and sharing their heart.
The latrine team completed their task today! Onto another one in need of finishing tomorrow!
The food team did everything from cutting Yucca, to watching cow intestine skins be put into soup, to playing with children who lined up their bowls for the
blessing of food. Others from our team in this same Barrio(community), went door to door carrying the love of Jesus and Message of life and hope to hurting and desperate people.
After a later lunch, the women went to a Ladies Conference where I preached and sang to local female pastors and leaders from area churches.
What a powerful connection the Holy Spirit made between our group and theses women! So many made life transforming decisions! We had an amazing ministry time where we were able to speak directly into their lives as we layed hands on them and prayed for them.
We all truly felt that we left there having received so much more than we could even tried to give away .
Our final ministry opportunity of the day was definitely unlike any other!
We went to a Nicaraguan circus...but not what you are probably imagining.
Think circus as in...a variety of performances.
None of the stuff you would assume, really, except that it was loud. Very.
Five minutes after we walked in, I found out I was going to sing in the midst of the chaos! It was a neat experience for sure!
Jarrett preached a powerful evangelistic sermon and even in the craziness of the setting God, was SO in that place!
So now we are all in our rooms-tired but full, empty physically for the day, but so full spiritually.
I am nodding as I write this and my eyes are crossing. I'm actually looking forward to laying down on this extra firm mattress:)!
Wednesday, I am sure, will hold new discovered treasures that the Lord as gone before and placed on our paths.
My resolve is to have unwavering faith to seek and find them, no matter what else the world places on the path to distract!
Oh ME of little faith no more!
Father, help our expectations rise to the level of the people we encounter, wholeheartedly believing that God can and will do a mighty work through us!
Make us unashamed and fearless as we take hold of You and overflow with YOUR LOVE!
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Nicaraguan Traffic Jam
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5
Como se dice FLEXIBLE??
Flexible.
That has been the word of the day. Well, the past two days, actually.
All I know to tell you is, the enemy sure must be scared of where the Holy Spirit is leading us because he has tried hard to block our path and slow our progress.
But our team has a resolve to live out Galatians 5:25 and keep in step with the Spirit! We were aware that the enemy had a strategy against the work we were setting out to do for the Kingdom, but we have been determined to keep our eyes on the Holy Spirit's strategy because that is our victory!
So you may have heard by now about our flat tire on the bus to Atlanta turning our 3 hour trip into 7 hours.
But did you also hear that God kept us from driving into horrific storms in the Atlanta area during the time we were sitting and waiting safely outside those storms? He even sent us a rainbow!
Arriving tired and relieved to our hotel at about 11pm, we eagerly grabbed our numerous heavy bags and backpacks, ready to fall into bed...and then had to lug them up 4 flights of stairs because the elevators were broken.
But no one complained( course at that point it may have been because we were gasping for air) and we found comfortable beds and several hours of rest awaited us after that unexpected climb.
After waking up at 5am, the next part of our day was seamless: eat at 6am, airport at 6:30am, unloaded and through security by 8, plane departure at 10am, safe and early arrival in Managua 1:30pm EST, Nicaraguan buses loaded and ready to pull out 12:30pm. Pretty good for 21 people.
At this point in the day, we were all hungry and tired.
Oh, and did I mention we were hungry?
We ate at the most Nicaraguan of restaurants: Pizza Hut! Lol!
It was so, so good. No I mean really. It really was!
And I don't even like pizza! ;)
A we waited on our food, we found out that when we arrived in the city where we will be ministering that we would have the opportunity to speak on a radio and TV show that evening, as well.
We then set out for Chinandega which is about a 2 and a half hour bus ride...that is if you are not with Poplar Springs Mission team, a.k.a. " We kill tires" mission team.
Yep, you guessed it: the bus blew a tire!
I don't even think I can explain the place we stopped to get it fixed on the side of the road, except to say it was a shack with a guy laying in a hammock on the front porch. We all hung around outside the bus, talked, played with a little girl who lived beside the tire place, and waited.
Even the bugs came out to greet us!
And still no one complained.
Plans changed moment by moment as we saw our arrival time in Chinandega slipping further away.
The tire was finally fixed and we headed to Pastor Osvaldo's home which he opened to all 21 of us for a wonderful meal of rice with peas, meat with onions, vegetables, mashed potatoes, and tortillas.
The pastor's wife Rosa was so welcoming and humble. Her hospitality was such a jewel in our day! And as if that weren't enough, they are going to feed us for the next two days as well!
We checked in to our hotel, Hotel Balcones, at 7:30pm(9:30 EST) with just enough time for 6 of us to change and head to the radio/ TV station for about 2 hours of on air ministry. Jarrett, myself, Ashley P., Jade K., Tony Q., and Jim R. ventured into the unknown!
I have to say I had no clue what to expect and I was exhausted.
On the way there I prayed, "Holy Spirit, this is all You."
And what did I find out?
Where I end is simply where His greatness can truly begin.
God showed up in a mighty way!
Yes it is true...Flexible has become our theme for Mission Nicaragua 2011.
God is writing the details of the story, letter by letter, word by word, line by line.
His purpose is great, His power is evident, and His people have chosen to embrace those truths here in Nicaragua, come what may!
Continue to lift up prayers on our behalf to the Father!
"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:10
Tweet/Post this:
Where I end is simply where the greatness of God can truly begin. #Nicaragua2011
That has been the word of the day. Well, the past two days, actually.
All I know to tell you is, the enemy sure must be scared of where the Holy Spirit is leading us because he has tried hard to block our path and slow our progress.
But our team has a resolve to live out Galatians 5:25 and keep in step with the Spirit! We were aware that the enemy had a strategy against the work we were setting out to do for the Kingdom, but we have been determined to keep our eyes on the Holy Spirit's strategy because that is our victory!
So you may have heard by now about our flat tire on the bus to Atlanta turning our 3 hour trip into 7 hours.
But did you also hear that God kept us from driving into horrific storms in the Atlanta area during the time we were sitting and waiting safely outside those storms? He even sent us a rainbow!
Arriving tired and relieved to our hotel at about 11pm, we eagerly grabbed our numerous heavy bags and backpacks, ready to fall into bed...and then had to lug them up 4 flights of stairs because the elevators were broken.
But no one complained( course at that point it may have been because we were gasping for air) and we found comfortable beds and several hours of rest awaited us after that unexpected climb.
After waking up at 5am, the next part of our day was seamless: eat at 6am, airport at 6:30am, unloaded and through security by 8, plane departure at 10am, safe and early arrival in Managua 1:30pm EST, Nicaraguan buses loaded and ready to pull out 12:30pm. Pretty good for 21 people.
At this point in the day, we were all hungry and tired.
Oh, and did I mention we were hungry?
We ate at the most Nicaraguan of restaurants: Pizza Hut! Lol!
It was so, so good. No I mean really. It really was!
And I don't even like pizza! ;)
A we waited on our food, we found out that when we arrived in the city where we will be ministering that we would have the opportunity to speak on a radio and TV show that evening, as well.
We then set out for Chinandega which is about a 2 and a half hour bus ride...that is if you are not with Poplar Springs Mission team, a.k.a. " We kill tires" mission team.
Yep, you guessed it: the bus blew a tire!
I don't even think I can explain the place we stopped to get it fixed on the side of the road, except to say it was a shack with a guy laying in a hammock on the front porch. We all hung around outside the bus, talked, played with a little girl who lived beside the tire place, and waited.
Even the bugs came out to greet us!
And still no one complained.
Plans changed moment by moment as we saw our arrival time in Chinandega slipping further away.
The tire was finally fixed and we headed to Pastor Osvaldo's home which he opened to all 21 of us for a wonderful meal of rice with peas, meat with onions, vegetables, mashed potatoes, and tortillas.
The pastor's wife Rosa was so welcoming and humble. Her hospitality was such a jewel in our day! And as if that weren't enough, they are going to feed us for the next two days as well!
We checked in to our hotel, Hotel Balcones, at 7:30pm(9:30 EST) with just enough time for 6 of us to change and head to the radio/ TV station for about 2 hours of on air ministry. Jarrett, myself, Ashley P., Jade K., Tony Q., and Jim R. ventured into the unknown!
I have to say I had no clue what to expect and I was exhausted.
On the way there I prayed, "Holy Spirit, this is all You."
And what did I find out?
Where I end is simply where His greatness can truly begin.
God showed up in a mighty way!
Yes it is true...Flexible has become our theme for Mission Nicaragua 2011.
God is writing the details of the story, letter by letter, word by word, line by line.
His purpose is great, His power is evident, and His people have chosen to embrace those truths here in Nicaragua, come what may!
Continue to lift up prayers on our behalf to the Father!
"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:10
Tweet/Post this:
Where I end is simply where the greatness of God can truly begin. #Nicaragua2011
On-air!
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5
Off the Road Again
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5
Monday, June 27, 2011
Nicaragua Mission Team 2011
God spread His promises across the sky for us tonight and renewed His joy in our midst...even when we had to climb up 4 flights of stairs because of broken hotel elevators.
Hey, I was excited to get in an unexpected workout! Yay that!;)
Sleep calls because 4:52am will be screaming my name before long.
Thank you for your prayers on our behalf!
Will update again as I can!
Goodnight!
Tweet/ Post this:
We are more than conquerors.God with us=VICTORY assured.Count on it.Live on it.
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)