We made it half way through March! I know there’s a lot of spring break happening in the states this month, but ours does not come until the end of April which feels like a century away (only 34 days – but who’s counting?:)
I’ve been praying a lot for different missions trips going on, and it’s been fun to think about God’s work ALL over the world! We are part of such an amazing worldwide community!
So let me share with you a little bit about what God is doing in my tiny part of that community here in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
I’ve been praying a lot for different missions trips going on, and it’s been fun to think about God’s work ALL over the world! We are part of such an amazing worldwide community!
So let me share with you a little bit about what God is doing in my tiny part of that community here in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
This time of the year for us is the hardest as we wait for Spring break and the kids (not to mention the teachers) hit academic, relational, behavior, and spiritual points of frustration. Everyone has been reaching the end of themselves, and as hard as that is to watch (and experience) it is SO good because when you get to the end of your patience, the end of your own strength, and the end of yourself, you have no choice but to look to the Lord to carry you through, and that is exactly what He loves to do.
I myself hit a huge wall this week after receiving some hard news from several friends in the states and found my kids to be almost completely unresponsive for two full days, not to mention all the craziness of planning a field trip, family fun day, and an observation lesson….I was definitely at the end of my rope.
Then God led me to Nehemiah (which we are studying this week in Bible). Nehemiah is organizing the remnant of Israelites to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem which are complete rubble. Not only is the work difficult, but then there are surrounding nations that have set out to stop the rebuilding and kill the Israelites.
Nehemiah 4:10 says “The strength of the burden bearers is failing, yet there is much rubbish; and we ourselves are unable to rebuild the wall.”
4:14 (20) – “When I saw their fear, I rose and spoke to the nobles, and officials, and the rest of the people: “Do not be afraid of them; remember the Lord who is great and awesome…Our God will fight for us.”
6: 9 – “They were trying to frighten us, thinking “they will become discouraged with the work and it will not be done.” But now O God, strengthen my hands.
But at last Nehemiah finishes building the wall and 6:16 says – “When all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations surrounding us saw it, they lost their confidence; for they recognized that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God.”
I myself hit a huge wall this week after receiving some hard news from several friends in the states and found my kids to be almost completely unresponsive for two full days, not to mention all the craziness of planning a field trip, family fun day, and an observation lesson….I was definitely at the end of my rope.
Then God led me to Nehemiah (which we are studying this week in Bible). Nehemiah is organizing the remnant of Israelites to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem which are complete rubble. Not only is the work difficult, but then there are surrounding nations that have set out to stop the rebuilding and kill the Israelites.
Nehemiah 4:10 says “The strength of the burden bearers is failing, yet there is much rubbish; and we ourselves are unable to rebuild the wall.”
4:14 (20) – “When I saw their fear, I rose and spoke to the nobles, and officials, and the rest of the people: “Do not be afraid of them; remember the Lord who is great and awesome…Our God will fight for us.”
6: 9 – “They were trying to frighten us, thinking “they will become discouraged with the work and it will not be done.” But now O God, strengthen my hands.
But at last Nehemiah finishes building the wall and 6:16 says – “When all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations surrounding us saw it, they lost their confidence; for they recognized that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God.”
I’m hoping that these verses speak for themselves of how the Lord takes us when we are discouraged, and weak, when our strength is failing and we are afraid that the enemy will get the best of us, that God strengthens us, that He fights for us, and that in the end everyone will “recognize that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God.” -- And this is the ultimate goal anyway, for the Lord to be glorified, and everyone else to recognize that!
So, although it has been a very hard and long week and discouragement has threatened to ruin the work of my hands, “the joy of the Lord is my strength” (Neh. 8:10) and God has been the one doing everything in and through my weakness.
I know I’ve written home dozens of e-mails on this topic, but it continues to ring true and I continue to encourage you to look only to the Lord when your strength is failing, He wants to be glorified more in the work He is completing through us.
On another note, yesterday we went on our first field trip to a blind school to spend time with the kids there and see how they learn and interact and live. When I announced the field trip my class was very upset because we weren’t doing a “fun” field trip or going out to a restaurant to eat. About half of them asked if they could get permission from their parents not to go, and I was upset with them for this attitude. They wrote in their journals that afternoon about what they were thinking this field trip would be like and most of them were just scared.
As I prayed about this I realized that these kids just haven’t been exposed to people different from themselves. This society so isolates people with special needs, that they had just simply not experienced anything like this before.
The next day I took the kids to 4-5 passages in the bible where it talks about Jesus interacting with the blind people, and one specifically in Luke 14 that talk about a master giving a banquet, and when all his friends give excuses for not being able to come Jesus says, “But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind….” I told the kids that Jesus commands us to count these people as more worthy than our friends, and that by us bringing pizza to these kids and playing with them for a couple hours It is like us “inviting them to a banquet” like Jesus commanded. So we spent time praying for God to change our hearts and attitudes.
But the incredible part of this whole experience is just how greatly God DID change their hearts and their attitudes and used them to really minister to this school of blind kids, which are like the rejects, the outcasts, and the ones that are difficult to love.
The field trip was turning into a disaster because no one would give us details about what we would be doing, or what it would be like, no one was setting it up for us, and every time I called the school it, the director changed the plan. The day before we were scrambling to get everything in order, and I just told the kids that we were going to have to be extremely flexible and trust God to work this all out for us.
He absolutely did, more than we could ask or imagine and I came back exhausted, but so proud of the way my kids showed Jesus to this school. The parents who helped were AMAZING, the kids were more loving and obedient than I have ever seen them before, and we brought so many donations and things to bless this school that they were completely overwhelmed.
I wish I could describe all the pictures I took in my mind, of these dirty, ugly, blind kids, some with their eyes clouded over, others with more disabilities, all with ragged clothes, and smiles on their faces just hanging onto the students from our school. They were laughing and playing and just eating up the attention and love, and after the initial hesitation my kids just jumped right in, without hesitation or boundaries.
We were a blessing, but we also received a HUGE learning experience, and when the kids came back and journaled about their time, they were not scared any more. They had each connected with a specific child, and they had a new understanding of people like this and a love for them. I was just beaming at how outstanding my kids were and how the Lord’s hand was truly over our trip. He is working in and through us, and the moments when it becomes evident are so exciting.
I just passed the 2 page boundary on this letter, so I better stop writing.
Today is family fun day and I volunteered to stand in an area and get water balloons thrown at me for a half an hour….that should be fun. ;) My kids are a little more eager to pelt me than I would like, so we’ll see how that goes.
Thank you for listening (as I always take more of your time than you probably have) and for your continual support and prayers.
I love you guys and know that your prayers carry me through more than I can fathom.
Continue to rely on the joy of the Lord as your strength and watch the Lord do amazing things in and through your weaknesses!
So, although it has been a very hard and long week and discouragement has threatened to ruin the work of my hands, “the joy of the Lord is my strength” (Neh. 8:10) and God has been the one doing everything in and through my weakness.
I know I’ve written home dozens of e-mails on this topic, but it continues to ring true and I continue to encourage you to look only to the Lord when your strength is failing, He wants to be glorified more in the work He is completing through us.
On another note, yesterday we went on our first field trip to a blind school to spend time with the kids there and see how they learn and interact and live. When I announced the field trip my class was very upset because we weren’t doing a “fun” field trip or going out to a restaurant to eat. About half of them asked if they could get permission from their parents not to go, and I was upset with them for this attitude. They wrote in their journals that afternoon about what they were thinking this field trip would be like and most of them were just scared.
As I prayed about this I realized that these kids just haven’t been exposed to people different from themselves. This society so isolates people with special needs, that they had just simply not experienced anything like this before.
The next day I took the kids to 4-5 passages in the bible where it talks about Jesus interacting with the blind people, and one specifically in Luke 14 that talk about a master giving a banquet, and when all his friends give excuses for not being able to come Jesus says, “But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind….” I told the kids that Jesus commands us to count these people as more worthy than our friends, and that by us bringing pizza to these kids and playing with them for a couple hours It is like us “inviting them to a banquet” like Jesus commanded. So we spent time praying for God to change our hearts and attitudes.
But the incredible part of this whole experience is just how greatly God DID change their hearts and their attitudes and used them to really minister to this school of blind kids, which are like the rejects, the outcasts, and the ones that are difficult to love.
The field trip was turning into a disaster because no one would give us details about what we would be doing, or what it would be like, no one was setting it up for us, and every time I called the school it, the director changed the plan. The day before we were scrambling to get everything in order, and I just told the kids that we were going to have to be extremely flexible and trust God to work this all out for us.
He absolutely did, more than we could ask or imagine and I came back exhausted, but so proud of the way my kids showed Jesus to this school. The parents who helped were AMAZING, the kids were more loving and obedient than I have ever seen them before, and we brought so many donations and things to bless this school that they were completely overwhelmed.
I wish I could describe all the pictures I took in my mind, of these dirty, ugly, blind kids, some with their eyes clouded over, others with more disabilities, all with ragged clothes, and smiles on their faces just hanging onto the students from our school. They were laughing and playing and just eating up the attention and love, and after the initial hesitation my kids just jumped right in, without hesitation or boundaries.
We were a blessing, but we also received a HUGE learning experience, and when the kids came back and journaled about their time, they were not scared any more. They had each connected with a specific child, and they had a new understanding of people like this and a love for them. I was just beaming at how outstanding my kids were and how the Lord’s hand was truly over our trip. He is working in and through us, and the moments when it becomes evident are so exciting.
I just passed the 2 page boundary on this letter, so I better stop writing.
Today is family fun day and I volunteered to stand in an area and get water balloons thrown at me for a half an hour….that should be fun. ;) My kids are a little more eager to pelt me than I would like, so we’ll see how that goes.
Thank you for listening (as I always take more of your time than you probably have) and for your continual support and prayers.
I love you guys and know that your prayers carry me through more than I can fathom.
Continue to rely on the joy of the Lord as your strength and watch the Lord do amazing things in and through your weaknesses!
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