Honduras is going through a realization of change that has taken place over the last years (maybe decade) as humanity has shifted and a parallel is probably seen across the board. However, I experience the change here in a different, more clear way and that is that Honduras is not a safe place. Tegucigalpa has been transformed into a major stop on the drug trafficking highway and the problems that arise with this are grave indeed.
As a school we dealt with the death of a parent of 3 graduated Pinares students --she was a lawyer, fighting hard against the drug crimes happening in this country. She walked with the power of God and caught and convicted many enemies. On Monday one of them finished her ministry to the Lord, leaving 70 bullets in her body.
The injustice of it all raged in our hearts as we tried to comprehend such a thing that hit so close to our community.
I was at a friend’s house with a Spanish teacher from school and we were talking about this thing that happened as we were driving home on Saturday and having a conversation about the many crimes happening all over. She was in the middle of saying “You never know what could happen anywhere you are, you just have to walk in the protection of the Lord” when two “ladrónes” (thieves) jumped in the back of her truck and began peering through the windows at us. They rode in the back of the truck for a half an hour and waited until we were stuck in hard core traffic and unable to move. At that point the 2 men got out on either side and knocked on the driver and passenger side windows. Laura and I were both praying the whole time for the Lord’s protection and covering in the situation and as it intensified within seconds Laura began yelling, “In the name of Jesus may these men not harm us. In the name of Jesus may they leave us alone. In the name of Jesus may this traffic start moving, may the blood of Jesus protect us…..” and as I expected to see a gun pointed at my head when we looked up, I saw nothing, had no fear, a miracle happened and the traffic started moving and Laura stepped on the gas, leaving the men behind. They did not chase us, and we arrived home with hearts beating rapidly.
Wherever we go, whatever we do, we need to be walking in His presence and peace. We have nothing to fear for He is with us, we are His, we are His people, the sheep of His pasture. We have a good Shepherd, we have a mighty Master, lets walk in faith daily in whatever situations present themselves.
Psalm 34 has been such an encouragement to me lately and as I reflected on God’s grace Saturday night in a situation that could have gone so wrong, and yet was miraculously not a big deal I praised the Lord with verses 15-17: “The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and His ears are open to their cry. The face of the LORD is against evildoers, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. The righteous cry and the Lord hears and delivers then out of all their troubles.”
Disciple making… a bigger vision amidst the mundane day to day.
“Making disciples is not an easy process. It is trying. It is messy. It is slow, tedious, even painful at times. It is all these things because it is relational. Jesus has not given us an effortless step-by-step formula for making disciples. He has given us people, and he has said, “Live for them. Love them, serve the, and lead them. Lead them to follow me, and lead them to lead others to follow me. In the process you will multiply the gospel to the ends of the earth.” (93)
à And thus describes my day to day life as a teacher: relational, messy, slow, trying, even painful at times….but God has given me these children this year, to raise up as His disciples. What a task. What a joy. You could pay me millions of dollars or pennies, it wouldn’t matter, because each day I know I get to fill God’s command by making disciples of all nations in my day to day commitment to the lives of these kids. Their minds are open to deep spiritual truths, their eyes are open to the lost, their tongues ready to utter prayers on behalf of the nations, their hearts desiring to be transformed into the image of Christ. Please pray for this bigger vision of raising up these children in the things of the Lord, though I only get to get my hands dirty with them for a year, God has called me to this ministry, and is doing all things for me.
I encourage you not to get discouraged in the discipleship tasks the Lord has put in your life, especially the ones you’ve labored over for years and still struggle to see fruits and impact. Which brings me to my next lesson….
At church we were discussing James 5: 7-21
The first part of this passage starts out:
“Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains. You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near…..you have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings…that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.”
The pastor was encouraging us as farmers. He said that a good farmer would never stand at the door to his house, throw out a bunch of handfuls of seeds, and expect to see a harvest months later. A farmer’s job takes patience and endurance, he has to walk the fields and plant each seed step by step in careful rows, till the soil, water it carefully, wait and watch and pray for the early and late rains….then and only when he has completed his hard labor does he expects a harvest.
I have seen testimony of the Lord’s compassion and mercy as I labor to plant and patiently serve as a farmer here in this place – a teacher has no other choice. I get such a short time to influence their hearts and minds, yet it is such as task.
One morning I was discouraged looking at my kids from last year, the way they would rather ignore me than interact, the way I loved them and prayed for them, and they never ever would say thank you, when I see them love other teachers and realize how deprived I was of their love….my heart hurts as that farmer who is anxiously waiting the harvest and sees rejection instead, roots that did not grow down deep and plants that withered.
My kids LOVE me this year, and every day I feel the effects of that love and I see the appreciation in their eyes. I am so blessed to get to be the teacher I want to be here, and this year they accept me.
But in contrast, I couldn’t figure out what happened all last year, when I labored day in and day out and feel like I don’t see any sort of harvest. I don’t feel like I did anything right, or made any difference. I told God about this, knowing that they were lies, but admitting the doubts nonetheless because of the way I was being treated and what I experienced. I had to come to the point of understanding that maybe the only fruit I would see was in the formation of my own character and what God did in my heart and how He changed me. And that had to be enough for me at this point.
So the words from James were exactly what I needed to hear….”Remember Job and his perseverance? Remember what the Lord finally brought about? Remember that the Lord is full of mercy and compassion?”
That afternoon, after confessing my doubts before the Lord, He made sure to send some encouragement my way. Another teacher happened to be sitting on the bus next to one of my kids from last year and through random conversation asked her what her favorite year and teacher has been at Pinares. She responded “Ms. Nyhoff’s class last year,” to which the teacher asked why. She responded, “Because we all started out the year hating each other, and by the end we all loved each other.”
(This is one of the kids that will hardly look at me, but the life lesson had been planted and sown in her….producing the fruits of righteousness I had prayed so hard for, completely unbeknownst to me.)
I must say that God and I had another talk, and some more confession time that night. If only I had faith to believe that not only did those trials produce in ME perseverance and character I should know that I would never be disappointed in hope as God, through His Holy Spirit, is working in our hearts, in the hearts and lives of my kids last year, and this year. Those seeds sown in faith DO produce fruit of righteousness. I thank God for this simple and sweet reminder and I want to challenge you as well, all you faithful servants of the Lord ministering in faithfulness, sowing, watering, persevering, praying….the Lord is using you as you wait and hope for a harvest, and as you wait know that God is working on your character in the meantime. I pray that that is enough to fill you with joy in serving Him each day, no matter what the task.
Thankfulness that transcends…..the Holy Spirit living in us
“Oh how I wish it was enough for you and for me to do something just because God has told us to.”
“Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Col. 3:17)
God’s command to be thankful is not the threatening demand of a tyrant, rather the invitation of a lifetime – the opportunity to draw near to Him at any moment of the day. If you’re sitting down to dinner, be thankful. If you’re getting up to go to bed, be thankful. If you’re coming out from under a two-week cold and cough, if you’re paying bills, if you’re cleaning up after overnight company, if you’re driving to work, if you’re changing a light bulb, if you’re worshiping in a church service, if you’re visiting a friend in the hospital, if you’re picking up kids form school or practice….Be thankful. God has commanded it – for our good and His glory.” (63-64)
The fact is, we cannot whine and complain and be filled with the Spirit at the same time. When a thankful spirit resides in our hearts and expresses itself on our lips, it’s an evidence that the Holy Spirit lives in us, that we are yielding to His control, and that He is producing His gracious fruit in and through our lives. (71)
As we head into Thanksgiving I am even more clearly reminded of the thankful spirit that should abide in my heart and drip from my lips, overflowing from a heart yielded to the control of the Spirit and turning a cold shoulder to those complaints I so easily latch unto.
Please pray with me:
- That the Lord would continue to give me vision and insight, and not just for the here and now, but open eyes for the work of His Holy Spirit whatever that may be.
- For wisdom and guidance as I begin praying about a decision for what I will do next year. (reading in Exodus 40 about the Israelites following God’s presence in a cloud by day and a fire by night and where it rested the Israelites stayed, and when it moved they followed….that is what I want, to follow God’s presence)
- For safety and protection as I continue to trust the Lord living in a semi-dangerous part of the world and see the evil and pain this causes all around
- For grace as I seek to live each day completely surrendered to the Lord for each moment (He is making sure to test me on this, and it is hard to trust and simply obey at times)
- rest -- surprisingly still hard for me to find ;)
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