So after a little bit of a
break from writing my blog - I am back again. My last blog title was
"Finding Encouragement" and even after this short break I still feel
like that could be the right name for this post also. If you remember from many
of my others blogs I had shared how our team had been going through a lot of
"stuff." With the loss of team members and lots of spiritual attacks
it can, at times, be hard to keep pushing through without just throwing your
hands in the air and saying “Why?” and yet that is when God comes along like
only He can and offer that “situation” of encouragement.
One of the things that I
have been dealing with is feeling like I have not made an impact. However God
showed me differently this last Sunday. We had church in the local theater this
past Sunday because we had a Impact Team with us. I was sitting in the back by
myself waiting for church to start and one of the little boys from my Sunday
school class ran up to me and said "teacher!" He was so excited to see
me and he gave me a huge hug! He then proceeded to ask me why I was sitting all
by myself. I explained to him that I had not found a spot yet. He then turned
to his friend and said, “this is my teacher and we are going to sit with
her" I don't think I can describe how much that touched my heart. In that
moment I could see an impact that I was making on this one child's life.
Our God is a Big and Awesome
God. He is able to take the worries we have, change them, and show us something
that is going on in the midst of it all that encourages us. I say this because
that is what He did with the Impact Team that was with us these past two weeks.
A Impact Team is a group of people that come down, in this case it was a group
of College students, and lend there support to us by helping put on events in
all the different areas we are working in. I was worried about hosting an
Impact Team being that we were the first 40/40’s in Paraguay and were still
trying to figure out culture and what works and doesn't work. So to have a team
down here that might watch us fail was not something I was looking forward to.
However this team that came down was super excited to be here and they were
willing to try anything. They knew we were stilling trying to figure things out
and accepted the challenge. They had a passion for missions and a passion for
Paraguay. So even though it was a crazy busy week and I was worried to begin
with I was able to see the different ways that God was working through this
group and in turn through the work we are doing.
Since they came down I already
have new ideas of how we can try some different things so we can possibly be more
effective in our ministry. I have also made new friends from this group who are
now praying for Paraguay and the team here and they know specifically what the
vision is and how we can accomplish it.
So after these past couple
weeks the truth is: I am more tired then I have ever been, but I am also feeling
more encouraged than ever for the work ahead and God's vision for me and
Paraguay but even more for His vision for "me in Paraguay".
