One of the most amazing things about my time in Ecuador last year and about our team in general was how God just made things fall into place. We used that phrase, “fall into place” about six million times each day.
Tonight, we packed up for our trip to the jungle and went to Matt and Marlo’s for dinner and to weigh all our stuff (and selves). We ended the evening with prayer requests and a group prayer session about the upcoming week. We prayed about bats and bugs and other fears. We prayed that we will be able to “choose joy” (those are El Refugio words that just hit me this exact second as a way to sum that up) each day when we wake up and that it would be a contagious sign of God’s love. We prayed that our nerves would be calmed, and that we would be able to bring needed gifts and talents, even if we have no idea what we are doing. And by the way, for a group of people who came here with intentionally to be leaders, we feel like we have no idea what we are doing.
So when I came back to the DeVries homestead this evening (it’s turning back into their home as opposed to ours as we pack everything up) I found several e-mails in response to a letter I sent out this afternoon. (I love communication!) Julie sent me the scripture from tomorrow’s devotional, Galatians 3:26-39: Jesus said,”Now I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. If you have love for one another, then everyone will know that you are my disciples.”
It’s written as a command, but I find it a scripture of reassurance as I look at what we are headed into and next to our prayers this evening. It just makes me realize what’s important. We feel like we need to know what we are doing and do our jobs and facilitate a camp. And we’re really focused. Out of the 12 interns/Maestros, all 12 were J’s and 11 were E’s on our Myers-Briggs test. But we’re here as missionaries, here to grow in our understanding of God and in our relationships with his people, and to share His love.
And guess what. The prayer from the Upper Room? Dear God, help us to see the world through your eyes. May we be receptive to your leading for our direction. In Jesus’ name. Amen. Can a devotion fall more “into place”? I need to be receptive to His reminder that our goal is to LOVE and to SHOW IT, and I’ll be seeing a whole new world all week long.
We, as interns, have been reading a couple books this summer. One of them is Credo by Ray Pritchard. He writes about the way that God makes himself painfully obvious, to the point that we must be aware of Him, as Romans 1:20 says, we are “without excuse.” I would be without excuse if I did not recognize that one, and I pray that I will be able to keep that in mind through plane rides and bug bites and 150 children. As we said in Cape Charles, that scripture is my “Yay God.”
EDIT: Literally the same second I published this, I got another e-mail from Heather. I quote (without permission) “Don’t hold back… Share the Well my friend!” For those of you who have any clue what I’m talking about… V8!
