Greater Reality

As I have not been able to walk around normally without pain for the last 4 weeks, I have become increasingly thankful for the pleasures of Christ that are not dependent on physical health or any other circumstance.  My heart is full this morning as I think back on all that we have seen God do in the 4 years since the Lord led us to leave our life in NC and move to Guatemala.  Life is often full of trials of many kinds and considering them all a great joy can be difficult to put it mildly!  (James 1) As a bird's eye view of recent months, we have experienced both vehicles in the shop for weeks on end, sprained ankles, a broken hand, a sprained thumb, migraines, and mold taking over our old house followed by a busted water pipe causing a flood inside our new house... to name a few.  But the trials serve to remind us that this life is temporary and we are in the middle of a greater reality.  

We are caught up in something bigger than us. God is writing His great story that He has had planned since before the foundation of the world. And it gives us so much joy to know that our lives are a part of the plan of "the One who works out everything in agreement with the purpose of His will.” (Ephesians 1:11)  And every trial, every circumstance, every pain we experience are used by God to fulfill His perfect purposes. Nothing is wasted. Nothing is not important. So after we throw our fit before the Lord and He lovingly corrects us (just keeping it real), we can rejoice no matter the circumstance because we know He has ordained it for some good that He wants to accomplish. How could we live without that hope?!

So in that spirit, I want to tell you about a couple of the people we have come to love dearly.  We have seen God transform their lives and bring them into His mission of building His kingdom. It makes it all worth it to know that God has brought us into what He is doing... building His kingdom, seeking and saving the lost, rescuing people from the dominion of darkness, and bringing them into the joy of fellowship with Him for eternity!

I have to start with Charlie. His real name is Carlos, but everyone knows him as Charlie. Our family met him as we ate every Friday night at our favorite market restaurant. He was the chef who made the best caldo de gallina in all of Guatemala (and I have tried many!). He speaks English fluently because he grew up in an orphanage led by American missionaries. Once he aged out of the orphanage, he found himself on his own trying several different ways to earn a living. Eventually that led to him working in the restaurant, where he learned how to be a great chef. The Lord connected our hearts and he has become a part of our family... he is like a son to us and a brother to Hannah, Jordyn, and Layla. 

Charlie began helping us translate when gringo teams came and also meeting with Joseph regularly to study the Scripture. Through that, the Lord took over His heart and showed him his identity and purpose as a child of God. We have seen Charlie become a passionate follower of Jesus, tirelessly giving his life to God’s purposes. He knows everyone in our municipality of San Lucas and sees every relationship as an opportunity to share the gospel and make disciples. When the pandemic started, the restaurant closed down, along with the majority of businesses in Guatemala, and he found himself without income. But he also found himself with the time to join fully in ministry. Over the past year, he has worked beside Joseph giving out food bags, sharing the gospel, and discipling believers in several communities. In one of these communities, Chituc, they have seen a church planted from the people’s response to the gospel and persistence with meeting together for Bible study and sharing the gospel with their own friends and families. As the group outgrew the home they were meeting in, the Lord provided an opportunity for Charlie to move to Chituc, renting a small home where the church could meet. Now Charlie not only faithfully disciples this group in his home every Tuesday night, but he also does life with this new family in Christ. His deep sense of joy and purpose cause us to love and praise God even more!

Then there is Pancho. He came to us at the last minute as a translator for a team of gringos from Spring Valley Baptist Church last February. He was so nervous and told us from the very beginning that he would understand if we didn’t think he was good enough for the job and wanted to find someone else. However, that week we came to love Pancho and we witnessed the Lord take hold of his heart. That week we spent hours in Bible study and training with the team. We studied God’s Word and saw God’s plan for us to be His ambassadors carrying the message of the gospel to the world. We trained together in how to share the gospel and make disciples. And then we went to places in Guatemala and did the work. As Pancho trained and worked alongside of us, God gave him the hunger to be fully surrendered to God and His purposes for his life. At the end of that week, we baptized Pancho as he made public the change God had made in his heart. Since then, Pancho has faithfully continued the work of making disciples with those in his community. He is willing to make sacrifices to do the work of the ministry. He has grown to be a big part of our Guate22 team and always shows up when we have a meeting, a training, or an opportunity to serve... many times working incredibly early shifts or extra shifts at his job at a call center to make it happen. He feels like a part of our family has become a good friend to Hannah as they have led Zoom Bible studies together. He has told us that he was at a very low point in his life before coming to us that week. And now, he is caught up in something great that matters for eternity and he knows it! Praise God for Pancho.

There are more stories to tell. But to keep this from being too long, for today I will stop with those. It gives me so much joy to know that God is redeeming lives like this all the time. Lives that have been in darkness until He shines His light in their hearts and sweeps them up into His story. We are a part of something much bigger than us. An eternal story God has always been unfolding. And one day we will be with Him looking back and able to see the full beauty of it all. This is our living hope.

(As an update on my health for anyone interested, I do believe the Lord is bringing me through to the other side of this... My original knee injury led to a painful flare-up of an old hamstring injury, but He has provided me with a physical therapist and I am definitely on the mend!  Thank you to those of you who prayed for me!)

Even if...

Even if.  These are the words that are echoing in my heart and mind these days.  Our good and faithful God continues to lovingly work on me.  This time, the lesson feels quite difficult and I am earnestly praying that He brings me to the other side sooner rather than later.  But even if He doesn't... Even if the path He has lovingly chosen for me is painful... Even if He intends to patiently teach me to endure joyfully, to mean it more when I say through tears, "Jesus you are enough for me!"  He is enough.  He is sufficient.  His very nearness, His loving embrace, the unshakeable foundation of my life will not be taken from me.  He is with me and that is all I need to know.  Thank you Jesus!  You are truly worthy and I will praise you from now throughout eternity.   Your love is truly better than life and there is nothing in this world better than You!

As I write this, I am sitting on my couch icing my knee.  Tomorrow makes 2 weeks since I got up quickly from the dining room table and turned toward the kitchen, feeling an uncomfortable catch in my knee.  After hobbling around for a week, I went to a local orthopedist who diagnosed me with a knee sprain.  She also said there is the possibility of a meniscus injury, but time would tell.  Each day after an uncomfortable sleep, I get up hoping this trial will have passed, only to go through another day with no improvement.  So I have had 2 weeks of being completely side-lined physically.  I am usually very active, running 3 days a week and doing cross-training workouts another 3 days a week.  I also very rarely sit still for long periods of time.  I value being physically active and healthy.  Those are definitely good things and good gifts from the Lord.  However, I can see that I am prone to look to those things to provide for me that which the Lord has already given me in Christ Jesus.  So now I believe the Lord is working to purify my heart.  I don't want any corner of my heart to believe that I need to be physically healthy in order to have a life worth living, or in order to be fulfillfed and happy.  My life has purpose with our without physical health.  Jesus is sufficient for me to fulfull all my longings and desires.  He defines my life.  He determines my value.  And I am thankful that He has ordained this situation in order to reveal to me that I was not fully believing that.  My hope is not in the belief that this trial will soon pass and I can get on with my life.  My hope is in the fact that even if my lot in life from this point forward is to never again be physically able, all the things that are good and eternal are still true!  I am still just passing through the temporary, and I have an eternal home with my Savior.  I will experience the greatest pleasure and delight after this life has passed when I am finally with my Lord face to face.  What will it matter then if life is painful, difficult, or uncomfortable now?  He will still walk with me through it and into my glorious eternal home. 

I am well aware that my current situation is absolutely nothing compared to the things that many others are going through.  I often think of my brothers and sisters in Christ who have been called to walk down a path of great suffering.  And I can be tempted to live in fear that the Lord will call me to such a path.  But even if... I believe everything we experience as His children is ordained by Him.  And He will fulfill His good and perfect purpose for each of us.  I want to live each day of my life fully surrendered, trusting Him in every way.  I know that no matter the difficulties He calls us to face, we will not face them alone.  He is always with us, surrounding us with His providence.  We are safe when we find our refuge in Him.  So for now, as I wait for Him to complete His purposes through this particular trial, I lift my hands and my heart to Him in surrender and worship, thanking Him for His activity in my life.