DR Day 4

Today was the turning point for me. Convictions came flooding and there is no way I can return unchanged. 

Our first stop was an orphanage called Jackie’s House. This is a place where prostitutes drop their children off, because they can’t (or don’t want to) take care of them. The minute we entered the gate, the children came running and screaming and jumping into our arms. Praise God for moments like that when you feel so utterly loved.  All the girls had to use the restroom, and it was terrible. No gas station restroom I’ve ever used can even compare. Ugh…I still get chills thinking about it. We did our village ministry session, teaching the kids about the Armor of God and the Evangecube.  One little nine year-old boy on our trip, Jackson, was a rockstar at the cube. He LOVED sharing it with the kids, and he always talked about how exciting it was to think about sharing it again.  “Let the little children come to me.” Christ says this three times in the New Testament. Isn’t that what we’re called to do? Have the faith of a child? I wish I had the faith of this little boy. He knew that the children’s greatest need wasn’t toys or games or food, but the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you better believe he told them. At the end, all the kids prayed for us, our families, and our safety in the DR.  They prayed that we would have the armor of God as were serve this week.  One said the prayer and they all repeated it afterward, which sounded like a small choir of voices being raised to the Father.

We stopped at a little creek area for lunch, where the Dominicans were swimming and jumping off the bridge.  If I was a Dominican I think I would be there often, seeing as it reminded me of a place we go back home with friends and family. Except that the Dominicans swim in their underwear. I’m not quite sure how acceptable that would be in good ole Birmingham, AL.

The next place we visited was my biggest worry of the trip.  A village called Ducasa is located right outside the dump.  Every day, people from the town go up on the mounds of trash and collect recycled products that they then sale to the recycling companies each afternoon.  Thankfully, we didn’t get to go to the top, but we heard many things about it from our trip leader, Dustin.  Apparently the smell could cause you to vomit any second, you walk through a million flies when you walk 10 feet, and there are even people living up on top.  The children were unruly as we tried to teach them the bible lessons.  There were probably 100 of them in the small church.  One girl gave me some of her limoncios, which were absolutely delicious! I broke when I saw one boy with a very infected broken fingernail who was lethargic and looked like he hadn’t eaten for days. 

One the way home I had some real sugar cane, which did not taste like sugar at all. I mean, I liked it, but it wasn’t my fave. 

That night during worship, we were encouraged to take this song and create our own version, inserting things that really applied to our lives. Many of you may know it, and I encourage you to write your own.  It gave me focus and direction the rest of the week.

Lord you are more precious than safety.

Lord you are more costly than order.

Lord you are more beautiful than laughter.

And nothing I desire compares with you.

DR Day 3

Today we went to a village called Monte Cristy to do medical missions again.  We saw around 160 patients today, and even though that was a good bit less than yesterday, I think we were able to diagnose and treat with better quality.  Many children had scabies and chicken pox, while many adults had reflux or high blood pressure.  The worst incident today was a lady whose blood pressure was over 400.  She also said she couldn’t sleep and was so anxious. We asked her why, and she told us that she didn’t have a job and couldn’t provide for her son.  A summer-long theme for me has been “Anything is possible with God,” so I encouraged our translator, Lucio, (aka the man!) to share the Gospel with her and discuss our “anything is possible with God” attitude. She just began to weep. We made sure she attended the evangelism part of our care, and I really hope she found the strength in Christ that she needed.

By this time, I absolutely love every person on our team, and am beginning to make really good friends with many of them.  I know these friendships will be lasting, and I look forward to the encouragement and accountability I will receive from them to make sure I don’t forget what God did in the DR. 

DR Day 2

Today we went to a village called Aleman where we joined with another group to do medical missions.  We saw 230 patients in all, and most of the things we diagnosed were fixable sicknesses.  Most of the things we saw were worms, muscular pains, reflux, and feminine problems. That’s one thing that gets me- the fact that if I have heartburn or a strained muscle, I can just take a small pill that I have plenty of in my drawer, and by morning I should be fine.  These people don’t have that luxury.  Also, many things that kill them come from their contaminated water.  We use water to shower, water our plants, play in during the summer when it’s hot, and wash our car if we want to. The Dominicans don’t even have clean water to drink. Just imagine being so thirsty and not having clean water to drink. Man, I was shocked.  On a lighter note, I had a connection with a sweet boy, Johon and his two sisters, Alicia and Yurines. I taught them the slap game, head, shoulders, knees, and toes in Spanish, and we danced around for a good bit.  Our group was using the Evangecube, so one of the translators helped me teach Johon that, and he shared it with his sister and her friend. I don’t even know if he was a believer, and yet he was sharing the Gospel with them.

One thing I noticed today is that there are many interstates in the DR, and even though there are too many poor people to count, you will never see someone living under the interstates.  The Hispanic culture is so close, that they will always take in a family member if they are in need.  I think this really exemplifies what the body of Christ is supposed to be like.  Maybe if we worried less about how it would affect our family dynamics or comfortable lifestyle and more about the well-being of others, we would be more hospitable and really care for the orphans and widows and the least of these in need. 

I don’t mean to sound so cynical about the American lifestyle, and please don’t think that I hate my life or anything, but these are things that really struck me this week. I absolutely think that they have the weight to at least be considered, and for me, to be implemented in my daily lifestyle.  I believe there were several definite purposes of me going to the Dominican last week, and it would just be purely wasteful of me to ignore anything I noticed or learned simply because I’m proud to be an American. I thank God for the blessing of being born in this country, because it could have been me starving in an 8x8 hut in the DR, but as a believer we are called to daily challenge the way we live. We have to try as hard as we can to be in this world, but not of this world, and I know this trip was definitely a stepping stone in my process. 

DR Day 1

Since I wasn’t able to blog while in the Dominican Republic, I wrote in my journal, and I’m going to take this next week to reflect daily on each day of my trip. I’m hoping it will help me remember everything I learned while out of the country and make it stick. Plus, you will all get to see what was going on inside my heart as well.

Day 1

Yesterday was my first day to fly on an airplane, and believe it or not, I was completely without any fears. Even days before leaving several people asked me if I was scared, and I really wasn’t at all. I know the Lord had given me a peace that passed all understanding. We arrived in the DR very late last night so I barely got any sleep.

We got up this morning and went to church in a village called Honduras-not the country, just the village. The older brother of two wonderful people that were on the trip, Steven Melin and Kristin Melin Link, had started a church there several years before. The sermon was done in Spanish and translated in English, so it was kind of hard to follow, but the passion for Christ in the room was undeniable.  The people lived in small huts, didn’t have much clean water, and were probably wearing the same clothes they had worn the day before, and yet they were so joyful. They praised God with all they had-literally.  I also was asked to sing and help lead worship throughout the week, so that was a neat surprise. We then went to a baseball game where the team from Honduras was playing. I met a little boy who was so proud to be learning English, so I helped him study. He was being a great little student.  As we were leaving we waved bye to everyone we passed in our big bus, and one man gave me a thumbs up, so that was exciting. GV3!

I found out that I would be working with the medical team for the next two days, and I started to feel a sense of worry for my own health. I had no idea what kinds of diseases these people had, but all I knew was that they lived extremely dirty lifestyles. Thankfully, a girl named Lori, who became one of my really good friends on the trip, showed me that on our prayer calendar for the day we were to read Psalm 91 and this is what it says:

“Whoever dwells in the shelter^(A) of the Most High
    will rest in the shadow^(B) of the Almighty.^[a]
2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge^(C) and my fortress,^(D)
    my God, in whom I trust.”

³ Surely he will save you
    from the fowler’s snare^(E)
    and from the deadly pestilence.^(F)
4 He will cover you with his feathers,
    and under his wings you will find refuge;^(G)
    his faithfulness will be your shield^(H) and rampart.
⁵ You will not fear^(I) the terror of night,
    nor the arrow that flies by day,
⁶ nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
    nor the plague that destroys at midday.
⁷ A thousand may fall at your side,
    ten thousand at your right hand,
    but it will not come near you.
⁸ You will only observe with your eyes
    and see the punishment of the wicked.^(J)

⁹ If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
    and you make the Most High your dwelling,
¹⁰ no harm^(K) will overtake you,
    no disaster will come near your tent.
¹¹ For he will command his angels^(L) concerning you
    to guard you in all your ways;^(M)
12 they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.^(N)
13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
    you will trample the great lion and the serpent.^(O)

¹⁴ “Because he^[b] loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
    I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
¹⁵ He will call on me, and I will answer him;
    I will be with him in trouble,
    I will deliver him and honor him.^(P)
16 With long life^(Q) I will satisfy him
    and show him my salvation.^(R)”

Praise God.

The questions for today are:

Who are you? And what are you here for?

I look forward to discovering my answer to these now, as well as asking myself these every single day of my life. 

Be Careful What You Pray For

Lord, break my heart from what breaks yours. Give me such a heart for the lost that it requires action on my part. Give me chances to be bold and help me to be bold in those times. Unashamed. That's what you ask of me. Taking up my cross. That's what you want from me. Lord, I just want to love like you and see others through your eyes. Please place people in my life that need you and need to hear your truth. I'm tired of the complacent and just getting by. I need to see you and believe that you're working in the here and now. Lord, please come.

These pleadings have been coming through my prayers for months I know, probably years. Well, be careful what you pray for.

Wednesday night I had planned on going to dinner and a movie with my sisters, but considering I had a Physics test Thursday that I hadn't done too much studying for, I decided to stay back in the Vallo. Little did I know that the Lord had orchestrated the entire evening just how he wanted it. Leaving the library after a 5-hour vigorous cram session, I run into a good friend of mine that the Lord's been putting on my heart, in my head, and in my schedule lately. We spend the next two hours chatting about life and various things, but although some of the content was forgettable, I will always remember that conversation. We began talking about some health problems that's been going on in his family lately, and suddenly I realize that this is a moment I've been praying for. You might want to know that this friend is an unbeliever, and even though he knows what I believe, we often avoid the religious topics. My stomach gets tangled and I feel as if I might puke into the bushes behind me, but Jesus saves me from that embarrassment and gives me the guts to ask if I could pray for him. Never in my life would I ever have thought that I'd PRAY with this boy. Or better yet, that he'd accept. But we prayed. And talked about God. Small spurts, of course. But we prayed. And he tells me that I am the only person in his life that has ever prayed with him and only the second person that has ever told him they would pray for him. Different worlds clashed right before my eyes, and I left our conversation so heavily hearted that I didn't care a lick about that test the next day. The Gospel was all that mattered.

The thing is, within the past month the Lord has placed me in so many situations where I had no choice but to be bold. To share about him and what he means to me. To pray with someone in their office, in Starbucks, on-stage, or on my dorm steps. Situations where I can barely breathe, because I'm so nervous, but I don't have the option to opt out. And he's been putting so many wonderful people in my life that need him and are searching for him. And it's physically hurting me that they don't know his love. I'm not sure how to handle this new nonsense going on in this little heart of mine, but I can't stop it.

Please pray for these friends of mine. Pray for them to know the love of their Creator and the hope they have in Jesus. Pray also that I would have patience and not become bitter with the Lord if things don't happen in MY timing. Or if I never get to see the fruit, that I would be able to still trust and obey.

I always believed God answered prayers, but after this month, I can't imagine ever praying with faith as small as a mustard seed. Reminders like these call for so much more.

Surrender to Adoption

Today I surrendered myself to God's call of adoption for my life.

It's orphan Sunday, and our church took a few moments out of the regular service to emphasize our responsibility as a church to look after the orphans and widows. Several families shared their adoption processes and their heart for the abandoned. One lady said, as Christians we can either get mad about it and say "How could this happen?", or we can go out there and do something about it. She had adopted a son from Bulgaria, and followed with, "Yeah they have a poor government, but it's not the government's responsibility to take care of these children. It's ours."

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this:

to look after orphans and widows in their distress

and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

James 1:27

Listening to these hearts of service and lips of concern brought tears to my eyes, because they get it. They grasp the Gospel. They understand that we had nothing to offer God. God planned to adopt us, and Christ was the only one who had the right qualifications to do so. We were expensive, so God had to sacrifice His only son to save us from ourselves. We were without hope in a depraved situation. Legally, our salvation had to be settled. We required transformation and a new home. We needed the inheritance of a Father who had much more than we'd ever dreamed. Now we are a part of a multiracial family, and the character of our Father rubs off on us. Or at least it should.

"For he chose us in him before the creation of the world

to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be

adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will---

to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has

freely given us in the One he loves."

Ephesians 1:4-6

Most of us would say we can't do it. We don't have the money or the time, or just the fact that we can't put anything else on our full plates, when in reality if we really looked at our plates we'd see nothing in comparison to saving a child's life. We fill our lives with things. Good things, bad things, things that matter, things that don't. We are so blessed with things in life, so we can't say that we can't do anything. We can't say we have nothing to offer. If not money, we have time. If not a place in our home, we have a place in our heart for prayer.

"This is the confidence we have in approaching God:

that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

And if we know that he hears us--whatever we ask--

we know that we have what we asked of him."

1 John 5:14-15

So that's where I am today. I know I can't adopt now as a junior in college with multiple loans, but I can pray. And I commit today to pray for the orphans and widows. To pray for chances to serve the least of these until the Lord provides a way for me to permanently impact a child's life. He can do it, and He will do it.

"I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him.

So now I give him to the LORD.

For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD."

And he worshiped the LORD there."

1 Samuel 1:27-28

imperfection is beauty

you see i have this problem with not writing things because i think that everything has to have a perfect flow or a perfect phrasing and i get so caught up in the imperfections that it gets incredibly hard for me to finish well im writing this with so many flaws and grammar errors that its driving me nuts right now but i cant stop and put an apostrophe or a comma or a period because that would be me fixing an imperfection and not allowing myself to break this mold and fascad of perfection the truth is that i started this day studying about jesuss first miracle when he turned the water to wine the jars of water that he changed were filthy water jars used for ceremonial cleansing that he changed completely from the inside out and the jars werent cleaned before no they were completely dirty and jesus changed them into the best wine just like he changes us everyday into what will someday be the best wine and we dont have to prove ourselves to him or clean oursleves up before coming to him because really all we have to be each day is a dirty water jar thats waiting to be changed and used to distribute gods glory and grace to anyone who wants to take a drink no pressure for perfection thats all on the perfect savior and he can handle it thank you jesus