As I sit here pondering what to write, I find myself unable to pass up the opportunity to share with you something that hit me hard this past week as I spent time with my brother and my friends here in the DR. It was a great joy and privilege for Josh and my friends to experience a little part of my life, to be a part of my ministry here.
I can't pretend that it is always easy for my to be here, because it often times is not so easy. I do miss my family, and my job, and good American food of course, but I have learned that though all of that is a HUGE part of my life, my short time of serving, in the end is too short. If I had to choose between living in American with a great paying job, a nice black car, and an abundance of food that will rot away my internal organs, or living in a third world country, volunteering as a nurse, driving on my 2 person scooter, and eating food of which I am to scared to ask what it is made from, I would choose the second option.... Every single time.. I am lucky, one of the luckiest people on this earth. Though I don't have a lot to "call my own," I have the HONOR of serving MY God every single day of my life. I have the honor of being called by name to spread his word, to show the love of Christ to those who have never ever seen a single minute of love.
Today I was reading in Acts chapter 5:40,41. It says "...They called in the apostles and had them flogged. Then they ordered them never again to speak in the name of Jesus, and they let them go. The apostles left the high council rejoicing that God had counted them worthy to suffer disgrace for the name of Jesus." Think about this, reread it if you have to... The apostles left the high council REJOICING because they were counted worthy to suffer disgrace for the name of Jesus. Do you get that.. There are times it has been rough here for me, but I read about the apostles that were beaten, yet left the council JOYFUL, because they are WORTHY to suffer dishonor for the name.. I think about that and realize that I may NEVER suffer as bad as they did, but no matter what I do suffer, it is for the name of Jesus and I am honored for the fact that he is USING ME.. I don't deserve it, but I count it an honor to suffer for his name. My friends, are you worthy? Are you WILLING? We are never promised life will be easy, or that we won't face persecution or dishonor.. BUT, we are promised an eternal prize for following our Father. We are promised Eternity with the Creator of this universe!!! If that doesn't excite you, I'm at a loss for what would!!! I want to just share with you a short story from this week.. How exactly I came to realize that no matter what how hard it gets, it will ALWAYS be worth it.
The 2nd day my brother Josh was here we were able to go to Leonel’s village. I was so excited for him and my friends to meet Leonel. When we went we took him an audio bible. As we sat there and talked with him for a few minutes he began to ask me for one more thing. He seemed a little hesitant at first, as he always is, but then asked if we could bring him some Christian music. Of course my response was “absolutely, no problem.” We talked for a while longer and I found out that the village he lives in is not at all comprised of Christian people, in fact, there are not many of them there who are true Christians. We also talked about a church, and they said that there is no church in their village and that they walk to the village up the road (about an hour walk). After we were through my brother prayed for Leonel, his family, and his village. He asked God to guide and direct him and his spiritual walk. And was we left I couldn’t stop telling them the story about how I came to know Leonel, about how 6 months ago he was one of the most miserable looking people I have ever met. I told my friends that, quite honestly, I almost do not recognize this man anymore. The man I saw that day was glowing. He was happy, healthy, working in the cane fields, and providing for his family. The smile on his face was one that I had not seen the first few weeks that I knew him.
A couple days before my brother and friends left we made it a point to go back to that village. We had not planned on doing a whole lot of distribution to that village, simply for the fact that we were sure we would not have enough.. But when we got there we seemed to have enough stuff for everyone. We ran out of kits, but thank God, we had a full bucket of items in the back of the truck. When we pulled up to Leonel’s village (unannounced) we saw Leonel sitting outside his home, surrounded by other men. They were all listening to the audio bible that we had taken them several days prior. It was one of the most amazing sites I’ve ever seen. If I had not witnessed this transformation from beginning until now, I may not believe it. He greeted us with open arms and helped in our efforts to distribute items. When we were done distributing we went into Leonel’s house so that we could talk with him. We squeezed about 7 Americans and our translator into this tiny little one room house. I gave him the Christian music he had asked for, and he was over joyed. We agreed to start sharing with each other once a week something that we had learned from our devotion time that week. And like every other visit, we all gathered around this man and lifted him up in prayer to our Heavenly Father. We reminded him of the example he is in his village. We shared with him the importance of standing strong and really putting all his trust in Jesus. He again, like every other time, was very, very thankful for our visit and our prayers.
As we left the village and started driving home we could help but talk about how what we had just witnessed was surely the work of the Holy Spirit! How our God took a lost and undeserving man and made him a new creation!! And as we drove we looked up at the sky, and saw the promise of our King. Straight ahead of us the sun was setting, and we turned around towards the back of the truck and saw a pink shining, a reflection of the setting sun in the opposite direction. The only words I could seem to muster was “as far as the east is from the west.” My friends, how comforted our hearts should be to know that the promises of God surround us each and every day. My God sent me a reminder as we drove away from that village. He reminded me that “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” Psalm 103:12. We surely did witness the Greatness of our God on that day, we saw the presence of the Holy Spirit in that village, and we witnessed how God removes our transgressions. How he takes those of us who are unworthy and prepares us to share his word from one end of the earth to the other. I wish I could convey in words how our hearts felt as we left that village, or how joyful our spirits were as we looked at the beauty of our Father’s creation, or how encouraged we were to be able to see the words from scripture playing out right before our eyes. As I sit here tonight writing this, I wish I could make it clear to you exactly what God has set in my path, where he has directed me to go, and what a joy it is to serve my Savior.
Are your hearts joyful today? Are you serving your risen Lord today? Are you taking time to cling to his promises, to see his creation, and to live out his love through you? Don’t let the opportunity pass. When you feel him nudging you, follow. When he calls you, follow. Whether it is in your work place, home or school. Be the creation he has made you to be!! Let the work of the Holy Spirit move, and when you think the situation is hopeless, hope a little more!!!!!
Be blessed,
Jessica