Given Much

We are currently in the middle of our only week in June and July that will not be full of brigade work! Last week Tobin and I spent the week going to 6 different schools with a group of 8 from Texas who had prepared a VBS class based on the story of Lazarus. Everytime we pulled up to a school, we were welcomed by squeals of excitement and lots of kids ready to participate.

Jon and the big kids went with 35 others who were putting on a medical and eyeglasses brigade in the village of Ojos de Agua. This is one of the villages that we are currently targeting and evangelizing for church planting, and coming to meet some of their physical needs goes a long way when you are building relationships. This village is only 10 miles from Santa Rosa, but it takes 45 minutes to get there. The road quality definitely leaves something to be desired, but the vistas on the trip are out of this world!!!

I love walking around to every station of a medical brigade to watch each person do 'their thing' to serve the people of any given village.  There are always lots of smiles and laughter, loving pats, hugs and touches, and true, genuine concern.

And knowing what a blessing it is for them to go home with medications they need, free of charge, is always a highlight. 



This is one of the little boys who was at the brigade all day, waiting with his family.  I saw him climbing on this pillar, running around playing with our kids, and laying down on the ground taking a nap...it's definitely a long day for everyone involved....the medical team, as well as the patients!!
And long days aside, it truly is a blessing to be able to serve in such a hands-on way.

Here is a sweet picture that Jon took, and I'll use it for my last today...it'sthe picture of an 80-something year old lady who came in for treatment standing next to 7 1/2 old Lawson.  I love the contrast in this picture, but it's eye-opening as well...young, clean, shoe-clad next to old, not-so-clean and well, look at those feet.

These are them moments that, aside from the day-to-day hustle and bustle that cause me to take pause and realize that despite our lack of fancy jewels, expensive cars or luxurious homes, we really, truly have been given much.

And I think I've heard something about those who've been given much...oh yeah, it was this:

 " From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked."  Luke 12:48b

We're trying....

Blessings

I just love this picture of this beautiful sweet old lady that we met at a brigade back in April. Her face is glowing and her smile is radiant.  She is actually sitting in a wheelchair, and I can tell you that the village she lives in is not wheelchair friendly.  In fact, pretty much none of Honduras is wheelchair friendly.

I don't know her story, but I imagine that this lady had had some difficult days...be in health troubles, family problems, whatever... yet her eyes are bright and her smile is true.

Similarly, while I was a student at Harding University, there was a young guy in a wheelchair who spoke. I can't say that I remember what his whole talk was about, but one thing he said struck me and I wrote it down inside my Bible...he said, "I don't know why God chose to love me this particular way."

One of my new favorite CDs is Laura Story's Blessings.  I picked it up at Lifeway while we were in the States, and had only heard 2 songs prior to that, but I just love the whole thing!  One of the songs on the CD is called Blessings, and the lyrics are pretty amazing.  It changes the perspective we sometimes have when we don't 'get' what we ask God for, or when we go through hard times.  Hard times definitely tend to scar us, but we can choose to look at that scar negatively, as a wound we will forever have to bear, or positively, as a badge to show what we have come through.

The lyrics to this song have encouraged me in my own personal life to appreciate every single way that God chooses to bless me, even if I don't understand it.  It has also helped me as I look at the people we are ministering to.  There are hard times, but I want to help reach them so that they can learn about just how much their heavenly Father wants them to reach up to Him.

We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love is way too much to give us lesser things

'Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt your goodness, we doubt your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart
That this is not our home

What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy
What if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are your mercies in disguise