Bluefields is filled with diverse, unique, and beautiful people. As I began walking through the beginning of the month, I knew it was a month of growth, and chasing the dream He placed in me long ago.
Stepping off the bus in Bluefields, I found it to be filled with darkness, with small city lights scattered upon the hills. We didn’t know what was before us. We did know that we trusted the Lord of Lords who constantly goes before, after, and all around us.
The first two weeks of ministry, during our first month of ATL, we did home visits, evangelized in the city, prayed for people, and loved on and served our hosts, the YWAM staff.
I didn’t know I would grow in such vast ways of obedience this month. It was a month of sitting or walking and going deeper with strangers and community and from within, all at the same time. From history of the country and world, to the way families raise their children, and how the Lord intertwines everyone’s story. He reminded me to continue to share my story. So, this month I began to share more of my story, as a way to obey the Father, stepping into more of what He has.
More of the boldness of remembering my story, and His story from within me, from long ago, before I was ever a thought, and to walk into the obedience of his beauty.
From sharing why Jesus came to bring His love (to save people from their sins), to praying over people and their families, to seeing where I fall short, to learning how to cling to Jesus to watching Him change my heart towards others, to walking in obedience and drawing closer to Him each day more and more.
The following two weeks, I stepped into more of the goodness of what He is asking of me. To be bold and share more of my story with my squad mates and locals. Learning to say, “Yes!” daily to what He’s holding out for me to take. Like a lot of Christmas gifts all throughout our life, some are smelly and others are wrapped in extra sparkle. As we open up each gift that He has for us, we won’t know fully what is inside until we trust him with holding the present itself. One of this week’s presents was the gift of friendship. I was with seven and eight year old girls who had contagious smiles, dark brown eyes, dark brown hair, and they were filled with so much joy because they knew only what they saw. As we got to love on these beautiful girls, among others, as we got to love on the moms and the dads, showing them how to live like Christ lives and how to be an example of putting others first; God began showing me how to break my heart for what aligns with his. How to love unconditionally, no matter who they are or what they have walked through. He allowed me to hug these girls, to play silly games with them, to dance, to feed them and their families, to teach them about Jesus. And the only thing I had to do was be obedient by loving sacrificially.
After this time, we went back to Granada to reunite with everyone for a couple of days before spreading out again. My team chose to stay in Granada this last week.
As we came back from running errands one day, my friend Allie was sitting out talking to a man named Tim. Tim was a cool dude, yet he had so much brokenness in him and hurt that there was only one solution and that was to pray. Pray for the Holy Spirit to intervene, pray that Tim can be in a relationship with Jesus. Prayers for ways that the souls of humans can be divinely wrapped in his love. Being obedient in praying.
As I was having conversations this month with friends and strangers alike, I found a common theme from within my spirit/words that I chose and I didn’t realize it until after. Being willing to say, “Yes,” to what He’s calling me to step into, in the every day. Being obedient in going where He has called.
The first part of this month, I was challenged before I left Costa Rica to fast from something during my time in Bluefields. As I began to look at what I could give up, I realized it was my phone. So, for the time in Bluefields I used my phone for journaling and for photos, but not for connecting with the outside world. Instead, allowing the body/team to be my source of community, more so then I did the months previous. As Wi-Fi was not available at the base it was His way of saying this is the right thing to give up. When I look back at my time without the use of Wi-Fi: more memories were made, and more laughter radiated through the week, and more conversations were richly satisfying, although sometimes hard. Yet, seeing how His hand was upon this week, being able to walk down the street and connect with locals, I’d come back and connect with more locals and engage in meaningful conversation. I realized quickly that in the United States there are way too many distractions all around. Being on this journey has allowed some of these distractions to evaporate, or so it seems.
As we were walking through the city park here in Granada, I had a lot of thoughts going through my head. One of those thoughts was, “What are others going to think?” yet that quickly left as believers around me began to remind me and encourage me to keep pursuing Jesus. As I pursued Jesus, He gave me the words to speak.
He allowed the voices of others to fall to the wayside, and to focus only on the one job I had in the exact moment, and that was to share His love with the particular person He wanted me to. Being obedient in letting go.
With less than a week left of ministry for ATL month, I am curious to see how the Lord is going to ask me to be obedient in other ways, that I haven’t already been.
I am so proud of you for sharing this! Beautifully written!