I have gotten sooo far behind ! I am going to make an an intentional effort to get caught up...one day at a time..smile.... bear with me.
The night before thanksgiving I was sitting in my den...all of the sudden very aware of the fact that this Thanksgiving would be VERY different for us. Hmmmm....WHAT am I thankful for? What could I NOT be thankful for? So, I started to jot some things down. I feel very compelled to share this with you ..not to upset or cause anyone to be nervous ...only to inform you that our lives are different and we are given so many gifts that look different than they ever have...actually ...well, here it is....
Psalm 27:13
I am confident of this : I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Why have you called us here Lord? What gifts do we poses to make even one difference in this place? Are our days wasted or lost on the stumbling and shocking sights that we encounter often? Will you carry us all- each one of us to America to begin a "new life" in the future or will our last days be here in Centeral America? What is this stirring that goes on in my soul at that thought? What is it that could only be from you that causes my husband and I to go to bed at night feeling discouraged at our work here and yet we rise and except a new day ...a new opportunity? How do I find freedom in tinted windows and and constant locked doors? Freedom in guards and walls at the childrens school , the inability to walk down the street by my home, the responsibility of distracting small children in my car as we approach a random group of people for fear of the ugliness of a harsh life taken and the messiness of violence in or beside the roads that we drive on everyday? I cannot resist the temptation to often ask why Lord ? Today, after sifting through my own superficial junk, I have come to the conclusion of this on thing that I am most thankful for today... Psalm 27: 13 ... I WILL see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. And in your goodness and divinitity alone, you Lord, have apppointed me, my family , here in Guatemala for such a time as this. A time of violence and confusion, a time of oppression and yet a great time of opportunity. If I speak into the life of one on your behalf ...who speaks into the life of another hoping and waiting on your goodness Lord...then in THIS land of the living I will have truely lived, my confidence is retained...no days wasted ....and for that Lord, I am VERY thankful .
As you consider our lives and our days here in Guatemala ...please consider not our plight of adjustment but the beautiful lives that are so harshly effected by culture. We count it a rare priveldge ...only extended to few..who are called to look a "cannon" square in the eye at times. We would not exchange these days or our lives here for all of the gold in the world...unless we could use it to improve the lives of those we serve in hopes of seaping the gospel of Jesus Christ DEEP into the souls of those we are coming to love here in Guatemala. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you from all of us.
