Do You Realize?

I lie on my bed, the sun shining in its brilliant splendor outdoors, yet my eyes closed and curtains drawn indoors. My head pounds like hammer on anvil. Yes, I have plenty of time to think today. Plenty of time to be still…

Sometimes God gives me the gift of a different solution to my questions than I intended. Yet beneath my thin sheet, mask and earplugs, I am smiling. I am counting my blessings. 

I laugh sometimes at His sense of humor. Perhaps I shouldn't, but if you knew all the circumstance you might just laugh too. :)

It's been three weeks since I landed on this soil. Three weeks to the day. They have come and gone like sand through a sieve. And as I lie in complete consciousness amidst the muted childlike activity beyond my open window, I can't help but review them. 

Humid mornings attending preschool. Soccer games in black of night. Unexpected hugs at anytime of the day from anyplace on campus. Surprises not to be forgotten. Finger-feeding blended beans and non-sticky rice to one-year-olds. An aching arm from pushing kids on swings over one hundred times some days. The struggle to communicate in a language unfamiliar. A muddy yet exciting hike up the mountain. Honduran noises. (I'm convinced these people must be half deaf). Baleada (among other authentic food) experiments in the kitchen. The early morning bird chorus. Coloring, creating, making activities for the kids. Purchasing school supplies when you don't know what half the things are. A hefty stalk of perhaps 60 medium-sized bananas for a dollar. Continual prayers to show Jesus. Time in La Zona with friends old and new alike. Emails from friends that challenge and encourage me. The realization of my abundance once again. A sick day. The opportunity to simply be here. 

Yes, I'm thankful for all these things and so much more. 

Wiping one tear. Creating one smile. Holding one child. Changing one diaper. Pushing one swing. Hearing "Glesy" dozens of times a day. Doing one thing to bless one person, to touch one life…

Do you realize how blessed you are? There are thousands of children who would prize just your worn pillow as their greatest treasure. There are thousands of children who would do anything for just one bowl of food from your table. There are thousands of children who want nothing more than someone to care. 

Do you realize how much you owe?

Sisters

Camera happy? :)

Just like Migel…

Happiness

Can't get over those eyes…

Little friends

Nicole

This swing is the favorite

Cuteness

Watching

I love Arturo's smile…

Ramon and Yeferson

Joy

Genesis… :)

Jump!

Don't ask… :)

A Thorough God

{Jeremiah 51 & 52}

Last chapters. Last words. At first, I'm not entirely impressed. 

I mean, the ending is usually supposed to be the most climatic, the most powerful…

But then I see it… A thread of thoroughness.

My God is thorough. He leaves nothing uncompleted.

With painstaking thoroughness He eradicates sin. He completes His judgments. 

Those found with sin are consumed with the sin itself, yet in the end, He is always fair, always just.

And if we are willing to be separated from the sin, thoroughness works in our favor.

Because my God will be just as thorough in perfecting my character as He is in eradicating sin. (Isn't it really the same thing?)

He is a thorough God. Thorough to save. Thorough to restore. Thorough to cleanse.

Thorough to redeem.

His Scars, My Shame

{Jeremiah 50}

The search is on with fury. A frantic company seeks to uncover the unpleasant record, yet it has vanished.

The company of fallen angels with their commander are disgusted. 

They have been vanquished once again by One greater than themselves.

My Savior pardons those He reserves. He pleads for His remnant. 

As He stands before the Father’s throne, He presents His hands, scarred so long ago, etched with my name.

And He pleads for me…

Not because I am worthy, but because He has reserved me to become worthy.

Because His scars cover my shame…

Faces of the Rejected

{Jeremiah 49}

Precious people abandoned in the ruins of cities and rubble of villages. Faces haunting the desolated landscape. Faces lined with pain, traced with fear. Faces of the rejected.

These are the orphans, the widows, the maimed, the sick. These are the ones to whom favor is shown.

They are some of His most precious children of all. They have nothing, yet they have all.

“Leave the fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in me.”

And these next six weeks I get to interact with these very ones… 

Orphanage. Honduras. Here I come!

Misplaced Trust

{Jeremiah 48}

Treasures and trophies. Accomplishments and accolades.

All blow away on the winds of adversity when you’ve placed your trust in the wrong places.

Sanctuary is promised in surrender. Safety is secured in sacrifice. 

Everything else is chaff…

Not a Full End

{Jeremiah 45-47}

Prophecy after prophecy. All nations seem to be the recipients of divine displeasure. 

There is one phrase, however, that grabs my attention in the seemingly endless catalog of calamity.

“I will not make a full end of thee.”*

What? Not a full end? This nation has utterly violated every tittle of His law. 

The human viewpoint stands amazed.

Punishment was surely necessary and they would receive it, yet only for the purpose of correction. 

God was still with His chosen people. He still longed to save them.

“…and none shall make him afraid.”

How could you be afraid anyway? Not with a God like that…

* Jeremiah 46:28

To Be the Revolution…

I lie on my bed, tears trickling down my cheeks, my mind reeling with questions. I feel so ashamed. Ashamed of every fiber of my existence, of what I claim to own. 

I cry. I pray. I ponder. My life, my actions must be in harmony… And I'm finding they don’t go deep enough… I feel ashamed and rightly so. 

Have I been living a lie all this time? 

My flesh denies the thought. Yet I believe it to be partially accurate, for if I was truly living, breathing, absorbing the words I speak, my life would be reflecting Christ more fully than it is today. I need a reset, a hard reset. And that, by God’s grace, I’m going to have. 

Away with a life of mediocrity. In with a life of revolution.

These are the things I want. These are the things I need. These are the things I crave. 

To be the revolution I want to see.