Before the week even started, on Monday morning, I had a conversation with the Lord about Hope. He reminded me that I have His hope as an anchor to my soul, and that it is this hope that keeps me in times of trouble. It is this hope that maintains my peace and joy, it guides my thoughts and responses to situations. On the other side of this are those who live apart from an intimate relationship with God, and I began to imagine what they must have felt like, and still feel like today – after such a great devastation.
I imagined a tiny boat in the middle of a vast angry ocean, being tossed all over the place. The Lord reminded me that if for even just a moment someone with no hope, like that little boat, could connect to someone full of His Holy Spirit and Hope that they could feel that "peace be still." One Wednesday, June 5th, the homeowner on Iroquois Street came to visit us. As she looked around at the volunteers working on the home, she looked directly at Tony (one of the guys on our team) and said, "What you are doing here is the only thing that has given me hope since this storm." I knew instantly this was the Hand of God with us and a calm, a "peace be still" was happening in her life.
Tuesday morning I woke up with the thought in my mind "and they were first called Christians in Antioch." I spent my devotional time in Acts chapter 11 just looking for the significance of this thought. What really spoke to me was the fact that it was the hand of the Lord that was with them, and it was the great acts that the people of Antioch were witnessing that led them to first call these people Christians. Oh how I long for Christians across the world to rise up in unity, letting their light shine that the world my begin to re-define how they see us. That the world would no longer see us for what we stand against, but for our "labor of love" and that we too would leave such an impression that they might say – these are the Christians:) Throughout the week we would hear reports from those working at the synagogue, and they would tell us that the people were talking about the fact that the Christians were there doing the work. I pray that news would spread far and wide.
Probably my most fond memory was how the Lord spoke to me throughout the day on Thursday. On Wednesday Tony and Mark spent time teaching Stacey and I how to cut and hang drywall. They assigned us 3 closets to finish and by the end of the day we had the hang of it. Our goal was to come in on Thursday and get it all done. Thursday came and we had one other lady with us, Marie. That morning I had decided that I would teach her how to hang the drywall, like I had been shown the day before. She really wanted to be involved and there was not much else for her to do on that site. As we started in I had a quick thought of, "I could really do this faster on my own because it was going to take her a while to get the hang of it (like it did me the previous day." Immediately the Lord spoke to me and said, "I can do everything on my own, and I can do it perfect, however I chose you to be my hands and feet. I chose to be patient with you as you step and fail and get back up again. I choose to let you experience the joy of being used and feeling needed, and persevering until you have obtained that sweet feeling of accomplishment and success. It was never about things being done quickly or perfect – it has always been about using you to bring hope, to be used to make my Name known through your actions and interactions with others. I cared more about Marie (my precious child) feeling acceptance more that I ever did about the closets being finished." I will keep this word with me always, and will always be more aware of opportunities to teach others instead of having a "I can do it myself" mindset.
I love how this trip has blessed me and my team, and hopefully those we interacted with. I will never forget the people we lived with for a week – they were the best!
