It has been a long time since I have sat down to write, I have needed some time to heal, to listen, to grow. It has been a dichotomous year, challenging my faith in ways I never have felt before while building an amazing trust as I weather the the waves of pain and hang on to the anchor I have in Him. I have been here before, I never do like it, but I always look back and think, "that was the hardest time and the sweetest time." Intimacy comes in those times of being stripped naked of our comforts, our "blessings"...thank you, Lord. Along this same thought I would like to share with you the faith of the church we are so privileged to be working with.
Easter is a big holiday here for most nationals, it seems to be the one thing that tradition has thrived in the wonderful symbolic things they do to honor Jesus. I have always enjoyed it more here than in the states. Our church is a large one, and has to rent a large facilities every year to house the congregation of 4000,this year it was to be held in the sports hall. There was an attempt to discourage the meeting on Good Friday, but with some solving it seemed to fail. Sunday morning, yet another attempt took place, a bomb threat...so when arriving we were told to go home, the service had been canceled. My heart broke and I could not hold back the tears as we drove home, disappointed in not being able to celebrate and worship together with our church but more than that, for our church, this country, and my Jesus.
The next week our church met in a smaller facility and had 2 services for a late Easter celebration, and I asked a friend about his thoughts on the whole thing. I told him how I felt, how awful it is to have such adversity, his reply to me was, "In other countries not far from here, people are being put in prison for their faith, some are dying."....Perspective. I tell this story for the purpose to highlight the faith of the church here not the adversary, because it is not about the trials but about the victory...the victory that is ours, no matter what and
the resilience of a people whose faith is challenged and built on a long history of "disappointments" but has stood, (Matt 16:18 "and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it...") because they know, (Ephesian 6:12) "... we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against...the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."
May our perspective be influenced not by what we see, but what we know, what God says to be true and by a faith that believes in moving mountains.
