Renewal

This past week was sludge. However, at the end of every dark tunnel, there is light waiting to welcome you with warmth.

Going into the week, my team was at medium energy. We have been hitting a brick wall in one of our villages over and over again, and were very discouraged about it. However, we kept trudging through the tough days, and eventually made it to the end of the week. We were exhausted. We were drained. 

Then, on friday after our 4th on the 5th of July party, we had team meeting. We talked about the week, and told our plans for the upcoming week. Listening to all the other groups and hearing about their many open doors, we sunk in our chairs. We dreaded the time when we would have to share our plans and what has been going on, because frankly we could not see any fruit or future. Then, John and Jenny shared some encouragement. They could sense that someone on the team was going through a hard time, and that was because of us. They encouraged us to just take some time to be alone, to be alone with God. This sounds like something so simple and obvious, but to us, it was the game changer.

On saturday morning, the house was quiet. Everyone was sleeping in or reading. This was the perfect time to relax and spend some time with the Lord. We read Acts 17:26-27. God revealed to us that we are not just coming here to see how many people accept Christ, how many people we get to know, or anything of that such. God taught us that we are here to seek Him. He is close to us, and all He wants is for us to reach out to Him. How simple, but how extraordinary! All God wants me to do is seek Him, and walk in obedience to His will.

With this new insight, we were refreshed and renewed. We now realized that we are not here to do anything ourselves, but God is here to do great works in and through us. He brought us here to grow closer to Him and to increase that relationship, and while we do just that, He will use us to bring others toward His glory.

Who were we to doubt that God would show up. Who were we to think that we were doing anything here. When we ended up on our knees before the throne, God began to move and He began to use us.

As we enter these last three weeks, we are ready to accept the challenge. We will go into each day seeking Him, and desiring to grow closer to Him. We firmly believe, and are encouraged that God will use us and that He will reveal Himself to us in crazy ways.

Thank you for your prayers and support!

In Him,

Alex Kate

Prayers:

- open doors in the harder village to become more open.

- sports day that we hope to have next week in that same village

- the believers here to reach out to the communities they live in and spread His glory

- energy and encouragement