Chapter 40- After Thoughts

So I'm finding this trip is still processing and I find more and more things to talk about and discover as I recount my adventures to various people. It's funny, I hear the same inevitable question over and over again: "How was your trip?" What a loaded question! I find that most of the time I don't even know where to begin but once I start you can't shut me up.

At bible talk on Tuesday, Christina and I were able to share with the group about our experiences. As a precursor, Walter read a few scriptures about giving to the poor and needy and the one that stuck out most to me was Luke 6:38- "Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back." That's exactly how I feel. I feel like the more I gave on this trip the more I've been filled up and now its running over and I'm at a loss what to do with it.

The lessons I learned from El Salvador are definitely coming in handy over here. I'm learning in whole new ways how not to be expectant of praise and over-confident in my accomplishments. That my validation is not from people, but from God. It is a hard lesson to figure out how to direct my love toward people and yet rely on God for the affirmation. We give not to get back, but because it pleases God.

Soon after we got back, a couple people sent an email to the group describing some struggles they came back to and asking us to pray for them. Jay warned us that often times after the mountain top experience there comes a "valley." That kind of scared me cause I hadn't faced it yet and was wary of when it might come. Sure enough, the next night Satan dropped it. I was feeling insecure and Satan was feeding me lie after lie. On top of that, I found out that a close friend of mine had a heart attack and was in the ICU (he's okay now) and then the next morning another friend kind of let me down. Ah, what life throws at us. Incidentally, I know that friend reads this blog occasionally. I forgive you. Just gotta keep my thoughts real.

Fortunately for me, I have really great friends and family that care about me and have spoken God's words into my life. I remain grateful for that and for God answering my prayers and sending peace to replace the chaos and confusion.

I'm sure there will be more to share as the days go on. I find that my more embarrassing stories precede me wherever I go. Tuesday we get to share for the church. DANG! That reminds me I have to finish the video! Okay, guess I better get going.

I never got a chance to post the before and after pictures of the mural so I thought I'd take the opportunity to do that here.

Before

After