I’ve tried writing/blogging in the early mornings I spend with Jesus while holding a sleeping baby that was conceived from rape. I’ve tried after a long day of building dorms that will one day be filled with volunteers and victims of violence.
Yet, still no words could be found to fully describe what being a missionary here in Honduras truly looks like.
The truth is, ministry isn’t always pretty. Sometimes it smells bad; sometimes it includes changing dirty diapers or having what seems like hundreds of bug bites covering your legs or taking multiple trips to the doctor before admitting you are actually sick or hiding in your sleeping bag because you’re afraid that the mouse you just saw in the rafters above your bed might fall on you.
Yes, I think it is safe to say ministry isn’t always pretty, and at times many people might think the life of a missionary is quite ugly.
Yet, it is often in the ugliest parts where the most beautiful ministry and God can be found. God is in both the “pretty” and the “ugly” parts of ministry.
He’s there while you carry dozens of bricks up a flight of stairs; bricks that will one day provide a safe haven for a girl who has never felt safe.
He’s in the faces of the three small boys who were abandoned by their mothers and also the children beyond the walls of Heart of Christ who haven’t seen much love.
He’s in the three small babies you watch while their teen mothers attend school.
He is in the hand-holding of thirteen-year-old Maria who won’t open up to anyone about the abuses she saw just a few weeks ago.
Over and over again God is bringing me back to our team’s first early morning together here at Heart of Christ. I sat where there is now a half-built dorm looking at the vast sky in front of me, looking at the hundred of stars he placed in the sky that would soon fade as the sun rises.
I sat there staring, only partly awake, when he spoke, “I’m giving you the world as your home.”
Candace discovered that “home” is where God resides. While uniting with those in need, she found God meeting her needs and taking her to new levels of growth with him. Want to grow more with God? Sign up for a trip today.
