If you glance back over my previous post, you may easily gather that I was on Cloud 9 when I wrote it. I had a buzz, a special energy that is specific to returning to a familiar place, reuniting with precious friends who have become family, and falling back into a routine.
Routines are so necessary. I'm not a fan of anything too rigid or set-in-stone, but I do believe that we all need a rhythm, an underlying beat that keeps the days flowing. After 'honeymooning' for about a week, my rhythm started setting in and I was feeling the flow. Wake up. School. Lunch. Siesta. School. Dinner. Friends. Sleep. Wake up. School. Lunch Siesta. School. Dinner. Friends. Sleep. Wake up. School. Lunch. Siesta. School. Dinner. Friends. Sleep. Wake up. School. Lunch. Siesta. School. Dinner. Friends. Sleep.
After about 2 weeks of keeping time the same way day in and day out, I started to get restless. The first thoughts that seemed to come to mind were doubts about why I am here. I began to question effectiveness and whether or not the little bit I can do even matters. Thankfully, the Lord meet me where I am and whispered, "Chill out. I'm giving you a break before the craziness hits. Get ready. This is the calm before the storm."
And sure enough, the storm came. Within a matter of days, multiple friends became sick and needed extra attention, another friend needed help finding a place for his brother to live, the furniture gave out and needed to be repaired, cultural mishaps left us with hurt feelings or unintentionally frustrating others, some material possessions were taken without permission, and the water for the whole town was cut off for a week which of course meant that it was time for the lever we have for our back-up water system to break! Haha.
I wish I could say I handled all of the circumstances listed above with countless amounts of grace and faith that the Lord wasn't going to leave us where we were. Saying so, however, would indeed make me a liar. I will confess, instead, that there were moments I lost my cool, raised my voice, and acted out of anger instead of love. At other moments, I gave into anxiety and paranoia instead of trusting in the protection I've been promised. And even in the times when I appear to be calm and collected from the outside, I know what's taken place on the inside.
And so does my Father. And what does He do about it? Well, this afternoon, He sent us a sweet friend with her 7 month old baby boy to chat and laugh with, He sent another friend to fix our water lever so we can once again have running water, He sent another friend to make us laugh with his quirky ways, and He sent the furniture, completely repaired and looking better than new.
He's so gentle and patient as He's teaching me to act in Love at all times, to trust that He's got things under control, and to really believe that He has me here for this season of life. He really doesn't give me more than I can handle, and bit by bit, He's pushing and stretching me to have a heart that looks more like His.
I want to leave you all with a video from last week at school. Our older students are picking up on English SO quickly, and this is a video of them reciting pronouns. Enjoy!
