Praise for the Rain

    Every day I wake up with joyful heart, excited to begin the adventure that The Lord has laid out in front of me. It's so easy for me to praise God for the smiles and hugs I receive from the children as they greet me in the morning at the Disability Center. It's so easy to praise God when I'm exposed to such raw faith like Dina's, who created a facility for disabled children to come and learn and play. Who not only believes The Lord will provide but lives her life as a testament to that. It's easy to praise God for a host family who blesses me abundantly through their love and kindness. But something that I'm beginning to question is, am I able to praise God when I don't get what I want? Just last weekend I had a chance to see God use human flaw to expose His glory and faithfulness. During a mall trip, one team member lost her wallet, and after tracing her steps intently we were told that the odds were not in our favor, and as we began to lose all hope, we asked one more shop and thankfully got the wallet back, but God used this story to reveal that our mistakes can be a testament to who He is. We praise God because the crime rate was not in our favor but He chose to work through that. We praise Him because we got what we wanted. But if we didn't get the wallet back, would we praise Him? If the outcome was something we weren't comfortable with, what emotions would we have towards God? It becomes a lot harder to praise Him when he isn't answering our prayers on our time, or in the way we expected. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." This verse isn't something we can work around. We must choose to live in thanksgiving because it's Gods will. For example, lunchtime in the community. Lunchtime has been one of the most tiring parts of my day. We are served massive portions of foods like mealy pap, beans, rice and cabbage. It's not that these meals are awful and I pity the people who eat them, it's just that I've grown up choosing what I want and when I want it. There were times I had to suffer through finishing a portion of broccoli, but with the promise of dessert, it wasn't too hard. Now I find myself in a situation where I'm eating these things that I'm not used to, in portions that I'm not used to. The easy thing for me to do, is to try to get my way, by eating less or by not eating at all. That would be avoiding my own uncomfortableness by making someone else feel uncomfortable for not eating food they prepared for me. But by being in Olivienhoutbosch I've come to realize that this isn't my leftover broccoli that got thrown away without a second thought, this is a meal for a person in need, this is necessity to someone, therefore I must make it a necessity to me. I hate to admit it, but I find it so difficult to thank God for this meal. It's such a personal challenge to genuinely feel gratitude towards something so hard for me to eat. In my life, I thank God for every meal because it's a meal I've chosen, a meal I know I will enjoy. And that happens so many times in so many circumstances where I thank God because of a choice I made or because I got something that I wanted. But this is a true challenge to find gratitude for the nourishment of food, instead of the enjoyment in it. And beyond that, thanking God in situations where I don't get what I want.

   The funny thing though, is that although lunch is the most challenging, it's a time of fellowship in Olivienhoutbosch. A time where my team mates and I conquer our plates and our uncomfortableness. When we work together to finish the meals that have been specially prepared for us. 

   In our lives there will always be circumstances we don't like. When we live for ourselves we will try to change these situations to fit our mold of what's comfortable and what we're capable of. But when we live our lives for The Lord, we begin to realize that circumstances don't matter because He works through all circumstances. Eating pap was no longer as hard when I realized that God has blessed that time with fellowship. He has not only blessed our difficulties, they are a part of His will. Instead of living in my circumstances I'm learning to live in His Presence.