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| Guatemala 2009 |
Summer of 2009 I went on my second overseas missions trip (the first was to India in 2006) to Guatemala. One of the things I remember strongly about this trip is that if God wants you somewhere, He makes it painfully obvious that He wants you there. I found out about the trip two months before we left the states when the president of the organization we went through (Youth Missions International) spoke at my youth group and said that he needed one more person to go on the trip. I went home that night and googled Guatemala (didn't even know how to spell it) to see where it was, then started praying about it. I have had a heart for missions ever since I was young and my intial instict was "yes lets do it!" But as I began to pray about it, I really saw God saying "yes do it" as well. In two months, God provided all of the support I needed and things just happened to work out (not just happened, but God orchestrated them :) ). It was so neat to see God's confirmation and His hand in every step of this trip.
Why am I telling you this? Well because since the moment I set foot on American soil after that trip (July, 2009), I've wanted to go back. But God hasn't opened a door for that yet. And I have been super impatient lately. Many of my friends have been going overseas lately, or are overseas now and are doing incredible things for Jesus! But my question lately to God has been "why not me yet?". And I'm having to wait. But then I came across this verse the other day:
"Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither - whatever they do prospers." (Psalm 1:1-3)
The part that really stood out to me about this verse was that the tree "yields its fruit in season". Think about it. A tree only bears fruit part of the year, and then the other part of the year is spent growing and preparing to yield fruit. But its not like the fruit is only yielded once. No, that time of yielding comes every year. So you have a time of growing and preparing, and then a time of yielding. Even though I've read this verse probably a thousand times, it really hit me this time. God has a time for us to bear fruit and to be prosperous. And then He has a time where we aren't on a "spiritual high", or we are stuck in a rut. But those times aren't useless either because its times like those that prepare us and grow us and teach us to bear fruit. This opened up a whole new concept that I'd never thought about. I spent so much time beating myself up because I wasn't out spreading the gospel everywhere and all the time and that I didn't always feel happy to have my quiet time, when in reality I was just not having a "spiritual high" time. It wasn't my yielding season. It was the off season, the time when I grow and learn and prepare. So I encourage you that if you feel like you're in a rut or you're waiting for something that never seems to come or you just don't feel like you think you should, please just learn to grow in Him. While we need to purpose to constantly spread His glory and love, we also can learn to embrace every moment we live. Be content with the fact that maybe you aren't doing exactly what you want to be doing right now, but God has a plan for whatever it is you ARE doing. And the yielding season will always come. Just be patient and trust in Him. He knows what He is doing, and He is growing you and preparing you for your yielding. Embrace those lessons. Embrace those trials. Realize that you can do anything through Him who strengthens you. Yielding will come. It always comes. And it always will!
