Unexpected Journeys

Today marks the 24th day of quarantine!
It is actually crazy looking back on the last 24 days and seeing the journey that the Lord has been taking me on.
Yes, it doesn’t make sense. I haven’t left the property during this time, how can God be taking me on a journey while I haven’t even left the place it began.
Well let me tell you…
First I’ve already shared how God prepared my heart and my mind before we left the United States, and how it allowed my to be a source of positivity for my team mates and also the entire squad at times.
In the midst of that my team was in charge of feeding the majority of the people that were sick and bed ridden. God reminded me of Matthew 20:28, where Jesus tells the disciples that he did not come to be served, but to serve. The LORD provided an opportunity for me to serve and get to know Him in a more intimate way.

This is Chris and Bailey and we were making dinner for 15 people!

Today we prepared this wall at the Host house for a mural.

Also God’s ways always have more than just one lesson, He provided opportunities to practice patience and to love when it is difficult. I also felt like God was allowing a time for me to pray. I had been thinking a lot about how Jesus would go out by himself and pray to the Father and I wanted to try and implement this into my own life. Well there is no other time to practice, than in the middle of quarantine.
That was all during the first 14 days of the Quarantine! After we finished that I was getting excited, because it felt like God was preparing us all to hit the ground running once we were all able to go out into Craiova!
But then a few people were required to do an extended quarantine. I was included in this few, along with 4 other people.
Once I heard the news, I was in low spirits. It was hard to pray confidently and have expectations of what life looked like outside of this Romanian house.
Well God had more for me to learn.
It started with some hard lessons.
There were some people that had tested negative and they were preparing to leave and get to go and do what I wanted to be doing.
God reminded me of the verse that talks about rejoicing when others rejoice.
This realization was a tough one for me. Internally I felt the battle of feeling like I knew the way I should be acting and yet it didn’t feel like I could bring myself to do it.
I was reminded again of Paul describing the battle between the body and the spirit.
So immediately I knew that God was going to be working on some more refining.
Like I was saying earlier in true Godly fashion this wasn’t the only thing that God had in store.
I also felt prompted to do a fast.
I started the fast the day I got tested and that is when I felt the inward battle between flesh and spirit.
The Next day during my quiet time I spent some time reading in Matthew. I read about the battle between Satan and Jesus and how the first thing Satan threw at Jesus was food.
Jesus’ response is “the body does not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”
I was immediately reminded of the interaction that Jesus has with the disciples after the Woman at the well. The disciples ask Jesus if He wants something to eat and He tells them that he is sustained by something that they didn’t know about. He says that His food is to do the will of the Father!!! This started a shift in my spirit. I was going to focus on what the LORD had for me. So I decided that when I would feel the pangs of hunger I would ask the spirit to teach me what it meant to find my fulfillment in Him!
The LORD showed up each instance with that focus I was brought into situations where I could encourage someone or be encouraged by someone. I was able to talk about the Lord and sharpen between other believers. I had some prayer time where I spent significant time with Him and He got me through some of the hunger pangs. God used this extended quarantine to allow me to grow closer to Him.

I saw this video that shared some wisdom
here is the link
https://www.instagram.com/p/CS8enpTo8Em/?utm_medium=copy_link 

It says
I asked God for strength
and He gave me difficulties to make me strong
I asked for Wisdom
and He gave me problems to solve
I asked for courage
and He gave me dangers to overcome
I asked for love
and He gave me troubled people to help

Lastly our squad is in need of prayer for our upcoming travel.
We are headed to Albania and due to the state of the world, travel requirements change every day.Please pray that God would open boarders and that He would provide passage for us to our next country.Please also be praying for God to prepare hearts and minds for ministry in Albania…. Whatever that may look like.

Our God is good!

I have been reading Exodus chapter 3 and I drew/painted this picture.

Our Squad Mentor encouraged me with this passage of scripture before we launched and it has been on my mind ever since.