This has been the trip of a lifetime, but I have also experienced growing pains. I came on this trip to grow in my relationship with Christ, which has happened more than I can even explain. But also in the process, I’ve seen so much worldliness. I have seen poverty, illness, death, homelessness, drug use, injustice, and true suffering firsthand. Back home I was the girl who always cared too much for others, the one with the tender heart. God must have a great sense of humor for sending my tender heart to a third world country in order to experience this kind of pain and heartache. However, I am pleased to say that I am not the only one who suffers from a broken heart. My teammates and friends have shown me that it is okay, and even a good thing to have a big heart that breaks for others. In fact they join me in empathizing. We were all given hearts that bleeds and breaks for God’s people. In the Bible Jesus wept… And here, I too have wept. Mothers here struggle to find 450 shillings for their children to go to school. That’s a little more than $5. Thieves here die for their sins on the street at the hands of their neighbors. It is heartbreaking.
Another growing pain that I’ve experienced is a new kind of personal growth. I came here to grow and for God to mold me into his image, but is that always easy? No. Does that always feel great? No. The Lord has been pruning me today and it hurts. But ultimately that’s what I long for – to be made into the image of Christ, therefore I am facing these growing pains with a grateful heart.
Romans 9:17 “I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.“
