Hi everyone! Sorry it’s been a minute since I’ve last updated you all. We dove straight back into serving as soon as people got out of quarantine and life has been pretty busy.
I want to go back to one night a few weeks ago while some of us were still quarantined and share about something really cool God allowed my squad mate, Sunshine, and I to witness.
Ministry here at Ciudad Refugio looks a little different every day. On the weekends, youth from the surrounding areas come and stay. It provides them a safe place to come where they are poured into, built up, and put in various leadership roles. Getting to know and spend time with them has been one of my favorite parts of being here in Colombia. On Saturday nights, one of the ministries we get to be a part of is worship and youth group with the Amaneceeres (the youth).
This particular Saturday night was right after a majority of my squad mates came out of quarantine. There were only a handful of us still quarantined and unable to participate. I was really disappointed because I was missing out on time with the youth and because I wasn’t going to be able to participate in worship (which is one of the ways I best connect with the Lord). I was even more disappointed because I knew they would be worshipping in both Spanish and English that night and to me there aren’t many things that represent the Global Church much better than when God’s people come together and worship in their native tongues.
Ciudad also has a homeless ministry where they take in and shelter homeless men each night. Another one of my squad mates, Alex, had been asked to teach on salvation to the group of men downstairs so all of the guys went to do that while everyone else went to youth group.
Sunshine and I, both disappointed at missing out on the night, headed to our room on the fourth floor. We were getting ready for bed when we heard Alex teaching several floors down. We ran to the balcony and looked over. We listened as Alex shared part of his testimony and talked about salvation. As we were standing there, we began to hear yet another one of our squad mates, Quynn, lead worship upstairs. As we stood there listening to Alex teach below, my spirit worshipped with everyone above. Sunshine and I both looked at each other and smiled. We thought we were going to miss out on ministry that night, but God still allowed us to be witness to multiple ministries that were going on at the same time.
Alex finished teaching and asked if there was anyone who was wanting to surrender their life to the Lord. Sunshine and I grabbed onto each other and I began to silently pray. She counted 17 men raise their hands (we later found out it was closer to 30 men who raised their hands). We both started jumping up and down as Alex led these men in a prayer of salvation. As they prayed, our attention returned to the music upstairs. At that very moment, the group worshipping was singing “Waymaker” and the lyrics that were being sung were “You are here, turning lives around.” At this point, Sunshine and I were beaming. We were laughing and celebrating at what God was doing before our eyes.
The people below had no idea what was being sung literally overtop of their heads and the people upstairs had no idea that God was fulfilling the words in that song as they were singing them. Sunshine and I got to see it all unfold. Seriously, how cool is God?!
What started out as disappointment quickly was turned into celebration and worship. We wouldn’t have been witness to the way God was at work that night and we wouldn’t have been able to take that back to our squad or the people here at Ciudad and share and encourage them in that if we weren’t quarantined. I find that God constantly reminds me of his goodness and His plan. He takes things that I wouldn’t have chosen for myself, and uses them as opportunities to invite me into something better that He has planned for me. And it’s really cool.
It’s all about perspective. Whether you’re standing right where you want to be or you’re quarantined and standing floors between the ministry that is going on – God can use it all. I’m thankful for the ways that God continues to shift my perspective and how he takes my disappointments and replaces them with joy and celebration.
(A cheery bouquet of flowers given to me by some of my squad mates to brighten my quarantine days. These friends love so well.)
