Hey lovely people! I hope 2018 is treating you well so far :)
As you may or may not know, I began 2018 in prayer as I was preparing to go on a medical mission trip to Honduras with the Global Medical Missions Alliance chapters of Emory and Cornell University. Then, in the second week of 2018, I was actually IN Honduras. Crazy right? Lol! If I were to go into detail about how much God orchestrated that trip for me and about how He answered a prayer I prayed THREE AND A HALF YEARS AGO by letting me go to Honduras, it would take a looong time (But if you wanna know, feel free to ask! I'd love to chat about it!). But I just want you all to know this: God is faithful, He hears you, and He keeps His promises. Waiting on the Lord is hard, but SO worth it.
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| Our mission team :) |
But just as God often does, He answered this prayer in a way I was unprepared for. He broke my heart for what broke His the most– my own sin. My own brokenness. My own depravity. Imagine my shock LOL. This changed my preparation for Honduras and it changed the purpose of my trip. I was no longer going to serve and help others. I was going alongside a team of broken people to the country of Honduras to partner with fellow sinners in our feeble efforts to lift up the name of Jesus. I was not going to help, but to point others to the cross– just as they pointed me to the cross. I was going in my utter and complete inadequacy, realizing that no matter how much I "prepared" I would never be ready and I truly had nothing of myself to give– and that was okay. God reminded me that having nothing to give was the perfect position He wanted me in, for He could only use me when I put my pride aside and got out of His way.
Honduras was more than a dream come true for me; it was an answered prayer. It was the manifestation of the goodness of God. It was a reminder that God ALWAYS keeps His promises. For me, it was the Promised Land.
The first few days in Honduras, we spent time at a Christian school, rotating between doing VBS songs/skits for the kids during Chapel, doing crafts to illustrate the Gospel to them during their classes, and having the kids come to the "clinic" where we did basic anthropometric measures and the nurses and doctors on our team did the more advanced medical examinations.
As I wondered about our purpose there, and why God would bring us to a place where the students and teachers already believed the Gospel, I had one prayer: God, help them to come alive in Your love. Like these kids, I grew up in church. I grew up hearing the Gospel. I grew up believing in Jesus. But I wasn't truly alive in God's love. This became my prayer not only for the kids, but also for my team and really for myself. God, help us become alive in Your love.
This became the prayer for each person I saw and met. This became my prayer for each person I interacted with. This became my prayer over the next few days we spent doing ministry in the mountains. For every child and adult we encountered, played with, and treated, I prayed that they–that we– would truly come alive in God's love.
I wish I had some super cool story to tell about how I saw this in action and how I saw someone in Honduras truly come alive in God's love. I wish I had a cool story about how God answered this prayer and allowed me to see one of His sons or daughters come to love Him more deeply as they were made more aware of His love for them. I wish I did, but I don't. Not about anyone in Honduras, anyway.
The most transformative part of this trip for me was not doing VBS songs, skits, and crafts with the kids. It wasn't playing games with them and teaching them our dances. It wasn't doing clinical work with patients and doing my best to serve without getting in the way. It wasn't learning Spanish and being impressed with myself when I could communicate beyond "Hola, cómo estás?" It wasn't even worshipping alongside my brothers and sisters in the faith, as we humbled ourselves and exalted Christ above all. It wasn't the sermons (really good sermons, might I add) our mission leader preached to us or the many incredible testimonies we heard from everyone on the trip– the missionaries, doctors, other health professionals, and students. The most transformative part of this trip for me was a brief moment I spent alone with the Lord as we did a prayer walk in the mountains.
It was during this moment, as I was gazing at the beauty of the mountains in awe, that God spoke to me ever so gently. It was in that moment that I truly became alive in His love. It was in those short few seconds that I realized that this was why God brought me to Honduras. This was why God placed the desire in my heart so long ago for this country. This was why I was sent to the mission field at this particular time: to truly come alive in His love.
The journey God took me on as I prepared for this trip, the way He shattered all of my assumptions about how He would use me, and the way He broke me down and brought me to a place of unexpected humility–– all of it led up to this moment. This moment where I would truly be made alive in His love. A love that I thought at one point in time I understood, but as I learned more of His love the more it baffled me. The more I realized how unworthy I am, and how gracious He is. The more I realized that His love goes deeper and further than anything I could ever wrap my mind around.
This perfect love of God. This unrelenting, passionate, pursuing love of Jesus. This is the kind of love that makes us come alive. It was my prayer for the people of Honduras, it became my prayer for myself and my team, and now I am praying it for you.
To whomever is reading this: May you go on a journey with the Lord. May you explore the depths of His heart. May you, too, truly come alive in His love.
God bless ♥︎
Elisha
Photo creds to the lovely Michelle Lee :)
P.S. - A second blog post is coming soon which will be fully dedicated to what God spoke to me on the mountain; It was so good but also too long to put here (haha!). Stay tuned!