Sowing seeds in the DR: filler up
Wednesday November 11th- On Saturday Del Corazon held a raffle for the baseball players who have signed up for the winter Little League. After dividing up the donated product into size ranges the night before, Steve, Julie, Harley, Jeffery and I laid out the goods around the gym room so the kids could zero in on the prize of their choice. The options were a pair of cleats, baseball team jersey, or baseball pants. I felt like a clothing rep at a sample sale, there was a lot of picking and choosing going on when the names started flowing. The kids were really excited to get some new gear before the season begins since its right around the corner.
This past week I’ve been pretty tired physically, mentally, and spiritually. With the English classes becoming difficult to steer in an organized direction, and the lack of commitment from half the students, my brain has been brainstorming new ideas in overdrive. I’m definitely more active than I have been in the past two months making mornings a lot harder to get out of bed. But the major fatigue is spiritually. I didn’t realize it till Steve brought it up in a conversation we were having. He said he was feeling drained this week too which can be linked to spiritual warfare as we are missionaries. I agreed, however the part that makes this strange is that I’ve been in the word more intensely than the last time I can remember and I’ve been having really good devotion time with the lord. The Bible says to seek daily the Lord to be spirit filled and to overflow into the lives of others. Without the continual seeking and filling up on the spirit we will be left with only our own energy (which will be on fumes if you’re a missionary).
I was thinking about why this is the case, and it is clear to me now that when I’m at home I have so many distractions from the lord and his purpose for me on a daily basis that I’m not engaged in the spiritual warfare. Not only my purpose is important but the urgency I display. When I’m here in the DR I try to seize everyday to do the things that God wants me to do and with the attitude and spirit that God wants me to have. With this focused daily mindset, I get fatigued faster and can gauge when I’m relying on God’s power to do the things I need to do or my own power. Without my usual distractions at home I see more things I need to do. More things means I need more power; God’s power. This revelation is encouraging for me to continue to press in on the Holy Spirit, but it also makes me recognize that in Hawaii I don’t usually feel a critical need to be filled with the spirit daily. A possible reason is that I’m too distracted to see all that God wants me to do and so I cut the flow of spiritual filling to myself. If something is not flowing than it is stagnate.
Have you ever wondered if you are missing opportunities to pour the spirit of God into somebody else’s life? I haven’t until I made a commitment to on a daily basis. Now that I’m in ready position throughout the day with the people of the Dominican Republic, it’s critical to ask the lord to fill me up and to take away my worries and sin. I do wonder if I were to see more opportunities at home that I would feel the same feeling I have now. I look at the life of Paul and his mission trips and I see two things. First, he seized every opportunity to share Jesus. Second he needed to fill up on the spirit to continue on his journey after being almost stoned to death, shipwrecked and mentally drained from intense preaching/debating. Paul is an example of being empowered and used my God for great things. However, mission fields aren’t only faraway places. Where ever God has you, you are a light and in mission there. Sometimes it’s harder to be in mission when you are at home with the distractions involved. That is something God has revealed to me here in the DR.
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