I just want to publicly applaud my Father’s amazing goodness
to me. I have seen so many ways in which
He prepared and called me to this time in the states right now—even though it
wasn’t part of my agenda.
At the beginning of 2020 I spent some time seeking the Lord
regarding the new year and felt Him leading me to search my heart for the
desires He was putting there. Instead of
making resolutions about what I wanted to accomplish, He led me to express and
pray about desires He had laid on my heart.
Prayer
One of these desires was that God would grow my prayer
life. He had already given me a greater
appreciation for the importance of prayer, and grown my desire to participate
in kingdom advancing prayer, put I wanted to go deeper and learn to listen and
respond to God’s communication to me. He
started answering that prayer immediately through a wonderful book on prayer,
“Hearing God in Conversation,” by Samuel C. Williamson. Additionally, he began to draw my attention
to the ways He was speaking to me through circumstances and unexpected moments
in my life.
By the end of February I was so encouraged by my victories
in this area that I had a growing desire to convey it or share it somehow with
others. God impressed on me the
incredible impact that is made on a place when God’s people earnestly seek Him
and proclaim His Lordship. I began to
pray that God would raise up prayer warriors.
I was burdened not only for prayer to grow in Cusco, but also within the
US church. I had a deep longing to do
something to help the US church grow in passion for the Lord through passionate
prayer. I prayed toward this end, but I
wasn’t sure what else I could do from Cusco and given my busy schedule of
responsibilities there.
Since I’ve been back in the US my burden for the church here
continues to grow and the Lord is slowly giving me opportunity after
opportunity to speak about this burden with different people and groups. As I
run in the mornings and pray earnestly for the homes and churches in this area,
God has impressed on me the truth that an earnest prayer warrior will
undoubtedly make a difference in the place where he prays. Oh, may I not go unnoticed by the enemy in
Birmingham! For the previous year God
had me praying earnestly for Cusco, and while I continue to do that from afar,
He has now moved me to join the spiritual battle in a new place. And, I trust, He is raising up other prayer
warriors in Cusco through the strict quarantine that now relegates God’s people
to their homes there.
Intentionality as a Mother
Another desire I expressed to God at the beginning of the
year was to become more intentional about building positive character traits in
my children. I found myself so busy in
Cusco that my interactions with my children were rarely premeditated. This is another area in which I have so much
room for growth, but I’m thankful for the way in which quarantine in the US has
slowed me down enough to see little bits of growth there.
Vision for Christian Education in Cusco
For a couple years now God has been pressing this need on my
heart and the hearts of others on our team and so we’ve formed a school board
and have been praying and laying plans for a Christian school. At the beginning of February I suddenly began
to feel uneasy about some aspects of our plans and timeline, however, and so I
began to pray and consult others, and sincerely ask the Lord for guidance. This is an area I’m not ready to expound a lot
on just yet on this platform, but God has masterfully been directing my heart
and the hearts of others as well regarding all this. We don’t have it all figured out yet, but as
in so many areas of life, God is using Covid-19 to provide direction and unity—and
I stand in awe, because it’s just perfect.
Curriculum Development
Related to the school initiative, I asked God at the
beginning of the year to provide time for me to work on curriculum development
for a future school. This was something
I felt a need for, but just was not seeing when I’d ever have time to do
it. Enter Covid-19. Our entire schedule and workload has been
shuffled and changed and we’re still figuring out how to prioritize our time
each week, but I’ve already been blessed to be able to help a Peruvian mother
from afar with finding homeschool activities that align with Peruvian
curriculum standards. And, due to
everyone in the country suddenly becoming homeschoolers, she’s beginning to
help me think for how to help other families with this effort as well. It looks different than I expected, but it’s
perfect.
Mobilize US Churches for Cusco
I spoke with God in January about my desire to really cast a vision to
US churches for the work in Cusco. I
felt like God is doing and calling our team to so much, and I just wished I
could convey the passion I feel for what He’s doing there to others in the
US. It’s always so hard to do that while
you’re overseas, but I was excited about the opportunity to travel briefly to
the US in March and share about the work in Cusco. Now, finding ourselves stuck in the US for
the time being, it’s been exciting to be able to speak with many different
churches and groups about the work of the gospel in Cusco. Many churches are desiring to help care for
the church in other parts of the world who are affected greatly by the pandemic
in one way or another. Others are
seeking to find creative ways to engage their congregations in global missions
due to having to postpone summer missions trips. It’s so exciting to see some of the ways God
is working through all that is going on--and what a joy to be part of it!
To Grow in Patience, Wonder, and Humility
These are some attributes that I asked God to grow in
me at the beginning of 2020. I have desired to be in a posture of
watching, learning, and rejoicing in the things God is doing around me—not that
I don’t want to participate in the work of the gospel, but I want to be patient
enough to see what God is doing and calling me into on His timetable--to be caught
up in the wonder of His goodness, and better understand my own humble
existence so that I might serve in meekness and sincerity. Still I have so much room for growth, but it
has been so exciting to see God slow me down during this time, force me to
watch, and then amaze me with His goodness.
Being stuck at home away from my home and normal routine has made every
week feel like a surprise and each opportunity for growth and ministry has been
so obviously from God and not of my own doing.
God is so good.
And there’s more, though I won't share it all now. I’m
so thankful and amazed at the way God is answering my prayers from earlier in
the year. He’s so intentional and
perfect in everything He does!
