This has probably been one of my toughest weeks since we arrived almost two months ago. When you live with 13 other people, even if you’ve known them for a while, you’re going to reach a point where the phrase “going stir crazy” is an understatement. ‘Course, Christina and I are just through our first year of marriage, and we find ourselves “in charge” of more than a dozen people in a totally different country. So that all factors into the equation.
Furthermore, it was beginning to get to everyone – the closeness of community, the routine (which for some the entire concept is one step up from the fires of hell), the lack of independence compared to their former lives. And that easily results in negativity, complaining, and other things that just heighten the drama in an already dramatic household.
But I think this was especially tough because I was failing to see what the Lord was doing in the midst of all of it. I spent too much time focusing on the annoying stuff. I guess that sort of thing always grabs your attention first. But I found myself wanting the Lord to hurry up, if you will, in moving some of those people off of square one.
Well, He showed me last night that He has been working in just that way. The Lord broke down some more barriers last night in people’s lives and that fruit was evident already today. It was great to be leading a discussion and having everyone participate again, and not just with lame, surface answers. I felt like progress was actually being made in people that I hadn’t seen real progress in up to this point.
I guess that’s how ministry is, though. The ups and downs and the roller coaster of emotions that you experience when you decide to dig into peoples’ lives is really difficult, but inevitable nonetheless. Christina came down to our room last night after a great discussion with one of the girls, and encouraged me to not give up on them. I had been really close, but her words were definitely words from the Lord. Thank goodness He never gives up on us, even though we’re ready to give up on Him.
