And then, there were the mosquitoes. It started feeling a bit like the plagues in Egypt. But where were the frogs to eat the mosquitoes? I remember one of the first days there, I had 10 mosquito bites on my left leg and 9 on my right. My relief: a little something called Tiger Balm. God's gift to Thailand. It's a menthol salve that makes your skin tingle, and provides an AMAZING relief.
I feel like I could go on: worms in the bathroom, cockroaches in the entry way, getting poop flung on you while riding in the back of a truck. Everyday felt like one big challenge. Isaan: the living is just a harder way of life. And my faith was challenged to become an everyday thing.
I have never grown so much as I did when I was in Isaan. I liked the person God was molding in me, even if it felt painful at times. I began to see more of Jesus. He began to increase in my heart and I saw that people were seeing more of Jesus in me and less of myself. And that is always a good thing.
The distractions that I had for the first couple of months were no longer a distraction. My "survival" was my new challenge. God became my only necessary need.
In reality, Isaan was really not that hard. I still had food, and clean water, and running water to go to the bathroom and brush my teeth and take a shower. I think the struggle was the different setting and a different way of living. It was more rural, definitely hotter, lots of dirt roads, more likely to get dirty, wifi was not as readily available, I saw no big grocery/superstores. But as the month went on, I realized, I didn't need wifi, and superstores and cleanliness at all times in order to survive. So I got more dirty, and had to deal with feeling sweaty more often, and the mosquitoes ate me alive while I was there, BUT God sustained me each and every day. It reminds me that God is not just enough, but He is more than enough of what we need. And He was, especially in Isaan.
I was no longer dependent on the comforts I had known, but became dependent on God for all things.The new prayer in my heart that sprouted up was, "Jesus, show me my need for you every day. Don't let me go a moment without forgetting that you are all I need." I would like to say that I am totally dependent on God for everything now, but it isn't true. It's still a lesson I'm learning. But my time there served as a good reminder that God wants to change us, to be closer to us, and He is faithful to refocus our hearts on Himself to glorify Himself and to overflow in us so that we can be the hands and feet of Jesus.
The Christian walk is an everyday challenge, and it requires an everyday faith.Whether you're in America or Thailand, it's hard, but our God is bigger than any challenge we could ever face. So let us take up the challenging of living with everyday faith.
I feel like I could go on: worms in the bathroom, cockroaches in the entry way, getting poop flung on you while riding in the back of a truck. Everyday felt like one big challenge. Isaan: the living is just a harder way of life. And my faith was challenged to become an everyday thing.
I have never grown so much as I did when I was in Isaan. I liked the person God was molding in me, even if it felt painful at times. I began to see more of Jesus. He began to increase in my heart and I saw that people were seeing more of Jesus in me and less of myself. And that is always a good thing.
The distractions that I had for the first couple of months were no longer a distraction. My "survival" was my new challenge. God became my only necessary need.
In reality, Isaan was really not that hard. I still had food, and clean water, and running water to go to the bathroom and brush my teeth and take a shower. I think the struggle was the different setting and a different way of living. It was more rural, definitely hotter, lots of dirt roads, more likely to get dirty, wifi was not as readily available, I saw no big grocery/superstores. But as the month went on, I realized, I didn't need wifi, and superstores and cleanliness at all times in order to survive. So I got more dirty, and had to deal with feeling sweaty more often, and the mosquitoes ate me alive while I was there, BUT God sustained me each and every day. It reminds me that God is not just enough, but He is more than enough of what we need. And He was, especially in Isaan.
I was no longer dependent on the comforts I had known, but became dependent on God for all things.The new prayer in my heart that sprouted up was, "Jesus, show me my need for you every day. Don't let me go a moment without forgetting that you are all I need." I would like to say that I am totally dependent on God for everything now, but it isn't true. It's still a lesson I'm learning. But my time there served as a good reminder that God wants to change us, to be closer to us, and He is faithful to refocus our hearts on Himself to glorify Himself and to overflow in us so that we can be the hands and feet of Jesus.
The Christian walk is an everyday challenge, and it requires an everyday faith.Whether you're in America or Thailand, it's hard, but our God is bigger than any challenge we could ever face. So let us take up the challenging of living with everyday faith.
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