Relational

These next 15 days I’m going to be sharing with you the stories of the ladies in the sewing program. However, I want to share what led me to wanting to get to know these ladies better.

 

There are many times that I’ve referred to the mission as a concrete jungle. I get so caught up in my daily routine that weeks go by before I realize I haven’t stepped foot outside the mission gates. Though there are so many great things that occur within the gates of the mission and so many people to pour into you don’t see the “realness” of what these people live in/go through until you step outside our gates, and until you see it it’s hard to completely grasp it all. I think I could live in Haiti the rest of my life and still not understand this culture. This place is so beautiful, the people here are so beautiful, but it’s also very dark.

 

I was reading the Explicit Gospel by: Matt Chandler and I started realizing that I wasn’t being intentional with my relationships here, especially with the moms in the sewing program and the three orphanage girls I disciple. In his book he talks about the difference between the dangers of the gospel on the ground too long and the gospel in the air too long. He sums up the dangers of the “gospel on the ground” as beginning to look at the Bible with ourselves at the center. He sums up the dangers of the “gospel in the air” as us becoming caught up in the “social gospel, our culture starts to define the Scriptures instead of the Scriptures defining the culture. If that sounds confusing then I apologize and recommend that you read the book for yourself, it’s really a great book.

 

While reading the chapter on the dangers of the gospel on the ground too long God started speaking to my heart through the words. My relationship with God hasn’t always been something that was personal to me, for a long time I was caught up in religion. So after circumstances led me to fall in love with God and see Him like I never had before everything changed. Since that moment my relationship with Him has become very personal. It’s been just Him and me for so long that I’ve become kind of selfish in a way.

 

These words really convicted me personally:

 

“Once we give into the idea that the gospel is only about a personal relationship with God and not about God’s redemptive plan to renew all things, we give ourselves permission to stop engaging the world around us.”

 

“One of the ways the mission of God to reconcile all things to himself chisels away at us in the work of sanctification is when we engage with the hurt, the pain, and the sorrow of the world around us. When we do that, God shows us our inadequacies, shortcomings, and fears.”

 

“If we stay too long with the gospel on the ground, discipleship can become about a mere transfer of information that doesn’t produce maturity of foster internal growth in the fruit of the Spirit. “

 

It’s a balance and I’ve found that is a hard thing to learn. For me it’s learning the balance between personal time with the Lord and pouring into others. And it’s not just pouring information into others, but time and love. It’s about being genuine. The funny thing is those things should go hand in hand, He fills us up to be poured out. For me sometimes I get so caught up in the routine of things and forget to actually invest in these people like Christ would…not just give them information but give them Him.

 

All that to say God convicted me about actually getting to know my moms in the sewing program and not only spending time with them on Saturdays for a couple hours while they were sewing. Seeing where they lived. Seeing the struggles they have to endure daily. Meeting their families. Wow were my eyes opened. Most of these ladies walk miles upon miles on muddy paths daily. For the past three to four weeks I’ve traveled to each of the 15 moms houses. The first few weeks I got to take them new Bibles that I was able to purchase with my support money. They were so thankful to have their own Bible. Oh how blessed we are. One of the ladies even said, “I can go to church now, because I have a Bible.”

 

Goodness, these past four weeks have been so incredibly humbling for me. I am beyond thankful for these ladies and their friendships; I have learned so much from them.  As I share their pictures and stories with you I hope your hearts are drawn to them as well, because they are some really special ladies!