It’s so hard to believe I’ve been living in Guatemala for two weeks!! I’m currently sitting in this cute & aesthetic coffee shop in Antigua called “Artista De Cafe” writing this blog post drinking matcha. With that being said, this past week for sure has been hard dealing with sickness, but the Lord has been faithful and has been teaching me full reliance on Him through this! Despite dealing with sickness, this past week has also been one of growth and gratitude.
So at the base, we have this thing called “Activation” every Thursday where there is a lesson, a question, and time to reflect and discuss, and a time to go out and talk to people. This week’s topic was hearing the voice of the Lord and the question asked was “Is there anything keeping you from listening to the voice of The Lord?” For me it was my own doubts and fears of what the Lord was going to have me do if I listened to Him. During my time of reflection & processing that question I decided to read Psalm 27 because it was the Psalm that I had left off on since I have been reading through the Psalms since being in Guatemala. The first verse I read in that chapter said “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” I thought it was so crazy how the Lord was reminding me that He is my light, my salvation, and the stronghold of my life. So in return, I have nothing to be afraid of. Another crazy thing that happened was that later on that day the Lord brought up that verse again. This week my team decided to go to Antigua and after we all arrived there, we split up our team into three smaller groups with a translator for each group. After splitting up, we decided it was best for the groups to come back to the base separately. My group ended up talking to three people in total and even though I felt good afterwards, I still had the lingering urge of needing to talk to another person.
Fast forward to later that day, on the bus ride back to base from Antigua I felt the Lord was nudging me the whole time to talk to the lady sitting next to me, but I was having a conversation with Him and telling Him how I was afraid of being judged since my Spanish was’t the best lol, and that He needed to give me the words to say. He then reminded me of the verse in Psalm 27, I had read earlier that day and of 2 Timothy 1:7 which states, “For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” He also reminded me of a note one of my friends gave me before I left which said “Spread the love of Christ and walk in humility and boldness- the world needs what you have inside of you.” I thought that it was so cool that He brought those verses and that note to my mind, but still was too afraid to talk to the lady. While I was having this conversation with the Lord, the bus started to get even more packed and there was a second lady that was on the other side of the lady next to me. I was thinking that since I was taking forever to talk to the lady right next to me, I should just wait and hopefully she would get off and I would be able to talk to the lady on the other side of her. Well, that’s exactly what happened lol The lady next to me got off the bus and the other lady on the other side moved over next to me. Despite still being afraid to talk to her, I felt the Lord telling me that it was the right time. So I listened to His voice and decided to walked out in boldness and humility by having a simple conversation even with my broken Spanish with her by asking her name, about her family, job, & just got to know her as a person. Even tho I didn’t ask her if she knew the Lord personally, I am confident that I showed her the love of Christ in the time I spent getting to know her.
Even tho listening to the Lord’s voice can be scary at times, He has taught me that I don’t have to be afraid & that true growth comes from listening to Him. With that being said, I encourage & challenge everyone who reads this blog post to lean in & listen to the Lord’s voice.
Blessings & Until next time,
Hope 🙂
Hope, the Spirit of the living God is working through you to touch others … what a wonderful position to be in. You’re exactly where you are called to be at this season of your life. Love Dad.
Hope, what an encouraging post! Walking out in the truth of Scripture can be scary at the beginning, but as we do we receive His grace to empower us in that moment. Well done for listening to Him and by faith acting upon what you heard.