LORD, use me!

Whew, what a summer! As I reflect, I am overwhelmed with the LORD’s goodness! He showed his provisions time and time again!

Let me go back to just under a year ago when I was encouraged to begin choosing a more specific way in which I was going to focus my service for our ministry and more particularly the South East Asia team. What occupation was I going to pursue? I began thinking through which occupations would be most beneficial for the community development work I am doing. There are multiple occupations that are quite necessary when developing a community whether it be education, agriculture, healthcare, social work, etc. Thankfully I am always relieved to be reminded that I am working with many other people who have also committed their lives to serving the LORD and our friends in the Philippines, therefore I don't have to know the ins and outs of gardening, be a degreed doctor and teach at the nearby school, I just have to do what it is that the LORD has given me as a skill to do.

For many years I have wanted to participate in social work with a focus on youth. Youth are the hope for our next generation and this stage in life can easily get looked over even though it is an incredibly vulnerable stage. Alongside my desire to serve youth I have been consistently encouraged in my skill of organizing and being the administrative point person for multiple different projects. While this isn't a skill that I had previously seen in myself, I had to trust those around me who are able to see me better than I am able to see myself. If the LORD has given me this skill, I want to use it well for Him. I turned to the LORD in prayer as I asked for his guidance in this decision.

As I went to him in prayer, I felt the LORD was leading me towards organizational management through social work. At the time I wasn't exactly sure what that looked like but I trusted that the LORD was going to meet me as I continued focusing my education on serving in this way.

The LORD was ever so faithful to answer too! By the next semester opportunities had opened up for me to work and serve youth through organizing and leading different aspects of our ministry. First, the LORD led me to becoming the Service Projects Coordinator for Students Living A Mission (SLAM) all summer. This was a need I had heard and been in prayer about. At first I wasn't 100% sold on serving in this position but as I continued to feel the LORD place it on my heart, I sent an email to the SLAM management letting them know what I felt the LORD was calling me to. The response I got, was one that motivated me throughout the whole summer as I knew the LORD had been the one to call me. My direct manager, Derek, responded saying “Rosemary (his manager) and I have been praying for someone to fill this position.” While this wasn't how I had originally seen my summer, I opened it up to the LORD and trusted that he was going to use me. I had been in prayer, they had been in prayer, and the LORD responded to both of us.

I got to use my administrative and organizational skills in a very real way. I was able to connect different families and organizations who needed  assistance with youth pastors and their youth groups who wanted to serve in Nashville each week. Getting to share God’s heart for the poor and vulnerable with youth through the organization of different service projects was incredibly special.

The LORD was faithful to lead me and teach me throughout the summer. Whether there were tasks that were new to me or more projects than we seemingly had volunteers for, the LORD always provided. He surrounded me with friends who loved him and were supportive in the things that the LORD was doing. He reminded me of the different ways that His Word shows us who and how to serve. Giving my gifts and talents over to the LORD was the best decision I could have made! As I move into this semester I am continually reminded of how the LORD is near to me. He is continuing to humble me and teach me, as I reflect on the LORD’s goodness, I am confident in his character and the way that he will continue to meet me in those ways.

Deuteronomy 8:2-7

“Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments. He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. The clothes on your back did not wear out and your feet did not swell these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a parent disciplines a child so the Lord your God disciplines you. Therefore keep the commandments of the Lord your God, by walking in his ways and by fearing him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land”

Desperate in the Dumpsite

July 8, 2016 Journal Entry from the Dumpsite in Palo, Leyte, the Philippines

There is still a stench coming off my shoes and pants and this is the daily reality that they have to go back to all the time...LORD, this isn't what you want for them. This isn't what their parents want for them, but this is their livelihood.

I have to be someone who daily chooses to remember…

Maria in her faded pink frozen outfit and rain boots without socks.

Joanna who grabbed my hand upon the loud bang sounded by the dump truck as it headed off. Reyah who was shy but was a focused worker.

Diana in her faded pink Sofia the First dress.

They are human.

They have brothers and sisters.

Maria’s father was across the way and her mother was at the house. These girls knew exactly what they were searching for, “Milo” and “Silk” wrappers found by digging through mounds and mounds of disgustingness. Diapers and bandages were surrounding the environment that the kids were working in, all for 150 pesos (about $3).

Their identity is in the trash.

Everyone’s junk that is degrading, is what they are digging through to find, even just a mango that they could possibly savage for lunch. They are surrounded by flies! These girls are falling completely into this disgusting mess.

In the moment I was trying to think, “How can I make these kids, kids?” They shouldn't be here on a Saturday morning. So I began to sing and dance in hopes that these girls would be able to experience some sort of relief amongst this unjust situation. Any of these elements that are surrounding them, are ones that I freak out about when these kids I normally babysit are in that kind of environment. I don't let them dig through trash or eat old thrown out food, play around swarms of flies or play with dirty diapers. This has to change! I’m not going to forget the things that I have seen; they can not be forgotten! The LORD needs people to help him in this work he is doing here. God ABSOLUTELY does not want people acting like animals just to survive. We need all of us to do that.

I will remember the moment that we were able to take outside the entrance to the dumpsite where I was on my hands and knees where I shared with God what I saw and how I know His heart too is breaking. The lady Kennedy met has 8 kids she is raising alone, since the baby’s father was “a pig.” She has to leave her 8 month old baby at the house alone everyday…

“LORD, I commit to being someone who is going to change it. I can change it through education, job creation, through the teaching of men how to be good fathers and husbands. I tried lying to myself and saying it wasn't that bad, but it was AWFUL. No human should have to do that and that is why I have committed to helping change that but I can't do it alone. I need you LORD in every step of the the process. LORD, help me as I prepare for class this next year, that I would do my best for Maria, Joanna, Diana, Rose Anna, and Reyah.”

Opportunity

Each semester always seems to look so different. If I had one word to describe this season with it would be “opportunity.” There have been so many ways I have been able to volunteer. These experiences have brought about areas in which I have learned so many new skills and been able to grow both in character and skillset.

At the beginning of the semester I decided that I would volunteer at the kindergarten across the road from me on Monday afternoons, begin a social work internship on Tuesdays, assist with crossing guard at the nearby academy on Tuesday and Fridays, and assist at the academy on Thursdays through being the receptionist/admin assistant. These different opportunities have drawn me near the LORD. Meeting with widows who are in such vulnerable positions, in my social work internship, to the kids that come into the principals office throughout the afternoon; the LORD has such a care for each of these demographics. I have been so thankful for the Word this semester as I learn how to handle each of these situations. The LORD has been so faithful to meet me in that! He has provided me with people to train and supervise me in a way that I can grow in each of these positions. 

These opportunities have also been so beneficial to me especially as I narrow down an area in which to focus my work. As a child I wanted to be a teacher, when I graduated high school I was interested in social work, and here recently I have been encouraged by so many people in my life, that I am gifted administratively. Taking all of this into consideration along with the different things that were put on my heart during my trip to the Philippines, I have begun to narrow down what it is that I want to focus on. Currently I am using my administrative skills in many different areas but my goal is to begin focusing them more specifically into the realm of social work. I’m super excited for what the LORD is doing and look forward to seeing the ways that these opportunities expand!