The Harvest

So there’s this incredible team in Honduras that I will be joining very soon. A ministry and team I’m very honored to be apart of. In a nutshell, 61 Isaiah is like a family. They are open and transparent with one another. It honestly was very intimidating at first because I haven’t been as good at being open with other people. I don’t doubt that it will be a challenging year because of that. If there is one thing I have learned through my experiences in Honduras and by working with the team, it’s that relationships are of the utmost importance.

I have made a few posts about Honduras mostly to share my heart and how I began serving there. I recently have felt impressed to paint a picture for people to read and get a better idea of what it’s like to be there. While I was interning with 61 Isaiah in June of 2016, there were a few days that we did prayer walks. We walked around the village of San Isidro and were praying as we ventured. The green mountains surrounded us, miles and miles of green stretched outward. We were walking on a trail and could look out to see far away villages. Small houses built from clay were in the distance as we stood on the trail. When we stood there, you could see some of the hidden villages amidst the open space of valleys and foliage. As we remained still, Shannon asked us what we saw. After several moments, he gave his insight. He said he saw the harvest. He saw the many hidden places that may have never heard the Gospel before. As we looked out towards the tiny houses and communities, I realized the main point of me being there with the others. I was there for that harvest, and I will be going back to continue working the harvest.

³⁷ Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. ³⁸ Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” -Matthew 9:37-38

When many people think of missions, they tend to only think about the physical things people are lacking. Don’t get me wrong, the material and physical things are necessary and important to assist with. Basic needs in many countries are not met, but it seems as if we get so caught up in the very things that we can fix ourselves. It’s as if we forget to see the beautiful picture of Eternity when we see the ugliness of our world.  I don’t want to just give somebody water, but I want to offer them the living water too. My desire is to see children growing up to know our Lord Jesus Christ, young men and women to find their worth in Him, marriage becoming a priority in the country, families living under His lordship, churches uniting to love one another, students learning to think like Him, leaders standing up for Him, and for those hidden places and people to know Him. I want them to know that they are seen and heard by God. I couldn’t tell you how many times the Lord has used people in my life to communicate to me that I was seen and heard by God. The people that God has used the most in my life to communicate His love have been those who are relatively close to me. My hope is to be that vessel used for others to know Him. I want to offer them a drink of the living water that I drink from, so that they too can dwell with Him forever. Most of the time, a gift like that can only be trusted as a genuine offer by a friend. I want to make friends for an eternity, not just a moment or even a lifetime.

The passion and desire that I have to see that in Honduras is not of my own doing. It is truly God. I’ll tell you how it is God, other than the direct insight He has already given me. I know a bit of Spanish but it’s really different attempting to speak there. In every experience that I have had there, I struggled with feeling ill-equipped and out of place. I struggled with feeling like I had very little to offer them. These fears remained because I kept putting myself in the equation as the one who could solve the problem. The real issue of my heart was that I was not humbling myself. Therefore I could not truly cast my cares upon Him because I could not fully accept that the Lord had me there for His purpose and not because of my abilities (1 Peter 5:6-7). I forgot to just be myself and be transparent.

Even with those insecurities, the Lord desires to use and work through us as broken people. What an honor to be His disciple! Scripture says that when we are weak, He is strong. God’s grace and power is able to be shown through a North American girl who can barely speak the language because I am already at such a place of depending on Him. Even without the language barrier I sometimes struggle to talk and share with others, but I believe God has made a purpose out of my weaknesses. It’s not about my ability to do anything. If you were to put all the pieces together, you would see that I’m really not qualified to be working and serving there as a missionary. However, God has called me to go and I know He will walk through it with me. I hope people there might see that even with the differences between us, the same God made and loves us both. So much so that He calls people to give up what is familiar to dwell with a different culture and people.

There’s something so wonderful about being in Honduras. I wish I could explain it so well that you felt as if you were experiencing it for yourself, but I think there’s an even bigger and more beautiful picture already painted. There’s already the commission for every believer to be apart of. As most who already walk with Jesus know, we are called to fulfill His ministry on the Earth. There is not a more important task than to know and share the Gospel. It’s not just in Honduras that people need to know the Lord. It’s everywhere! We are all missionaries in this world. My main point in writing this today is to let others catch a tiny glimpse of what it’s like to be a foreigner for His sake (if you haven’t already experienced that). It’s incredibly humbling.

I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like to live there for a year. It will be difficult to be away from everything that is familiar, to lose my independence in many ways, to have to depend on others even more, and to be away from friends and family that I love. It might just be a year that I go, but it could be more. This is why I’m hopeful and expectant for people to walk with me on this mission. I’ve been waiting on God in many ways for the past year. I have known I would be back to Honduras since I got off the plane last June of 2016. It’s crazy to feel that sure about something, but here I am preparing to leave in a short couple of weeks. I still have a good amount of funds needed before I go. I’m about 25% funded. If you think it’s crazy for me to go in about six weeks with only that much raised, you can only imagine how I feel sometimes. My hope is that I could have people give and support who are as passionate, if not more passionate, about the Gospel.