61 Isaiah Archives

October 14, 2022 by Taylor Chandler 1 Comment

Hurting with the Hurt

61 Team Members on their first day of school

Each morning in my devotional class at ALCS we spend some time in prayer. On a normal day we pray for Honduran fútbol players, animals to be rescued and have homes, or something political. However, one particular day after the bell rang, a girl in class pulled me aside and asked for prayer. She did not feel comfortable sharing with the entire class but proceeded to tell me her request. We prayed together, and while we prayed streams of tears fell down her face.

There are many people I know and love who are hurting during this season. You might find yourself in a similar situation. Loss is hard. Heartbreak is hard. Not hearing from God is hard. Bad news is hard. Sickness is hard. (Fill in the blank) ________ is hard.

My heart hurts because people are hurting. If I’m being honest, my flesh wants to be the bandage to your heart. I want to have the right words, but I don’t have the words to put all the broken pieces together. But what I do have is something better. Someone better. Access to a Holy God who sits on the Throne and will not be moved. My God is a God of all comfort. He sees the pain and the tears that fall, and He knows and understands the parts of our lives that we don’t understand.

2 Corinthians 1:3 says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”

We find multiple times in the gospels that Jesus was moved with compassion for people that were hurting. He met them in their need, and the same is true today for you and for me. He not only meets us in our need, but gives us access to comfort those around us in need. Prayer is so important when we or our loved ones are facing unfortunate circumstances because God is the source of all hope and joy.

I need to remind myself of these truths quite often. I’m thankful for those in my life who constantly point me to the source of life. They comfort me, and remind me to call on His name in prayer because He hears us. I hope I may remind you to call on His name when you are in a similar season. God is faithful today and every tomorrow yet to come.

Psalm 145:18-19 “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them.”

Deuteronomy 31:8 “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

If you find yourself in a season of hurting, continue reading 2 Corinthians 1:3-11. God is faithful.

September 23, 2022 by Nelsy Paz Leave a Comment

Wonderfully Made

Psalm 139:13-14 says, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

These have been some of my favorite verses for a long time, but they took on a whole new meaning for me when I became a mom. When I look at my daughter, I cannot help but be in awe of God’s craftsmanship. I take great comfort knowing that God created her exactly how He wanted her to be. I look at her and see God’s beautiful, perfect creation. It is easy for me to see all of these things in her. It is much more difficult, however, for me to see myself in this light. If I make a mistake, thoughts can creep in that I am not good enough, or that I’m not worthy of God’s love. I begin to doubt that God could really love me. I surely don’t deserve it! But I do not love my daughter because of what she does or how she acts. Instead, I love her because of who she is– my daughter.

If I, as a human parent, can feel this much love for my child, how much more must my heavenly father love His children? He loves me because I am his child, not because of what I do. I am also God’s beautiful creation. Just like my daughter, God made me exactly how He wants me to be. I am a child of God. Nothing can change that. And because of this, nothing can separate me from his love.

June 10, 2022 by Jeff Holloway 3 Comments

Hearing Loss for the Hearing

Almost 2 years ago God called us to move to a new country to join with 61 Isaiah ministry in sharing the gospel with the Lenca. This meant we had to leave all our old friends and make new friends, leave some comfortable customs and learn some new ones. It meant that we needed to learn a new language so we could communicate the gospel we were called to communicate.

Our whole family began to take Spanish classes. I had known a little Spanish before but just enough to get by with a few basic things. Most of the Spanish I knew was picked up by listening to people and joining in on the conversation. Michelle is doing much better than I am as she listens and practices with her teacher.

One thing that has made it difficult is that we moved here during a pandemic, and everyone is wearing a mask. You can’t see their lips when they speak and their voice is muffled. Well, this made it hard for someone who learns by listening. Now we all had that problem, but I found out I had an even bigger problem.

For a few years, Michelle had joked about me having selective hearing, and then that grew to me just not getting every word that was said in a noisy room. I would begin to hear my family say things like “does the T.V. have to be so loud” or “remember I told you that” then we would be somewhere and I would hear some of the smallest quietest sounds and they would come to the conclusion that I had selective hearing.

Well in learning a new language, we began to find out that even though I was repeating what I heard I was not pronouncing the words correctly. We realized something was wrong with my hearing. I just didn’t hear the same things other people did. We decided to get my hearing tested.
We took a 5-hour drive to Tegucigalpa for an appointment with an audiologist. After about an hour of testing, he brought me into his office, and he said he had some bad news and some good news. He asked me if I had ear infections as a child – I did. He asked me if I was in a place regularly that caused me to be around loud music. I said I was a youth Pastor and went to many concerts and also helped backstage during concerts.

He knew my hearing history from these tests. He said the bad news was that I have a diagnosis of hearing loss for the hearing. This has three very noticeable symptoms. 1. When you are in a room where many people are talking you can’t hear clearly, everything just mushes together. 2. When you’re talking with people you need to look at them and see their lips. 3. When learning a new language, you can’t pick up all the words correctly and hear different things that other people hear.

The latter symptom is the one we need to deal with the most. It seems that I can’t hear certain sounds of letters. I can’t hear B, P, T, V, S, and a few more. It was fine when I was only around English words. When people would speak English to me, and my ears didn’t hear those sounds my brain would fill in the blanks with the right sounds, so I thought I was hearing those sounds. It was what I was used to and expected. I didn’t think I was missing anything I believed and knew I was hearing those sounds. Now when I began learning a new language there would be blanks and my brain would try to fill in the blanks with the English sounds. Now when the word was close to an English word, I did fine but when the words were not I struggled. Michelle and others would repeat the words and I would say what I just knew was being said and I was wrong.

Well, when the audiologist put in a demo set of hearing aids adjusted for this, things did not sound louder, but they sounded clearer. Then he began to speak to me in Spanish and say a few words that included those letters. I was wowed. I had to ask him if these words really sounded that way and on one word, I argued with him but when Michelle walked in and said the word it sounded just like him and I was hearing the wrong thing the whole time.

Romans 12:2 tells us “Do not be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” We need to be careful not to have hearing loss for the hearing spiritually. This is when we have a tradition or practice that we have done our whole life and even when we read a scripture that says something different, we have already decided and all we hear is what we want to. Or maybe we have an idea or thought that we believe and want to be true that when we hear teaching or see something that isn’t that way we refuse to see or hear the truth.

I have been a Christian for 44 years and for 30 of those years I was positively sure there were only 2 of each animal on Noah’s Ark. Then one day while reading the story to my kids in Genesis 7:2 I read the word seven. What?!!! 7 clean animals of each kind – Wow. You mean all those songs and all those movies, and all those bible stories were not right. Then a few years later I was reading it again for a project and how did I miss that it was 7 pairs of each clean animal – what ?!!! you mean 14 of each clean animal and bird. I had hearing loss for the hearing with Noah’s Ark. How many more things were clear in scripture that I was doing the same thing? How many times had I decided that since someone told me that is the way it is, and they put two or three scriptures together and it sounded so good and it was what I wanted to hear so I believed it to be that way?

I believe that the bible is the Word of God and that all of it is true. The problem is that many people want to give certain scriptures more weight than others. Any time we have a belief or a teaching that requires us to lessen or explain away another scripture, I think we may be experiencing a little hearing loss for the hearing spiritually. We need to be very careful when we decide that we want to hear what we want to hear and make one scripture less than another in importance. I have found throughout the years of studying God’s word I have had hearing loss for the hearing and needed to look at scripture for what it says and not what I want it to say. It is amazing what happens when we simply let God’s word be our hearing aid and correct us.

May 27, 2022 by Kylie Johnson 4 Comments

Control the Controllables

I went to a small school. My school fell under the smallest category in Texas, 1A. Attending a 1A school meant that if you played sports, then you played all of them. However, I never did play golf, and I did try to weasel my way out of basketball a few times. 1A sports teams meant that there were no tryouts, anyone who wanted to play could. Therefore, teams had a variety of skilled players – some good, some average, and unfortunately, some plain unathletic. We had to work with what we had.

If you participated in any sports, then you know that the coaches always gave a before-the-game speech. There was a game plan, a plan to get the win. One of my coaches would always remind us to “control the controllables,” no matter the team we were playing against. Controlling the controllables in the context of sports meant making sure we would box out when a shot went up in basketball or cover a hitter when she goes up to spike the volleyball. The reason this was so important was that a team that did the little things put itself in a better position to win. A super athletic team could lose to a team that wasn’t as talented because they didn’t take care of the little things. They didn’t control the controllables.

Now, at this point, you might be wondering, “What does any of this have to do with being on the mission field?” During this season of my life, I’ve become painfully aware of things that I’m not in control of. Life always has a way of reminding us that we are not in control, no matter how organized we are. We can only fool ourselves for so long, believing that time listens to us and bends according to our schedules and wills. Inevitably, life throws us complete loops and turns everything upside down. The vision of what we thought life would be like can quickly change. All you’re left with is the wind knocked out of you and the panicky feeling that you’re behind while everyone else has it figured out. It’s a scary feeling, and it is a feeling that I believe God can redeem.

I don’t believe God completely turns our lives upside down because He is bored, needs entertainment, and has the capability to do so. No, the God I serve is much too kind and compassionate. For Him to act any other way, He would no longer be God. Life happens because we live in a broken world. Pandemics happen, people come and people go, money can’t buy happiness, and death reminds us of just how finite we are. In these seasons, God is graciously right there with us. He isn’t watching us from afar cheering us on, while safely relaxing from the comfort of heaven. No, He is right here in the mess of it all. He is there in the moments when you’re not even sure what the next step is. The only thing you’re concerned about is staying afloat and making it to the next day.

As I’ve mentioned, recently, my life feels a little out of my control. There are times when it feels like if I had control then things would be better. I could trade uncertainty for confidence. I wouldn’t question everything I’m doing, and I wouldn’t have to feel the pain. Sometimes, the temptation to believe that it would just be easier to trust in the false sense of security that I’ve built for myself is stronger than the belief I have in the One who created me. However, God sends gentle reminders that He is in control, even when times are uncertain. God has been inviting me to experience his faithfulness, trustworthiness, and compassion. He is asking me to trust that He will be faithful in the big things. He is challenging me to have faith, even when things don’t look like what I thought they should.

So, during this time, I’ve been reminding myself to control the controllables. I can control how much water I drink in a day (my roommate Genesis tells me I’m not very good at drinking enough), and I can control what time I go to bed, my attitude, taking time to read the Bible, and taking time to pray. While I cannot control the future or time, there are a few small things I can do. This helps me to remember that while I’m controlling the small things, God is compassionate and faithfully taking care of the big things. So, I invite you to remind yourself of the things you can control and rest in the assurance that God will take care of the rest.

May 13, 2022 by Lindsey Moreno 3 Comments

Crying In The Classroom

It had been a particularly difficult day at school. I had spent the day fighting to keep the attention of 60 plus, thirteen to eighteen year old masked students who chattered endlessly and looked for every excuse to be distracted. And this day, keeping their attention seemed to be the impossible task. I stood at the front of the class waiting for the bell to ring, and it hit me all at once, the feelings of exasperation, overwhelm, and failure broke from beneath the surface. As I sent the last class out at the end of the day, the tears threatened to fall. Only three lingered a moment, a hesitation, and then the question:

“Are you okay, miss?” one of my students asked. A simple question that often makes us confront unpleasant truths. There was no use in pretending. “No, not really,” I said as the tears began to escape and fall. He gave me a hug, “Miss, you’re doing a really good job.”

One of the other students who was standing there said, “It’s okay, miss, don’t worry. We are like this with all the teachers, and I know sometimes we can be a lot, but we are very glad that you are our teacher.”

I never thought I would find myself crying in front of students in my classroom. I thought I would be strong enough to forgo such instances. But, God does not call the equipped; he equips the called.

Growing up I used to think I was strong. I used to believe that I could hold every burden and shoulder every difficulty. I thought that I could manage every task, responsibility, stressor, and expectation if I decided I was strong enough. But as the responsibilities grew, I realized my breaking point was closer than I thought. I realized that I was in fact weak. I was painfully weak, and perhaps the strength I thought I had was a fleeting illusion.

2 Corinthians 12:9 “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’”

Recently in my 12th grade class we read a few of the Screwtape Letters. You may be familiar with C.S. Lewis’s satirical story of a head demon uncle sending letters full of clever advice on tempting humans to his inexperienced nephew.

In one of his letters, he explains the purpose of virtue and how it can be twisted to take a person away from God. Virtue, simply put, is created to transform our animalistic self love into godly selfless love. It is the practice of focusing less on ourselves and focusing first and foremost on God and His creation. Virtue brings us closer to the holiness God desires of us. But virtue can be twisted to make an individual think more about himself and less about God. And I think weakness works in a very similar way.

For a long time I was upset with myself for my weakness. It was a point of shame for me. I thought: If I am a Christian and pursuing the kingdom, why do I feel so weak? As a Christian shouldn’t I be able to “do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Where is this truth for me? I would be upset with myself for not being able to handle life. And I thought to myself, if God has called me to these places, why do I not feel equipped to handle these burdens? Why did my weakness seem so great? What was wrong with me?

God gives us these moments of weakness to turn us from ourselves and turn us to Him. And instead of using my weakness as a blessing to grow in my understanding of God’s goodness and His mercy, it became the thorn in my side. All I could think about was me. During these moments, the Enemy would come in and feed me lies about who I was and I would believe them. All I would think about was my inability, my inadequacy, and my failure. I would let the enemy distract me from the true power of weakness.

Weakness is in fact a blessing. God wants us to know we are weak. Your weakness does not make you a failure. The inability to continue on your own is not a sign of a deficiency or a defect in who you are. It shows that you are a living breathing human being and that God is calling you to rely on Him because we can’t do this life on our own. Oftentimes, instead of letting these moments of weakness draw us to God, we let these moments of weakness tear us down, isolate us from others, and draw our focus even deeper into ourselves. As Christians, it is His mercy to us that we can come face to face with our weakness and see it as a strength.

After my moment of weakness in the classroom, after the tears in front of my students, I thought that this was a mark of failure. I felt the lies racing through my mind, but this time I didn’t let them define me. I am weak, and I can proclaim that proudly. I can throw down the facade of strength and accept my weakness boldly. I don’t have to pretend to be “strong” because I serve a God whose strength is so much bigger than my weakness. I serve a God who, in my weakness, fills in the gaps and carries me when I no longer have the strength to stand.

“Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12: 9-10

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