While our bathroom floor is being painted and drying, we're in Lima for two days. Last night we got to go on a date, which is not very easy to do in Puerto Supe. We went out for some life-changing sushi and then to see Prince Caspian. As if that sushi weren't enough (I'm sure I'll be craving it until we're back in Lima again), one of the themes from the movie left me with a desire to be different than I am.As the Narnians are considering a plan of attack against the Telmarines, Lucy reminds Peter that it was Aslan's power that defeated the White Witch and not his. He retorts that he thinks they've waited for Aslan long enough. The attack that follows is a total failure, lots of people die, Peter and Caspian start fighting, and everyone feels crummy.
Who's power am I counting on to transform Puerto Supe? Now that I put some thought to it, I realize that I really have been believing that the good ideas and intentions of our team were going to effect lasting change there. As disappointments come from one direction or another, I feel us grabbing onto anything we can see (hmmm, there's some insight- we're fixing our eyes on what we can see). What is vision if it isn't getting a glimpse into what God is doing? I don't know that I'll find much fruit from coming up with my own plans and begging Him to join me. Disappointment always hits me so hard, but I think it's because I put my hope in my expectations or dreams and not in God.
We're at a crossroads of sorts. We want to do things right (which generally means the long way) and to wait on God. We're also aware that there are people who don't have money to buy rice and beans. Not just "people" in an abstract, far away sense, but friends and neighbors. In the end, I know there's no plan but His plan that will succeed. We're left waiting, slowing down a little, begging the Holy Spirit not to empower our plans but to open our eyes to see His, begging the Him to fill us with life, to draw us closer to Himself, to work in us His power, love, patience, goodness. It's a beautiful place to be, if not easy.
"Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit," says the Lord Almighty. Zechariah 4:6
Some trust in horses and some in chariots, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. Psalm 20:7
My soul waits for the Lord,
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.
Psalm 130:5-6
