Tuesday, June 24, 2014

A New Normal

Today, as I sit here in the quietness of this house, I am reminded that we can so easily become dependent on someone to help us along the way.  We have had the JOY of having a young lady stay with us for the last 5 weeks.  Yes we had another young lady stay with us but this time for a shorter time.  Alex was able to plug in to different ministries while she was here.  She made such an impact not only with the girls at the Emmanuel Home of Protection but on our family as well.  She helped us with learning the language more and loving on our kiddos.  We are truly grateful for the time we had with her.  This Saturday will be my first day doing the bible study with the girls at the home by myself so this is my new normal.  Also, over the last two weeks I have been reminded that our days are numbered.  We are not guaranteed tomorrow so we must live as though today may be our last.  Don't get me wrong, it is so nice to have friends and family around but we can't become so dependent on them to things for us that we forget WHO we should put ALL our trust in....God.  God is our ROCK and our FOUNDATION.

I said that I have been reminded that our days are numbered, well here is the reason.  A missionary family that is serving here in Nicaragua had to experience the unthinkable...the death of their child while serving on the field.  It was a freak accident and even if they would have been right there with her, they could not have saved her life.  Taellor's mom believes she died instantly from the fall.  Her hammock was tied to a palm tree and the tree broke.  When Taellor fell, her head hit the cement in just the "right" spot.  Yes, this is very tragic but the joy that this family has in knowing that Taellor loved Jesus more than anything else in this world.  She was only 19 but the life she lived was incredible.  She showed God's love to those who did not know what LOVE was or what LOVE could be.  I have enjoyed watching this family show God's LOVE through their tragedy.  What a testimony!  They are continuing to fulfill Taellor's calling in areas of Nicaragua that most people would not go willingly.  She chose to serve because she felt the call as well as her parents!  How awesome is that!  What joy as a parent to know that your child wants to be serving on the mission field alongside you.

So the new normal for this family is to continue serving in the same places they would go with Taellor and know that they are bringing glory and honor to God and keeping Taellor's memory alive.  I pray that when you accepted Christ not only as your LORD but as your SAVIOR as well, you discovered a new NORMAL.  LIVING EACH DAY FOR CHRIST AS IF IT WAS YOUR LAST DAY TO BE ABLE TO BRING GLORY AND HONOR TO HIM!
As Psalm 139 says:
16Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; 
 And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.