The past few weeks in Oaxaca have flown by! I feel so blessed that the Lord has brought me back to this place. The new Hands On students arrived 3 weeks ago and I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them. They are pictured to the right: JD, Nathan, Jose (national partner), Holly, Heather, and Lilia (my roomie/national who is living with us and studying English). I have had the privilege of participating in all their training as well as teaching them the ropes of public transportation. I have gotten to sit in on all their ministry firsts too..first day of ESL classes and first day at Casa Hogar (the children’s home). It was so great to go back and see my kiddos there! I have also been able to go out to the village I worked in last fall several times. Rosa and I have had several great conversations with different families there. Lupe is a man that I met in the clinic towards the end of my stay here last time. We were never able to meet up due to time constraints so I was super excited when the Lord allowed us to meet with him. He speaks English very well and it was refreshing to be able to share with him about the Lord in my heart language. Praise God He was very receptive to the Truths I shared with him and is already currently reading from the Word aloud to His family! Pray that we will have more opportunities to meet with him before I leave and that the Lord would continue to work in his heart and save him and his family.
Rosa and I were thrilled to be invited to Sylvia’s home. Sylvia (pictured to the right with her husband Juan) is the lady who sells tortas (sandwiches) in the plaza. We ate at her stand every Thursday last fall. She was our initial contact in the village and the Lord used her in a big way to open up the door for us into this village. She was open to reading the Word then, but my first week back she invited us to come visit her in her home. This was so huge! We have been able to meet with her and her family twice and have had some great conversations with them about the Lord. She even wrote down the passage references that we shared with them and called it “tarea” (homework)! I’m so excited about the Lord opening the opportunity for us to deepen this relationship and go deeper in sharing Truth with them. Please pray for their salvation as well!
These past few weeks have been so great and I am so happy being here..literally, I love it here! But, I have to admit the first few weeks wore me out! So much so that I wasn't able to focus as well and go as deep with my time in the Word. Well, the Lord brought me to Psalm 42 as part of my daily reading. Verses 1-2 say: “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?” Wow! So good! I had been feeling dry. I wasn’t getting enough rest and because of that, my brain wasn’t functioning well enough for me to get much out of what I was reading. My time in the Word was suffering and I wasn’t getting fed like I needed. And on top of that, I realized how easily I am tempted to try to satisfy that hunger and thirst with other things...like getting on the internet or watching a movie or anything that will give my brain a rest. And that’s sinful. It’s like being super thirsty after a long run in the middle of Summer and then trying to satisfy your thirst with soda. It’s not going to work. It might taste good at first, but it’s not going to make you less thirsty. In fact, it’s going to make you more thirsty. My soul was panting for the Lord, but I wasn’t giving it what it needed. So, then I thought, if I’m so tired I can’t focus on the Word, how does that work? Well, we are going through the Transformed Bible study as a team and last week’s lesson was on physical health. Usually, my automatic thoughts when it comes to physical health are “I need to eat healthy” and “I need to exercise”. But, this week I felt convicted because part of being physically healthy is getting adequate rest. In the lesson, Rick Warren points out how one day we will stand before the Lord and give an account on how we cared for and used what He gave us..and this includes our physical bodies. Christ bought us with His very life when He died on the cross. Therefore, our bodies don’t belong to us. But, He has entrusted us to care for them. The Lord created our bodies to need rest, and we are not caring for our bodies well when we don’t get the rest we need. And think about how much more we are prone to sin when we are tired. Getting adequate rest is not only good for our physical health, but it is also good for us spiritually. For me, getting enough rest helps me focus and dig deeper into God’s Word.
I’m grateful the Lord has shown me the importance of deep, fruitful time in the Word as well as the importance of rest so that I can be focused and learn the most when I am studying His Word. It’s also been good for me to see how these verses in Psalm 42 apply more broadly to us as human beings, made in the image of God and created for relationship with Him. After the Fall, when sin first came into the world, man’s relationship with the Holy God was broken and we became separated from God. Apart from Him we are condemned to eternal death. We are dead/in need of watering, and we have a desire/thirst for God..even if we don’t realize it. Joel 1:20 says “Even the beasts of the field pant for you...”. If even the animals desire God, how much more do we as His image bearers? So, apart from Christ, our state is one who is doomed to eternal condemnation and panting for a restored relationship with God. What’s beautiful is God made a way for us to have a restored relationship with Him. Christ is our Redeemer. He gives us the Holy Spirit which is our water. He is the way we can be restored to God. In John 6:35, Jesus says: “I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” When Jesus was speaking to the Samarian woman at the well in John 4, he says: “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become to him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Christ died in our place on the cross, taking upon himself the wrath of God that we were due. He has given to us the most precious of all gifts...the gift of redemption. Our souls are panting for the Living God and when we put our faith in Christ and turn away from our sin, we find what our souls have been searching for. Our relationship with God is restored and our thirst is satisfied through Christ. 
If you know the Lord and are in a dry place, turn to Him. Isaiah 41:17 says “When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the Lord will answer them; I the God of Israel will not forsake them.” He is faithful and He desires for us to come to Him to be fed and watered. Seek Him and find the satisfaction your soul is panting for.
If you don’t have a relationship with the Lord, search His Word and see how He has given His very life in order to restore your relationship with God. There is nothing you can do to earn this...Christ did it all for us. Listen to the words of Isaiah 55:1-3: “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me.” Christ freely gave His very life to wipe away your sins. Don't waste your life on things that don't matter when it comes to eternity. Rather, turn away from your sin, trust in Him, and find the satisfaction that your soul is searching for. "Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near." Isaiah 55:6
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