Getting What We Came For

One of the main reasons that Kara and I decided to come to Guatemala was the sense that we needed to learn to live differently. Our lives could easily have continued as they were before coming here, and it would have been a good way to live, but we both had the feeling that if we took the opportunity to come here we would learn to live more dependently on the Lord. That was something we couldn’t pass up.

After our first five months here, I think that goal is being accomplished in us so far. We are learning to live differently- not just by learning that it really is possible to survive by eating black beans for dinner every night- but also, like we wanted, learning to live in a lifestyle that is more dependent on the Lord than what we had been used to. I pray that as we continue here, we will allow God to complete what He has started in us- learning to live in a way where we are constantly drawing our lives from Him.

Since our time in language school is winding down (18 weeks down, 4 to go!), and we’ll soon be working at NLCH full-time, another goal has been floating around more consistently in my mind: now that we’ve begun the process of learning to live differently, once we’re at the children’s home, how can we also learn to minister differently? How can all of these lessons of living more dependently on the Lord translate into a different way of ministering, where we rely much more on His grace and much less on our own abilities?

I’m sure that the answer to this will be something that continues to unfold throughout our time here, but I think I may have stumbled upon at least the very beginning of it. After having been involved in the church my whole life and having been around Godly people to whom prayer is an essential part of life and ministry, I’ve always known that there has to be a connection between prayer and ministry that is of inestimable value.

I’ve usually gone into ministry with the idea that the things that we do for people absolutely must be done on “a foundation of prayer,” or be “covered in prayer,” as we often say. In other words, we have all of these things that we do for people- helping the poor, worship services, Bible studies, etc.- and these things are the ministries that have to be based on, supported by, and enabled by prayer.

But I’m starting to think maybe I was wrong... or at least a little off. What if it’s the other way around? What if prayer is the real ministry and all of the activities are the supporting and enabling forces? What if my main task here in seeking to minister to these kids is to pray, and all of the things we do together are simply to be done to support what is being accomplished through prayer?

If I can start to think more along these lines, I’m sure that I will in fact learn to minister differently. It seems like it could lead to a way of ministry with a lot less pressure on me. How in the world am I supposed to come up with things that will help a group of orphans in Guatemala connect with God? I can’t- at least not very effectively. But, if prayer is my ministry rather than the activities, I can pray. Then I can act- doing things with the kids that will support what’s happening through the real ministry of prayer. This way, thankfully, the results aren’t up to me, but are in the much abler hands of God.