Will You Trust Me?

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Hola amigos! 

I am so excited to share what has been going on here in Nicaragua. The Lord is moving! I can’t believe its been over a month that our squad has lived here. Life at REAP is busy but sweet and it’s the little things that make it feel like a home. For instance, greeting the kitchen ladies in the morning and them responding with, “hola buenos dias, Julianna!” Being handed flowers from a woman’s garden or having the local kids run up and hug me. Even the farm dogs know us and come along to ministry! Yesterday to celebrate Thanksgiving, our whole squad took part in preparing a meal for over 60 people! It was a day full of fellowship with the family I have for the next 6 months. A married missionary couple from England even led a time of worship after the meal! 

Earlier today I was sitting at a waffle place in Granada on my day off. A man named Carlos asked for some food so we invited him to eat with us and talk about Jesus! I was hesitant at first to talk to him but realized that he was a kind man looking for help, he meant no harm. It’s easy to slip into the tourist mentality of rejecting everyone that asks for money. The Lord lately is opening my eyes to just how much he loves the people of Granada. As a vessel of the holy Spirit, I get to pour out this love to others! I was able to understand Carlos’ story and translate it to my friends at the table. 

A Healing and a Wedding

 Every Thursday since we arrived in Granada, my team prayer walks this neighborhood that sits on a hill. During the first week we went to a house that had asked for prayer, but when we got there only the kids were home. The oldest (he was 12) greeted us politely and let us ask him about his life. Then, when we were about to pray for him, his mother and father got back from work! Gods timing was so perfect. My team began asking the mom and dad questions about their lives. We found out that the dad had a kidney infection that caused him severe pain ad expensive doctors appointments. Even still, he was so full of peace and it was really cool to see. I shared with him Psalm 23 and told him that the Father is our Shepherd, he tends to our every need and walks beside us in the deepest valley. The couple also told us that they weren’t married but the Lord was convicting them to do so! Someone on my team shared that marriage is the closest thing we have to a covenant today. It displays the relationship Christ has with the Church, one of sacrificial love! My team ended our time there by praying over the father, specifically that God would heal him if it was his will. Over the next month we visited this family every Thursday, talking and praying with them. This past visit the mother told us that days after we prayed for her husband, he went to a doctors appointment. They tested his kidneys and, to their disbelief, the infection was gone!The doctor scanned again but his kidneys were completely restored. The husband hurried home to his wife to tell her the news, and she said he looked like a whole new person. He was full of joy! 

Watching this story unfold encouraged my heart and opened my eyes to the power of Jesus that lives today. He not only wants to heal our physical bodies, but our hearts as well. This man had faith that God could heal his kidneys, but not every person that has faith receives physical healing. To be honest, this is something I’m still trying to understand. I don’t think I will ever understand God’s will, but that cannot stop me from trusting him! Anyways, this couple my team ministers to is going to get married on December 31st at the farm! The wife is also going to get baptized before the ceremony. My team is going to take her wedding dress shopping next week. We pooled our money together to pay for the husband’s ID and her dress. This family never hesitates to bless us so we wanted to bless them by helping them out financially! 

A New Brother in Christ

A woman asked the pastor leading us that day if we could come to her house and pray for her son. Let’s call him James. James, his mom shared, had fallen away from the Lord into a life of drugs and alcohol. Immediately when we saw him I felt his hopelessness and shame. James did not look excited to talk to us. The pastor began to share his testimony with him anyways. As the pastor described his past life on the streets, James slowly began to listen. He steadily began to make eye contact with the pastor as he spoke. Another man, Daniel, also shared his testimony with James. At this point he was listening intently and my teammate Karoline told James a part of her story as well. The common theme in all of these testimonies was that nothing is better than Jesus. No substance or lifestyle fills the void we all have in our hearts. Then we spoke different scriptures over James about the character of Jesus and his unconditional love. Eventually we asked him what was stopping him from recommitting his life to the Lord. He answered, “nothing!” James recommitted his life to the Lord and was filled with visible joy, freedom, and new life. I learned later that the whole time my team was praying that God would soften James’ heart. I wrote in my journal later that, “It was so sweet to see the Holy Spirit move in each one of us. Thanks God! This victory is encouraging to team Revel, to see the fruit of love and listening to your Spirit.”

TRUST

The other day my team was on our way to visit the couple getting married in December. The mom had previously asked if we could come at 10:00 am to sit and eat, but we had to walk there with chairs and it was at least a 50 minute walk! It was 9:20 when we finally left the farm. In the back of my head I thought, “man, we’re never going to make it in time. Why didn’t we meet in time to leave? how disrespectful of us to be late when we were expected to be on time.” Realizing there was nothing I could do, I prayed that the Lord would stop time to get us there at 10:00. Then, at what seemed like a good chunk of time later, I looked at the time. My team was rounding the corner to their house and it was 9:50! There was zero explanation for how that happened except that God stopped time. I’d never witnessed the Lord do something like that before. I expected that we’d be late and that the family would feel dishonored. Yet when I chose to ask the Lord instead of relying on my own understanding, he provided! Thanks God.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

This verse is one that I’ve had memorized since I was a kid, yet I am just beginning to grasp at its meaning. The race is unearthing my desire for control. In big and small ways I find security in leaning on what I can have control over. I subconsciously hold onto plans and expectations without inviting the Lord into them. In the most gentle way, the Father is revealing to me the ways I shut him out of my every day walk. “Will you trust me even though you do not understand?” This question comes up every time I get frustrated with the Lord in situations that I cannot change. Slowly he is unraveling (recognize that word?) my old thought patterns. My flesh wants God to operate on my timing because, deep down, I think I know better. This is a hard pill to swallow but, thankfully, God’s grace is sufficient for me because his power is made perfect in my weakness.(2 Corinthians 12:9). 

Jeremiah 29:11-13

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Trust in the Lord and his perfect will that surpasses my understanding is HARD but so worth it. God, what am I not trusting you with? Its an important question to ask him everyday.

My Team is Leaving Granada!

My team on November 30th will be going to an island in Lake Nicaragua called Ometepe. There we will live with an orphanage for three weeks to do ministry apart from the rest of the squad. We’ll then come back to REAP on December 23rd to celebrate Christmas and New Years as a whole squad. I am excited to spend this time with just my team to get to know them better! We have no idea what our schedule will look like at the orphanage, but it’s apparently in a beautiful location next to the beach. 

PRAYER REQUESTS

-Full healing in my ear! I’ve had an ear infection the past couple of weeks and, even after antibiotics, it hasn’t gone away. 

-Team Revel! That we would travel safely to Ometepe and be united as team in this transition to ministry at the orphanage.

-Ethan’s arm! My squad mate Ethan is in the States doing physical therapy for his broken arm. Thankfully he does not need surgery so praise the Lord for that. Prayers for healing and safe travels back to Nicaragua in a couple of weeks!

As always, text, call, WhatsApp, I have it all and would love to hear from you! Thank you for praying for me! I’d also love to be praying for you if you have any prayer requests.

Much love, 

Julianne