I’ve been in Antigua, Guatemala for almost a week now and I’ve been settling in, learning a lot about the Adventures Guatemala base, exploring the city and more. It’s been so good. I’ll write more on what my time here looks like later on!
On our first full day here we had a time of worship with the interns (me and five others) and the six full time staffers. At the end of our time the interns got in a huddle and the staff prayed for our time here. Michelle, one of the staff members, prayed something over us that has really stuck with me.
She prayed that this would be a season of remodeling. A time where we would let the Lord “gut some sinks” so we could become even more like Christ. Michelle reminded us that a lot of time when people remodel homes, they try to restore it to its original version.
I’ve been thinking a lot about that the last few days. We are all in a process of being remodeled, and we always will be. But I had never thought about how God is restoring parts of me, parts of you, back to our original versions. The versions He so perfectly created before sin became a factor. He is restoring parts of us to be like the children we were, so innocent, trusting and joyful.
We have also talked about living lives that bare lasting fruit versus good fruit. As in, when each of us leaves Guatemala, what fruit will continue? What will last? Good fruit is, well, good. But even good fruit dies eventually if it isn’t maintained. Lasting fruit will continue growing and thriving, for all of eternity.
As I’ve been thinking about all of this the past few days I started realizing how much more lasting fruit we would produce if we allowed God to restore us back to our original versions. If sin, brokenness, abuse, disappointment, depression, stress, fear etc. hadn’t ever became a part of my life, or your life, how much more fruit we would bare.
I don’t know about you, but I want to bare fruit that lasts all of eternity. If I need to allow God to gut some sinks full of brokenness out of me to make room for some more joy, let it be so.
I want to encourage you to think about some areas in your life that need to be remodeled. What could help you bare lasting fruit? What “sinks” need to be ripped out? Where are some areas that need more Jesus and less of whatever is already there? Allow Him to begin restoring some areas of brokenness, it may hurt, it may be messy. But it will be beautiful.
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A quick update on support! I am so close to being fully funded for my time here in Guatemala. I’m only $680 short. I’d love if you would pray about financially supporting my time here! Feel free to let me know if you have any questions!