Hidden Hope

This morning our team went to the city dump. Crammed in the bed of a truck, we bumped our way to the entrance of the dump. Along the sides of the road, piles of trash began appearing more and more. The truck came to a stop and we filed out, carrying the tubs of food we would serve to the people who listened to our message of the gospel.
     As I first turned to face the mountainous piles of trash, my heart was overwhelmed. My eyes scanned the miles of trash dotted with people searching for food and items to sell and recycle. We climbed the side of a hill to a shaded area where we would set up our table and gather the people who cared to come. Someone played the guitar, others sang, some of the girls on my team (myself included) drifted towards a group of wary and dirty children, and others began setting up the table of food.   
     As I began a conversation with a group of little girls my mind was racing from what I was seeing. Everyone's feet were covered in black slime, the children's hair was matted, and flies swarmed everywhere and on everyone. I breathed in the stomach-churning smell of so much trash, realizing this was the life these children were born into. Why them and not me God? By now my heart was physically aching.
      A missionary with us performed a mime about being trapped in a box (addictions and pain) and trying everything to get out. At the end, all he needed to do was pray for the key (salvation) to the door of his box. I watched the people watching him. Living like they are, without hope, searching for treasures in miles of trash is a box all by itself. They needed out and we were there to show them how.
     I wondered to myself if there was any beauty in a place like this. I believe I can see God in any situation or place. I saw God on the face of a woman who listened intently to our message of hope. I saw God in the shy smile of a young girl whose eyes screamed despair and longing for anything better than what she endured. I saw God when a bright orange butterfly caught my eye amidst the dull and faded piles of trash.
God was there.  
     These people spend their lives searching for more than food and items to sell. They are searching for hope.

I don´t know where to begin! The past week my team and I have been in a little community outside of Granada called Guayabo. In other words, without internet or mattresses, running water only from 4am-12pm (we bathed in the lake), bug city everywhere, houses/shacks on one side of the dirt road, and barefoot children everywhere. Although that description may sound somewhat like complaints, that place was exactly what God used to continue to change me and move in the lives of several people.
Today we arrived at the hostel we will be at for the rest of our time here. It is so beautiful! My team and I are currently in an internet café communicating with our families and blogging. Who thought fifteen minutes talking on the phone in a little cubicle would make me feel on-top-of-the-world-happy.  

The two stories I have on my heart to share could easily fill a novel. Unfortunately, I don´t have the time to be detailed. Basically, God used our team to transform the life of one of our translators and break down the walls in the heart of an unbelieving woman we prayed over.
Please pray that our team would adjust to Granada and reach to the darkest corner and lonliest heart with the love of God.

Who am I?

     Here I am. Training for the weeks I will be on mission to emanate my Bright Light. My team and I have connected SO well. I feel like I have known them for months. How awesome and such a God thing!! (Thank you Jesus <3)
      God has been working on my heart more than I thought was possible within two days. Tonight's message dug deep into my core and struck a chord in my heart that needed tuning. The topic is generally general and often times skipped over-identity. But tonight the speaker pushed past general and spoke words that made identity very real to me. I was challenged to discover who I truly am...what no one knows and what I am best at hiding. Truth is, I found many things that have identified me, even if they were things I alone know. But then again, my God knows them better than me. I admitted to myself what needed to be surrendered. I AM FREE.
My question is, who are you?

The Beginning of the Unknown

I am struck with overwhelming excitement, powerful love, inescapable boldness, hints of confusion, radiant joy, and moments of fear of the unknown. These are the most prevalent emotions swirling around in my heart and head as I realize my departure for Nicaragua creeps closer and closer. Thursday morning at 4:45 AM I will leave home and begin my month-long journey as an ambassador for my Jesus. This is an adventure that I heard hollering my name several months before I even knew what it was. Let me tell you, that was an adventure in and of itself.

Picture this in your head…little Rilie standing at the beginning of a life-sized candyland game board. She knows there will be a few twists and turns in the future and eagerly waits for God to draw the right cards in His time. However, Rilie occasionally becomes impatient and distracted and wanders off to the gumdrop mountains, lollipop forest, ice cream sea, or some other seemingly happy and better place. Of course she then gets lost and scrambles back to the colorful square tiles where Heavenly direction always appears soon after…

I haven’t made it to the candy castle yet, but I’ve learned so much in the small time I have had. There is still SO much God has to teach me. I will never stop learning. As I awaken each morning to follow Jesus, I will not stop running, racing, and pushing to the point where all I can do is lift my hands to give glory to the One who overcame the world. For me.  

As often as I can over the next few weeks, I will share my stories, thoughts, and musings from the journey I have been given in Nicaragua. Would you care to listen?

What Made Me Over

Her face will never leave my mind for it is deeply etched into my memory. She is just one of the many girls I met in the villages of Mezcales and San Pancho while doing the first Camp Sonshine International in Mexico. This mission trip was like nothing I have ever experienced. The way I saw God work through me and other people over the course of only ten days leaves me speechless and feeling what words cannot express. During the time I spent in Mexico, God allowed me to learn the importance of trust, the reality of spiritual warfare, and the core-shaking power of prayer.

Mezcales,  Mexico

            Before the trip I would have said with confidence that I trusted God, however, the first few days in Mexico brought my trust to a new and real level. I had been anxious concerning a painful rash I get as the result of an allergic reaction to the sun. This rash had reached its worst during my last mission trip and had encased me in my own prison and left me helpless. It stumped doctors and could not be remedied by any medication or creams I had used in past years. I feared that my rash would plague me once again and I would not be able to be fully used by God. On this trip, I armed myself with antihistamines and a special sunscreen in hopes that I would escape my rash. How could I have not realized my futile attempts were nothing compared to the power of God’s healing hand? My lack of trust that God could heal me was brought to the surface when a fellow team member prayed over me and asked that God would work a miracle. I sat stunned amidst tears of shame that I had placed hope in a prescription and had brushed aside the idea that God could indeed heal me. After that moment of realization I daily petitioned my Father to be my Shade from the sun. Each day that I continued to be free from my rash I would thank Him in silent awe and praise for showing me His power and my newfound trust in Him.    

            Being able to serve and minister without the distraction of my rash was beyond anything I had dreamed or hoped, yet God was not done teaching me. Little did I know, but the devil had been working to hinder me not only before but during the trip as well. The few days before I left I allowed myself to be overtaken by apathy and had little excitement to leave. After realizing the hold that Satan had on my heart I scrambled to rid myself of him. But he was not finished prowling and fought against our minds and hearts the most in San Pancho where we held three days of Camp Sonshine. San Pancho had such an unexplainable darkness and evil presence in it that I felt a weight on my heart and as though a small piece of me was being taken. I watched the energy, life, and light of fellow team members slowly drip away because of Satan’s dirty lies and presence in their heads. The urgency to make war against the forces not of this world screamed in my heart. Seeing God battle the devil right before my eyes shook me to an awesome knowledge of how mighty and all-powerful my God is.  We would begin a fight against the devil and his army in order to gain back hearts that were rightfully God’s and remove his lies and affliction from ourselves.

The only weapon we had against our enemy was the full armor of God. We took up His Word and prayed. The second day in this village our team declared God’s victory, glory, and power and prayed over the campground and each other. That morning when we set up for camp, there was not a moment when one of us was not praying out loud and demanding the devil to take his darkness and vanish.  Watching what our prayers accomplished brought me to my knees as I saw my friends with a light in their eyes again, joy on their faces, and the weight on my own heart lifted by my God. I saw the apathy that I had once again allowed to take control and shuddered from knowing that I had given the devil a foothold in my passion for sharing the hope that I have in Christ. I had heard people rave about the power of prayer, but never before had I really believed it. Now, it has become my life.

San Pancho, Mexico

As I look over what God taught me I realize the perfect timing for each lesson I learned. I battled against the devil before I was even in Mexico. I knew then I was right where God wanted me: where Satan was uncomfortable and fighting to detour me. I was then given mercy when God healed my rash despite my unbelief. The intense spiritual battle I later fought with God as my shield and prayers on my lips awakened a whole different level of my relationship with Christ and showed me what is really important in life. I cringe to think about all of the unbelievers who do not have the sure victory over the devil’s attacks and schemes. This reality has changed how I witness and who I am now. Finally, experiencing the absolute power we had as a body of Christ when we took up arms and prayed the devil out of our ministry in Mexico has given me hope. I was also humbled that I doubted the need and urgency to pray. As I share my story from Mexico with those who truly care to hear it, I pray God uses the experiences He brought me through to change others as it changed me. God made me over, stripping me of who I used to be and showing me how to walk a different way. I am living with a fire burning in my soul like the faces of the precious girls in my memory. God knew I would come back a changed young woman and I only hope to continue this change, so I become a reflection of Him.  

Eric Ludy - Depraved Indifference