http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H7TvADD1-s

Ever have a torrent of memories flood out reality and take you into the past?
This song was played several times during powerful moments at the training camp in GA before my month in Nicaragua.
The constant flashes of vivid memories from that time of my life, summer of 2011, overwhelmed me today.
I found this song and sat in stillness and quiet listening to the simple words. For some reason it puts my life into perspective.
I’m sure everyone has a song or two that does the same thing.

But then I looked outside. I knew it was raining but the streams of water trickling down the window caught me up in the TRUTH of God’s constant presence. He rained down His love.

I am filled up.
Whether in Nicaragua holding the small little children who don’t know a life beyond tin shacks, biting ants in the sand on the beach of lake Granada, rubber sandals, shirts brown from grime, the innocent freedom of running almost bare-naked into the Lake to swim and forget the poverty they were born into, or in America holding onto those precious memories, in my struggle against complacency and normalcy.
Open your eyes. Find the rain. You will be filled up.

Jamie Grace - Hold Me featuring tobyMac (Official Music Video)

Ministry Through Healing

     Tuesday we spent our afternoon doing VBS at a church called Luz del Mundo. The building is a mere tin shack with a bumpy dirt floor and half of a flimsy metal wall in the back half of the church.
     We finished our VBS, which consisted of a prayer, songs, the story of Jonah and the whale acted out by willing kids, and games. Amidst playing hot potatoe, Jesse (our translator/protector/father-figure that we call Padre) noticed an infected gash on the big toe of a little boy named Michael. His one toe was twice the size of his other. Concern washed over Padre's  face and he brought it to mine and Jessie's (our leader) attention. I grimaced as Michael limped away to join a marble game after showing us his toe.
Jessie looked at me and suggested I pray over him. I glanced at the boy and felt a tug on my heart. I walked over and asked what had happened. After he told me an animal had bitten him, I told him I was going to pray over him in English. I knelt down, took his hand, and prayed for this little boy, no more than 8 years old, with an untreated wound that he should not be bearing.
     Turns out, God used me to answer my own prayer. I ended up running back to our hostel (for the sanity of my family, I was not alone) to get the medical supplies I had brought for myself. Who knew I would use them for something like this? God.
Returning to Luz del Mundo, I called Michael over and sat him down on a plastic chair across from me. Padre  appeared by my side and immediately began looking through what I had brought. He started washing the toe with water and wiping away layers of grime. Assisting him during that time became one of the longest five minutes of my life. We had to pin Michael's leg down and hold his hands while Padre cleaned around the puncture wounds. He worked at it until the raw wounds were visible, the infection was squeezed out, and the bacteria killed with rubbing alcohol. My own body was sweating and I could barely handle hearing Michael's wails, gasps, and screaming, let alone look at his face twisted from pain.
     His body shaking and wimpers escaping his trembling lips, this little boy sat exhausted after we had bandaged his foot. I wrapped his sweat-soaked body in a big hug before giving him the remaining bandages. He hobbled out of the building down the street, followed by a string of children giving him support with compassion etched across their faces.
     Helping this little boy in such a small way made my heart about to explode. When we go back to the church next week, I will bring more supplies and treat his toe again. I know if we had not been there to help him, he would have lost his toe, if not his whole foot. I hurt to think of all the other children in need of medical attention but I must remember that God is still God. He will guide our team to the right people so that we can become a piece in the broken puzzle of their lives.
     To Him be the glory.

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?