Embracing the Lord

Whimsical Love Days 7-9


I got the opportunity to go to a children's home just inside the border of Mexico Tuesday through Saturday this week where we worked on one of their buildings that needed a lot of work then we got to love on the kids when they got home from school. This week was absolutely incredible. I learned so much about how the Lord loves us and how we can love others because of Him. I remember sitting outside in the heat scraping old paint off the building and thinking about how even that was worship. Our God is not bound by worship on Sunday mornings while we sing. We serve a God that can be worshiped on a hot day in Mexico while painting, doing construction work, cutting wood, scraping walls, attempting to use machetes, and cleaning up the aftermath of construction. One of my prayers is that I begin to see even the most mundane things in life as a beautiful form of worship where I can work at it with all my heart since I am working for the Lord rather than for man (Colossians 3:23). Construction work and painting is a pretty whimsical way to love others. It's something often overlooked and not seen as love. The Lord has met so many of our needs, the least we can do is to love others by meeting their needs as we point them back to the love of Christ. 


The children's home (Casa Hogar in Matamoros Mexico) has an awesome ministry. Rather than adopting the kids out, the founder has adopted each one of them (around 250ish kids). His ministry is to pay for their school and teach them life lessons as well as Bible studies so that they may grow up to be missionaries and love on people in Mexico. I don't know what the Lord has in store for me someday but I could see Him allowing me to start some kind of ministry with kids, maybe even something similar to this children's home.  

In the evenings we got to love on the kids and play with them. They laughed and loved in such a beautiful way. Our first day there these kids embraced us like they had always known us. They loved us but barely knew us, and could not even speak to us, although we tried to somewhat speak Spanish. Let's just say that was a little rough haha. You gotta love those language mistakes.... I asked a kid one day while we were playing football how to say strong. I guess I misunderstood him because I found out on the drive back that over and over again I was telling these kids "very door" rather than "very strong." But hey, at least they got a good laugh in before they all went to bed. I can only imagine them saying... "hey why was that girl saying very door all the time? Crazy American." Sometimes you just have to laugh at yourself!!  We played tag, football, soccer, made bracelets, painted nails, blew bubbles, and simply loved them. All the while they were loving on us. Funny how that works, huh? You try to love on someone and they end up ministering to you in a unique way. That's how the Lord works. He often ministers to us in whimsical ways as we try to minister. He loves on us even when we don't expect it. The night we were painting nails a little girl wanted to paint mine. I was excited to see what kind of color concoction was about to happen and lo and behold polka dots and glitter of ever color ended up on those puppies. That nail polish is still on. It is a beautiful reminder of the Lord's creative love that night. 

I remember thinking, "This is life." Why? because life isn't about going to school, coming back, going to work, coming back, eating, sleeping, then doing it all again the next day. Life is loving on people wherever you are and taking the time to minister to people. It may mean taking a few years off and traveling to minister to people. It may mean slowing your schedule down enough so there is a beautiful rhythm of rest and work, just as the Lord has intended it to be. Part of the reason I love being a nanny 40 hours a week is the rhythm that goes with that. I get the opportunity to play with those precious little girls and love on them. I get paid to love on people. Yes, it's possible. =) Sure, there are probably jobs that could pay even better but I can't think of a single reason to pursue anything else right now. I am doing exactly what I am called to do right now as a nanny. Kids are one of my passions and I love getting to play with them, even when it means trying to squeeze into dress up clothes and letting them put hideous makeup on me. Wherever you are, take time to minister to the people around you and love on them wherever they are in life. That may mean going on a mission trip, but most importantly it means loving on the people around you rather then becoming busy and pushing those people away. It means taking taking your time to simply love. Because of the nails in His hands and the innocent blood that He shed, we are able to know what love truly is.

But Jesus said, "Let the children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14