Rage and Redemption
“You have to get in this plane and GET OUT!” The grand finale of a verbal tirade I received from a disgruntled Uruwa man. Not only was this unexpected, but public, which in this culture brings incredible shame. I honestly didn’t feel any shame because I know that Jesus took all the shame I could ever have. It is that truth along with the Holy Spirit that I know helped me to display Christ in these moments by responding gently.
“Was this what I had been praying for?” I have asked many people to pray for opportunities to display Christ far before we know the Uruwa language, but who expects God to answer like this? This is not what I would have thought up, but it wasn’t long before I realized that this was surely what God had ordained.
Not only was this an opportunity to display Christ, but this was something that God would use to encourage our entire team. A hostile confrontation quickly turned to an encouraging rally of support when we received many supportive words, texts, and phone calls from Uruwa people telling us how they deeply wanted us to remain in Uruwa and that this man’s sentiment was not the view of the entire community.
While we were waiting on the disgruntled man to cool off for a few days, people began to share their thoughts with my coworker Nathan about the whole situation. They mentioned to him that I was young, and that over time I would learn from the errors of my ways. Interestingly it was only now, when I heard what people were thinking of me, that my pride most kicked in and I wanted to instantly defend myself and show that I didn’t have anything to learn because I was not in the wrong. It was also a little bit funny because Nathan is actually younger than me, but he is bald and has 2 kids so that means he is ancient I guess.
When my pride was flaring within me, the Lord, in His amazing way, killed my pride with His word as he brought it to my mind, “…Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?”
- 1 Corinthinans 6:7b
There was no need to make myself look even worse by defending myself, why not just let people think of me however they want? Whether they think I was in the right or in the wrong, eventually my true character will be well known, and hopefully it is one that shows humility and growth. Not only that, but through time and prayer the Lord revealed to me that I did in fact have my own wrongs to learn from. The man has cooled off and reconciliation is underway. We will shake hands tomorrow to finish this thing altogether.
We have been working day and night in Uruwa to try and finish up our houses so that our team can finally live among the Uruwa people. We are enthralled to be at the point where we will be moving in! Tomorrow it’s going down! Our team is moving into Uruwa to stay!
Prayer and Praise
Praise the Lord for trials that help us to display Christ far before we know the Uruwa language.
Praise the Lord for helping us to get so much work getting done on our houses.
Praise the Lord for the abundant support from the community for us to live among them and start this work of bringing them God’s Word in their language.
Please Pray that God would guide us as we begin to make friends that will hopefully be great language helpers as well.
Please pray that God would guide our team in discerning which dialect to learn in order to best serve the entire people group.
Please pray for continued opportunities for Christ to be on display.
Please pray for our team to remain strong and unified in the Lord as we work together and make many decisions.
Pray for the continued strengthening of our walks with the Lord as well as our marriage.
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