In the gap

I never know exactly how to start these blogs.  How to start sharing what is pouring out of my heart and my coffee fueled mind. So I am just gonna begin and see where it leads.  I am ever so thankful for what we are being taught.  How we get to see things through the eyes of people who are here for the long haul.  Things look so much different for us now.  Our feet are planted here and we are growing roots.  As we do that our perspective changes so much.

We work in a place that has an abundance of problems and needs.  If you have been here (or some place similar), seen photos, or heard stories you know what I mean.  For every need met, about a billion more arise and stare you in the face.  At times, it can feel like walking in quicksand or running on treadmill.  Working so hard, but not really "going" anywhere. 

People come and visit or hear of the ministry and immediately begin to think of ways to fix it all (confession: I am very guilty of this!).  And we want the problem solved like yesterday.  Faster than immediate. We meet a family, they share a need, we jump into saviour mode.  And in many ways our compassion is awesome and admirable. The problem is-we aren't the saviour. At all.  We certainly get to be a part of sharing his love with the world, but we are not Him.  And in the rush to meet needs and the frustration that can follow when those needs are not met how and when we think they should be sometimes I think we are missing the most important part of the equation.  Jesus.

The ministry we are a part of moves so quickly.  And so slowly.  Simultaneously. Missions of Hope has experienced tremendous growth in a few short years, but the work being done here is at times moves at what feels like a snail's pace.  To me.  To us.  To Jesus, it is moving exactly how it should. We aren't just getting kids in school, or helping parents start businesses, or teaching health lessons and so on and so on.  Along with all these things, there needs to be a change of mind and more importantly a change of heart for this to be lasting.  To be sustaining.  And those sort of changes just take time.

 This week there has been a lot of that swirling around me. Stories that have crushed my heart. People with ideas and fervor to change them. Right.This. Second. But so many times, right this second isn't going to happen. And this week I have been struck so many times by the phrase "in the gap". 

In the gap. The space between.  The time that elapses.  Jesus is in that.  He is so much in that.  And in that space, He is enough.  Actually,He is so much more than enough.  For all these families and children who capture our hearts, He loves them more.  I think these kid's smiles give me joy, but they give him even more. He delights in them.  And their families. Their neighbors.  He sees so much more about them than anyone else ever will.  Their needs, desires, dreams, heartaches, stories NEVER escape him.  When they hurt, he is with them.  While they wait (while we wait), he is beside them (and us), when they rejoice, he does too. 

And I think this is not to be overlooked as we work to share His love.  In the meantime, while we get frustrated or annoyed with the time something is taking to happen Jesus knows exactly when and how it is all this is going to work out.  We are tasked with trusting him.  With waiting on him. In the gap.

While God is working in us, giving us the desire and power to do what pleases him (Phil 2:13), it is probably worth remembering that He is still enough.  I do what I can with what He gives me and then I trust him, place my faith in Him to do the rest. 

As we continue to work here, as you continue to work where you are or where you are going, as you come here to work, let us remember that Christ is present in the gap.  He is enough.  Always.  He cares, He loves, He sees. He is also in the business of bringing the Kingdom of Heaven to Earth in his ever so perfect timing.  So in the meantime, let us do what we can with what we have been given and may we patiently wait upon Him, while standing in the gap with them.

(I definitely recognize how weird it is that I would be talking about having patience.  If God is teaching me anything it is about patience.  And I don't always learn the easy way.  I love that God is showing me the beauty of waiting.  I love that he has is changing my heart in a way that I get to be the one who says "it will happen when the time is right" "it is okay to wait" etc.  I sound like Tim :)