Week five: Do HARD things
Week five: Do HARD things.
Another week of Intake done! Each week I wonder what I’ll share with you all as I sit down to write out my update and I hope that I’m able to get something written out that makes sense and also shares something about this journey I’m on. So far, so good! There’s always just so many different things we go through each week, things that bless and challenge me in various ways. This week after the talks and workshops we did I kept thinking of this book I read when I was a teenager entitled “Do Hard Things.” It’s written specifically for teens and it talks about how we should strive to go out and do hard things. This week after hearing a talk on “preparing for missions” I was reminded that foreign missions (and specifically the first two years of missions) is HARD. And I totally knew that before joining FMC, but in the talk they went over a lot of good topics for us to reflect and go over before we go out on mission.
One of the topics we went over was how going into missions we should reflect and grieve losses that we’ll have. Losses of missing people, events, things etc. As going into missions there are a lot of things we’re giving up and missing out on and it’s good to acknowledge those losses and take the time to grieve and offer it to the Lord. After the talk I took some time and started to go through the list of things that came to my mind and began offering those to the Lord and it was good to do so.
Another thing they said would be good for us to reflect on daily is our call to missions, to remember how the Lord specifically has called me to this — as in the difficulties when things are new and super hard I will need to turn to God and remember how He led me to this. I know I’ve definitely been constantly reflecting on my call to missions while I’ve been here. This journey is so different from anything I’ve ever known and sometimes it can be easy to think, “Did God REALLY call me to this?” But reflecting on my discernment I know without a doubt that God has called me to this and He’ll be with me through the difficulties and give me the graces to get through them. Even today I met someone new and was sharing with her more in detail how I got to FMC and discerned joining. And I definitely benefited from sharing my journey with her as today I had moments of doubt about all this (which, I know, is totally normal). But the second I shared my story with her I was blessed and reminded of all the very clear ways the Lord has called me to where I am now.
Even though missions is going to be hard, it’s in the difficulties that I’ll grow and become stronger. Something they said in the talk was, “Each point along the way involves a continuous stripping and rebuilding, offering to God the old and receiving from Him the new and the purified.” Going forward, I will continually be stripped and being stripped won’t be fun— but I will hand it to God and He’ll help me to be purified through those strippings.
My bible verse this week was: “Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” I used this bible verse for something I wrote for one of the workshops this week, and while I was writing that out I reflected on this bible verse. It was beautiful to reflect on it and in the difficult moments from this week, to pause and rejoice— to praise God for His goodness, to pray —and bring whatever is on my mind in that moment to Him, and to give thanks to God even in difficult circumstances—to thank Him for the fact that He’s with me within the struggles and thanking Him for all He has done for me and how He’s led me here.
Going forward: I want to strive to daily live out this bible verse and especially while I’m on mission. Something else that stood out to me this week was a quote I came across from St. Teresa of Calcutta (she said this to her missionaries), “My very dear children— let us love Jesus with our whole heart and soul. Let us bring Him many souls.—Keep smiling. Smile at Jesus in your suffering—for to be a real M.C. you must be a cheerful victim.”
I want to strive to smile at Jesus within my suffering, whatever that suffering may entail— I know there will be suffering within missions but, with God’s grace, I want to strive to smile and hand it to Jesus knowing that He’s carrying the suffering with me. I want to continue to strive to do HARD things, and to do them joyfully-- each step being led by Christ.
Another week of Intake done! Each week I wonder what I’ll share with you all as I sit down to write out my update and I hope that I’m able to get something written out that makes sense and also shares something about this journey I’m on. So far, so good! There’s always just so many different things we go through each week, things that bless and challenge me in various ways. This week after the talks and workshops we did I kept thinking of this book I read when I was a teenager entitled “Do Hard Things.” It’s written specifically for teens and it talks about how we should strive to go out and do hard things. This week after hearing a talk on “preparing for missions” I was reminded that foreign missions (and specifically the first two years of missions) is HARD. And I totally knew that before joining FMC, but in the talk they went over a lot of good topics for us to reflect and go over before we go out on mission.
One of the topics we went over was how going into missions we should reflect and grieve losses that we’ll have. Losses of missing people, events, things etc. As going into missions there are a lot of things we’re giving up and missing out on and it’s good to acknowledge those losses and take the time to grieve and offer it to the Lord. After the talk I took some time and started to go through the list of things that came to my mind and began offering those to the Lord and it was good to do so.
Another thing they said would be good for us to reflect on daily is our call to missions, to remember how the Lord specifically has called me to this — as in the difficulties when things are new and super hard I will need to turn to God and remember how He led me to this. I know I’ve definitely been constantly reflecting on my call to missions while I’ve been here. This journey is so different from anything I’ve ever known and sometimes it can be easy to think, “Did God REALLY call me to this?” But reflecting on my discernment I know without a doubt that God has called me to this and He’ll be with me through the difficulties and give me the graces to get through them. Even today I met someone new and was sharing with her more in detail how I got to FMC and discerned joining. And I definitely benefited from sharing my journey with her as today I had moments of doubt about all this (which, I know, is totally normal). But the second I shared my story with her I was blessed and reminded of all the very clear ways the Lord has called me to where I am now.
Even though missions is going to be hard, it’s in the difficulties that I’ll grow and become stronger. Something they said in the talk was, “Each point along the way involves a continuous stripping and rebuilding, offering to God the old and receiving from Him the new and the purified.” Going forward, I will continually be stripped and being stripped won’t be fun— but I will hand it to God and He’ll help me to be purified through those strippings.
My bible verse this week was: “Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” I used this bible verse for something I wrote for one of the workshops this week, and while I was writing that out I reflected on this bible verse. It was beautiful to reflect on it and in the difficult moments from this week, to pause and rejoice— to praise God for His goodness, to pray —and bring whatever is on my mind in that moment to Him, and to give thanks to God even in difficult circumstances—to thank Him for the fact that He’s with me within the struggles and thanking Him for all He has done for me and how He’s led me here.
Going forward: I want to strive to daily live out this bible verse and especially while I’m on mission. Something else that stood out to me this week was a quote I came across from St. Teresa of Calcutta (she said this to her missionaries), “My very dear children— let us love Jesus with our whole heart and soul. Let us bring Him many souls.—Keep smiling. Smile at Jesus in your suffering—for to be a real M.C. you must be a cheerful victim.”
I want to strive to smile at Jesus within my suffering, whatever that suffering may entail— I know there will be suffering within missions but, with God’s grace, I want to strive to smile and hand it to Jesus knowing that He’s carrying the suffering with me. I want to continue to strive to do HARD things, and to do them joyfully-- each step being led by Christ.
Here are some photos from this week!
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| Coffee Shop trip on Saturday. From left to right: Emily, Kim, Kylie, Morgan. |
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| Luigi and I helping out at the Christian Service Center on Thursday, we helped heat up and dish out some yummy jumblelaya |
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| We had Claire share with us her "Spoke Word" poetry on Thursday night, was a wonderful time! |
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| All of us with Claire after her performance. |
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