Themes

Friday, November 18, 2010, 3:13pm local time – Minsk, Belarus

Each time our teams travel to Belarus and Eastern Europe, the Lord seems to give us a theme.  It’s not something we ever purposefully seek or collectively talk about.  It just tends to be something that emerges within a short time of arriving.  Last night after we arrived and I pitched my hammock at the hotel (see previous post), we attended a prayer meeting at the church of our regular partners.  It was a time of worship and prayer and similar to those meetings we’ve attended upon arriving for the past several trips.  The pastor invited us to feel free to share any word from the Lord that we felt we were given during worship.  I am not typically one who receives a direct communication from the Lord in situations like these, but the worship was just so good that I couldn’t help get lost in it.  I was worshipping and praying when I was drawn to Psalm 116:7.  Be at rest, o my soul.  For the Lord has been good to you.  This short verse was such an encouragement to me!  I had been struggling still with my teaching time, what to cover, if I was truly prepared, etc.  The verse and others that came along with it and were referenced in the footnotes of my Bible just crystalized things for me.  The fantastic thing, though, was that the Lord was speaking similar things to the rest of our team and other members of the church that were in attendance.  Within the space of 45 minutes, several people spoke words of encouragement and exhortation that God was providing a paternal covering to the people of Belarus and that they can be at peace as they continue in their spiritual and political struggles.  The final word was from a women who encouraged the church here to provide a covering for the needy in society in a tangible way through meeting their physical needs.  My heart absolutely leapt, because that was the theme that I felt the Lord gave me for my economics teaching just before we left home to travel here!

My writings here can never capture the experience our team has as we travel and minister here.  Reading back over this post, I can easily see that I have failed to communicate what I really intend with this post.  Rest assured that your prayers for us are being effective, and that God is already moving.  We’ve been here only 24 hours now, and He is revealing His message for this people at this time.  I’m up to teach in a couple of hours.  I’ll let you know how it goes.  More to come…