Starting the year off right

January has flown by already! This seems to be somewhat of a theme lately-time flying by. God seems to be speaking to me about learning to find rest in new ways. In the midst of all the craziness and busyness, God still wants us to have peace and rest. 

In the beginning of January, Hannah, Cindy and I spent a week in Atlanta at a market where we were able to make new connections and buy new product. It was an amazing trip! Truly, it was a bit overwhelming at times as there were so many vendors and not enough time to see it all. By the end of the week, we were all wiped out and exhausted from all the walking we had done. It was well worth it though and we can't wait to go again! 

When we got home, we spent a few days trying to recover and relax before Hannah and I hit the road again. This time we were headed to Tennessee to do flood disaster relief. Truthfully, the whole trip was quite different than we had expected. For starters, we thought we were going to do tornado relief. We learned quickly that we were wrong, ha!

Despite all the changes and unexpected ways things went, we were so happy for all we got to experience. We both learned many new skills and built relationships that we believe will grow into great partnerships in the future. 

While we were there, we worked on one house for someone named 'Mary'. I never actually met her, but worked quite a bit in her house. We worked on multiple houses and sometimes it was hard to keep track of the names of everyone, especially when you never met them face to face. This particular house, we kept forgetting the owner's name and would often mix up her name with Martha. Mary and Martha, funny right?

One of the nights God spoke to me about this 'coincidence'- or not-so coincidence, so I decided to look back at the story of Mary and Martha. I was reminded of how important it is to find the balance between serving Jesus and sitting in the presence of Jesus. God reminded me that this life as a missionary is a busy one and full of opportunities to serve. There will always be more chances to build something, help clean up, or do a VBS program, but it's equally important to be able to sit and relax. Not just for yourself, but for others around you as well.

While we were at Mary's house I was reminded of this and made a point to slow down on the mudding and sweeping and instead spend some time walking around the house praying for Mary and for those around her who have been displaced by this flood for over 5 months. 

My prayer is that we would all be able to find that balance between Mary and Martha. Find the time to serve and to do the dirty work, but also find time to sit at the feet of Jesus and pray, or just simply create hospitality for someone who may be going through a hard time. 

"As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said." Luke 10:38-40

Also in Fish CO Go.